Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Kingdom Hearts: Castle of Darkness, Heart of Light ❯ Keirii ( Chapter 1 )

“So, you've been having the dreams too?” Sora asked Kairi and Riku as they walked through the town of Radiant Garden. In the distance, rising high above the town was the castle. The town was bustling with activity; people going about their daily things. The town looked peaceful, but Sora knew that things like the heartless still lurked in the shadows.

 

“Yeah,” Riku said as Kairi nodded beside him. “I thought they were just bad dreams, my past still creeping up on me, so I didn't bother to say anything.”

 

Sora nodded, understanding what Riku meant by his past. He knew that he couldn't fully understand what his friend had gone through, but he understood that it was bad enough to leave bad dreams on some occasions, as well as painful memories that would never go away, not completely. He was about to say something when he heard a noise. It was coming from a nearby alley. He started to run forward; he could recognize the sound of battle anywhere. With Riku and Kairi following him, Sora ran into the alley and followed it to behind the buildings. There, he came across several heartless surrounding a lone woman.

 

The woman looked to be about eighteen, maybe even nineteen. She had long, bone-straight, bronze colored hair that was pulled up in a high ponytail at the back of her head. Bangs swept across her forehead, shading almond shaped eyes. Throughout her hair were streaks of pale blue that seemed more like hair made of crystal; the streaks shimmered in the light as she moved. Her eyes were a deep violet that seemed to glow. She was tall and slim, but toned with muscle in her arms and legs. She wore a pale blue top with a black, short sleeved, long jacket with a zipper that ended at her waist, which she left unzipped. It was embroidered with blue and silver at the edges, the hem brushing the back of her shins and the material was thin and slightly ribbed vertically. She wore black shorts, high ankle combat boots and around each wrist was an intricately carved, blue crystal bangle. The girl stood in a fighting stance and watched the heartless. One lunged at her and Sora watched as a large sword, that seemed to be made of light blue crystal and had a silver hilt, appeared in her hand with a flash of light. She swung up her sword and struck the heartless. There was a burst of blue light and the heartless vanished. All the heartless came at her and the girl did everything in her power to fight them, but she was outnumbered.

 

Calling his Keyblade to him, Fenrir, Sora joined the fight. Riku jumped in as well, his own Keyblade, Way to the Dawn, in his hands. Both young men attacked the heartless, spinning and lunging at the black creatures. In only a few moments, the last heartless was destroyed. Letting his Keyblade disappear, Sora turned to the girl, who was bent over, hands on her knees. Riku walked over to her and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright?” he asked her.

 

The girl looked up at Riku and smiled slightly. Her face, although Sora had never met her before, looked familiar. “Yeah,” she told him, straightening up. “Just a little out of breath. I've never gone against that many heartless on my own before.” She held out her hand to Riku and smiled a little bit more. “My name's Keirii, and thanks for the help.”

 

Riku nodded and shook her hand. “It's no problem. If Sora didn't hear the noise from back here, we probably would have walked right by.” He released Keirii's hand and nodded to Sora and Kairi behind him. “That's Sora and Kairi, and I'm Riku.”

 

Keirii shook hands with Kairi and Sora as well and then she placed her hands on her hips. Looking at them, she tilted her head slightly and asked, “You all know Leon?”

 

Sora nodded and the girl laughed and said, “So that's where I heard of you guys. I knew your names sounded familiar.” Keirii nodded to her right and said, “I was actually heading that way, if that's where you're going.”

 

Sora nodded again and said, “We have to tell Leon and the others something.”

 

Keirii nodded and said, “Then I'll stick with you guys, `case anymore of those heartless shows up.”

 

The four of them left the alley and back to the main road. As they headed towards Merlin's, where Leon and the others usually were at, Sora looked at Keirii and asked, “So why are you looking for Leon?”

 

Keirii looked at them and said, “I'm not really looking for Leon. I'm actually looking for my pact-brother.”

 

“'Pact-brother'?” Riku asked.

 

The girl nodded. “We weren't born siblings, but made a blood pact to become siblings. It's like a lifebond, only two people who want to become siblings exchange blood and have their spirits bonded together.” Keirii held out her left hand and showed them a small scar on the back of her wrist. “The two people are cut here and with the cuts pressed to each other, the hands are bound. During the ceremony, a priestess binds the two people's spirits together. So with the cuts leaking blood into the other person's cut and our spirits bonded, a pact is formed. Then we are given these.” Keirii showed them a wolf's head pendant that hung from her neck by a silver chain. The stone carved into the head was white with black swirls, reminding Sora of marble. “So, like I said, it's like a lifebond, except in a lifebond, the souls of two people are bonded and the two people are usually lovers. A sibling pact is usually between two very good friends, friends who have a close bond already.”

