Caution: coarse language, cheesy scenes, random moments, and excessive sarcasm. You have been warned. Also, sorry for any grammatical errors that may occur. Also, there may be minor spoilers near the end of the story. Feel free to make any comment or ask any question. ^_^
I liked my life. Why’d they take that away? How could they do that? How could they be so… so heartless?
I was on the beach, it was a beautiful day, and I was getting a good tan, I might add. Then, from nowhere, a storm appeared over the water. I was packing up because me + storm = not a happy Crystal. I was heading for my bike (I’m only 15. I don’t have my license, just a permit), when this shadow moved toward me. I mean, a shadow actually moved! A little shadowy blop-thingy. I was curious as to what it was, so I walked towards it. A little black creature with bright yellow eyes popped up! It looked creepy, so I ran. Who the freak wouldn’t? Just then, a dark figure came from nowhere and slayed it. Then another shadow appeared in front of me, and I felt something hit my head. Maybe I fell or—…
Reality was calling. I felt the soft sheets under my body, the fluffy pillow cradling my head. I sat up, looked around the room… and froze. In the corner was a man robed in black. He had a hood on, so I couldn’t see his face. I knew it was a guy because of his posture and the sound of his voice.
“Nice fighting. You really knocked ‘em dead,” he said with as much sarcasm as he could put in. Which, I have to say, wasn’t that much.
“Yeah, like I planned on getting attacked by shadow thingies,” I shot at him. Who was he to remind me that my fighting skills… need work? He didn’t know me. I’d never met him before in my life… right? He stood up and handed me a bag of munny. I didn’t take it. He put it back into his pocket and sat down again. He just sat there. Staring at me, er, facing me (stupid hood). Creepy.
“So, uh, where are we?” I asked the weird creepy dude.
No answer.
“Where’d you come from?” I ventured.
Nada.
“What’s your name?”
Still no answer.
“My name’s Crystal.”
No reaction.
“Ya wanna answer me? Or show any other signs of life?”
Nothing.
I gave up on that little interrogation and got out of the bed. The guy did nothing. He has great mannerism. I went to look out the window and saw trains moving on a track to a station, and then going off somewhere else. After a while I got bored so I headed toward the door. The plus side was that I figured out the guy wasn’t glued to the chair. The down side was he wouldn’t let me out.
“Can I have a look around?” I shot the guy a dark look thinking he’d let me through. My thinking’s been really screwy lately.
“I can’t let you,” he said. He didn’t even say it like he was regretting it. That means he’s not under orders.
“Then why can’t I?”
No answer. Annoying.
I turned to go back to the bed to lie down. He went back to his chair. Perfect. As soon as he sat down, I bolted for the door and ran into the hallway. The dude got out into the hallway as soon as I got to the end of it. I didn’t go outside, though. I didn’t know my way around.
“Are you always this complicated?” he asked, his voice dripping with weak sarcasm.
“Only when I don’t get answers,” I shot at him. His shoulders fell and I think he smiled, though I couldn’t tell with the hood over his face.
He went back into the room. Me, being my stupid curious self, followed. He was in his little chair in his little corner. No surprise there. I sat down opposite to him and waited.
“Okay. I’ll give you answers if you give me some,” he said at last. I had no clue what he meant by me giving him answers, seeing as I was totally clueless to what the heck was going on, but I told him yes and repeated my questions.
“We’re in Twilight Town’s hotel,” he began, “I came from a place that I may never be able to go to again. My name is… Ansem. You can’t have a look around because you suck at fighting and your clothes aren't right for this world.”
I looked down at my clothes. “What’s wrong with them?” I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt over my swim suit.
“Okay, maybe I see your point,” I said.
“Good. We’ll train sometime in the next couple days and leave in a few weeks.” He started for the door and added, “I’ll be in this room if you need me. Good night.” And then he closed the door behind him.
I couldn’t sleep that night. I never can when my subconscious thinks that something important is going to happen in the morning. I was tossing and turning in my bed when I suddenly got up to go do something. Then I thought, for some reason, about going in the next room to get a glimpse of Ansem’s face. It was really weird that he paused when he said his name, like he had to think about it or something. That name seemed strangely familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Oh well, I thought. Maybe it’s nothing.
I went to the door and opened it without a sound. I did this easily because I always did it at home when everyone was asleep to perform various mischievous activities. Anyway, I snuck up to his bed, again very stealthily, thought I couldn’t see anything since it was so dark.
I reached the bed and turned my flashlight on (where'd I get the flashlight? I don't even know), covering most of it so that there was only a little sliver of light showing, and turned it on the bed. I was puzzled. There was nothing in the bed. I took my hand off the flashlight and cast its light around the room. Nothing. Still puzzled, I turned back to the room to try and get some sleep. I was almost to the door when I heard voices. Curious, I went the opposite way and put my ear up to the other door.
“…don’t know if she does, or is, but we’ll find out sooner or later, okay? Maybe she can help wake Sora up.” Sora? Who’s that? I thought.
I knew that voice was Ansem’s, and I also knew who the other voice was.
“Just give him some time.” This voice was high and squeaky. “Maybe Sora will wake up on his own...”
“How do you know?! He may wake up in years!” Ansem cut in. I was trying to work this out. Ansem was talking to… Mickey, and he wants to wake up someone called Sora from a… coma? So confusing.
“Give him, and yourself, time. That’s all it usually takes.” Yep. Definitely a coma.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Ansem said, and the conversation was over. That last tidbit of information kind of shocked me. King Mickey? Where’s his kingdom? Disney World, Orlando, Florida? Or was it the one in Paris? I gave up trying to analyze the info and went to bed.
