I've decided to make a Kingdom Hearts fanfic after toying with the notion.

This is only the first chapter. Now, I don't want to give the general idea out, because I want to reveal it later on.

Now with any possible misconceptions I see out of the way, I'll present it.

Kingdom Hearts- Choosing the Path- Chapter One

Chaos and Clarity

A lost city…a thousand years ago. Or maybe a littler earlier or later. That doesn’t matter. What does matter is that this city was lost to the Heartless like so many before. They were crawling about the place, searching for any survivors. Most of them were strange, dragon-like creatures that swooped down from the skies, looking for any prey. But most remaining survivors had retreated to the underground mines. At the deepest part was a door that was always slightly ajar, in spite of what the miners had done to close it. It was the door to the heart of that world, which had now been conquered. Its light, however, spread throughout the mines, preventing the Heartless from coming near and destroying the final safe haven for the people. It was even able to allow them to breath safely without equipment. But even with this, much had been lost. Among them, hope.

Even the legend of the wielder of the Keyblade had died in the hearts of most of the survivors. When the Heartless had first taken over this world, the survivors had retreated into the mines under the city with the hopes that he would come bring them salvation as he had done with other worlds. But at time went on and he failed to show, they began to doubt, even despise, the legend. Eventually, they began to pretend he never existed. They also began teaching their children that the stories of a “Keyblade” were proven false. However, some of the children still believed, but they had to live under the watchful eyes of the adults. However, they immediately stopped any plans they had for escaping and looking for the Keyblade’s Master after a certain incident.

“Whew…I can’t believe I didn’t get caught today!” gasped a small child as he hid behind a rock, just in case one of the adults were coming up to make sure the mines were safe for another day. Luckily for him, he was safe from any detection. They were still on break. In any event, he started running on and on for about half an hour. But after wasting his energies on getting away from the restrictions of parents and grown ups, he began to feel hungry. Looking around, he saw nothing but black clouds and an eerie, mountainous landscape ahead of him. Not only that, but the land he stood on now seemed devoid of life. No plants, no animals, just rocky ground going onwards endlessly.This instantly quelled any hopes he had of finding the Keyblade Master. That was when he saw them.

The “Heartless.” The grown ups had spoken off them as if they were like monsters of some fairy tale. But now that he saw them, he was paralyzed with fear. Little creatures with little antennas. Before he could move, they pounced. As soon as they did, he could feel himself being pulled into something dark and watery. As he felt his end coming closer, he cried and wished he had been more obedient, more careful, more considering of the warnings his parents had given him. And suddenly, clarity came back. A man holding a weapon shaped like a key was hacking apart the creatures trying to drag him down. And he was almost saved, but the man had come too late. The last thoughts the child felt as he and the light the weapon had provided his heart was that the Keyblade and its master were real, and maybe…


Again, I don't mind flaming or criticism.

Fairly decent, but there's one MAJOR problem...
The chapter ended way too quickly, and while it provides good set-up, it dissappoints the reader.

That's because I'm not going into detail about certain things because they will not be used later. Like this conquered world, for example.

The next chapters will be longer and will be much better. I was hungry when I was finishing this, and when I'm hungry, I write with less quality.

As for ending quickly, it's because I was writing the last thing that flitted through the child's mind before he was dragged down by the Heartless.

I like to say this.

I ain't a big fan of Kingdom Hearts, but this is a really good fanfic, Forute. Alot better then most KH fanfics I have read and seen in the past also. You also have a good grasp on grammar as well.

Thanks.


There's something else I haven't mentioned, but this first chapter is actually a past vision that keeps bothering one of the Heartless because, as you can guess, the child's become a Heartless.

