FicWad

Chapter One: Flames on the Water

The ocean's waves fell upon the sandy shore of a small island. The sunlight, reflecting off of the crystal blue water, gave the day a fun, carefree feel. As another ocean wave made its way toward the shore, a star-shaped fruit feel upon the shore from a tree that grew to the side. The fruit was overcome by the wave and carried out into the ocean.
"I've got it!" yelled a voice from the shore. A brown haired boy dived into the ocean and swam at incredible speed toward the fruit. He surfaced out a ways and scooped the fruit up in his hands. He turned to the shore, waving the fruit with a huge grin on his face.
Back on the shore, two others watched him with amusement.
"Hurry back! So we can share it!" yelled an auburn-haired girl. The silver haired boy that stood beside her chuckled at her enthusiasm. "C'mon, Sora!"
The brown haired boy swam back quickly, tossing the girl the fruit once he made it back to shore. She giggled as she broke apart the fruit into three different pieces.
"Here you go, Riku," she smiled, as the silver-haired boy took the fruit from her. "And for you, Sora."
Sora took the fruit. "Thanks, Kairi," he said. The three looked at each other. And as if they had counted down, they all took a bite of the fruit at the same time. The fruit was sweet and refreshing as Sora swallowed his bite. He looked at the others for their thoughts.
"Now we are all destinies are intertwined!" Kairi smiled. Riku and Sora exchanged looks, not knowing what the other one was thinking. In truth, both of them harbored feelings for Kairi, but neither dared to say or do anything. They valued each other's friendship greatly and didn't want to risk anything against that.
"Well then," Sora continued, "what now?"
"I don't know," Riku said, putting his hands behind his head and sighing. "There's not much to do anymore. Everything seems so dull --"
"Since we've seen what an adventure really is," Sora finished. He felt the same way. If there was only someway they could venture back to every world they had been to. He missed his old friends sometimes.
Kairi and Riku watched Sora as he stood in the water, the tide flowing back and forth around him. They knew what was on his mind every time he looked up at the sky like that. He had done it so many times.
Then, something caught their eye. Out in the ocean, barely visible, something was shining brightly, giving off a blue color. The three friends looked at each other, not sure on what to think.
"Maybe it's a boat or something," Sora said, though he doubted it. He looked back out to it, studying it intently. He couldn't tell what it was. He felt a hand on his shoulder as Riku stood beside him.
"It's strange," he said. "We could swim out there and see what it is, but it'll be dark before we make it halfway back."
"Let's take a boat!" Kairi said. The two boys looked at her. "If it's still there tomorrow, we'll take a boat out there to see it."
Sora and Riku nodded heads in agreement, though; curiosity wanted them to see it now. But they overcame the feeling and helped Kairi to her feet. The three gave the shining light one last look before turning toward their homes.

~ That Night ~

Sora lay awake in his bed, thoughts filling his head. What were his other friends doing at this moment? How were things going at Hallow Bastion? And what was that strange light out on the ocean?
The wall was lit up with the eerie blue light. Sora stared at it. There was a quick flash of green and then the blue light returned. Sora sat straight up, looking out his window at the source. Had his eyes played tricks on him? Had there really been a change in the color?
He leaned out of his window, trying to get a better look at the mysterious thing. It flashed green again. An evil green. A green he had seen before. He heard a gasp beside him. He looked over and saw Kairi leaning out of her window as well. They looked at each other, wondering what they should do.
"Are you two just going to sit there, gawking at it? Or do you want to find out what it is?" came Riku's voice from underneath them. Sora looked down at him and nodded his head. He quickly made his way down to the dock with Kairi, as Riku waited there for them.
The boat was ready and Kairi made her way into it. Riku looked at Sora.
"Are you ready?" he asked. Sora looked at him, noticing an old spark in his blue eyes.
"I always am," Sora grinned. He and Riku quickly ascended into the boat. They both grabbed an oar and steadily began to paddle their way toward the glowing object.