 

“I never heard of any of this before,” Kairi said.

 

“It's from my own world,” the girl said. “It's now leaking out to other worlds, despite how closed out from the other worlds my people are.”

 

“So you are from another world,” Riku said, smiling at Keirii. “I knew that you were different from other people.”

 

Keirii winked at Riku and said, “Nah, I'm just naturally different.”

 

“Do all of your people look the way you do?” Kairi asked.

 

Keirii shook her head. “No they don't. I look the way I look because of my powers. I possess what my people call sacred, purification powers. That's why my hair is how it is. My eyes also changed color when I discovered and began using my powers. But I met Leon and the others long before I learned that I had such powers.”

 

They reached the large house that belonged to Merlin when he stayed in town. Keirii pushed open the door and held it open for Sora and the others. The front room was empty, so they went to the back room where Merlin's computer and books were kept. Sure enough, everyone was there. Leon was leaning against the wall, talking to Merlin. Cid was typing away at the computer with Aerith standing beside him. Yuffie was balancing a book on her head and was trying to place another one on top of the first. Even Cloud was there, sitting at the table, looking through a book. Sora was surprised to see the blonde, spiky-haired warrior there, since he usually disappeared for days at a time, looking for Sephiroth. “Cloud!” Keirii suddenly cried out and Sora watched as the young woman rushed past him and at the young warrior. Cloud had just enough time to look up before Keirii tackled him, knocking him off his chair and onto the floor with a crash. Yuffie let out a yell and the books toppled off of her head. Cid jumped and sent a nonsense message onto the screen and Aerith gasped. Leon and Merlin looked up from their discussion, wondering what the noise was about. Sora waved slightly to everyone and said, “Hey.”

 

“Where the hell were you, Cloud?” Keirii asked, straddling his waist with her legs, her hands pressed down onto his shoulders. “You were suppose to wait for me to return from my world, you dolt. I freaked out when I went to the tree and you weren't there. I was attacked by heartless on the way here and if Sora and the others didn't show up when they did, I could have been really hurt!”

 

“Hey,” Cloud said, stopping Keirii's ranting. “I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting you to be coming so soon.”

 

Keirii planted her fists on her hips, glaring at Cloud. “You still knew that I was coming today, so you should have waited.”

 

“I know,” Cloud said, “and, again, I'm sorry. Now will you let me up?”

 

Keirii jumped to her feet and Cloud stood up. Keirii walked over to where Aerith was and began talking to the older woman. Now Sora knew where he had seen the familiarities in Keirii's face; they had been Cloud's. They same had the same mouth set and facial features, even their eyes looked the same although slightly different in shape. Sora figured that it was an effect from making the pact. Sora watched as Yuffie tackled Keirii from behind, jumping onto her back. Aerith laughed as Keirii threw the ninja off, who hit the floor on her bottom. The three girls all laughed and Sora shook his head. While Kairi went to join the three girls, Sora and Riku went over to Cloud, where he was setting the chair back up.

 

“Seems like you met Keirii,” Cloud said, looking at Sora.

 

Nodding, Sora said, “Yeah, she seems pretty cool.”

 

“Yeah, she's alright,” Cloud said, looking up at Keirii, who was squabbling with Cid for some reason and even as they watched, she clubbed him in the back of the head. Sora looked back at Cloud and he thought he saw something flicker in the older man's eyes. “Gotta love her, although she can be the biggest pain in my ass.”

 

Walking over to them, Leon chuckled and said, “If she keeps plowing you over like that, she must be.”

 

Cloud nodded and turned back to Sora and Riku. “So, what are the three of you doing here?”

 

Sora blinked, remembering why he had come here in the first place. “We think something's coming up,” Sora said, looking from Cloud to Leon.

 

“And the sight of those heartless that attacked Keirii, I think we're right,” Riku finished.

 

“You know, now that you mention it,” Keirii said, walking back over, leaving Aerith to cast cure on a badly bruised Cid. “There were a lot more heartless than usual. And they popped outta no where, like they were sent there.”

 

“How do you figure that something's coming up?” Leon asked.

 

Sora sighed and said, “I think everyone has to hear. Can you get King Mickey, Donald and Goofy here?”

