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FFX-4

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FFX-4

Postby Stormforce » Mon May 28, 2007 9:25 pm

Note: Here's part four of the FF series. The first few chapters will be odd... different, but everything will fall into place. ^_^

Pairing: W/T, B/F
Feedback: Yeah, sure, tell me what you think ^_^
Rating: Pretty much PG-13 - R depending on the language and fighting.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than the new game systems.
Disclaimer 2: The quotes on the shirts aren't mine either. They come from the Simpsons... But the Bomb Technician quote comes from one of my shirts.

Chapter One: The First Day

Thinking of you, wherever you are.

We pray for our sorrows to end,
and hope that our hearts will blend.
Now I will step forward to realize this wish.

And who knows:
Starting a new journey may not be hard,
or maybe it has already begun.

There are many worlds:
But they share the same sky-
One sky, one destiny.

Willow stood on a set of crossroads, overlooking the ocean. The sun began to set, turning the sky a reddish orange, and then the sky went completely dark. Willow stared, to her it looked as if the ocean had pulled the sun into the water, swallowing it whole. A light breeze blew her red hair back over her shoulders, and brought the scent of rain. Thick, black storm clouds floated overhead, and within a few seconds the breeze turned into a howling wind that pushed against the redhead’s body, almost knocking her down to the ground. Then it stopped. The storm clouds dispersed, and all was calm once more.

“A scattered dream that’s like a far-off memory. A far-off memory that’s like a scattered dream. I want to line the pieces up, yours and mine.” Willow whispered as the breeze once more gently touched her face.

Tara sat on Besaid beach and watched as the small waves lapped against the sand and rocks to her left. A small seashell at her feet was caught in the water, and was washed away within seconds.

Willow, Tara, Buffy and Faith ran down the beach, laughing, and dived into the warm ocean water. The sound of their laughter echoed over the island as they splashed one another.

The four girls were now standing atop the waterfalls overlooking the village, and watched as the sun set. The late afternoon turning to early evening, then to night as the stars shown brightly in the sky. Willow glanced around, and saw Buffy disappear, followed by Faith, and finally Tara. The redhead spun around and saw that the whole island was disappearing from under her feet, turning to her left, she ran, and jumped from the cliff. Willow landed on a platform leading to Hollow Bastion, next to Tara, Buffy, Faith, Donald and Goofy. As one the group jumped on to the other platforms, defeating Heartless shadows as they continue onward.

The group entered the Grand Hall of Hollow Bastion, and all but Willow and Buffy disappeared. They turned around to see their twins holding out their hands to them as a wave rose up behind them. The huge wave crashed down on the four girls, and at once they appeared on Besaid. Willow and Buffy chased after their twins as another wave rose up and crashed down, and they found themselves back in the Grand Hall.

Four blades clashed together, Willow and her twin’s blades, and Buffy and her twin’s blade. Bright golden sparks flew into the air as the sound of metal scraping against metal filled the room. Willow jumped back as her twin quickly spun around, and brought her blade down where the redhead’s feet would have been. Buffy pushed against her twin’s blade with all her strength, and kicked her right leg out, knocking her twin back as her foot connected with the other’s stomach. The Al Bhed ducked and slid to the side as her twin thrust her blade out.

Willow and Buffy jumped into the air, and spun around as they brought their Keyblades down. The twins leapt into the air at the same moment the Keyblades connected with them, and landed next to the entrance to the Dark Depths. Pieces of clothing melted away as the twins changed shape, and merged together, revealing D‘Hoffryn. Growling, both Willow and Buffy leaped into the air, and slammed their blades down at D’Hoffryn’s feet.

The door to Kingdom Hearts opened, and light poured out; D’Hoffryn quickly brought his right arm up to shield his eyes from the light.

The ex-dark twins smiled and made a promise to the group as the Kingdom Hearts door closed.

Willow’s twin stood beside Buffy’s on the shore of a beach as each held their lover close. The day began turning to night as the twins watched their lovers disappear from their arms. Seconds later, Princess Tara and Princess Faith were standing alone on the same beach, each watching the ocean, and wishing their lovers were back in their arms.

In a plain white room a young girl with blonde hair sat at a small table with a sketching pad in front of her, she was currently drawing a spiraling staircase. The stairs became real just as Willow, Tara, Buffy, Faith, Goofy and Donald appeared. The group ran up the stairs, fighting the appearing Heartless as they go, Willow and Buffy slicing with their blades; Tara, Faith and Donald casting magic, and Goofy knocking them off with his shield. Blue smoke began to rise from the stairs, and Willow could just make out two figures wearing black cloaks, and another, taller figure wearing a red overcoat, and had his face wrapped. The man in red turned to face the on-coming group, showing he allowed only one eye hole in the cloth wrap -and just like that, he and the two figures were gone.

A white hall began to form around the group as two figures in black cloaks appeared, each man smirked as Willow and Buffy found themselves alone. One man held a scythe, and ran toward Willow; the other held a sword and ran toward Buffy. Nodding together, both girls leaped forward, ready for the fight.

Keyblade met scythe, Keyblade met sword. The clanging sound of metal meeting metal echoed as the girls fought with the cloaked men.

Willow’s twin leaped backwards and away from a large energy blast thrown by D‘Hoffryn, just as her feet touched the ground she shot forward at lightning speed. Buffy’s twin jumped into the air, avoiding another blast from D‘Hoffryn, and spun around, bringing her right leg out, and landed a kick to his head.

Willow and her twin faced off, just as Buffy and her twin were doing at the same moment. The twins snarled as they raced forward, blades held over their heads, and connected with their opponent’s blades.

The four girls, Willow and Buffy and their twins stood facing off against D’Hoffryn and a black cloaked man. The two blondes ran forward, and crossed paths, their blades cutting an X in the cloaked man’s chest as they leapt over him. Willow and her twin danced around D‘Hoffryn, exchanging blow after blow. The two redheads each landed a blow, knocking the man to the ground, and used his shoulders to jump off of, and into the air. Willow and her twin threw their blades at D‘Hoffryn; the enemy raised his own blade, blocking their weapons.

Goofy, Donald, Willow, Tara, Faith, and Buffy continued to run up the spiraling stairs that seemed to never end. At the top, Mickey, and the twins began running down to meet them. Willow continued to run as the group met with the others, and she burst through a door, only to see the young blonde girl. The girl continued to draw a capsule enveloping Willow, and within seconds it happened. It looked like an open flower rising up out of the floor, with silver white leaves under the open flower. As it rose; the four glass petals closed, capturing Willow. The redhead beat her fists against the glass as a helpless look crossed her face -realizing it was no use- at the same time as the girl looked down with sad blue eyes.

Her eyes felt heavy, and Willow began to fall backwards as her eyes closed, her body sailed across the ocean toward Besaid Island. The young girl sadly closed her sketchbook. On the cover was a sleeping group. Willow and Tara lay side by side next to Buffy and Faith, and Donald and Goofy.

At the same time a young woman with red hair was falling though the water, and as she woke up she landed, hard, on the ground. Standing up, she looked around warily, and saw nothing but darkness. Taking a step forward light shot out from under her feet, and she covered her face as hundreds of birds flew out of the bright light, revealing a platform with large pictures of Willow and the others on it. The girl watched as the birds flew away, and disappeared into the darkness.

At a dark ocean beach a cloaked person sits on a large rock, and turned their head toward another rock in time to see another person step out of it. The person on the rock turned their head back toward the beach, and waited until the other was standing next to them.

“You have arrived.” The person on the rock spoke with a female’s voice, “I’ve been to see her, you know, she looks a lot like you.”

The second cloaked figure, another female, cocked her cloaked head to the right, “Who are you?”

“I’m what’s left.” the other says but stops, “Or maybe, I’m all there ever was.”

Shaking her head; the second girl sighed, “I meant your name.”

With a snort the sitting woman stood, “My name is of no importance.” she turned toward the second, “What about you? Do you remember your true name?”

“My true name…my name is…” As the girl spoke Willow’s memories flashed though her head. Where had those come from? Those memories weren’t hers, but if not hers, then whose were they? She had no idea who those people were in the memories she’d just seen.

Willow laid on Besaid beach with her eyes closed, the day had been warm, so warm in fact that she and the others decided to go for a swim. Now the redhead was waiting for her wife and friends. “Will!”

“Whoa!” Willow was startled as she opened her eyes, it took a few seconds for her vision to clear, and when it did, Willow jumped as she realized she was face to face with Buffy, “Hey, don’t do that!” the redhead chuckled.

--

Tara and Buffy laughed as they watched their lovers run down the beach, and back toward the dock. Willow began to slow, “Giving up already?” Faith asked with a smirk as she turned around and began running backwards.

“No way!” Willow laughed, and sped up, passing by Faith, and reaching the dock only seconds before the dark haired girl.

---

“This world has been connected.” A deep voice spoke.

“Who’s there?” Willow peered into the darkness, knowing she couldn’t see a thing.

“Tied to the darkness…”

Willow glanced around again, “You understand nothing.” the voice spoke.