As they grew closer, the light seemed to grow brighter, as if it was excited that the friends were making their way toward it. Kairi watched it as the boys continued to paddle. The light flashed green again, then back to blue. The three looked at each other for a moment, then continued.
The ocean was quiet, and strangely beautiful as the blue light reflected off of its surface. The water rippled as the small boat cut through the peaceful waves. There was another flash of green. The flashes began to grow more frequent to closer they became. Kairi gasped as she realized what the light was.
"It's fire!" she exclaimed. "There are flames on the surface of the water!"
Sora and Riku stopped to see what she was talking about. They weren't very far from it. The three gazed into the playfully dancing flames. It flashed green again. The boat glided closer.
A few feet from it, the flames flashed green repeatedly. Riku stood up in the boat and looked at the fire. They were close enough to touch it, but there was no heat being radiated from it. Sora stuck his oar out, toward the fire. He pulled it back with blue flames dancing on the end. He pulled it back and the three stared at it.
"What is going on?" Kairi asked. Riku looked at them both and then touched the flame. It wasn't hot, but rather cooling. But the moment he had touched the flame, it turned purple, as did the rest of the fire over the water. There was a light wind that made the flames seem to reach for them.
"Kairi! Get back!" Sora yelled, grabbing her arm and pulling her away as a group of flames jumped onto the boat. More flames reached out to them. Kairi backed away as far as she could, but the flames wrapped around her arm and around her stomach. The flames pulled her into the air, making her appear to float. They carried her toward the fire.
Riku and Sora grabbed her arm and leg, trying to pull her back down. But more flames came for them, wrapping around them and carrying them toward the fire.
"Sora!" Kairi yelled. "Riku!"
"Kairi!" they both yelled as the fire swallowed her. Riku and Sora looked at it with horror. They tried to fight against the mysterious force, but their attempts were futile. They each were engulfed by the flames as well. Sora tried to look around, but all he could see were the violet flames. Then he dropped.
He was perplexed when he hit solid ground instead of cold ocean water. He looked up at a star-lit sky. He sat up, rubbing his head.
"What's going on?" he asked. He caught sight of Riku and Kairi, not too far away.
"Are you guys okay?" Riku asked, standing up. He walked over to Kairi and helped her up as well. Sora joined them, and then quickly realized where he was. He stood gazing at the newly reconstructed castle of Hallow Bastion. Kairi stared up at it as well.
"How... did we get here?" Sora asked, his mind filling with confusion as his heart filled with joy.
"Sora! Watch out!" Kairi yelled. Sora quickly turned to see a small black being lunging at him. He quickly dodged to the side, and as he did, a large silver key appeared in his hands.
"The Keyblade!" Sora and Riku both yelled in surprise. Sora, out of instinct, quickly turned to the monster and slashed at it. The being fell to the ground, and evaporated into nothingness.
"We get here, and the first thing we see is a Heartless," Sora sighed, leaning the Keyblade into his shoulder. He looked to Riku.
"Why are we here?" Kairi asked. "Were the flames a type of portal?" Sora shrugged while Riku began walking toward the town.
"Let's go see if we can find some answers," he said, as Sora and Kairi joined him. They made there way through the streets. Sora stopped, feeling as though he were being watched. He turned and standing behind him was a hooded figure in a white cloak. The figure stared at him, taking in his being, while Sora merely looked back, transfixed at the person. The figure took one step forward.
"Sora, c'mon. What are you doing?" Kairi's voice called, snapping him out of the trance. He looked at Kairi and Riku who stood staring at him in confusion. Then he quickly looked back to the figure, but it was gone.
"What the -" Sora started.
"Sora," Kairi called again. Sora made his way to his friends glancing back a few times to see if the figure had reappeared.
He hardly noticed when Riku knocked on the door of a certain house, or when a familiar brown haired male opened the door with a slightly confused look.
"What are you doing here?" he said in a calm voice.
"We don't exactly know ourselves," Riku said.
"How have you been, Leon?" Sora asked. Leon looked down at him and smiled.
"We recently finished restoring Hallow Bastion to its original state," he said.
