Fan Fiction ❯ Father of the Heartless ❯ Calico Crisis ( Chapter 1 )

This is my first story on MediaMiner, but I'm not new to writing. Please tell me exactly what you think, do not hold back. I'm thick-skinned and flames are acceptable because they are, as mean as they sometimes get, the truth of what the person believes about the story.

This is one of my first Alternate Universe fictions, with a touch of horror, also not a usually mainstream with me. The original character, though I would love to be her, is not actually me. She's very human, from what I've heard. So, here we go!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts nor the touch of information that I use from InuYasha. (Although I believe the information is actually Shinto religious info, but that's where I found it…) I DO own the world of Yan-Shu and everything that has to do with it, including Nekopolis, Criss, and Cleopatra.

Chapter 1: Calico Crisis

Father of the Heartless.

Few things in this world would frighten Riku Sawaguchi. The Heartless hadn't frightened him. Maleficent, with her green skin and tantalizing talk, less so. He wasn't scared of never seeing his parents again. Hurt, but not scared, of the fact that Sora had betrayed him for that stupid Keyblade. Had betrayed Kairi.

No, nothing much frightened him.

With the possible exception of cats.

And as there was a lovely calico staring at him with shining red eyes, he had a lot to be afraid of. In the darkness, he could hardly see the cat's bristled tail.

"Yah!" he tried to jump to his feet.

In his haste, his feet couldn't catch the ground. His hands slid on the smooth surface. The cat crept forward. She bared her teeth. He kicked at the ground. His foot connected with the calico's chest.

It flew in a graceful arc into the darkness around them.

"Hey! Cleopatra didn't do anything to you."

Riku glanced up, heaving a sigh of faint relief. A young woman had caught the cat and was holding her safely away from him. As long as it stayed there, he was safe.

"Are you kidding?" Riku retorted. "It tried to attack me!"

"She has a name, you know," said the woman. "It's Cleopatra. Or Cleo. Who're you?"

Riku ran a hand through his hair, pulling it out of his eyes. The woman's attitude astounded him. Even in the darkness, he could see that her patchy hair almost matched the cat's fur in design, with orange, brown, and white patches. Eyes blue as robin eggs narrowed when he hesitated.

"I asked you a question, dude," she said. "What is your name?"

"Riku," he said. "Sorry, but I didn't catch yours."

"That's because I didn't tell you it. I'm Criss. Where'd you come from? And how come that fella just dropped you off here like an old dog?"

Riku scratched his head. "What?"

"You don't remember? Jeez," Criss glanced in either direction, holding the cat close to her chest. "C'mon. You'd better come with me. If anyone sees you, you're probably dead."

"What do you mean, dead?"

"Listen, you got dumped in the wrong world." She glanced around again, and then grabbed his gloved hand. "Trust me, you don't want to be caught in those clothes. You'll be dead long before you could ever think of escaping."

"My clothes? What's wrong with-"

"No time."

Criss ran down the dark alleyway. Riku caught a quick glimpse of a large gunnysack before they rounded the corner. Despite the cat, she was really fast and strong. Continually, she peeked around corners and glanced at signs written in a language Riku couldn't read. It was still dark, and there were no street lamps or store windows to light the alleys. All Riku knew was darkness.

It wasn't that great of an improvement over Hallow Bastion, which had been, at best, uncomfortable and daunting. All he remembered was Maleficent showing him Sora with those two King's aides, and then being whisked off in a Gummi Ship to find Kairi. It had only been him and Hades.

The god of the underworld hadn't been the greatest of company, but at least he liked to talk. As soon as they'd reached the Coliseum, however, he'd gotten off and Riku was alone. Who was this Criss person talking about?

They rounded another corner, but Criss stopped short, pushing him back around. She whispered to him to stay put. The dark in this alley was black as the Heartless and deep as a chasm. He heard her voice ahead.

"There was a boy over on Hollow Street," she said. "If you go straight down that road there, I'm pretty sure you'll find him. He was wearing bright yellow and had silver hair."

"A mere boy, in yellow with silver hair?" Another voice sniffed angrily. She, too, was a woman. "I'll put a stop to that, right, YaYa? Thanks for the tip, Criss."

Instead of one pair of shoes, a thousand pairs marched in time to a rhythm Riku had never heard before. Criss reappeared from the shadows and grabbed his hand again, yanking him through a black, windowless door. No light fell on them, no noise, and no warmth from the cold outside. What kind of place was this?

"Wait right here," Criss ordered.

He didn't argue. With that cat in her arms, Riku didn't feel like having his legs used as a scratching post. Criss' words from before rang in his head. What was so wrong with him wearing yellow and having silver hair? Why was this place so dark, cold, and quiet?

"Oh, you need light, don't you," Criss said.

From somewhere across the room, a flame erupted from a tiny spark to fill an enormous fireplace to his left. The cat leapt from Criss' arms and curled up on a threadbare rug on the hearth. Now that there was light in the room, Riku had some time to look around.

Simplicity and black must have been something this place strived for. Dirt covered the floor, which upon further inspection revealed that there was no floor at all. A straight-legged table sat to one side of the room, with two chairs of the same design. The fireplace seemed to dominate the room, and only upon close inspection did he spy a thick but worn quilt on the ground in the farthest corner. Criss was rummaging through a closet near the quilt, but other than that, he saw no other doors but the one through which he had come.