---

A door opened out of thin air right behind the figures, it startled the girl into spinning around. And for just a moment, she relaxed, only to step back as a howling wind picked up in speed; the girl reached out to the cloaked figure as she was blown back -and through the door.

Sunlight shown through a window, and right into the sleeping face of a young redhead. The young girl squeezed her bright green eyes and with a groan, she sat up, and looked around the room. “Another dream about her…them…” the girl stood and quickly dressed. “Looks like a beautiful day.” she said to no one as she opened her window overlooking Twilight Town, and watched as a small train passed by.

Turning from the window, the girl quickly dressed in a pair of baggy, camouflaged jeans, and a baggy black shirt with lettering on it. The girl laughed as she read the shirt for what seemed like the thousandth time.

‘Bomb Technician
If you see me running,
Try to keep up.’

Quickly finding her black work boots, and tying them, the girl grabbed her skateboard and ran down the stairs, and out the front door. The wheels of her board hit the ground as she jumped into the air, and rolled down the hill -towards the usual meeting place where her friends would be waiting.

The young girl jumped off the board, and flipped it into the air, where she caught it before entering the meeting place. The meeting place was a large room at the back of an alley, a room which she and her friends had cleaned up, and placed boxes, crates, and even an old couch to sit on. The young woman nodded to her friends as she plopped down on the couch, and began thinking over her dream. What was it? Who were those people, and why was she dreaming about them? What did it all mean?

“Doesn’t that just tick you off?” Garnet, also known as Dagger to her friends, said as she pushed a strand of coal black hair behind her ear. A silver chain hung from her hip, slapping at the crate as she swung her legs back and forth. Looking down, she sighed and brushed off a piece of lint from the lettering on her shirt.

‘Remember, you can always find East by staring directly at the sun.’

“Sure does.” Quistis said nodding her head, and causing her light blonde hair to brush her shoulders, “That’s just wrong.” Like the others, she had some odd quote on the front of her pink shirt.

‘Relax? I can't relax! Nor can I yield, relent, or... Only two synonyms? Oh my God, I'm losing my perspicacity! Aaaaa!’

Selphie a very light brown haired girl shook her fist, “Seifer’s gone too far this time!” The three friends look over to the last of the group, “Max, don’t you think so?” Selphie cocked an eyebrow as she crossed her arms over the quote on her blue shirt.

‘How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain.’

Max blinked, but nodded and watched Garnet jump off the crate she was sitting on. “I mean, it’s true that things have been stolen all over town, and I for one think we’ve got a score to settle with Seifer and his lackeys.” The girl sighed, “If he wants to believe we did it, let him, but that’s not what bugs me. What really bugs me is that he’s going around town tellin’ everyone that WE did it! That we’re thieves!” she shook her fist and growled, “Now cause of him, the whole town and their mothers are treating us like the friggin’ Klepto Club! Have you ever been this ticked off before in your life!? Cause I haven’t! Now, what are we gonna do about it?”

Selphie, not knowing what to say, looked over at Max, and only saw the girl shrug, “Well…” Max began and saw that Garnet and Quistis were looking at her, “We could find the real thieves, that would set the record straight.”

“Hey!” Quistis shouted, “That sounds like fun.”

“What about Seifer?”

Max stood and grinned at Garnet, “First we gotta clear our names. Once we find the real thieves, everyone will get off our backs, and then we can settle the score with Seifer.” she said and chuckled at hearing Garnet’s low growl.

“Oh no!” Quistis’ surprised shout caught the others attention, “They’re gone!” she said again holding up a camera. “Our ---- are gone!” the blonde looked confused as she put a hand to her throat, “What?”

Garnet blinked, “All our ----, gone? Huh?” she touched her throat, “what the hell!?”

“Huh? You can’t say ----? Why not?” Selphie mimicked the others by touching her throat, why couldn’t she say it?

“But you do understand what I'm saying, right? Our ---- are gone!”

Max shook her head, “They were stolen, and not just the ----, but the word ----! They stole it too!”

“What the hell kind of thief is that? One who can steal a word too!” Garnet cried out, slightly afraid.

Selphie glanced around, “Its time for some recon!” she said and hurried toward the door, with the others behind her.

Max had started to follow, but her vision blurred for a moment, and the world spun around as her eyes closed and she hit the floor, unconscious.

“Her heart is returning.” A deep voice said in the darkness, “Doubtless she’ll awaken very soon, as will the others.”

Max opened her eyes, and slowly stood; dusting herself off she looked around, “Huh? What happened?”

“Come on, Max!” Selphie waved her right hand from the doorway.

“Yeah.” Max nodded, and followed. How long had she been unconscious? Couldn’t have been that long. What was going on?

“Over here!” Quistis called, motioning the two girls over to the Armor Shop, “Let’s get this investigation underway.”

The storekeeper, a young man with silver hair shook his head, “Yo, Max. I never thought you’d go and do such a rotten thing.”

Max and her friends sighed, “Look, we didn’t steal anything, okay?” Max growled out, “That damn Seifer is the one lying about it.”

“I’d like to believe you, but who else would steal that stuff?”

“What stuff?” Garnet asked.

The shopkeeper shook his head, “As if you didn’t know.” he then shrugged, “I’m not gonna tell you, go ask Chase at the accessory shop, he’ll tell ya.”

The four girls turned and crossed the road, and stepped up to the window of a small mushroom shaped store, “Hi girls, please don’t let me down, you used to be my favorite customers.” The owner said sadly.

“We ain’t thieves!”

“Okay…” The man trailed off.

“It’s no fun having everyone thinking we did it, you know.” Max leaned against the wall and kicked at a rock.

The gray haired owner looked away, ashamed, everyone just assumed it was Max from what had been stolen, “Hey, you’re gonna have to find a way to clear your name…. You know, the woman at the candy shop is pretty disappointed too.”

The girls nodded, and once more crossed the street, heading for the candy shop. The older woman with dark forest green hair watched the girls, “We’re not thieves.” Selphie said as she picked up a chocolate train, and tossed the money on the counter before leaning against the wall.

“Have you seen my cat?” The woman asked, her grey eyes staring at Max. She just knew it wasn’t these children that had gone around stealing things.

“Er…” Max stepped back and pointed to the awning above the window, “I’ll get him.” she said and hopped on the counter. “Come on boy, down you come.” she picked the half grown cat up, and sat him on the counter once she was safely on the ground.

“Thank you, Max.”

Garnet grabbed a candy bar, and tossed the money on the counter, “Keep the change.” she glanced around the small area as she opened the candy, “Did they steal anything from you?”

“Oh, my, yes, they did. Something important.”

“We didn’t do it!” Quistis cried out as she grabbed for half of Selphie’s chocolate train, only to have the other girl gently shove her away.

“You want one, get it yourself!” Selphie half growled, everyone knew not to come between her and chocolate.

The woman nodded, “I believe you, dear.”

Max gave the woman a sweet smile, “Thanks for that, ma’am.” she said and paid for a hand-full of root beer kegs, “So what did they take from you?” Max popped a keg into her mouth, watching Quistis pay for her own chocolate train.

“My -----. My precious -----”

The four girls glanced at one another and sighed, “This isn’t your average thief, no thief could steal the word too!” Garnet bit into her candy bar.

“You girls be careful.” The older woman spoke as she watched the four walk away.

As the girls walked up the small hill leading to an intersection, Selphie stopped, “You think Seifer would tell us anything?”

“Well, we should talk to him and see. C’mon, to the sandlot!” Max chuckled as she sprinted off, leaving the others behind.

The small group cut through an alleyway and hurried down another small slope. They saw Seifer’s lackeys standing beside the tournament ring. Fujin, the only girl of the group was talking with Raijin, her brother, and Vivi. Raijin, also known as Rai, was just a little over six foot tall, making him an inch taller than Seifer. Vivi, was small, he stood only three and a half foot tall, and wore a long blue coat and a cone shaped hat. The small guy noticed the girls and stopped talking. “Thieves.” Fujin said crossing her arms. The way she talked would have annoyed anyone who didn’t know her, or knew about her voice. Since birth, Fujin couldn’t talk, but after training with her brother, she could speak in short clipped sentences -but most of the time, only said one word.

“That was low, ya know.” Rai said shaking his head. And that was one thing that did annoy the group, Raijin always added the “Ya know” at the end of every sentence.

Vivi adjusted his hat, but said nothing.

“Oh yeah?” Quistis growled out, what the hell was that? Couldn’t she have come up with something better?

“Nice comeback there, blondie.” Seifer said as he walked up.

“What’d you say?!” The blonde growled, she hated it when anyone called her blondie.

The six foot tall young man turned around and grinned as he crossed his arms, and leaned against the wall, “You can give us back the ---- now.”

“Yeah, you’re the only ones who’d take it, ya know?” Raijin agreed with his leader.

“That was undeniable proof that we totally owned you lamers.” Seifer smirked, then his face grew hard, “So what did you do? Burn it?” he shook his head and chuckled, “Ha, not that we need some ------ to prove that you're losers.”

“Replay!” Fujin smirked as she stepped into a fighting stance.

Seifer laughed, “Now you're talking!” the group of four readied to fight, just as the four girls readied themselves, “I guess if you were to get down on your knees and beg, maybe I’d let it slide.”