 

Leon nodded and said, “I can send a message and have them get here as quickly as possible.”

 

“I'll go find Tifa,” Keirii said, walking towards the door. “We'll meet you at the castle.” Then the young woman left.

 

“Alright then,” Leon said. He turned to Cid and had him send a message to King Mickey at Disney Castle. Once that was done, Leon looked at everyone and said, “Alright, let's get to the castle.”

 

~*~

 

Sora finished telling the others about his dreams, along with some input from Riku and Kairi. Once done, there was a long stretch of silence from everyone. They were all in the library at the castle. Leon leaned against a bookshelf with Aerith beside him. Yuffie sat on the steps of the stairway that led to the second level of the library. Cid sat in a chair backwards with Tifa standing beside him, her arms crossed across her chest. Keirii sat on the table top, legs crossed and her hands clasped on her shins. She had taken off her jacket and threw it on the table behind her. Cloud stood beside the table, partly leaning against it. Donald, Goofy and King Mickey also stood near the table and the King had a thoughtful look on his face. Sora, Riku and Kairi stood n the middle so everyone could see them as they told them about the dream. Now finished, they sank into some chairs and waited for someone to say something. And it was a while before someone finally did. Leon looked up at Sora and asked, “Did you see this man's face at all?”

 

Sora shook his head and Kairi looked over at Cloud. “I always thought that it could be Sephiroth.”

 

Cloud shook his head and said, “It's not.”

 

“But how do you know?” Riku asked.

 

“Because I killed him,” Cloud said flatly. That shocked Sora and also explained why Cloud was actually hanging around now.

 

“Well, we aren't really sure,” Keirii said. Cloud looked at her and Keirii threw her arms over her head. “What?” she explained, “So, he went poof, but you were thrown into my world when he did, so how are you sure that he's really dead?”

 

“You know why, Keirii, Cloud said, “I can no longer sense him.”

 

Keirii sighed and, resting her arms folded on his shoulder, she rested her chin on her arms. “I sure hope so Cloud,” she said softly, “I don't want to see you hurt like that again.”

 

Cloud smiled faintly and leaned his head against hers. Sora couldn't help but smile to himself. Cloud seemed a lot happier than the last time Sora saw him. He turned to grin at Riku and Kairi, but noticed Riku looking at Keirii with a strange look. When Riku noticed Sora watching him, the silver haired teen looked anywhere else but at Cloud's sister. Sora caught Kairi's eyes, who had also noticed Riku, and waggled his eyebrows at her. Kairi placed a hand over her mouth to hide her giggle.

 

“So, it's not Sephiroth, and then who is it?” Riku said to himself.

 

“Whoever it was,” Sora said, getting serious again for the situation at hand, “he had evil, yellow eyes…”

 

“Did you say `yellow'?” Keirii asked, throwing her head up, bumping Cloud's. “Sorry, Cloud,” she said to her brother before looking at Sora. “You said that this person has yellow eyes?”

 

“Yeah,” Sora said, looking at Keirii with a frown. “Why?”

 

Keirii bit her lip slightly and stood up. She walked to the window and looked out, hugging herself with her arms. She looked down slightly and whispered, “He's come back.”

 

“Who?” Yuffie asked, straightening up and looking at Keirii with curiosity.

 

Keirii turned and faced all of them. “He's an enemy to my people, or he was. We thought he died a long time ago. He was called Sather, the Dark Mage.”

 

Sora looked at Keirii and asked, “Are you sure it's him?”

 

Keirii nodded. “There is no one else who has yellow eyes. It has to be him.”

 

“So you know him then?” Leon asked.

 

“Not personally,” Keirii told him, “But I do know of him. No one in my world doesn't know of him. He'll be hard to beat.”

 

“Yeah, well,” Sora said, standing up, “we've gone against tough guys before.”

 

Keirii smiled sadly and said, “Not like this.”

 

Mickey looked at Keirii and asked, “Keirii, do you know anything about this man that could be useful to us?”

 

Keirii sighed and began to play with the end of her ponytail that hung over her shoulder. “He's a mage, for one thing, and a powerful one. He is usually cloaked and very few have seen his face. Oh, and another thing.” She looked at all of them before finally resting her eyes on Cloud. “He has the ability to take control over people, especially those who are lost in darkness.”

 

Everyone looked at Cloud and Sora realized, that even though he hadn't seen Cloud in three years, his friend hadn't managed to rid himself of the darkness in his heart.

 

“Oh, boy,” Donald said sadly.