The next morning, I woke up and combed my hair. For some reason, I didn’t think it was all just a dream. I guess maybe because I wasn’t in my normal room? I got dressed and knocked on Ansem’s door.
“Wake up, sleepyhead!” I called.
No answer.
I rolled my eyes and went in.
“Hello! Time to get up!” I said as I walked in. Ansem wasn’t there. No big surprise. Something on the bed caught my eye. It was a pouch with a note next to it. The note said that Ansem went to do something, he’d be back soon, and that I should go buy breakfast and wander around a bit. I went to the café to buy me some breakfast, but I couldn’t read the menu, I’m embarrassed to say. I gave up and went back to the shop lane-avenue-place-thingy to have a look at Twilight Town.
Twilight Town’s a really cool place. After a while I got tired of looking around and headed back to the hotel. I was nearly there when I heard someone clear their throat behind me and a hand placed on my shoulder. I’m sorry to say that I squealed, and jumped a little (who wouldn’t?), when that happened. I turned around and saw that it was Ansem.
“Do you like scaring me half to death or is it just me?” I asked him.
“I just thought that we could go back to our rooms together, that’s all,” he replied with a shrug. I didn’t know how he got anywhere near me, and I didn’t care, so we headed out. When we got to our hotel rooms, he gave me long black robes, black pants, and high-heeled boots. Where the hell did he get those? No idea. How the hell did he know my size…? Let’s not get into that, okay?
“Do I have to wear the heels?” I asked, looking disgustedly at the boots.
“I thought you’d like them, seeing as you’re a gi—,”
“Don’t even finish that sentence, sexist. I’m a tomboy. I don’t like the whole girly-girl crap.” I said before he could continue. “I’d like to have the kind that you have on, please.”
“Alright. Fine. I’ll get you another pair,” he told me as he went to his room. About five minutes later, he came back with boots exactly like his. Again, in my size (creeper?).
“Here.”
“Can I burn those?” I asked, pointing at the heels.
“No,” he laughed. He gave me some privacy while I got changed into my new clothes. When he came back in, he asked whether I wanted to go to a late lunch, early dinner. I said “Duh. I’m starving” and we were off. At the restaurant he told me something that I knew, in the back of my head, was coming.
“We’ll be leaving for a different world in a couple of weeks. Maybe longer.”
“Cool. Where?”
“Well, I haven’t decided yet. Though you might need something to help protect yourself, and I have just the thing. I’ll give it to you when we get back to the hotel.”
When we finished our meal, we headed back to the hotel. There, Ansem told me to wait in my room while he went off to his room to get my coolio-awesome-thingy-mabob. He came back carrying a coolio-awesome-weapon-thingy.
“Is that a—?” I asked, pointing at it.
“Sword? Yeah. I thought it’d be helpful if you had a weapon.”
I thought about it and thought it’d be a good idea for me not to be a damsel in distress. Plus, I knew he was really saying “Here’s a weapon for you to get out of trouble with yourself so I don’t have to come to your rescue. Kay?” I didn’t care, it was still cool.
“Just a couple questions for you,” I began, “and it’d be great if you’d actually answer them.”
He sighed and said, “Shoot.”
“One: Who will be teaching me how to use this magnificent weapon?”
“I will either this evening or in the morning.”
“Two: Where?”
“No idea.”
Great.
“Three: Why will I need this sword?”
“That’s more than a couple.”
“So? The second one didn’t really count since you didn’t have an answer.” I smiled.
“Fine.” He paused a moment before pacing around the room. I could already tell that that meant long explanation, so I sat down. He paced for about five minutes and finally looked at me (I think. He was still wearing the hood).
“You remember those creatures that attacked you at the beach? Well, those things are called Heartless. They roam the worlds, seeking hearts to… well, I don’t know what they do, but the person who loses their heart turns into a Heartless. In addition to stealing the peoples’ hearts, they also try to take the heart of the world. Every world has a heart, which is a great energy that the Heartless are drawn to. If the Heartless find the heart of the world, then it disappears. I don’t know how, and I don’t know where it goes after it’s lost its heart, but I do know that some of the people that survive the destruction of their world ended up in a place called Traverse Town. But the worlds were set right by the brave Keyblade Master. Though now the Heartless seem to be back attacking the worlds again.”
Now, that was a lot of info. I just sat there, letting it all sink in, then I got up and went to the window, staring at the sunset.
“Was my world swallowed by the Heartless?” I asked him, almost not wanting to hear the answer.
“Yes” was all he said. I said nothing and just kept looking out the window. I was never really one to go bawling whenever sad news came my way, but tears were fighting their way into my eyes. I gazed unseeingly at the sunset.
I don’t know how long I was standing there like that, but Ansem suddenly said that he should train me before tomorrow, if possible. I wiped the tears that succeeded in getting to my eyes from my face and looked at him.
“Decide on where we’re going to train yet?” I asked, smiling as best I could.
“Yeah. The Sandlot seems like a good place to train.”
I had no clue where the Sandlot was, so I just kept quiet and got my shoes on as Ansem gathered up his things.
I don’t like Ansem’s method of training. He was brutal. The only thing I like about the entire training thing was my sword, which was composed of brilliant shades of aqua and turquoise.
“The Heartless won’t go easy on you. Why should I?” he would say when I complained. “And I think it’d be better if you could defeat any Heartless with just one blow.” I must’ve lost every time we sparred. How the hell was I supposed to defeat every Heartless? Though I have to admit, I was getting better. I even managed to whack him twice. After about the hundredth time we sparred (that night!), he gave the okay to stop. I collapsed onto the ground, panting. He (though I couldn’t see his face, his stupid hood was still up) didn’t seem to be sweating. He wasn’t even breathing hard.