Max stared at the person she most hated at the moment, and clenched her fists, but moved closer to the thugs, and heard them laugh at her. The leader crossed his arms and watched as the young woman moved to kneel, but was eyeing a small metal, foam covered sword just behind him. “Max!” Garnet shouted in surprise, not believing her eyes.

Just as the gang’s eyes turned to Garnet, Max shot forward, rolled past Seifer, and grabbed the sword before turning to face him. She jumped back as the young man grabbed his own sword and swung at her. Bringing her weapon up, Max blocked an attack, ducked down, spun around, and kicked Seifer’s feet out from under him. The young man growled between clenched teeth as he quickly stood, and only had time to block the onslaught of attacks. “Come on, quit playing around and fight!” he said jumping back.

Max lunged forward, barely dodging the foam covered blade, and quickly smacked Seifer on the back of his head, knocking him to the ground. As the young man slid across the ground, Rai and Fujin stepped in front of him, “Seifer’s not feelin’ so hot, ya know!’

“Tournament decides.” Fujin said nodding toward a poster for the Struggle tournament.

As Rai and Fujin carry Seifer off, Quistis pulled out her camera, and checked for film, before giving the thumbs up. She started to snap the picture -and the camera was snatched out of her hands. An odd looking white creature, that almost looked like a person, jumped away, and floated through the air as it held the camera. “What the hell was that?!” The blonde shouted, staring at the thing as it headed toward Market Street.

“The thief!” Garnet pointed, and ran after the quickly disappearing thing.

The four girls hurried up the path and down the street in the next section of the town, and lost track of it. Deciding to split up, Max headed toward a crack in the wall that led to the woods, peering in she saw the thief floating past the trees, and quickly followed it. The dark woods were just a little spooky, but Max wanted to get the camera back, and hopefully get the missing items back as well.

There was a small well-worn path leading through the trees, Max shivered as she followed, visions dancing in her head that anything could be in the darkness of the woods.

The creature landed on the ground near a small clearing, and took three foot long strides up the path, it’s legs extending like they were made of rubber. As it continued up the path it began dancing around the trees, almost as if it wanted Max to catch up, and once she was near it would begin taking those long strides again, and hurried off to the front of an old mansion.

As the young woman cautiously approached the creature, words were spoken in her head, “We have come for you, my liege.” the voice said as the creature swayed from side to side. The then word ‘Dusk’ came to mind. Was that what these were called, Dusk? She really didn’t know, and truth be told, she really didn’t want to find out.

“Huh?” Max, keeping her guard up, glanced around, but saw no one. The sound of a zipper invaded her ears, looking back at the creature, she saw that the mouth was unzipping, and stumbled back as the creature attacked her. Using the foam covered sword she swung at it, but it was no use, the sword did no damage at all. As she breathed hard from dodging the sharp looking claws of the creature, rings began circling her arm and hand -and she watched the sword turn into a Keyblade. “What…what is this thing?” she asked herself, and looked back at the creature, “You’re mine now!”

Max lunged forward, spinning around in a tight circle, and brought the Keyblade down on the creature’s head. The creature swayed for a moment, and vanished, leaving behind a pile of pictures, and Quistis’ camera. The Keyblade vanished along with the creature; Max shrugged, and picked up the pictures. With a grin she turned and hurried back to meet with the others. The young redhead couldn’t contain the smile on her face as she entered the group’s meeting place, and lay the pictures on the table.

“My camera!” Quistis grabbed her camera and hugged Max, “Thank you!”

“What’s this?” Garnet picked up one of the photos.

Max took a look at it and saw she was with the armor shop owner, “Oh, I was his first customer after he took the shop over, so we took a picture together.”

“It’s a really nice photo.” Selphie said, then her eyes went wide, “Oh!”

“Hey, you just said ‘photo’!” Garnet laughed, then looked up at Max, “Tell us about the thief.”

“Not much to say, the pictures were just lying there.” Max said keeping her eyes on the pictures, what could she tell them besides that? Not like she could say, ‘Oh, hey, a sword appeared in my hand after the thief’s mouth unzipped, and then it disappeared after I hit it with said sword.’ Yeah, that would go over real well, they would think she’s nuts!

“How are we gonna prove we weren’t the ones who took ‘em?” Quistis asked and heard Garnet chuckle, “What?”

“You’re with the candy store owner’s girl!” Garnet chuckled as she picked the picture up, and showed it to the others.

Selphie smiled, “You look happy.”

“Do not!” Max shook her head, she did not want to be teased about that now. She and that girl were just friends, that was it.

Selphie looked at each and every picture laying on the table, “Hey, anybody else notice that all the stolen pictures are of Max?”

“Oh, so that’s why everyone thought it was us.” Quistis nodded.

“Wait a minute.” Garnet blinked as she looked at her friends, “You mean to tell me Seifer didn’t go around accusing us after all?”

Max didn’t care about Seifer at that moment, she was confused over the pictures, “Are they really all of me?”

“Yeah.” Selphie held the pictures up, “See?”

“Every single one.” Quistis said looking the pictures over, “Wouldn’t it be weird if the thief wanted to steal the real Max, or something?”

“C’mon, get serious.” Garnet smirked, “Why would anyone wanna steal a bonehead like Max?”

“Oh, gee, thanks.” Max shook her head and joined her friends in laughing as the station bell rang out.

The four girls stepped outside and watched as a train passed by them on the overhead tracks, and heard the bell rung once more, “See y’all tomorrow.” Selphie said pulling Quistis after her. Garnet soon left, and hurried home, leaving Max to head to her home by herself. The young redhead looked up, and held out her hand to block the sun from her eyes, “Where am I?” she heard a voice inside her head.

“Who’s there?” Max asked as she narrowed her eyes, who the hell was inside her head now?

“Who are you?” The voice asked, “I’m Willow.”

Max quirked her eyebrows, “I’m Max.” she said and grabbed her head in pain and stumbled toward her house.

Static appeared…

“Restoration at 12%” A computerized voice spoke as a man in a red cloak sat at a computer desk in front of several different screens. There were ten screens in front of the man, and another eight to his side. The screens all lit up, showing different things. The swooshing sound of a portal opening filled the room, and two people wearing black cloaks stepped inside the room.

“Organization miscreants…” The red cloaked man said as he stared at one of the screens, “They’ve found us.”

The blacked cloaked persons sat down beside the man, “But why would the Nobodies steal photographs?” The one on the right asked in a very female voice.

“Diz?” the second one questioned, again this one had a young woman’s voice.

Diz, the red cloaked man, turned to the girls, “It’s nothing more than data to them. The fools could never tell the difference.” His deep voice rumbled as anger welled inside his body, “We are running out of time. Naminé must make haste.”

The memories flashed before her closed eyes; Max had made it back to her house, only to fall unconscious on her bed, and now the memories invaded her mind -memories that weren’t hers.

---

Willow and the others stepping out of Giles’ shop in Traverse Town, only to be confronted by Clay and their twins. “They will come at you out of nowhere, as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade.” Clay’s voice rang out.

The girls meeting Donald and Goofy after the fight with the Heartless, “Name’s Goofy.”

“Donald Duck.”

“The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade.” Clay said as she and her group stepped up to the girls and two guys.

Fighting Jafar in the Cave of Wonders, then the locking of the Agrabah keyhole. Finding Jasmine gone, and going on the search, once more, for a missing princess.

-----

Max opened her eyes and groaned as she sat up, “A key…blade?” she questioned and looked out the window. Was that what had appeared in her hand the day before? And keyhole, what was so special about a keyhole? The young redhead didn’t know the answers to the questions, and could only hope that she would understand in time.

***********
Well, that's the first chapter, hope it was good. ^_^
You don't have to swim faster than the shark, just faster than the guy next to you.

Everytime someone asks why a character is Silenced because of the Nethicite; The Gods kill a Moogle! Save the Moogles!
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Re: FFX-4

Postby Willowtree252 » Mon May 28, 2007 9:27 pm

:pinky I have been keeping up with this story and I love it. :kgeek
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Re: FFX-4

Postby Artemis » Sun Jun 03, 2007 7:48 am

Cool beginning to a new story in this saga (now 133 chapters long, all up). I really liked the idea of words, of all things, being stolen - very imaginative and new-fantasy-esque, the whole notion of an idea (along with minds) being something that can be manipulated and stolen. I really enjoy stories that delve into fantastic notions like that - it feels like real magic, beyond the ordinary, not just fireballs-on-command magic. Looking forward to more, and finding out what's behind all the clues in this chapter.
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Re: FFX-4

Postby ceridwen » Sun Jun 03, 2007 10:43 pm

Hello

I really liked the poem (or whatever it was) at the beginning of this chapter, it was very... i dunno, there was a nostalgic sorta feeling about it.

And the same goes for the bits and pieces of memories...

The new characters are fun, its kinda refreshing, you know?

And like you said, things seem kinda odd right now, but i know they'll clear up later on.

Keep it up
Last edited by ceridwen on Thu Jun 19, 2008 6:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Nadie debe decidir por mí a quién debo amar, con quién debo acostarme.