Kingdom Hearts: Choosing the Path

Chapter Two

A New Lease On Life

“…” The thing that awoke him was the child being pulled down. Roused from his sleep, he felt some life walking above the surface of the caverns. Fear. Yes. Fear. The type of fear that is of never feeling or having the remainder of one’s existence in this life, this reality, or whatever these humans had named it, snuffed out like a candle. Yes, they were fearing the presence of the Heartless that survivors had encountered. That five-foot tall, masked rabbit. It wasn’t like other Heartless. It was black, but was carrying markings looking like some kind of foreign language being set on fire, they had described. Slanted shapes, curving lines, rigged red markings, NO MORE! they had screamed out when questioned for a more accurate description of the creature. The mask was sharp in the teeth, the nose almost nonexistent, the strange red lines unusual, but the eyes! The eyes were most frightening. Black eyes with yellow irises. It was what frightened them most of all, and it was instilled in the final few people living in this world. The same fear bordering on insanity was coming into the hearts of those walking the earth above. They were frightened of that horrid beast…and the darkness had begun to infest their hearts.

Well, unfortunately for them, that “horrid beast” happened to be a few layers of rock beneath their feet. The darkness in their hearts was already eating away at them. Now, the “Lawless Rabbit,” the name being something he’d fashioned for himself, looked around at the blackness around him. There were few stalactites along the ceilings anymore, the Lawless Rabbit having used them as target practice for the six white swords locked into his skull. Along the ground was mainly rubble, and occasionally a bone. Even rarer were small patches of dark-purple grass blades, with small plants growing out of them. The plants, too, were rather dark-purple. This cavern was uninhabited by both humans and Heartless alike. The humans who’d tried to live here for the past year met their end by the rabbit who’d barged in and eaten them alive. Now, only a few bones were all that was left of them. They were also completely dry, the marrow having been sucked out of them. In the center of this cavern was a tree so big and spectacular, the Lawless Rabbit had used his head swords to carve it into the only entrance into and the only exit out of the cavern. It was a very big trunk that stretched onwards for about half a mile high. It was also packed full with branches that extended this way and that. A truly marvelous sight to behold. And when he’d infested his place, the tree had become as darkly colored as the rest of the plants. Not that he minded. And when the last human he’d attacked, who was clutching the tree as if it were a lifeline, described the tree as having grown from the smallest seed found in this world. That was the final thing she’d said, before he feasted on his dead prey, her corpse.

The now-crazed rabbit had been worked into a frenzy by the growing fear in the hearts of the humans above. The sight of the tree only served to stimulate him further. Jumping from branch to branch with quite frightening speed, the Heartless had climbed out of the hole he’d created into the trunk of the tree to serve as a hole leading to a crater whose empty hole had been taken up by the tree. Most of it, at any rate, and he’d also created the hole underground and created several exits to the surrounding area in case he was ever late in catching his prey. Since he’d taken things a bit slowly coming to the tree, they were about half a mile away. Realizing he had to get them, the Heartless hopped like mad into one of the underground tunnels. These also had small patches of grass here and there, which were amazingly cultivated by his own hands. He’d gardened them as best as he could, and they glowed dimly in the darkness of the tunnel. Soon, after only about a few minutes, he was jumping out of the tunnel, ready to eat.

The humans were walking. Slowly…slowly…slowly so as to avoid alerting the Lawless Rabbit they’d heard so much about. It was futile. Unknowingly, they had long since given themselves away thanks to the darkness in their hearts. And they were just about to stop and rest for awhile, they they heard it…”N-no…”

The sound. The sound that a predator makes when he is drooling in anticipation for the moment where he slaughters the helpless one he seeks to consume as his next meal. “NONONO!!!” screamed the helpless humans as they all jumped out of the way as the rabbit dived into them. They’d turned to find the incomprehensible body, the freakish mask, the small but sharp arms and hands, and they completely lost their minds. Anyone looking deep into it would be frightened. That was this Heartless’ logic, possibly the only Heartless logic in existence.