“Why do you always keep your hood up? I’ve never seen your face,” I told him when the air finally came easily to me.
“Fine. If it’ll make you happy.” Then he pulled down his hood.
The first thing I noticed was that he wasn’t sweating. The second thing I noticed was that he was really (like, seriously) tan, his eyes were orange, and he had long, white/gray spiky hair, though he sounded and looked pretty young for a guy with white/gray hair.
After I got over seeing him for the first time, I finally said “Okay. Satisfied” and he put his hood back up (though I saw no point in doing so). I got up, sheathed my sword and strapped the sword across my back in a position Ansem told me would be the easiest to carry and pull out fast when needed. He also told me that I can summon it, and he’d teach me later.
“So now that you’re all trained up and ready,” he said, with just a hint of sarcasm, “we can set off soon. Maybe a couple more days.”
“Do you know where we’re going yet?” I asked with a smile.
“Yes,” he told me, “we’re going to Hollow Bastion. Also, you’re going to need a little more training with that sword, and you still have to learn how to warp.”
“Warp?” I asked, confuzzled.
“Yep. Watch.” He turned around, holding his hand in front of him as he did so. Then, after a few seconds, a purplish-blackish-pinkish bubble thing about the size of a door popped up where his hand was pointing. He walked up to it, turned around, and walked through it backwards. Then the thing vanished.
I walked up to the spot where it was and just kinda stood there, having no idea what the hell just happened.
“Like it?” Ansem asked from behind me.
“Dude,” I said, awestruck. Though more questions popped into my head, uninvited (stupid questions *shoots them to the ground ‘till they die*).
“Um… how the heck am I supposed to learn this?”
Ansem just laughed. I didn’t get the joke.
“I’ll need to teach you and train you.” Oh. That joke.
Yippee. More training lessons with Ansem.
Ansem disappeared. Again. This was, like, the umpteenth billion time he’s done it. I didn’t really mind, though, because it gave me time to practice with my sword and whatnot (plus the extra free time I got). If I didn’t feel like practicing, I could just wander and explore Twilight Town. It was one of these times Ansem just left me that I felt like taking the train (which I had never been on) to Sunset Station. It was beautiful there. Usually I spent the entire day there, if I could. My favorite part was Sunset Hill. Once I went there, just for a little relaxation, and let my troubles melt away into oblivion.
I was laying on one of the benches, staring at the sunset, when someone came up behind me, scaring the hell outta me.
“I was wondering where you went off to,” a voice behind me said. I wasn’t expecting it, so my heart kinda skipped a beat.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you’re really love doing that.” I turned my head to the person standing there and, surprise, surprise, Ansem it was.
“Mm. You still have to learn to warp, you know.”
“Great,” I moaned, staring back at the sunset.
The warping lessons were super fun (ß and that, kids, is called exaggerated sarcasm). Ansem made me warp from an alleyway to our hotel room, and other things along those lines (guess how well I did: about a half-mile or so off). I think I finally got it after a couple of days, though I was still sort of iffy.
“I think you’re ready,” Ansem told me after I warped perfectly during one of the training sessions. “And you’ve gotten really strong. Facing the Heartless should be a piece of cake for you now.”
Those words gave me confidence (though I think that one warp he congratulated me on was a fluke… I was kinda thinking about going to a McDonald’s. The food here sucks). And then he added something I’ve been expecting (slash hoping) to happen for a while.
“We’ll be leaving for Hollow Bastion tomorrow.”
“Cool,” I told him, then I headed off to bed for some much deserved sleep.
“Okay, today we’re going to go to Hollow Bastion,” Ansem told me the next morning.
“Right,” I said. “So, how exactly are we going to get there? Hitch a ride on a shooting star?”
“Not exactly. We’re going to fly by gummi ship,” he chuckled a little unnecessarily when he said this (I don’t know why. Maybe because of the look of utter confusion on my face?). “It’s like a rocket ship, only considerably smaller.”
“And where are you keeping this amazing ship?” I asked.
“You’ll see.”
So we walked out of the hotel and started off towards the Tram Common. When we got there, we walked to the far wall where there was a hole that I could see led to the woods.
“We’re just making a little side-trip. I have to talk to someone about something, and you can practice using your new sword.”
Wow. Can we say vague, much? I had a confused/apprehensive look on my face, with a little tiny mesh of fear. Not a lot, just a little. So we walked through the woods and came to a house, no, mansion that looked like it was abandoned a while ago. Creepy enough? No, not really. We walked up to the gate, which had a padlock bigger than my head. I was wondering how we were going to get in when Ansem turned right and went through the wall. I kinda freaked out, so I warped to the other side. When I got over there, Ansem was shaking his head at me.
“Very good, but hardly necessary,” he told me, and he motioned me to come over to the place where he appeared to have gone through the wall. I felt like a complete idiot. There in front of me was a hole that didn’t look big, but was big enough to squeeze through.
“Great. Thanks for telling me.” I banged my head against the wall.
“Come on. Let’s go inside.” He sounded like he was trying very hard to restrain himself from bursting out laughing. We walked up to the door and went inside. It looked bad, but the mansion didn’t have the whole abandoned, scary, cobweb-covered look to it. Though there were piles of junk everywhere. We walked to a little model of a castle that was all crumbly when these things, not Heartless, things popped in out of nowhere.
“What the heck are these things???” I yelled at Ansem.
“Oh yeah. I didn’t tell you, did I?”
No dip.
“I’ll tell you in a second. For now, just fight your way through and follow me.”
He slashed at one of the things and ran up the stairs. I followed, whacking things as they came. We ran into the library, down some more stairs, whacking even more of those bad boys, when we finished them all up there.