"Hey! Leon! Who is it?" came a female voice from inside. A black haired girl appeared beside him, looking out at the three friends.
"Hey, Yuffie," Sora smiled, scratching his head. The girl simply looked at them, not knowing what to think.
"How did you guys get here?!" she exclaimed. "I thought that you couldn't -"
"Yeah, we thought so too. But here we are," Riku said.
"Merlin might know what is going on," Leon suggested. "You could come in and talk to him." Leon made way for the three to enter the house.
Inside, books lay everywhere. Another girl sat at the table, her long hair braided behind her in a red bow. She looked up as the three entered.
"Sora!" she said in surprise.
"Hi, Aerith," Sora greeted. He caught sight of a man sitting in front of a computer not too far away. "And, Cid." The man waved behind him and continued at the computer.
"Sorry, he's hard at work on something. He won't tell anyone what it is, though," Aerith said.
"Hello, Sora. It's been a while," came another voice. The three friends looked over, and behind a pile of books stood a wizard dressed in blue. He looked around the pile, pulling on his long white beard. "What brings you three here?"
"They don't know," Leon said, answering the question himself.
"We were hoping that you would tell us," Kairi said. Merlin made his way in front of the three. He looked them over, studying them.
"Well, then, best you tell me what happened," he said, smiling. Sora, Kairi, and Riku all began telling the story at the same time, almost in sync. Merlin and Leon listened intently, while Yuffie looked at them with simple curiosity.
When they had finished, Sora, Riku, and Kairi looked deep breaths. Everyone was quiet; even Cid had stopped with his work to listen.
"It seems that someone has brought you here intentionally. That fire was indeed a portal, though I have only heard of it being used thousands of years ago. But this could be bad news," Merlin said, turning back to his books.
"Why would it be bad news?" Sora asked, watching the old wizard. Merlin held up a book and turned pages furiously. He stopped on a page and ran his eyes over it.
"This is why!" he said, holding the page so that the three could see it clearly. On it was a picture of a Shadow that resembled a serpent-dragon. "Over five thousand years ago, a great evil ruled the worlds that we all know. It caused great pain and set darkness over the worlds. Then a great warrior came with the power of light and he locked the Creature away in the darkness. I was afraid something might happen to awaken it."
"What would have awakened it?" Sora inquired.
"The opening of Kingdom Hearts. Do you remember when it happened? When you fought the so-called Ansem the first time? The beast may have been awoken by the pure light."
"Do you think it's possible?"
"It is possible; but I'm not sure that it's true. Someone could have studied the dark magic and they are using it now," Merlin sighed. "But - we must make precautions and then investigate this matter thoroughly."
"Make precautions?" Kairi asked. "What kind of precautions?"
"I will tell you tomorrow. But for now you must sleep. You may have a tough journey ahead of you," Merlin said, setting the book down.
"The inn will let you stay for free if you tell them that I sent you there. The innkeeper owes me for something," Leon said. The three friends nodded their head and bade good-bye to their companions.
Riku led the other two toward the inn. Sora and Kairi looked up at the night sky, wondering what could be happening.
"This great evil... Could it really have awakened?" Sora asked.
"If it has," Riku said, "then we'll fight it, and defeat it, together." Sora looked at Riku and smiled, nodding his head in agreement.
"Hey, Riku," Kairi said running up to him. Sora felt his heart beat faster. He turned quickly to the side and saw the hooded figure in white again. It stared at him with an unnatural gaze.
Awaken me...
"What?" Sora asked. The figure stared at him. Did it really say something?
Awaken me...
"Sora! Stop daydreaming!" Kairi yelled from the steps of the inn. He turned to see her with her hands on her hips. "C'mon, Sora!"
Sora looked back to the figure, but it had disappeared again. He blinked a few times, then turned back to join Kairi and Riku. Was the figure real? Or was he just tired? What did it mean when it said 'Awaken me...'?
The three stepped into the inn, wanting a good night's rest, but not finding it. Thoughts filled their heads about what was happening. One by one, they fell asleep, dreaming about a giant black dragon enveloping the worlds in darkness.