Hector Avellan.
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Chapter 2

Postby Stormforce » Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:59 pm

Dianneswillowtree - Thank you :D I'm happy that you like it.

Artemis - I'm glad you liked the idea of words being stolen. Being able to steal a word is something I loved about the first part of the game, trying to figure out what everyone was speaking. It really seems like a real magic, being able to get someone to not say a certain word. ^_^ I hope this chapter is just as good as the last :D

Ceridwen - Hey, ren'ai. It was a poem at the beginning, glad you liked it. I love it, and can't help but reading it more than once...just something about it. Yeah, the new characters are fun to write, even if it's a little odd. But like I said, everything will clear up a little later. ^_^

Here's the next chapter...

Pairing: W/T, B/F
Feedback: Yeah, sure, tell me what you think ^_^
Rating: Pretty much PG-13 - R depending on the language and fighting.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than the new game systems.


Chapter Two: The Second and Third Days

The businesses in Twilight Town were hosting sales to draw more shoppers to their stands in hopes of selling something. Men and women, and some children, stood in line at the businesses, waiting for their turn, and Max ignored all the shouting as she passed by. Her mind was on the dream she’d had, not just one, but several, she had been having dreams of that group for a while now -and still had no clue as to why, or who they were.

“A Keyblade…” she mumbled as she entered the alleyway leading to the meeting place, and spotted a long stick leaning against the wall. The young redhead picked the stick up, and began swinging it around like she had with the Keyblade the day before, “Just what was that about?” she stopped and stared at the stick, and shrugged her shoulders before tossing it over her head.

The dull smack of the stick hitting something, and then falling to the ground caused the girl to turn, “Oh!” Max’s eyes went wide, the stick had hit a black cloaked person in the chest, “Sorry…about that…” Max watched the black cloaked person turn and walk away without saying a word. Max didn’t know what to think, shouldn’t that person had said something? Shaking her head, she turned and entered the meeting place, and saw that the others were sitting around the room licking on ice cream.

“Here, sea-salt ice cream.” Garnet held out the bluish green ice cream with a grin.

“Thanks.” Max took the proffered item, and sat down, “Do you think we’ll always be together like this?”

Selphie took a bite out of her ice cream, and nodded, “I sure hope so.”

Garnet blinked and hopped down from the crate she was sitting on, “Now where did that come from?”

“Just thinking out loud is all.”

The dark haired girl sighed, “Well, I doubt we can be together forever,” she said as she paced around the room, “but isn’t that what growing up’s all about? What’s important isn’t how often we see each other, but how often we think about each other, right?”

Quistis laughed, nearly dropping her ice cream in the process, “Get that off a fortune cookie?”

Garnet narrowed her eyes and lunged after the retreating blonde, “That’s it! No more ice cream for you!” she sighed, “Damn, today’s turning out to be a drag.”

“Maybe because of yesterday’s memory thief.” Selphie sighed, thinking about the odd looking thing.

“Nah, it’s cause we don’t want summer vacation to be over. So, how about this?” The girl grinned, “We all go to the beach! And why do we go to the beach? Because we haven't gone once this entire vacation! Blue seas! Blue skies! Let's just get on the train and go!” she shouted excitedly, and watched the others stand up without saying a word, “No? Aw, c’mon!”

Max shook her head, “Maybe you forgot, but we’re broke.” she quirked her eyebrows, and couldn’t help but think of what Selphie said about the day before. Just how could something like that happen? Words being stolen? She slightly sighed, would it happen again? Max really hoped not.

“Maybe you forgot, I’m smart!” Garnet ran out of the room with the others following, “We’re going to Market Street.” The group hurried out of the alleyway, and up the small slope; Garnet stopped and stared at a Struggle poster and turned to Max, “Just two days to go, you and I have to make the finals! That way, no matter who wins, the four of us split the prize.”

“You’re on.”

Quistis and Selphie pumped their fists in the air, “You two are gonna clean up!” they shouted.

“That’s a promise!” Garnet firmly nodded, “Okay, now, let’s get down to business. One ticket to the beach is 900 munny. How much for the four of us?”

“3,600 munny.” Quistis said off the top of her head, she was like a calculator when it came to any kind of math.

“And 300 each to spend there, what’s that for all of us?”

“1,200 munny, a total of 4,800.”

Selphie scratched the back of her head, “To spend on what?”

Max chuckled, she knew, “The pretzels, of course, what else is there?!”

“Well, there’s always watermelon.” Quistis added.

Garnet shook her head as she waved her hands in front of her face, “Too pricey. They’re like, 2,000 munny.”

“Pretzels it is.” Max sighed, watermelon sounded good, but to come up with another two thousand? Nah, she would stick with the pretzels.

“Okay so what do we need?” Selphie stretched as she glanced around at her friends, and felt her back pop. She knew they were going to have to work for what money they needed. Nothing came free.

Quistis pulled out a small sack, “We need 4,800, but all we have is…” she counted the coins and bills in her pouch, “I’ve got 650.”

“800, here.” Selphie added hers.

Max lowered her head, “I’ve only got 150.”

“That’s 1,600!” Garnet grinned, she had been counting as the group called out what they had, “We need another…3,200. Let’s find ourselves some odd jobs and earn some cash. We have ‘till the train leaves to earn…800 each!” she said, turned and sprinted off, “Meet at the station with cash in hand!”

Selphie sighed as she looked at the other two, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t she say she had it covered?”

Max shrugged, “Whatever. Those pretzels are sounding pretty good right now.” she said and walked off, she knew where she could get a fast couple of jobs.

The young redhead had helped with delivering mail, pushing a cargo wagon up a hill, killing bees, putting up posters for the Struggle tournament, and clearing out junk from the junkyard. With cash in hand, and only twenty minutes before the train left, she hurried off towards the station. “What’ve we got?” Garnet asked as Max approached.

“Let’s see…” she said pulling out the bills and coins, “Just this.”

“Great!” Quistis said as she added the money together, “We now have… 5,500!” she put the money in a small purple pouch, and handed it to Max, “Let’s get the tickets.”

As Quistis and Selphie run toward the station, Garnet looked towards the sky, “We can’t be together forever, so we’d better make the time we do have something to remember.” The dark haired girl would never know how much those words were true, especially when it came to Max.

“Huh?”

“Gotcha!” Garnet grinned and playfully punched Max in the stomach before running toward the others.

Max shook her head and chuckled as she started forward, but something invisible caused her to trip, and she fell face first to the ground, “Whoa!” A small stick dropped to the ground. Garnet, Selphie, and Quistis turned when their friend fell, and stepped back down the steps. Max grunted slightly as she got on her knees and touched her lip, pulling her hand away, she found a dab of blood. From the corner of her eye, she noticed someone in a black cloak standing beside her, “What?” she whispered, and was jerked into an upright position, and pulled into the air with her feet dangling an inch from the ground. The blacked cloaked person leaned down, and whispered something in her ear before letting her go, “Huh?”

“Max, three minutes!” Garnet shouted from the doorway.

“Okay!” The redhead nodded, and turned to look at the person, but she was already gone, and her feet were back on the ground. Max didn’t know what to think, so instead of dwelling on it, she hurried toward her friends, and into the station.

“Four students.” Garnet said to the ticket agent at the counter.

“Max, the munny.” Quistis said pulling the young redhead to the counter.

Max nodded, and reached into her pocket. It was gone. “Wait!” she cried out, and searched her front and back pockets of her jeans, and her shirt pockets, “Damn it!” she growled, “She took it!” she turned and ran back towards the station plaza where she’d tripped.

“Where are you going!?” Selphie asked as she and the others followed their friend out the door.

Max burst through the station doors, and stopped, “Remember when I fell?” she asked and saw the others nod, “Well, I had the money before that, I bet that girl took it!”

“Girl?” Garnet asked as a confused look crossed her face, “What girl?”

The young redhead jumped off the steps, “Come on, she couldn’t have gotten too far.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Garnet asked remembering Max standing up after falling to the ground.

Quistis placed a hand on Max’s left shoulder and gently squeezed, “Max, there wasn’t any girl.”

“Huh? But she… there wasn’t? Really?” her voice was low, as if she was thinking about something, then the train whistle blew.

“Oh, boy.” Selphie lowered her head, they had missed the train.

Max stared at the ground and kicked at a rock, “There wasn’t anyone…there?”

“Come on, don’t worry about it.”

“Selphie is right, don’t worry.” Quistis said wrapping her arm around Max, “Let’s go get some ice cream, and go to the top of the station tower.”

Max nodded as she and the others slowly walked toward an ice cream vendor, bought the sea-salt ice cream, and climbed the stairs to the tower. The young redhead sat down, her feet dangling over the edge, and stared out over Twilight Town. “It’s melting.” Selphie said nudging Max’s shoulder.

“Sorry.” Max sighed and licked the melting ice cream.

Garnet had been disappointed at first, she really had wanted to go to the beach, but it didn’t matter, this was fine with her -sitting atop the tower, with her friends, “Cheer up. It doesn’t matter, we can go some other time.”