“Okay, so what are those things?” I asked, panting and sheathing my sword.
“Those things are called Nobodies. They’re the other halves of Heartless,” he began. “You know that when a person loses their heart, they become a Heartless, right? Well, people with strong hearts also become Nobodies. The lesser Nobodies are controlled by higher Nobodies, which can think and act for themselves. The Nobodies in control call themselves Organization XIII. Six of the Organization’s members have been eliminated. We’re trying to get rid of Organization XIII for good.”
“Right,” I said, not getting any of that. “Just a couple questions for ya.”
“There always is.”
“ ‘Eliminated’? That sounds kinda harsh, and not to mention brutal.”
“Would ‘taken care of’ be better?” he asked me with sarcasm just oozing from every syllable.
“No, Mr. Let’s Make Everything A Joke. It’s worse.”
“I thought so.”
“Next question: Why are you trying to get rid of Organization XIII for good?”
He paused for a moment and said, “That’s need to know information.”
I knew there was no arguing with him (don’t know how. Just got that vibe), so I let it go. We headed down the stairs when Ansem told me something that was a real kill-joy.
“You need to stay here. I’ll be right back,” he told me, and then he headed for the door.
“Why can’t I come in?” I asked, sort of whining. I’m not a big whiner. No way. Not me… Did that sound even remotely convincing at all???
“Because you have to go to Hollow Bastion,” he said to me, as a teacher would a little kid who just didn’t get the problem.
“But how do I get there? Where’s the gummi ship? How do I drive said ship?
What do I do when I get there?” Don’t I have a way with words? And how ‘bout my questions? Think there’s enough?
“Fine, I’ll take you to Hollow Bastion. Hang on for a little while.” Then he went in and shut the door firmly behind him. I sat on those stairs for what seemed like forever, when he finally came out.
“Ready?”
“What do you think?” I said impatiently, and we left. I’m glad to say that we didn’t run into anymore Nobodies.
When we got out of the Mansion, we headed back to the Tram Common and headed off to a place I’ve never been before (and I thought I went everywhere). I stayed quiet the entire way, just taking everything in (in case he wanted me to find this place again), when we suddenly turned off into a long alleyway. At the end of the alley there was another left, and also a ship I assumed to be the gummi ship. I stood there, and gaped at it (never seen a rocket ship). I was also wondering how the hell he parked this thing. I mean, the alleyway was tiny. Of course, I didn’t say all that out loud.
“You like it?” he asked with a slight hint of amusement in his voice.
I nodded dumbly.
“Do you wanna drive?” he asked, way too unnecessarily.
“I don’t answer stupid questions. Where are the keys?”
He laughed. “Hop in.”
I gotta tell you, driving the gummi ship is the most awesomest thing in the whole [insert exclamatory swear word of your choice here] world! (Pardon the language)
When we got in, I immediately went to the driver’s seat. Ansem told me all the gadgets and gizmos there were, and also how to use them.
“Um, you know that if I try to take off, we’ll crash and burn and die, right?” I asked in a ‘did you know’ kinda tone.
“Well, then you’d better let me do it,” he said to me, his voice shaking a little (I guess my description a bit too… much). I obligingly got up and let him take over. Once we were in space, he let me take over. I might’ve freaked him out a little with my moves, but we made it to Hollow Bastion easy enough.
“Remind me to never let you drive the gummi ship again,” he told me shakily (it’s not my fault. He let me). He was quaking like Jell-O, but I felt awesome. After a few minutes, it seemed like Ansem recovered a bit, so I began to head out into Hollow Bastion. It was nighttime, so I don’t think anyone saw the ship land into the secretly secret spot.
“Hang on. I got something to tell you,” Ansem called to me. I turned around and walked back, wanting to know what he had to say.
“Yes, O Jell-O-y One?” I asked him with a smile on my face.
“First off, I’m going to have to leave you,” he began. “I have some other things to do in different worlds.”
I handled this tidbit of news nicely…
“What!?! How the hell am I supposed to get along!? What am I gonna do here!? I don’t even know the first thing about this place, other than its name! What if I wanna leave? I don’t have a gummi ship! I don’t have cash!”
See? Nicely handled.
“Chill out, okay? I’ll give you munny. You can learn about this place by staying here and studying it, you know? Getting along is no problem. Just work. I think there’re some rooms for rent in the Borough,” he explained calmly. Then he gave me a pouch filled with munny.
“What about the gummi ship?” I asked, putting the purse away. “Do you have an extra one in your pocket? Or am I supposed to hitch a ride on a shooting star, like I thought before?”
“Find Cid and talk to him about that. He’s a computer wiz. Tell him the King knows that he has one and that you need one.”
“Cid. King. Got it,” I said, and turned to find a place to rest, when Ansem called me back. Didn’t he have somewhere to be?
“Couple more things.” Try a couple thousand. “You’re probably not going to get a place tonight, so I suggest that you go to the Crystal Fissure for the night. Go through the Borough, through the Bailey, take a left, and take the Ravine Trail until you come to a fissure with a lot of crystals in it. Now, there are a lot of Heartless on the way, so you can test your newly developed skills.”
“Happy, happy, joy, joy,” I said tiredly. Ansem ignored this little bit of sarcasm.
“Also, don’t mention anything to anyone about Riku.”
“Since I have no clue what you’re talking about, that will be no problem.”
“That’s all I have to say,” he concluded.
“In that case, I shall start this journey to the Crystal Fissure. Guess I’ll see you later, then,” I told him.
“Guess so.” Then something weird happened. He freakin’ hugged me.
“Um…” I said. Then he let me go and went to the gummi ship. I didn’t stay to see him take off. I put up my hood and started to the Fissure.