Angered that his prey had tried to run, the hooks connecting his swords to his head were released. They then hovered over the humans. They knew this was it, the humans knew it was over, and that they would be nourishment for this creature. …SPLATTER…the sound echoed throughout the empty land. The swords, now glowing blue, returned to the head, and fed this rabbit, unbound, free, and very dangerous. But it wasn’t enough. Nothing like it was enough. Suddenly howling like a wounded wolf, he hopped and hopped until he was in front of the corpse nearest him. The sounds of chewing could be heard from far away if anyone might’ve been within hearing distance. About fifteen minutes later, and the area was completely spick and span, the corpses having been eaten completely, even the blood being drained off of the ground. It was the rare occasion that the mask upon this Heartless’ face moved. Now more sane and able to reflect on his vision, he looked up at the cloudy sky. Why did he feel the sense of irony whenever he saw that vision. Why did this boy seem like him? He’d seen the damn thing so many times since his birth, which was about eight hundred years ago, he had it memorized, image for image. Normally, he’d be jubilant whenever he saw one become a Heartless, but when he viewed this boy struggle against the inevitable consumption of his heart, he felt so frightened. And why was it that every time he killed humans and eaten them he would feel constantly painful twinges of regret? It was only the consumption of their hearts that made him feel justified. And he always thought about why he seemed so apart from his brethren.


I give a cookie to whoever gets the Bible reference I put in here.

This was a pretty cool chapter, I'm hoping to see more from you ^_^
The biggest problem is that there just isn't enough cowbell.

Whee.

That's a recounting of his lifestyle, and a prelude to his changes. I'll assume that no one's gotten the Bible reference yet.

I'm sorry. I told you I'd look for the reference, but I'd gotten too wound up in your writing that I'd forgotten to do so. You've written a spell and cast it upon us, my friend. And your powers over your readers seem to grow with each new chapter.

It's okay.

The reference was the tree. I was referring to Jesus' parable of the mustard seed.

This is good, I'd probebly say pretty good, but I've never played Kingdom Hearts and dont know the main storie, so I dont get all of whats happening, but its good anyway ^_^

Thanks for that, buddy.

Just so everyone knows, I'll be making quite a bit of religious references. It's just something I can't help.

Ahh! Re-reading it, in particular the part about the tree, I see what you've done/written. Excellent work.

Yet..

Wicked person! Making it so darn wonderfully worded that I skipped over it in my trance. xD <3

Edit:
Five Zenny to one, Saturn Ballad's gonna be the next person to post in here other than Forute and myself.

Well, I see that my writing has most definitely improved after two years of hard-drilled RPing.

Okay, not hard-drilled, but I learned alot from the experienced guys I hung out with.

Kingdom Hearts

Chapter Three

Punishment for Nature


Jesus f**king Christ! The Lawless Rabbit had been sent for. He could feel it in the minds of the many other Heartless saying that he had to be dealt with. Before they had even started to travel to the world he’d single-handedly infested, he was already gone from the tree, and towards the source of darkness. It lay within Hollow Bastion, which was something the other Heartless didn’t know. By the time he’d gotten into the place with the numerous flashing colors, the Behemoth that lived here, along with so many other Heartless brethren, were already standing as if they were an army preparing to charge their lone target. Behemoth was the most disturbing-looking of them all. Twenty-five feet high, two horns that curved and pointed at a single horn that pointed forward, like a gladiator’s lance. His whole body, except for the bottom of his stomach, was purple. His stomach was light grey. On his chest was a heart with a red outline, black on the inside, with two red swords crossing diagonally, like the symbol of so many other Heartless.

“You’ve finally decided to reveal your ugly face,” growled the Behemoth in a language that only a Heartless could understand or even speak. “Yeah, I’m here, so what the hell did you send for me?” demanded the Lawless Rabbit equally as angrily. “Enough of your tone!” bellowed the giant. “You are going to be punished! We will be reprimanding you for ignoring the purpose!” he continued. “So what?! You all can do it, too!” screamed the rabbit. The two glared at each other as the other Heartless around looked with fear, hate and pride in their minds. They agreed with Behemoth, despising this foul fiend for defying the law, but still feared his unpredictability. They all knew that they were in danger regardless of what happened. That accursed rabbit could be very strange. They were incredibly proud of Behemoth for challenging this little creature, who seemed to think that his unusual birth made him Lord of all Creation.