"Quickly, you must change before they see you," she said, throwing him a black sort of jumpsuit and a thin black cloak. "I will dye your hair. Until you find your way to get away, you are free to stay with me."

"Wait, why do I have to change my clothes, my hair?" Riku quirked his brow. "Where am I?"

Criss sighed, drawing the cat to her. For once since she rescued him from the cat, she looked at him straight in the eye. What he saw shocked him. Though they did not glitter with tears, Riku saw a sadness in those robin-egg-eyes that he would never forget. In a few seconds, she'd told him everything he needed to know.

Whatever was going on here was not right.

"This is the world of Yan-Shu," she said. "I know that you traveled here from far away. Maybe you are from a world that would be called Utopia. Riku, I'll tell ya right now, tarts. You are on the world that is the farthest possible from the Door to the Light. All that is known here is darkness. Even the mighty legendary Keyblade cannot save us. The Heartless devour none here, because darkness exists far worse in the hearts of the rulers of this land than ever has been in recorded history."

Riku blinked. "Then aren't you lucky? Your world will never be destroyed then, right?"

"You don't understand. We are better off dead than be ruled by Yan and Shu. We are better off being Heartless. Riku, had you been found in anything brighter than dark gray on the streets of Yan-Shu, you would have been stunned, bled, and pickled to be eaten by Yan. Shu eats only women. Yan eats only men. Yan's appetite grows faster every day, soon, he will stop finding excuses to eat a man and simply pluck them off the street. Every day, we live in fear.

"Quickly, you must change before you, too, are eaten!"

Riku only nodded numbly. What kind of place was this? Rulers who ate their own subjects? Somehow, Criss put out the fire, plunging them both into darkness again. He undressed and redressed quickly. When through, he let Criss know and she relit the fire.

How had she done that?

"Now, to dye your hair." She placed her hand upon his head and swept her fingers once through his hair. Riku pulled a bit of his hair so he could see, and found himself staring at all black hair.

"How did you-"

"Magic. Simple, really. Yan-Shu once was famous throughout the worlds as a place where you only had to imagine something and it would come true. We're the reason why the walls broke down. No one knew the Heartless would come, until they came."

"The Heartless didn't break the barriers?"

"Not by themselves. Yan helped."

"How?"

"Yan is the Father of the Heartless."

Riku started. "I thought the Heartless were born of the darkness in people's hearts."

"The new ones, yes," Criss smiled, her face sad as rue. "The original two hundred came from the womb of Yan. Yan wished to see the Heartless live more vibrant lives, because they were always dark and bored in this one little town. So he used his magic and broke down the barriers. He watched in sadistic glee as his Children reproduced, feeding on the hearts of the innocent.

"As each person fell, he grew hungrier for food. With each new Heartless, his hunger increases. He could eat an entire crop of corn in one setting and still be hungry. The people of Yan-Shu went out of business doing anything else but farm to satiate his hunger. And still, it's not enough. Finally, the palace cooks just couldn't take it anymore.

"They went to the city morgue and got one of our own. And Yan liked it. Yan liked the meat of his dead servant so much, in fact, that he commanded all prisoners and dead be brought to him. At first, he was full after only one or two people. Then, he started asking for three. Four. Eight. Twelve. Forty. Sixty. He is now up to asking for over two hundred people every day.

"The population is dwindling every day, as he grows hungrier and hungrier. No one knows where Shu can from, or how she escaped being Yan's next meal. All we know is now we have to feed her our people, too. She's up to ten a day. There is a building uptown, where our lightest of criminals go. People who forget a patch of their hair or smile in Yan's presence. I think they get the worst of the deal."

Riku bit his lip. What could be worse than being one of two hundred men who were eaten every day by that monster? He managed to croak out: "Why?"

"They are the ones responsible for creating the `Yan's Special'," Criss whispered, gulping hard. "For some reason, the more innocent the person, the more full Yan is. Which is why children-the most innocent of all-are Yan's special `Sunday snack'. The people in that building do nothing but procreate and feed him once a week."

Riku gagged. He had leapt from one harmless nightmare to a full-fledged horror movie. How would he escape alive? Would Kairi believe him when he told her about this? Would Sora, if he ever forgave him? One thing, however, stood out in his mind.

"How can I help?"

"W-What?"

"I said, `How can I help?' Isn't there a rebellion? Something? What's the plan, what are we going to do about this?"

"Why would you even consider helping us? You're not from here; you don't know what Yan's like! He loves rebels most of all! If he catches you-"

"What am I supposed to do, farm with the rest of you until he decides that my eyes are too blue-green and eats me?"

"If you just follow the rules-"

"They're constantly changing."

"But if-"

"Sometimes it's best to just lie low," Riku said. "But now that shouldn't be a way to stay alive. It should be a war tactic."

Cleo jumped into his chest.

Claws extended.

Ouch.

***

So, what'd you think? Cleo is actually one of my cats, so she is a…er…character insertion. She does jump on people, claws outstretched. Does it a lot, actually. (studies many scars and scratches…) Review! With all of your fire!