“That was really weird though.” Max said as she remembered the black cloaked woman.

“Can you feel Willow?” The figure asked, “Can you feel her?”

Static appeared….

“Restoration at 28%” the computer said.

“Naminé, hurry.” Diz said staring at the screen as the cloaked woman tossed the money pouch into the air, and caught it.

“Is it really that hard to make a beach?” The second cloaked woman asked with her eyes on the screens.

Diz barely turned his head, “We’d be giving the enemy another entry point.”

The first woman held out the money pouch, “And this?”

Diz turned away from the computer screens with a -barely seen- grin, “We can always buy some sea-salt ice cream.” he said causing the two women to chuckle, and the first to toss the pouch into the air again, “Objects from that town must be kept out of the real world.” The red cloaked man said as the woman caught the pouch once more, “You can delete that.”

----
“As the key bearer, you must already know one must not meddle in the affairs of other worlds!” King Triton said staring at Willow and the group.

“So many places I want to see. I know I’ll get there someday.” Ariel stared toward the ocean’s surface.

----

“Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes.” Phil said to the group with Hercules standing next to him.

“Hey! What do you mean ‘Junior heroes’?” Donald asked as he narrowed his eyes.

“You rookies still don’t understand what it takes to be a true hero.”

----

“I… I wish… for your freedom, Genie.” Aladdin said with a small smile.

“Al!” Genie shouted as his legs appeared.

----

In a dark spooky place, a skeleton stood in front of a put together woman, “Why didn’t I listen to you, Sally?”

Sally took the skeleton’s hands in her own, “Don’t worry, Jack. We’ll have a better Halloween Festival next year.”

----

Tara summoning Mushu, the small dragon appearing and settling atop the blonde’s head, “I am Mushu!”

----

The dark twins confronting the group in front of Hollow Bastion, “Let the Keyblades choose… their true masters!”

----

“I’m looking for someone.” Cloud said to Willow in front of the Coliseum on Hercules’ world.

----

“Where are you going?” Rabbit asked with a sad look on his furry face.

Buffy stood beside her lover, “We’ve got to look for our twins.”

“Bounce on back again!” Tigger bounced over and hugged the girls.

Pooh Bear waving goodbye as the others watched.

----

Diz remained sitting on his desk, watching the screen. A young blonde standing in front of the capsule she had been drawing, in a white room. Max cocked her head to the right, “Who are you?” she asked, and the girl turned around with a smile. Max jerked awake, and for a split second, she saw the blonde standing in her room before disappearing. “Huh?”

What did those dreams mean? Were they memories? If so, then whose memories, cause they sure weren’t hers? And just what did that cloaked woman mean when she asked if she could feel Willow? Willow, the girl in the dreams…memories, was that her? If it was, then why was she dreaming about her, or better yet, why were the woman’s memories running through her head?

Max rubbed her face as she trekked back to the meeting place; the dreams had really started to get to her, and she still couldn’t figure out why she was having them. As she entered the meeting place, Max saw no one, and noticed a small note on the couch. Picking it up she quirked her eyebrows,

‘Meet at the station. Today’s the day we hit the beach, and don’t sweat about the munny!

-Garnet’

Max picked up her skateboard, and made her way toward the street -doing small tricks along the way. As she exited the alleyway, she saw Quistis and Selphie waiting beside the Job Board, “Hey.” she called jumping off her board, and running up to them.

“Morning.” Both girls yawned, “Come on, let’s go.” Selphie said and turned with Quistis walking beside her.

“Huh?” Max blinked as both girls froze in mid-step, she hurried over, only to be stopped by the blonde girl from her dreams.

“Hello, Max.”

Max blinked again, very confused, “Umm… Hi, and you are?”

The young blonde held up her hand to silence the girl, “I wanted to meet you at least once.”

“Me?”

The blonde nodded, “Yes, you.” she said and began walking away.

Max scratched the back of her head and watched as the girl disappeared, and saw that her friends were unfrozen, “Selphie dragged me along to go shopping.” Quistis said rolling her eyes.

“Hey, you wanna come with us?” Selphie asked happily, she really needed to get those two to do more shopping.

The redhead looked back in the direction the blonde disappeared, “Didn’t you just see that?”

Quistis chuckled, “She’s stalling.”

“Very well then.” Selphie shook her head and turned, “We’ll see you later then.” she said and walked away with Quistis following.

Max glanced at her friends, then towards the direction the blonde had gone, “Did she go to that mansion?” she asked herself, and with one last look at Selphie and Quistis, she hurried toward the mansion. As she passed the Tram Common, and watched as a train passed by overhead, she noticed the girl slip into the hole, and into the woods. As Max neared the hole a black cloud appeared in front of her, and three Dusks jumped out to grab her, “Lemme go!” she growled, punched one in the face, and ran.

The Dusks stayed right behind her, either floating through the air, or taking those long stride steps. Max hurried back through the Tram Common, and into the Sandlot where she saw Seifer and his gang, and franticly waved her hands.

“Hey, chicken wuss!” Seifer called as Max slid to a stop in front of him, and quickly turned around as the Dusks entered the Sandlot.

“Who’s that?” Fujin asked staring at the creatures, and stepping into a fighting position along with her brother -never noticing the small Vivi running away.

Seifer shrugged and growled, “I dunno, but they’ve already crossed the line. Find a weapon!”

Max noticed one of the Struggle practice swords on the ground, ducked under the swing of a Dusk’s arm, and rolled, picking up the sword. She turned and connected the sword with a Dusk, but was knocked away; the sword useless. As she stood up, she saw that Seifer, Fujin, Raijin, and even the running Vivi were frozen in time. “This ain’t good!”

“Max, use the Keyblade!”

“What?” Max glanced around and saw the blonde standing on a building overlooking the Sandlot. A Dusk jumped at Max, who brought her hands up to shield herself, and in a flash was transported to a blue platform with Willow’s picture on it -as well as Willow’s entire group. The name ‘Station of Serenity’ came into her mind like she’d known it all along. The young woman watched as a sword, shield, and staff appeared in bursts of light. Studying all three, Max picked up the sword, and watched as the other two disappeared just as fast as they had appeared. As she turned, the sword turned in to the Keyblade, and Dusks stormed the platform.

Standing her ground; the redhead dodged an attack, spun around, and brought the Keyblade down on the nearest creature, destroying it. Running toward another, she fell backwards, and slid around the oncoming Dusk, confusing it into crouching down, and turning it’s head in every direction. Before the creature found her, Max bent her knees, spun around, and kicked her right leg out -knocking the Dusk to the ground, where she severed it’s head. Back flipping away, and landing three feet from the last creature, she lunged, shoving the blade in to the creature’s heart.

As the last Dusk disappeared a mysterious door appeared at the edge of the platform, and a bodiless voice seemed to emanate from it, “Be careful. Beyond the door lies a completely different world. But don’t be afraid.” Max cautiously approached the door, “Don’t stop walking.” the voice said again, and was gone as Max pushed the door open.

A blue platform, and a set of stained-glass stairs, and the name ‘Station of Calling’ came to mind as Max ascended the stairs -fighting Dusks along the way. At the top another door appeared, this time taking her to the ‘Station of Awakening’. As she walked forward, two giant hands slammed down on to the platform, Max’s eyes went wide when she turned to see a thirty foot tall creature rising up. Not wanting to stick around; Max turned and ran, only to slide to a stop at the edge of the platform. “This sucks.” she said noticing there was nowhere to run.

The huge creature looked like a Dusk, only bigger. It’s shoulders shaped like sideway cones, and a symbol glowed brightly on it’s forehead, down it‘s nose, and ended covering it‘s chin. The symbol was an upside down heart, with the bottom leading to a four pointed star with sharp tips. Three whips grew out of it’s neck, and flapped down on the creature’s back. Max readied her Keyblade, if she was stuck with that thing, then she was going to put up a fight before it killed her.

As Max rushed forward a bright silver light engulfed her body, and in a flash, she found herself suspended in midair. Her hands were shackled in the silver light and spread out on either side of her head; her ankles were shackled in the light also, keeping her legs spread out too. The creature known as Twilight Thorn rose into the air, and came face to face with the young woman. It drew it’s right hand back, closed it’s fingers, and thrust it’s fist forward. Max waited until the last second before flipping her body, causing the large fist to miss her, and her blade connected with the creature’s head, knocking it back.

The creature spun around several times before coming to a stop, once more, facing Max, but this time from the other side of the platform. It’s rubber-like arms stretched out as fast as lightning, and grabbed the struggling girl. Max gasped from the tight hold as the creature’s body quickly followed behind the arms, and threw her into the air. The redhead flipped over as she began to fall, and threw her Keyblade at Twilight Thorn. The Keyblade sailed through the air, and hit the creature’s head, hard, and knocking it face first to the ground -where it slid off the platform. Waiting a few moments, Max began to walk toward the edge, only to fall and slide backwards as the platform tipped. She thrust her Keyblade into the platform, and dangled from it as the creature began to gather an energy ball -and jumped away from the platform.