The heart-shaped mask upon the rabbit’s face masked the anger, coupled with the sparks, lurking within his eyes. Whenever he’d joked around with the other Heartless he’d rarely decided to speak with, he always asked them why they only consumed the hearts of their victims. Human flesh was tasty, he had remarked to them. But they always refused. One of the other things that set him apart from other Heartless was that he never tried to go find the Keyblade or its master. Even though he always felt that he should go find the guy, he was always more concerned with his own survival than what his instincts were telling him. F**k instinct, he’d told himself. He couldn’t understand why the others couldn’t respect his decisions, why they never tried to do the things he did.

“For your punishment…” roared the giant, “I will deal with you! Prodigal brat, prepare to face judgment!” As soon as he roared, all the Heartless leapt back. They began fading into the recesses of the endless darkness to stay at quite a safe distance as the two creatures remained, braced and ready to kill each other. This was not a moment to trifle around in.

The Behemoth began the battle, leaping forwards in order to drop his weight upon the tiny thing, only to have the little brute leap up at an incredible height and land on his back. The Lawless Rabbit then proceeded to do a small jump, and drive his six head swords into the giant beast. Howling in pain, the Behemoth proceeded to turn over on his back, squashing the rodent while driving the swords deeper into his back. Luckily for the little pest, he was immediately pulled right-side up by the twisting monster. The swords, at his command, flew out of his enemy’s back, and returned to his head. The Behemoth, now enraged that his near impenetrable hide had been compromised, proceeded to charge up a rather eerie-looking energy at the tip of his horn.

Seeing his chance, the little rabbit commanded his swords out of his head, and to fly at the horn. They did so, and as soon as they had stabbed into the base of the horn, Behemoth went wild. He couldn’t bear the mental pain, nor the physical, that was being steadily inflicted upon his head. He began rampaging around in circles, leaving his opponent little room to jump on his back. Suddenly, an idea struck the rabbit. He forced two of his swords out of the giant’s head, causing him to become somewhat more tame. As soon as the Behemoth came charging at him, the rabbit leapt onto his shoulder, and, from his shoulder, to his head. He then commanded his two floating swords to stab the bullhorns that were next to the main one. This allowed him to gain some control over the enemy, which, unfortunately, wasn’t enough. He only stayed on for about three seconds before being hurled off. Bouncing about three times before coming to a complete stop, he hopped to his feet with extra vigor, his temper rising. Realizing that even he couldn’t maintain a Behemoth, he forced out all of his swords, which restored him to sanity. The rabbit was feeling a bit frightened at his own lack of control over his enemy. Then, just as things couldn’t get worse, he was stomped on as he was lost in thought. The pain was quite severe, but as soon as the beast pulled up his foot, he was ready to escape.

The Behemoth then began charging his horns again. Since he was still storing energy for the attack while being stabbed in his horns, he only needed about two seconds for a giant dark ball to erupt from his horn, fly up, and then separate into hundreds of small spheres raining down upon the land, the Lawless Rabbit being caught in the blasts of numerous spheres. The pain was intense, even more so than being stomped, but now, he refused to think. Consumed by all irrational thoughts, he made a final leap towards the giant, but before he was about hack apart that damn horn, the brute then released a volley of lighting bursts right above him! Being shot to the ground, he found himself unable to move. It hurt too much to even try. He knew he’d have to face humiliation. The legendary “Lawless Rabbit,” one who even other Heartless were frightened to go near, struck down.

As the Behemoth looked down upon his fallen enemy, he couldn’t help but gloat. He was among the rarest Heartless, of course, but this one was a unique Heartless. No other was like him. As he moved his head down closer to the fallen prey, the rabbit asked him rather weakly, “Are you satisfied at having humiliated me? You’ve won. What more do you seek?” “Oh…that happens to be all that you have taken from so many!” roared Behemoth. He motioned for the other Heartless to join in, as the rabbit began glowing. Suddenly, with a torn sensation, he could feel every single heart he’d consumed being pulled out. They were flowing into the chest symbol on that giant, wretched…
The Behemoth had cut his thoughts short, for the Heartless that dared to fight the purpose of the Heartless. That selfish, insecure, arrogant brat! Well, he ceased to exist. “Hmm…” mused the giant, “ten thousand hearts? An impressive record, for a mere eight hundred year-old Heartless.” Laughing at his sudden power launch, his body released a giant aura as he bellowed in excitement. Peace was finally established after centuries of collapse.