Chapter 1: Beginnings
I liked my life. Why’d they take that away? How could they do that? How could they be so… so heartless?
I was on the beach, it was a beautiful day, and I was getting a good tan, I might add. Then, from nowhere, a storm appeared over the water. I was packing up because me + storm = not a happy Crystal. I was heading for my bike (I’m only 15. I don’t have my license, just a permit), when this shadow moved toward me. I mean, a shadow actually moved! A little shadowy blop-thingy. I was curious as to what it was, so I walked towards it. A little black creature with bright yellow eyes popped up! It looked creepy, so I ran. Who the freak wouldn’t? Just then, a dark figure came from nowhere and slayed it. Then another shadow appeared in front of me, and I felt something hit my head. Maybe I fell or—…
Reality was calling. I felt the soft sheets under my body, the fluffy pillow cradling my head. I sat up, looked around the room… and froze. In the corner was a man robed in black. He had a hood on, so I couldn’t see his face. I knew it was a guy because of his posture and the sound of his voice.
“Nice fighting. You really knocked ‘em dead,” he said with as much sarcasm as he could put in. Which, I have to say, wasn’t that much.
“Yeah, like I planned on getting attacked by shadow thingies,” I shot at him. Who was he to remind me that my fighting skills… need work? He didn’t know me. I’d never met him before in my life… right? He stood up and handed me a bag of munny. I didn’t take it. He put it back into his pocket and sat down again. He just sat there. Staring at me, er, facing me (stupid hood). Creepy.
“So, uh, where are we?” I asked the weird creepy dude.
No answer.
“Where’d you come from?” I ventured.
Nada.
“What’s your name?”
Still no answer.
“My name’s Crystal.”
No reaction.
“Ya wanna answer me? Or show any other signs of life?”
Nothing.
I gave up on that little interrogation and got out of the bed. The guy did nothing. He has great mannerism. I went to look out the window and saw trains moving on a track to a station, and then going off somewhere else. After a while I got bored so I headed toward the door. The plus side was that I figured out the guy wasn’t glued to the chair. The down side was he wouldn’t let me out.
“Can I have a look around?” I shot the guy a dark look thinking he’d let me through. My thinking’s been really screwy lately.
“I can’t let you,” he said. He didn’t even say it like he was regretting it. That means he’s not under orders.
“Then why can’t I?”
No answer. Annoying.
I turned to go back to the bed to lie down. He went back to his chair. Perfect. As soon as he sat down, I bolted for the door and ran into the hallway. The dude got out into the hallway as soon as I got to the end of it. I didn’t go outside, though. I didn’t know my way around.
“Are you always this complicated?” he asked, his voice dripping with weak sarcasm.
“Only when I don’t get answers,” I shot at him. His shoulders fell and I think he smiled, though I couldn’t tell with the hood over his face.
He went back into the room. Me, being my stupid curious self, followed. He was in his little chair in his little corner. No surprise there. I sat down opposite to him and waited.
“Okay. I’ll give you answers if you give me some,” he said at last. I had no clue what he meant by me giving him answers, seeing as I was totally clueless to what the heck was going on, but I told him yes and repeated my questions.
“We’re in Twilight Town’s hotel,” he began, “I came from a place that I may never be able to go to again. My name is… Ansem. You can’t have a look around because you suck at fighting and your clothes aren't right for this world.”
I looked down at my clothes. “What’s wrong with them?” I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt over my swim suit.
“Okay, maybe I see your point,” I said.
“Good. We’ll train sometime in the next couple days and leave in a few weeks.” He started for the door and added, “I’ll be in this room if you need me. Good night.” And then he closed the door behind him.
* * *
I couldn’t sleep that night. I never can when my subconscious thinks that something important is going to happen in the morning. I was tossing and turning in my bed when I suddenly got up to go do something. Then I thought, for some reason, about going in the next room to get a glimpse of Ansem’s face. It was really weird that he paused when he said his name, like he had to think about it or something. That name seemed strangely familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Oh well, I thought. Maybe it’s nothing.
I went to the door and opened it without a sound. I did this easily because I always did it at home when everyone was asleep to perform various mischievous activities. Anyway, I snuck up to his bed, again very stealthily, thought I couldn’t see anything since it was so dark.
I reached the bed and turned my flashlight on (where'd I get the flashlight? I don't even know), covering most of it so that there was only a little sliver of light showing, and turned it on the bed. I was puzzled. There was nothing in the bed. I took my hand off the flashlight and cast its light around the room. Nothing. Still puzzled, I turned back to the room to try and get some sleep. I was almost to the door when I heard voices. Curious, I went the opposite way and put my ear up to the other door.
“…don’t know if she does, or is, but we’ll find out sooner or later, okay? Maybe she can help wake Sora up.” Sora? Who’s that? I thought.
I knew that voice was Ansem’s, and I also knew who the other voice was.
“Just give him some time.” This voice was high and squeaky. “Maybe Sora will wake up on his own...”
“How do you know?! He may wake up in years!” Ansem cut in. I was trying to work this out. Ansem was talking to… Mickey, and he wants to wake up someone called Sora from a… coma? So confusing.
“Give him, and yourself, time. That’s all it usually takes.” Yep. Definitely a coma.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Ansem said, and the conversation was over. That last tidbit of information kind of shocked me. King Mickey? Where’s his kingdom? Disney World, Orlando, Florida? Or was it the one in Paris? I gave up trying to analyze the info and went to bed.
* * *
The next morning, I woke up and combed my hair. For some reason, I didn’t think it was all just a dream. I guess maybe because I wasn’t in my normal room? I got dressed and knocked on Ansem’s door.