The Keyblade loosened, allowing Max to fall through the air, and towards the huge ball of energy. She flipped and threw the Keyblade once more, and watched as it picked up speed and broke through the energy. The ball exploded, sending both the creature and Max back to the platform. Max landed, caught the blade as it came down, and began hitting the creature on the head. After another four hits to the head; the creature rose up, and howled in pain as a dark mist formed around it. The Keyblade vanished, and Max was left trying to dodge the falling creature, but no use; the thing fell on top of her.

Max found herself falling through the darkness, only to have her hand grabbed by the blonde girl. Pure white light escaped from their touching hands, evaporating the darkness.
Now as she looked around, Max found herself in a white room, and started to speak, but the blonde lay a finger on her lips, “My name is Naminé. Max, do you remember your true name?” she asked as a black cloaked figure appeared and picked her up.

“Say no more, Naminé.”

Naminé struggled a moment, “But if no one tells her, then…”

“It’s best she doesn’t know.”

“Hey!” Max pointed to the cloaked woman, “You’re that pickpocket!”

The woman held out her hand, and conjured a black portal behind Max, causing the girl to jump away. Shaking her head, the woman quickly shoved Max inside. “What the…?” Max groaned as she woke up in the Sandlot.

“Seifer, strike a pose, ya know?” Max groaned again at hearing Rai’s voice, and saw Seifer put his practice sword on his shoulder, and hold his other up as if he was blocking an attack, “That’s totally perfect, ya know!” Fujin snapped a picture, using Quistis’ camera. “How ‘bout one more, ya know?”

Max stood up and felt a headache coming on, “What’s that for?!”

“Keepsake.” Fujin said snapping another picture.

Raijin grinned, flexing his muscles, “Those freaks in the white jumpsuits are gone, ya know?”

Max rolled her eyes, her headache began to get worse at hearing Raijin’s ‘ya know’, “I wonder what those things are.” she asked herself, she knew they were called Dusk, but just what were they?

“Outsiders, that’s what.” Seifer sneered, “And if they don't wise up to the rules around here, I might have to take ‘disciplinary measure’.”

Raijin nodded, “Oh yeah, Seifer's always lookin' after the town, ya know?”

Max shook her head, yeah right, and noticed Garnet, Quistis, and Selphie watching them, and then an angry look crossed Garnet’s face before she turned and left, “Hey, wait up!” Max called, and ran to catch up.

“Hey! No chickening out of the tournament tomorrow!” Seifer shouted at her retreating back.

Max ran through the alleyway, and into the meeting place where her friends were having sea-salt ice cream, “So, you hung out with Seifer’s gang today, huh?”

“No,” Max shook her head, “it wasn’t like that.” the redhead looked down at the floor and remembered, “Oh, yeah, how was the beach? Wasn’t that today?” she asked already knowing it was.

“We didn’t go.” Selphie shrugged, “It wouldn’t be the same without you, right?”

“Sorry.” Max hung her head, seemed like she couldn’t do anything right, “Well, how ‘bout going tomorrow? We could get those pretzels.” She asked in a hopeful voice, she hadn’t meant to blow off her friends, but in a way, she didn’t, did she? Really, she had fought with those Dusks, and then that huge monster, that had taken a lot of time, so it wasn’t her fault, right?

Garnet shook her head and glared, “I promised I’d be somewhere tomorrow.” was her short answer.

“Oh…oh!” Max remembered the tournament.

“I’m outta here.” Garnet brushed past Max and disappeared out the door.

Static appeared…

“Restoration at 48%” the computer said.

Diz watched the computer for a moment, feeling the two women behind him, and sighed, “Was that Naminé made of data?” the woman on the right asked as her eyes peered at the screens.

“No,” Diz turned, “Naminé hijacked the data herself. Just look at what she’s done now…” the man turned back to the screens, “She’s totally beyond my control!” he slammed his fist against the table.

“Calm down.” The second woman said as she sat down next to the man, and continued to watch the screens.

“It doesn't matter.” Diz said as he stood, and began pacing the room, “As long as Naminé accomplishes her goal we needn't worry about what befalls Max.”

----

“But I’m not gonna betray these girls either.” Goofy said as he stood beside the girls in Hollow Bastion.

“All for one and one for all.” Donald said with a smile.

“Our friends are our power.” Willow and Buffy said as the Keyblades returned to them.

“So, your heart won this battle.” The Beast spoke.

“It is I, D‘Hoffryn!” the dark twins spoke as one.

“You won’t take the princesses hearts!”

Clay smiled, “We may never meet again, but we’ll never forget each other.”

“No matter where we are,” Willow number two said, “our hearts will bring us together again.”

Willow sealing the Hollow Bastion keyhole.
----

Max, once again, jerked awake, sweat dripping down her face, and she sighed. Those dreams again, what did they mean? She stood from her bed, and moved as if striking with the Keyblade, “What a mess…” she groaned. Why her, what was happening? At that point she didn’t know, all she did know was that she needed to hurry, and get to the Sandlot for the tournament.

Grabbing her clothes and dressing quickly, Max slipped her shoes on and grabbed her tournament sword. With one last look around her room to make sure she didn’t forget anything, Max hurried down the stairs, and toward the Sandlot.

************
Hope this chapter was alright ^_^
You don't have to swim faster than the shark, just faster than the guy next to you.

Everytime someone asks why a character is Silenced because of the Nethicite; The Gods kill a Moogle! Save the Moogles!
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Re: FFX-4

Postby ceridwen » Mon Jun 04, 2007 10:05 pm

Hey

I feel very sorry for Max. I mean, i really like her, and its so sad to see her having all those strange dreams and visions, and im sure she pretty much thinks she's going crazy by now...

*sigh*

I also wonder who all those strange people are... Naminé, Diz and the others...

Well, i can only say im enjoying it and hope it clears up soon :grin
Last edited by ceridwen on Thu Jun 19, 2008 6:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Nadie debe decidir por mí a quién debo amar, con quién debo acostarme.

Hector Avellan.
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Re: FFX-4

Postby Artemis » Sat Jul 07, 2007 10:29 am

This is very cool - admittedly a little confusing, but in a good way, a mystery I want to read more to unravel. The continuation of the idea of minds being changed, from words stolen in the first chapter to memories and perhaps identities being messed with, promises an intriguing story. That sequence of flashes of Willow and Tara's adventures was very vivid, with this fic having its huge history to draw on.
Chris Cook
Through the Looking-glass - Every world needs a Willow and Tara.
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Chapter 3

Postby Stormforce » Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:17 am

Ceridwen - Hey ren'ai ^_^ I know what you mean, I like Max, too, and it really sucks that she's going through all those dreams. But there's a reason for it. As for who the other characters are, well...that won't be cleared up for a while. Aishiteru, koibito.

Artemis - Thank you. I'm glad that the confusion is in a good way, and to tell the truth, I love confusing things. Although, it will all start coming together pretty soon, but there's going to be twists and turns. Just like the others. ^_^ I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Sorry about the wait, but I've been working two jobs, and haven't had time for much else.

Pairing: W/T, B/F
Feedback: Yeah, sure, tell me what you think ^_^
Rating: Pretty much PG-13 - R depending on the language and fighting.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than the new game systems.

Chapter Three: The Fourth and Fifth Days

The shortcut through the alleyway took Max to the path leading to the Sandlot, and just to make sure, she checked the meeting place and found it empty. With no one there, she hurried back outside, “Hey, you’re gonna be late.” The armor shopkeeper said as he walked by. Max nodded and followed, and could barely get around the crowd that had gathered to watch the matches.

“Who you gonna root for?” Quistis asked as she and Selphie found a spot close to the ring, and waited for the matches to begin.

Selphie giggled, “Both of them, silly.” she said as fireworks exploded in the sky, and the crowd cheered as a man stepped into the ring.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Struggle-fiends of Twilight Town! It's time for summer's most sizzling clash! That's right! Today is the day for the Struggle and title match! Who will be the one to break through the ranks and take on our champion, Setzer!?”

“Seifer, ya know?!” Raijin shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

“And who will leave today as our new Struggle Champion!?” The announcer asked as he threw his arms up, causing the crowd to go wild.

“Max! Garnet!” Both Selphie and Quistis shouted.

“Setzerrrrrrr!” Many young women screamed like a bunch of groupies, as the rest of the crowd chanted, “Setzer! Setzer! Setzer! Setzer! Setzer!”

The announcer laughed and nodded his head, “Yes! The crowd is all fired up, so you know what comes next: Let’s…”

“STRUGGLE!” Everyone shouted, scaring off the birds perched on the buildings, as more fireworks exploded in the sky.

The announcer stepped off the stage, allowing the ring master/armor shop owner to step in, and begin speaking, “Hey, now. It's time to introduce today's combatants! The two bad boys, and two bad girls who struggled their way through the preliminaries! Regular finalist and head of the Twilight Disciplinary Committee: Seifer! Completely out of
nowhere--who knew he'd make it so far this year? Vivi! An underground favorite and local attitude problem: Garnet! It's her first trip to the finals! And Struggler number 4, who happens to be my absolute favorite customer: Max!”