Hmhm. We find out more about the Rabbit.
Can't wait for the next chapter~

All the other Heartless hate him, not just for having free will, but also for using it to make the choice not to go after the Keyblade because of what had happened to the numerous others that had attempted to do so. Hence, they regard him as selfish, arrogant, and the other insults.

Kingdom Hearts- Choosing the Path

Chapter Four

Click, Click and Boom!

“Damnit, so many this time!” cursed Leon as he hurled another fireball at an advancing Soldier. His usual black jacket, white T-Shirt, black shoes and his black jeans were soaked with sweat, not to mention his face. Brown hair that pointed backwards like a lion’s mane with a tanned face was shined with water excreting from the pores of his skin, caused by his current stress. At the moment, he was in the west tower of Hollow Bastion, with Cloud handling the recent invasion of Heartless in the east tower. The staircase he was on was quite elegant, with gold and red crystals lining the edges. But there was no time for him to take in the sights, as numerous Heartless were chasing him up the stairs. Several Soldiers, around thirteen, not counting the one that was armed with broadswords along with six Wyverns carrying an Air Soldier on their backs, riding them like horses. These were granting the most trouble for him, forcing him to rush up the stairs to the top of the tower in the open.

Upon reaching open air, Leon looked behind to see the Wyverns leading the attack on him. All six flew upwards in a single-file formation. They then formed into a six-pointed star formation above Leon while the other thirteen Soldiers surrounded the Gunblade wielder in a circle. “Well, I guess I’ll have to use my new weapon,” he said with a smirk. Reaching into his pocket and producing about seven red shotgun shells, he swung down, forcing his sword to open up revealing a new compartment he’d had Cid develop for him using Gummi Blocks. It was built into the hilt of the blade and the base of the actual blade. Once all seven were inside, the Heartless pounced. They’d been watching him carefully, legs stiffened and bent. Their arms pointed their broadswords straight at this man who was placing things into a small hinge inside his gun-shaped sword. They’d been watching, watching, watching…and charged in before he tried to attack.

Their yells were cut short as Leon, in one quick move, twirled his blade around, hand still gripping the hilt of the sword, which hurled a fire ring from the tip of the weapon. It traveled in a straight circle, the Soldiers being burned in the chest and dying in eruptions of purple flames. Leon then turned his attention to the Wyverns which happened to be charging down upon him from six directions at once. Jumping onto one of their backs as the others came out of their dives, he then stabbed the little Air Soldier in the back before he could react, destroying him. He then got in the saddle of the already flailing Wyvern. Its sleek shape, which consisted of wings in a backwards shape for arms like a paper airplane, the Heartless symbol on the bottom of its chest and two clawed feet that were a bit thick considering the streamlined shape of this creature. Unfortunately, the thing was still jerking about, leaving the man no choice but to stab him in the head with his still-held Gunblade. As it disappeared, Leon landed on the floor, his head sweating even more than before despite the cool air.
It was luck, thought Cloud as he rushed up the stairs to the top of the west tower. Just only about twenty four minutes ago, he’d been fending off several Soldiers, Fat Soldiers, and even a piece of a Guard Armor. Then they’d all run away for some reason. The way Cloud had seen them move before disappearing a portal of darkness was towards the west tower. Leon might be in danger. And so he began his dash out of the east tower. When he was at the bottom of the west tower, the place looked pretty much the same. But he could feel Leon fighting up above. And so, he continued to run, his large sword in front of him…