“Wake up, sleepyhead!” I called.
No answer.
I rolled my eyes and went in.
“Hello! Time to get up!” I said as I walked in. Ansem wasn’t there. No big surprise. Something on the bed caught my eye. It was a pouch with a note next to it. The note said that Ansem went to do something, he’d be back soon, and that I should go buy breakfast and wander around a bit. I went to the café to buy me some breakfast, but I couldn’t read the menu, I’m embarrassed to say. I gave up and went back to the shop lane-avenue-place-thingy to have a look at Twilight Town.
Twilight Town’s a really cool place. After a while I got tired of looking around and headed back to the hotel. I was nearly there when I heard someone clear their throat behind me and a hand placed on my shoulder. I’m sorry to say that I squealed, and jumped a little (who wouldn’t?), when that happened. I turned around and saw that it was Ansem.
“Do you like scaring me half to death or is it just me?” I asked him.
“I just thought that we could go back to our rooms together, that’s all,” he replied with a shrug. I didn’t know how he got anywhere near me, and I didn’t care, so we headed out. When we got to our hotel rooms, he gave me long black robes, black pants, and high-heeled boots. Where the hell did he get those? No idea. How the hell did he know my size…? Let’s not get into that, okay?
“Do I have to wear the heels?” I asked, looking disgustedly at the boots.
“I thought you’d like them, seeing as you’re a gi—,”
“Don’t even finish that sentence, sexist. I’m a tomboy. I don’t like the whole girly-girl crap.” I said before he could continue. “I’d like to have the kind that you have on, please.”
“Alright. Fine. I’ll get you another pair,” he told me as he went to his room. About five minutes later, he came back with boots exactly like his. Again, in my size (creeper?).
“Here.”
“Can I burn those?” I asked, pointing at the heels.
“No,” he laughed. He gave me some privacy while I got changed into my new clothes. When he came back in, he asked whether I wanted to go to a late lunch, early dinner. I said “Duh. I’m starving” and we were off. At the restaurant he told me something that I knew, in the back of my head, was coming.
“We’ll be leaving for a different world in a couple of weeks. Maybe longer.”
“Cool. Where?”
“Well, I haven’t decided yet. Though you might need something to help protect yourself, and I have just the thing. I’ll give it to you when we get back to the hotel.”
When we finished our meal, we headed back to the hotel. There, Ansem told me to wait in my room while he went off to his room to get my coolio-awesome-thingy-mabob. He came back carrying a coolio-awesome-weapon-thingy.
“Is that a—?” I asked, pointing at it.
“Sword? Yeah. I thought it’d be helpful if you had a weapon.”
I thought about it and thought it’d be a good idea for me not to be a damsel in distress. Plus, I knew he was really saying “Here’s a weapon for you to get out of trouble with yourself so I don’t have to come to your rescue. Kay?” I didn’t care, it was still cool.
“Just a couple questions for you,” I began, “and it’d be great if you’d actually answer them.”
He sighed and said, “Shoot.”
“One: Who will be teaching me how to use this magnificent weapon?”
“I will either this evening or in the morning.”
“Two: Where?”
“No idea.”
Great.
“Three: Why will I need this sword?”
“That’s more than a couple.”
“So? The second one didn’t really count since you didn’t have an answer.” I smiled.
“Fine.” He paused a moment before pacing around the room. I could already tell that that meant long explanation, so I sat down. He paced for about five minutes and finally looked at me (I think. He was still wearing the hood).
“You remember those creatures that attacked you at the beach? Well, those things are called Heartless. They roam the worlds, seeking hearts to… well, I don’t know what they do, but the person who loses their heart turns into a Heartless. In addition to stealing the peoples’ hearts, they also try to take the heart of the world. Every world has a heart, which is a great energy that the Heartless are drawn to. If the Heartless find the heart of the world, then it disappears. I don’t know how, and I don’t know where it goes after it’s lost its heart, but I do know that some of the people that survive the destruction of their world ended up in a place called Traverse Town. But the worlds were set right by the brave Keyblade Master. Though now the Heartless seem to be back attacking the worlds again.”
Now, that was a lot of info. I just sat there, letting it all sink in, then I got up and went to the window, staring at the sunset.
“Was my world swallowed by the Heartless?” I asked him, almost not wanting to hear the answer.
“Yes” was all he said. I said nothing and just kept looking out the window. I was never really one to go bawling whenever sad news came my way, but tears were fighting their way into my eyes. I gazed unseeingly at the sunset.
I don’t know how long I was standing there like that, but Ansem suddenly said that he should train me before tomorrow, if possible. I wiped the tears that succeeded in getting to my eyes from my face and looked at him.
“Decide on where we’re going to train yet?” I asked, smiling as best I could.
“Yeah. The Sandlot seems like a good place to train.”
I had no clue where the Sandlot was, so I just kept quiet and got my shoes on as Ansem gathered up his things.
* * *
Note to self: Never train with Ansem again.
I don’t like Ansem’s method of training. He was brutal. The only thing I like about the entire training thing was my sword, which was composed of brilliant shades of aqua and turquoise.
“The Heartless won’t go easy on you. Why should I?” he would say when I complained. “And I think it’d be better if you could defeat any Heartless with just one blow.” I must’ve lost every time we sparred. How the hell was I supposed to defeat every Heartless? Though I have to admit, I was getting better. I even managed to whack him twice. After about the hundredth time we sparred (that night!), he gave the okay to stop. I collapsed onto the ground, panting. He (though I couldn’t see his face, his stupid hood was still up) didn’t seem to be sweating. He wasn’t even breathing hard.
“Why do you always keep your hood up? I’ve never seen your face,” I told him when the air finally came easily to me.