Garnet looked over to Max -who returned her gaze for just a moment, then sadly looked away. “So…who will win this sweltering summer Struggle!? Who will take
home the grand prize? The summa cum laude of Struggle--- the Four Crystal
Trophy! AND...a chance to take on our defending champion, Setzer!”

Setzer, a six foot tall man with waist length silver hair, and bright blue eyes, held up the championship belt as his eyes settled on the trophy. The trophy looked like a water fountain, and the color of the ocean. One stream of water rose out of the base, rising a foot and a half and curled around, and had a Yellow pearl-like jewel. Two streams exited the first stream on the right, one curling under -back towards the trophy base- and had a green pearl-like jewel. The other one curled around just under the top stream, and in it, sat a blue pearl-like jewel. The final stream exited from the left and curled around back towards the base, and had a red pearl-like jewel. All who participated in Struggle wanted the trophy. “It won’t be too long now, folks.” The ring master said as Setzer stepped out of the ring, “I suggest our challengers go over the official rules before we begin.”

“Alright, I know you four know the rules, but let’s go over them again.” The announcer said as the two girls, and two guys approached, “Each of you has one hundred magical orbs that will fall to the ground when you’re hit. You or your opponent can pick them up by getting close to them. You have one minute to knock off, and collect as many as you can. The one with the most orbs at the end of one minute will be the winner.”

The four participants listened to the rules before Max and Garnet stepped into the ring. The ring master handed both girls a blue foam covered club, and pat them on the shoulders before stepping off to the side of the ring. Garnet tossed the club into the air, caught it, and pointed it at Max -who looked very unhappy. “Hey,” The redhead said in a near whisper, “I’m sorry about yesterday.”

Garnet shrugged as she stretched her arms out, “You’re still worried about that?” she asked shaking her head, “You need to learn to let stuff go.”

“I’ve got a lot on my mind.” It was the truth, Max did have a lot on her mind. She was still thinking about those dreams, trying to figure out what they meant, and why she was having them. They worried her to no end, mainly because she knew she shouldn’t be having dreams of a group of people she’d never even met before.

“Sorry.” Garnet said then shook her head, “Wait, what am I sorry for?” she smiled, and in doing so, made Max smile too.

The announcer grabbed a microphone, “Our first match of today’s Struggle tournament will be between Max and her best friend Garnet!”

Both girls readied to fight, and began dancing around one another when the bell rang, signaling the beginning of the match. Max dodged a swing, and slid to the side, bringing her club around, and knocking four red orbs from Garnet. Grinning, the redhead side flipped, grabbing two of the orbs, and knocked Garnet’s feet out of under her -causing the girl to fall, and lose another twenty orbs.

Max hurriedly ran right in the middle of the fallen orbs, and grinned as they disappeared, and attached themselves to her. ‘Ding!’ The bell rang out, “And the winner is Max!” The ring master shouted as he ran over and raised the girl’s arm in the air, “Not even friendship will slow this kid down, and I have to say, Garnet put up a great fight, too!”

Garnet groaned from her place on the ground as Max ran over and kneeled next to her, “I lost. Awww, I can’t believe it!” she said and stood up, “I guess I taught you well.” she smirked, “You learned from the best.”

“I had a lot of fun fighting you.”

The dark haired girl crossed her arms, “Well I didn’t smart ass.” she let a small smile cross her lips.

“C’mon, let’s find a way to cheer you up.”

“Nah, that’s all right.” Garnet gave a friendly punch to Max’s hand and turned around to leave, almost walking into Seifer.

“Out of the way.” Seifer growled, then pushed Max away and towards Garnet.

Garnet rolled her eyes, “What, you in a rush to lose?” she asked as Max turned, and jumped -startled by the sudden appearance of Vivi standing beside her. The small boy looked up and giggled; a giggle that Max thought was evil. Shaking her head, Max grabbed her friend’s arm, and pulled her out of the ring.

Seifer and Vivi stood facing one another, “Don’t mess with your elders.” Seifer said to the boy.

“Whew, just look at those sparks fly! I guess Seifer didn't expect to fight one of his own boys!” The announcer said as the two boys readied to fight.

Everything happened so fast that no one could believe it. The little guy flew at Seifer, causing the older boy to jump back, only to be pursued by Vivi. Seifer blocked the onslaught of attacks Vivi dished out, and finally knocked the younger boy away -knocking a single orb from Vivi. “You’re mine!” Seifer ran toward the orb, and was knocked to the ground, causing every single one of his orbs to fly in every direction.

“When did Vivi get so tough?” Garnet asked, blinking.

“ I-I'm not sure what just happened…” The announcer said with wide eyes, “Um... but...the winner is Vivi! In a positively blistering comeback!”

As Vivi hopped down from the ring, Seifer sat up and shook his head, watching the younger boy leave. “That’s not Vivi.” He said coming out of the ring, then looked to Max, “Thrash ‘im.” he growled and left.

The ring master stepped over to the girls, “Looks like Seifer’s withdrawn from the Struggle for third place.”

Garnet perked up, “So I’m in third now? Aw, baby!” She pumped her fist in the air happily as the ring master walked back into the ring.

Max entered the ring behind the ring master and watched as Vivi stepped over, “Keep it clean.” The ring master said as he handed the clubs to Max and Vivi. The two stared at the other for a moment and moved center ring.

“And now, the match you’ve been waiting for: Max versus Vivi!”

Having seen the little guy fight Seifer, Max was ready, and as soon as the bell rang she jumped back -blocking the quick attacks from Vivi. She flipped over him, bringing her club down, and smacked Vivi on the head, knocking him back, and causing several orbs to drop. Watching Vivi carefully, Max hurried toward the orbs, and grinned as they disappeared, she then ran at the small guy -aiming for another strike- and every thing froze.

Vivi blinked, and turned into a Dusk just as three more appeared, “Again?!” Max shouted, just as the Keyblade appeared in her hand. At least she knew how to deal with them, and lunged forward, bringing her blade around, and severing a Dusk’s head. She quickly fell backwards and slid around to the back of the three Dusks, confusing them, and in a few more strikes, finished them off. That was too easy, either they were getting weaker, she was getting stronger, or they allowed her to win. She didn’t know which, and really didn’t care, she just wanted it to stop. Max quickly turned at the sound of clapping and saw a black cloaked man.

“Max. All right, fight, fight, fight.” The cloaked man said as he walked closer to the young woman, “You really don’t remember? It’s me. You know, Axel.” he pulled the hood away revealing very light red -almost orange- spiky hair, and a teardrop tattoo under each eye.

“Axel?” Max blinked, just who was this, and what was he talking about? Remember, remember what?

The man named Axel shook his spiked hair and sighed, “Talk about blank with a capital ‘B’. Man oh man, even the Dusks aren’t gonna crack this one.” he said as two large flaming chakrams appeared, both had very sharp looking spikes circling the edges. He threw them into the air, and caught them as the flames burned brighter.

“Wait a damn minute!” Max shouted, “Tell me what the hell’s going on!”

Axel looked around for a moment, “This town is his creation, right? Which means we don’t have time for a Q and A session. You’re coming with me, conscious or not. Then you’ll hear the story.” He readied himself for a fight, but straightened up as an energy appeared around Max, “Uh-oh.”

The young redhead sighed in frustration and threw the Keyblade down, “What is going ON!?” she shouted and in a flash of light the Keyblade reappeared in her hand.

“Number 13. Max. The Keyblade’s chosen one.” Axel said and once more readied himself for a fight.

“Fine! You asked for it.”

Axel smirked, “That’s more like it.” he said and only took one step before Diz appeared, “So, it was you, huh?” he said and threw the chakram at the red cloaked man, and watched them bounce off without touching him.

Diz turned, “Max, this man speaks nonsense!”

“Max, don’t let him deceive you!”

“Max!”

“Max!”

With the two men shouting her name, Max placed her hands on her head, “Garnet! Quistis! Selphie!” she shouted, and at once, everything unfroze.

“What? What just happened?” The announcer asked slightly stunned.

Vivi looked around, confused, “Huh? How did I get here?” The little guy didn’t know how he got there, he didn’t remember entering the Struggle tournament, what happened?

“Ladies and gentlemen, Max, our new top Struggler!” The announcer called as Setzer walked into the ring, “And now, for the final match, “our champion Setzer versus Max!” the crowd cheered.

“You two play fair now. You’re at the top of the bracket.” The ring master said and walked to the edge of the ring.

The silver haired man smirked, “There’s only room for one up here.” He said then cocked his head, “hey, rucksack. How about you throw the match for me? Let me win, and I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Get real.”

“Max, our underdog hero, versus Setzer, our defending champion! The winner of this match will be the true champion! That's bragging rights for a whole year, folks!”

Setzer shook his head, “Whatever you think is right, you're wrong. And that is a big mistake.”

The bell rang, and both fighters ran toward one another; Max slid around Setzer, hitting his back, and causing orbs to drop. Setzer stumbled forward, turned, and lunged at Max as the orbs attached to her. Three hits, and ten of Max’s orbs fell to the ground, and attached to Setzer. Blocking two more attacks, Max rushed forward, ducking under a third swing, and sweeping Setzer’s feet out from under him. As the silver haired man hit the ground, Max slammed her foam covered club on to his chest, and knocked off more orbs than could be counted. As the orbs attached to her; the redhead jumped back, and smirked, the clock ran out.