“Ack…no chance…” groaned Leon as he fell to one knee. Over and over, the Wyverns had assaulted him in waves. He’d only destroyed two others, but the surviving Air Soldiers were constantly pouncing down upon him. They’d surrounded him, and attempted to beat their fists into his stomach. Blood was trickling from his mouth as he swung in a full circle, decapitating them. But now, he still had the last three Wyverns to deal with, and he was almost done in. That is, until he saw Cloud diving into one of the charging Wyverns and cutting it in half. The other two then flew down, circling him, and were about to bite when they met the same fate as the one just now, slashed in half and destroyed. “Lucky for you the ones I had to fight ran off,” he said to Leon. “Yeah. I was just about done in,” replied his friend. They had little time to relax, when a portal of darkness appeared beneath their feet. And suddenly, they were blown to the edge of this round tower while a Behemoth emerged from it! The two thought the same thing: The others were simply bait for the big shark to come bite them to death. The two readied themselves as the beast bellowed, ready to kill. They charged at each other…

Meanwhile, within the depths of the Behemoth’s stomach, life slowly wiggled about. It was bandaged up, and curled. It shook harder. So
long…imprisonment…hate…anger…freedom…oppression…NO!!! It would not have any of that! Life was angrily rampaging free of its bandages, which was starting to hurt the Behemoth. It wanted freedom! Freedom! Life, life, life, life! In here was death! This ugly stomach claimed it to be life?! This is death! Death!, it screamed from the deepest recesses of the Behemoth’s empty body.

Soon, very soon after they’d begun fighting, the Behemoth began to weaken. The feeling of life inside him was eating at his strength. He couldn’t explain it, and his distracted gaze allowed the man with the gun-shaped sword to launch three fireballs at his horn, enraging him. Cloud, in the meantime, had used the distraction as a chance to leap up behind the monster’s back, hacking away at the horn. However, the beast had charged lightning into his horn, unleashing a volley of thunderbolts which sent Leon flying to his back on the hard stone floor, and Cloud off of Behemoth’s back, his one-sleeved jacket now singed. The two were then swatted to their sides by one powerful swing of the Behemoth’s forefoot in one giant sweeping motion. They went sprawling to the left, but as Behemoth was ready to deliver the final blow, he paused. Something was causing great pain to him. The two warriors looked on in confusion as their enemy began writhing in pain. Suddenly, the Heartless symbol on his chest glowed, even through his back! The next thing that happened was a beam of light exploding from the symbol, and hitting the floor below the Behemoth. The creature was currently unmoving, having been knocked out by the agony. As the dust and smoke cleared, Cloud and Leon could barely make out a figure with glowing yellow eyes staring at them…

Be happy. Be healthy.

Kingdom Hearts: Choosing the Path

Chapter Five

Complications

The figure looked at them and they at him. Or they’d assumed it was even a person. He was wearing what looked like a long-sleeved white shirt with a smooth black trench coat, his left hand being covered in a black, fingerless glove, his right being covered a white, fingerless glove. There were torn, six inch wide bandages wrapped around his arms and legs, not to mention above his head. Each was black, with a diagonal white stripe running across. Each stripe was two inches thick, with an inch of space between each other. Judging from the looks of it, each bandage was four feet long. But strangest of all was his mask. The eyes were black, with yellow irises, the teeth sharp on the left half, and dull on the right. Red lines ran in a zigzag pattern from the bottom of the eyes to the nose, and the edges of the ears. His hair was in the style of triple-pointed rabbit ears pointing backwards. Black jeans, and black boots, his breath literally froze in the air, falling to the ground as pieces of ice.

By now, as Cloud and Leon took in the figure, the Behemoth was almost fully awake. The person had already sensed this and slowly raised his hand to pull the giant blade completely bandaged on his back. The bandages slowly unwrapped by themselves, feeding off of their master’s desire to slay the monster above him. As the person suddenly dashed out from under his opponent, the Behemoth roared in pain. He did not know it, but his strength was being drained due to the hearts he’d consumed over the years slowly being freed from the bowels of his stomach and being siphoned out through the vanishing Heartless symbol on his body. By the time the creature was fully awake, the stranger was standing in front of him, his giant sword held out in front of him. It happened to be white with a black edge, with red and blue stripes running across the side that was facing up. On the bottom side, there were green and yellow stripes running across in the same manner of the top stripes. A black and white guard stuck out from the bottom of both dull and sharp edges of the blade. The hilt was black, and about six inches long, with the bandages shrunk to about a foot hanging off of the bottom of the hilt. They were grey-colored. The blade itself also seemed to have a sort of lightning bolt shape.