“Fine. If it’ll make you happy.” Then he pulled down his hood.
The first thing I noticed was that he wasn’t sweating. The second thing I noticed was that he was really (like, seriously) tan, his eyes were orange, and he had long, white/gray spiky hair, though he sounded and looked pretty young for a guy with white/gray hair.
After I got over seeing him for the first time, I finally said “Okay. Satisfied” and he put his hood back up (though I saw no point in doing so). I got up, sheathed my sword and strapped the sword across my back in a position Ansem told me would be the easiest to carry and pull out fast when needed. He also told me that I can summon it, and he’d teach me later.
“So now that you’re all trained up and ready,” he said, with just a hint of sarcasm, “we can set off soon. Maybe a couple more days.”
“Do you know where we’re going yet?” I asked with a smile.
“Yes,” he told me, “we’re going to Hollow Bastion. Also, you’re going to need a little more training with that sword, and you still have to learn how to warp.”
“Warp?” I asked, confuzzled.
“Yep. Watch.” He turned around, holding his hand in front of him as he did so. Then, after a few seconds, a purplish-blackish-pinkish bubble thing about the size of a door popped up where his hand was pointing. He walked up to it, turned around, and walked through it backwards. Then the thing vanished.
I walked up to the spot where it was and just kinda stood there, having no idea what the hell just happened.
“Like it?” Ansem asked from behind me.
“Dude,” I said, awestruck. Though more questions popped into my head, uninvited (stupid questions *shoots them to the ground ‘till they die*).
“Um… how the heck am I supposed to learn this?”
Ansem just laughed. I didn’t get the joke.
“I’ll need to teach you and train you.” Oh. That joke.
Yippee. More training lessons with Ansem.
* * *
Ansem disappeared. Again. This was, like, the umpteenth billion time he’s done it. I didn’t really mind, though, because it gave me time to practice with my sword and whatnot (plus the extra free time I got). If I didn’t feel like practicing, I could just wander and explore Twilight Town. It was one of these times Ansem just left me that I felt like taking the train (which I had never been on) to Sunset Station. It was beautiful there. Usually I spent the entire day there, if I could. My favorite part was Sunset Hill. Once I went there, just for a little relaxation, and let my troubles melt away into oblivion.
I was laying on one of the benches, staring at the sunset, when someone came up behind me, scaring the hell outta me.
“I was wondering where you went off to,” a voice behind me said. I wasn’t expecting it, so my heart kinda skipped a beat.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you’re really love doing that.” I turned my head to the person standing there and, surprise, surprise, Ansem it was.
“Mm. You still have to learn to warp, you know.”
“Great,” I moaned, staring back at the sunset.
* * *
The warping lessons were super fun (ß and that, kids, is called exaggerated sarcasm). Ansem made me warp from an alleyway to our hotel room, and other things along those lines (guess how well I did: about a half-mile or so off). I think I finally got it after a couple of days, though I was still sort of iffy.
“I think you’re ready,” Ansem told me after I warped perfectly during one of the training sessions. “And you’ve gotten really strong. Facing the Heartless should be a piece of cake for you now.”
Those words gave me confidence (though I think that one warp he congratulated me on was a fluke… I was kinda thinking about going to a McDonald’s. The food here sucks). And then he added something I’ve been expecting (slash hoping) to happen for a while.
“We’ll be leaving for Hollow Bastion tomorrow.”
“Cool,” I told him, then I headed off to bed for some much deserved sleep.
* * *
“Okay, today we’re going to go to Hollow Bastion,” Ansem told me the next morning.
“Right,” I said. “So, how exactly are we going to get there? Hitch a ride on a shooting star?”
“Not exactly. We’re going to fly by gummi ship,” he chuckled a little unnecessarily when he said this (I don’t know why. Maybe because of the look of utter confusion on my face?). “It’s like a rocket ship, only considerably smaller.”
“And where are you keeping this amazing ship?” I asked.
“You’ll see.”
So we walked out of the hotel and started off towards the Tram Common. When we got there, we walked to the far wall where there was a hole that I could see led to the woods.
“We’re just making a little side-trip. I have to talk to someone about something, and you can practice using your new sword.”
Wow. Can we say vague, much? I had a confused/apprehensive look on my face, with a little tiny mesh of fear. Not a lot, just a little. So we walked through the woods and came to a house, no, mansion that looked like it was abandoned a while ago. Creepy enough? No, not really. We walked up to the gate, which had a padlock bigger than my head. I was wondering how we were going to get in when Ansem turned right and went through the wall. I kinda freaked out, so I warped to the other side. When I got over there, Ansem was shaking his head at me.
“Very good, but hardly necessary,” he told me, and he motioned me to come over to the place where he appeared to have gone through the wall. I felt like a complete idiot. There in front of me was a hole that didn’t look big, but was big enough to squeeze through.
“Great. Thanks for telling me.” I banged my head against the wall.
“Come on. Let’s go inside.” He sounded like he was trying very hard to restrain himself from bursting out laughing. We walked up to the door and went inside. It looked bad, but the mansion didn’t have the whole abandoned, scary, cobweb-covered look to it. Though there were piles of junk everywhere. We walked to a little model of a castle that was all crumbly when these things, not Heartless, things popped in out of nowhere.
“What the heck are these things???” I yelled at Ansem.
“Oh yeah. I didn’t tell you, did I?”
No dip.
“I’ll tell you in a second. For now, just fight your way through and follow me.”
He slashed at one of the things and ran up the stairs. I followed, whacking things as they came. We ran into the library, down some more stairs, whacking even more of those bad boys, when we finished them all up there.