The monster roared. It was angry at this new enemy. But it began acting like a normal Behemoth again. The monster charged straight ahead at the stranger, as his power seemed to be strongest. And his aura was already visible, a golden, wild, flaming aura which suddenly snapped apart as the enemy of the Behemoth leapt over one of its legs, jumped into its left shoulder, and swung down, his blade hitting a ligament of this empty beast’s shoulder. Poor Behemoth. He howled in incredible pain as the figure landed easily on the ground, the blade tip hitting the ground, causing the stone to break into a star shape. He then jumped backwards. The beast was coming back. Now that he could not rely on his left leg, whose shoulder was sporting a large gash about two feet deep with purple blood flowing out, he launched a giant dark ball at the stranger, whose aura returned, only making him stronger. But the Behemoth thought nothing of his strength. As the ball came closer, the figure leapt straight at it, his body completely pointing at the attack, when he stabbed it in the center, forcing its power to spread around him, causing no injury. Enraged, the monster then launched several volleys of lightning at this tiny fool, only to have them blocked by the sword.

The stranger, to the other two’s surprise, went straight for the creature’s right leg. Since he was running at a rapid pace, blade being pointed to his left, the Behemoth never saw him leapt onto his back until he felt the hard feet touch his skin. But before he could shake him off, his back was slashed horizontally, starting with the monster’s right shoulder. Screaming in pain, the beast was helpless against his enemy’s next move. The masked man jumped off of his back and stood in front of him again. As for Cloud and Leon, they were amazed at what was happening. One person was outmatching such a powerful Heartless, but how much higher would this guy’s strength get? The man began swinging the blade by the bandage. He then swung it out in a circle three times, hacking the Heartless’ legs apart before reaction time kicked in. Using the force from the swings, and charging his aura into his sword, the masked fighter leapt up towards the horn of the demon. The bandage retracted so that the center of the blade, where his power was focused at the most, would hit the horn. And it connected, the figure leaving a deep gash within the horn of the monster and on his face, starting on the forehead going down to the chin, leaving him scarred for what the rest of his life was. But as the sword came crashing down, he heard the man say, “Screw your damn purpose.”

The stranger then jumped backwards, landing on the edge of the tower. His strength seemed to have hit a peak, but all he was doing was prolonging it. This boy was quite useful for him at the moment. There was nothing for that giant fool to do now, but await his end. That is, until the accident.

The black parts of the eyes had disappeared. Now, a lightly tanned skin surrounded the now-normal yellow eyes. They were like any other human’s. But it grew worse. The stranger couldn’t move. His hold on the boy slipped. Suddenly, the upper-left portion of his mask shattered, leaving more of his face visible. He could not move, and before he could even think of trying, he lost consciousness. He fell from the edge of the tower onto the floor in front of him, the Behemoth too injured to care at the moment. “He’s out cold?!” the two cried out. “Well, I’ll go after him,” Cloud said to Leon. “Be sure to cover me, alright?” “Don’t worry, I’ve got three shells left. That should be enough,” replied Leon. As if to prove himself right, he produced his last three shells, slotted them into his Gunblade. He then raised it up to the sky as it grew longer, and gained a giant energy extension. Meanwhile, Cloud continued to run forward in spite of the injuries he’d received against the Behemoth. Unfortunately, the Behemoth was already regaining consciousness. The beast was straining to raise his right hoof. But he did it. He tried to bring it down before he was steady, granting the pair of swordsmen a few seconds. “He’s gonna be crushed!” yelled Cloud. “I’ve got you covered!” yelled Leon. He charged his fire magic into the shells and blasted them, along with the energy extension, at the hoof. Just as the demon was about to smash the little wretch, he was hit by a powerful attack. It was Leon’s fireball, which blew a clean hole through his hoof, and forcing his foot to the right, smashing the ground just about three yards away from the newcomer. Seizing the moment, Cloud leapt up and took a final swing at the damaged horn while the Behemoth roared in pain, lowering his head to the ground. As he felt the crunch of the sword smash his horn, he already knew it was over. But one final thought flitted across his mind: Ever since that victory, two hundred years ago, no one could challenge him…