“Okay, so what are those things?” I asked, panting and sheathing my sword.
“Those things are called Nobodies. They’re the other halves of Heartless,” he began. “You know that when a person loses their heart, they become a Heartless, right? Well, people with strong hearts also become Nobodies. The lesser Nobodies are controlled by higher Nobodies, which can think and act for themselves. The Nobodies in control call themselves Organization XIII. Six of the Organization’s members have been eliminated. We’re trying to get rid of Organization XIII for good.”
“Right,” I said, not getting any of that. “Just a couple questions for ya.”
“There always is.”
“ ‘Eliminated’? That sounds kinda harsh, and not to mention brutal.”
“Would ‘taken care of’ be better?” he asked me with sarcasm just oozing from every syllable.
“No, Mr. Let’s Make Everything A Joke. It’s worse.”
“I thought so.”
“Next question: Why are you trying to get rid of Organization XIII for good?”
He paused for a moment and said, “That’s need to know information.”
I knew there was no arguing with him (don’t know how. Just got that vibe), so I let it go. We headed down the stairs when Ansem told me something that was a real kill-joy.
“You need to stay here. I’ll be right back,” he told me, and then he headed for the door.
“Why can’t I come in?” I asked, sort of whining. I’m not a big whiner. No way. Not me… Did that sound even remotely convincing at all???
“Because you have to go to Hollow Bastion,” he said to me, as a teacher would a little kid who just didn’t get the problem.
“But how do I get there? Where’s the gummi ship? How do I drive said ship?
What do I do when I get there?” Don’t I have a way with words? And how ‘bout my questions? Think there’s enough?
“Fine, I’ll take you to Hollow Bastion. Hang on for a little while.” Then he went in and shut the door firmly behind him. I sat on those stairs for what seemed like forever, when he finally came out.
“Ready?”
“What do you think?” I said impatiently, and we left. I’m glad to say that we didn’t run into anymore Nobodies.
When we got out of the Mansion, we headed back to the Tram Common and headed off to a place I’ve never been before (and I thought I went everywhere). I stayed quiet the entire way, just taking everything in (in case he wanted me to find this place again), when we suddenly turned off into a long alleyway. At the end of the alley there was another left, and also a ship I assumed to be the gummi ship. I stood there, and gaped at it (never seen a rocket ship). I was also wondering how the hell he parked this thing. I mean, the alleyway was tiny. Of course, I didn’t say all that out loud.
“You like it?” he asked with a slight hint of amusement in his voice.
I nodded dumbly.
“Do you wanna drive?” he asked, way too unnecessarily.
“I don’t answer stupid questions. Where are the keys?”
He laughed. “Hop in.”
* * *
I gotta tell you, driving the gummi ship is the most awesomest thing in the whole [insert exclamatory swear word of your choice here] world! (Pardon the language)
When we got in, I immediately went to the driver’s seat. Ansem told me all the gadgets and gizmos there were, and also how to use them.
“Um, you know that if I try to take off, we’ll crash and burn and die, right?” I asked in a ‘did you know’ kinda tone.
“Well, then you’d better let me do it,” he said to me, his voice shaking a little (I guess my description a bit too… much). I obligingly got up and let him take over. Once we were in space, he let me take over. I might’ve freaked him out a little with my moves, but we made it to Hollow Bastion easy enough.
“Remind me to never let you drive the gummi ship again,” he told me shakily (it’s not my fault. He let me). He was quaking like Jell-O, but I felt awesome. After a few minutes, it seemed like Ansem recovered a bit, so I began to head out into Hollow Bastion. It was nighttime, so I don’t think anyone saw the ship land into the secretly secret spot.
“Hang on. I got something to tell you,” Ansem called to me. I turned around and walked back, wanting to know what he had to say.
“Yes, O Jell-O-y One?” I asked him with a smile on my face.
“First off, I’m going to have to leave you,” he began. “I have some other things to do in different worlds.”
I handled this tidbit of news nicely…
“What!?! How the hell am I supposed to get along!? What am I gonna do here!? I don’t even know the first thing about this place, other than its name! What if I wanna leave? I don’t have a gummi ship! I don’t have cash!”
See? Nicely handled.
“Chill out, okay? I’ll give you munny. You can learn about this place by staying here and studying it, you know? Getting along is no problem. Just work. I think there’re some rooms for rent in the Borough,” he explained calmly. Then he gave me a pouch filled with munny.
“What about the gummi ship?” I asked, putting the purse away. “Do you have an extra one in your pocket? Or am I supposed to hitch a ride on a shooting star, like I thought before?”
“Find Cid and talk to him about that. He’s a computer wiz. Tell him the King knows that he has one and that you need one.”
“Cid. King. Got it,” I said, and turned to find a place to rest, when Ansem called me back. Didn’t he have somewhere to be?
“Couple more things.” Try a couple thousand. “You’re probably not going to get a place tonight, so I suggest that you go to the Crystal Fissure for the night. Go through the Borough, through the Bailey, take a left, and take the Ravine Trail until you come to a fissure with a lot of crystals in it. Now, there are a lot of Heartless on the way, so you can test your newly developed skills.”
“Happy, happy, joy, joy,” I said tiredly. Ansem ignored this little bit of sarcasm.
“Also, don’t mention anything to anyone about Riku.”
“Since I have no clue what you’re talking about, that will be no problem.”
“That’s all I have to say,” he concluded.
“In that case, I shall start this journey to the Crystal Fissure. Guess I’ll see you later, then,” I told him.
“Guess so.” Then something weird happened. He freakin’ hugged me.
“Um…” I said. Then he let me go and went to the gummi ship. I didn’t stay to see him take off. I put up my hood and started to the Fissure.
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