As the Behemoth exploded in a shower of purple flames, Cloud fell to his knees. They’d won some rest at last. As Leon walked over, Gunblade still held out, he eased up upon seeing the guy who saved their lives. “It’s only been a week, and things are only getting weirder…” muttered Leon. “Looks like we hit quite a bit of irony this time,” replied Cloud as the two hoisted the stranger up with quite some difficulty. “Jeez, he’s heavy,” commented Leon. But just as he’d commented, the mask fell away, hitting the ground with incredible force, leaving a hole in the ground that revealed the staircase. “Well, we’d better get back to the library,” said Cloud. Things looked a little less bleak as the two carried their savior down the stairs.

Kingdom Hearts: Choosing the Path

Chapter Six

Like John’s Vision

“Ugh…” muttered the stranger as he turned around, as he was laying on his back. He was in a library of all sorts. The floor was green, divided into squares with a white outline on each. Shelves full of books behind his chair, aligned like soldiers who stand in line for the visitor to pass through the center. In front of him was a table, with three other chairs in front of its other sides. The chair was made of ordinary wood, and rather simple for such a grand place of learning. From his diagonal-left existed a faded-gold stairway that curved to the floor below. To his right lay a ladder that led to an opening in the ceiling. A bright, white light emitted from it.

Before the stranger’s mind could even begin sending its electrical impulses through his brain and then commence spreading throughout his body to create motion, his ignorance split like the Red Sea. Basic knowledge, such as walking, standing, all the basic functions of mobility, speech, and natural instincts entered his mind, and then troubling memories of little creatures. All of that was then followed by hate entering from a black hole of unknown origins within the depths of his mind. That hate subsided as his ignorance to many other uncertainties and certainties of the world came crashing down upon his mind again, like the same Red Sea upon the pharaoh and his chariots. As soon as the sea calmed inside his mind, the stranger slowly commanded his legs to straighten, his back to straighten and his arms to straighten as well. Turning to his left, where a rail happened to be in front of him, he walked towards it, his boots making a rather loud clomping echo throughout the library with each step he took. At the end of his short journey, he was able to oversee the lower level of the room of knowledge. At the door lay the person in the black jacket and the other in a blue coat.

“So, you think the place is becoming less secure?” asked Leon, directing the question without looking to Cloud. “I dunno,” he replied, “but that attack was too deliberate. The way that guy came out of the Behemoth, I think he had something to do with our recent attack.” At the moment, Leon leaned against the door, as it was firmly locked in place, his black-gloved arms folded, his eyes closed. Cloud, meanwhile, stood in front of a bookshelf, examining the contents of it. It was green, but carried no importance to this time or turn of events. Both thought the same thing: Even after hearing news of Xemnas’ fall, life only grew worse. And this was only a week after his end. Things might get more dangerous, and it wasn’t worth the risk of trying to travel to the other worlds yet.

The sounds of footsteps brought the two out of their seemingly eternal silence. They looked upwards towards the one to whom they now owed gratitude. It had only been about three hours since his passing out, and about twenty minutes of that time had been spent dragging him into the library. “Well, it looks like you decided to wake up,” commented Leon with a bit more of a casual tone to his voice. His Gunblade and Cloud’s giant sword lay at a table at the foot of the stairs leading to the top floor where their savior stood, but some natural signal emanting from him told the pair at the floor below that there was nothing to fear of him. The two started for the stairs at a rather slow pace as the person in the trench coat stared at their path with the curiosity of a child.