“Max! Max! Max!” The crowd chanted.

Setzer stood, and began walking away, he turned and pointed at Max, intending to say something -but was stopped when Garnet, Quistis, and Selphie ran by, “That was awesome!” Quistis said as she and the others hugged her. None of them noticed Setzer turn and leave with his head down..

“C’mon girl, come and get your belt and trophy!” The ring master shouted. The crowd cheered as Max held up the championship belt, and was handed the crystal trophy.

Later…

The four friends had run to the top of the station tower, and sat down, dangling their legs over the edge. Max grabbed the yellow jewel, pulled it off the trophy, and tossed it to Selphie. She then pulled the green and red jewels from the trophy, and threw the green one to Quistis, and the red one to Garnet. Pulling the blue jewel off for herself, she sat the trophy next to her, and held the jewel up to the sunlight, “As promised.”

“Thanks a ton, Max!” Quistis smiled as she held her own jewel up.

“One more treasure for us to share.” Garnet said as she held hers up to the sun with Selphie following.

Selphie reached behind her and pulled out four bars of sea-salt ice cream, “I’ve got a present too, for all of us.”

“Cool.” Quistis said as she took two and handed one to Garnet.

“Thanks.”

Max stood up on the ledge, and teetered on the edge, “Whoa!” she gasped as she lost her balance and fell.

Elsewhere…

Princess Tara walked down a path, her eyes toward the sky, she sighed. Where was her lover? What had happened? She nor princess Faith had any clue as to what really did happen. Tara and the others had said they were with king Mickey, but where was the king, and why couldn’t Willow or Buffy contact them? For that fact, where was Willow and the others? No one had seen them since they had left after sealing the final door. Had something happened to them? She hoped not, and could only wish she saw them soon, them and her lover, and Buffy.

“Tare! Wait up!” Princess Faith walked toward Tara at a fast pace, “Do you feel like walking down to the beach today?” she asked and began walking beside her sister, “The others are busy restoring the town, and won’t go anywhere.”

Princess Tara shook her head, “Not today.”

“Thinking about them again?”

The princess nodded her head sadly, “It has been so long since we last saw them, I want Willow and Buffy back.” tears filled her eyes, “What happened to them? What happened to the others, why have we not seen them?”

Princess Faith wrapped her arms around her sister, and rocked her from side to side, “Do not worry, they are fine, I know it, can you not feel it in your heart?”

“Yes, but that does not change the fact that I what them back.”

“I know sister, I know.” Faith whispered, then felt Tara go tense, “What is wrong?’

Princess Tara squeezed her eyes shut, and if it wasn’t for her sister, she would have fallen to the ground, “Naminé?” A voice entered her mind, “Naminé, what’s happening to me?”

“Who are you?” the princess asked, “And that’s not my name, I’m princess Tara.”

“I’m Max… I know you, you’re the princess that Willow-twin loves.”

“Willow-twin? My Willow!? Do you know where she is, Max?”

Max continued to fall and shook her head, “No, I am sorry, I don’t know where any of them are…” And that was it, the connection linking both girls was gone.

The princess opened her eyes to see her worried sister, “What happened?” Princess Faith asked smoothing her sister’s hair away from her face.

“Someone named Max linked with my mind, she said she knew Willow and the others, but did not know where they were.”

Princess Faith laid her head on her sister’s shoulder, “Don’t worry, they will come back to us. We just need to give them time.”

“You’re right.” The princess smiled, “Let us take that walk on the beach, perhaps it will help me feel better.” she watched her sister nod, and held her hand as they walked towards the beach.

Static appeared…

“Restoration at 79%” The computer told Diz as he sat at the desk, while one of the cloaked women tossed Max’s blue jewel into the air, and caught it as it came down.

Diz sighed as he saw the second woman counting the munny taken from Max, he wondered why she had kept it, oh well, let her do as she pleases, “Her progress is astounding.” Diz said as he went back to staring at the computer screen.

“So, what happened?” The cloaked woman asked as she tossed the jewel back into the air, and gave it a gentle toss to the other woman -who put it in the munny pouch.

“Naminé's encounter with Max put her heart in contact with the Princess Tara,” Both cloaked figures looked up, And that, in turn, affected Willow. You see?”

The first woman sat down beside the second, “Naminé, she’s a wonder.” The second said as she leaned back.

Diz turned and nodded before looking back at the screens, “She wasn’t born like other Nobodies. She can interfere with the hearts and memories of Willow and those aligned with her.”

The first cloaked woman then asked, “But whose Nobody is she?”

The red cloaked man slightly turned his head, “I could tell you… But first, perhaps you could tell me who you girls are.”

The two women turned their heads to the other, should they? They had nothing to hide, at least not from Diz any way, but from others… Well, they would cross that bridge when they got to it. They nodded, grasped their hoods, and pulled them back, revealing smoothed back silver hair, “We’re…” The first trailed off.

“D’Hoffryn’s sisters.” The second one said. “You can call me Fayt, her name is Karite.”

Diz cut his eyes toward the two women, then looked back at the screens as he laughed, “It’s an honor, sisters of D‘Hoffryn!” he laughed again, he knew something the girls didn’t, but he wasn’t about to say -no he would keep that little tidbit to himself.

Max shot up in her bed once more, breathing hard, and sweat dripping down her face, “Dream…dreaming again… But which parts were the dream?” she asked herself and hugged her knees to her chest.

Twenty minutes later a train passed over the meeting place where three friends waited for the fourth -they didn’t have to wait long, Max walked though the doorway, and sighed as she sat down.

Selphie walked over to Max and put her hands on her hips as she peered at her friend, “Only three days left of summer vacation, so don’t mention that assignment!” Garnet said shaking her hands in front of her face.

“But we agreed we’d finish it today.” Selphie said turning away from Max and glared at the dark haired girl.

“Yesterday… I fell off the station tower, didn’t I?” Max asked with her head down.

Garnet shook her head, “You wouldn’t be here if you did.”

Quistis nodded and leaned against a crate, “But damn, that was a close one.”

“Stop changing the subject!” Selphie cried out as she threw her hands in the air, “We need to finish that assignment!”

“Alright already!” Garnet rolled her eyes at her friend, “You win. We’ll do the damn homework.” she sighed, “Stupid independent study.” she mumbled so no one would hear her, “So, anybody got any bright ideas for a topic?”

Max thought for a moment before looking up, “Maybe we could study the stuff that’s been happening to me. You know, the dreams…and the guys in white…”

“Forget it.” Garnet said shaking her head.

“Why not?”

“Things have been weird with you and the town since the photos were stolen, right?” The dark haired girl said, and pointed towards Quistis.

“Well, tomorrow, we’re all gonna help out, and search the town and find out exactly what’s been goin’ on.”

Selphie slipped her arm around Max’s shoulders, “Lots of people are helping out.”

“All that for me?” Max asked, and her eyes lit up, “I’ll go get the ice cream!” she grinned and hurried out of the room.

Only a few minutes later Max came back with the ice cream, and passed it out before sitting down, “There's this strange rumor going around. Wanna hear it? You know the stone steps at Sunset Station? We use 'em all the time, without even thinking about it. But -and this is the weird part- the steps count different going up and down!” Quistis said, and licked her ice cream.

“Really!?” Selphie asked, blinking.

Quistis nodded, “Yeah, and there are six other weird stories like that. It’s like… the seven wonders of Twilight Town.” The blonde pulled out a town map, “See, I’ve got them marked.”

“We should investigate those for our school project!” Garnet exclaimed, “Quistis, you’re a genius!” she said and ran out the door, “C’mon, let’s get started! Meet at the station!”

The others followed their friend to the station, and boarded the small train that would take them to Sunset Station on the other side of town. The ride only lasted ten minutes, but it was enough for the group to figure out what they were going to do. Quistis had been paired up with Max to check the current rumors, and Garnet and Selphie were going to hunt for more. Five minutes into the ride, Selphie held her jewel up to the light, followed by Quistis and Garnet. Max grinned, and reached into her right front pocket, it wasn’t there, she checked her left front pocket, not there either. Sighing she shook her head and leaned back, she thought she had it that morning.

As the train pulled to a stop, Garnet ran outside, “Hurry!” she called to Selphie, and both ran down the stairs. Max stretched as Quistis looked at the stairs, “Huh, aren’t these the steps you talked about? The ones that count different going up and down?”

The blonde shrugged, “It’s the stupidest thing ever, but… Rai’s the one who counted them. He’s like, “Every time I count, it’s different, ya know?” So, yeah.”

“So he just counted wrong?” Quistis nodded causing Max to sigh.

“Hey, no worries.” She said, “There’s an alleyway just down the steps that balls are suppose to appear out of with no one around, go check it out.”

Max nodded and left to check it out. Going down the stairs, she took a right and found an alleyway, with nothing there. Sighing, she headed to the back wall, and was surprised to find that a brown ball shot out of the wall. Max ducked, and watched the ball disappear into the far wall back in the street -it nearly hit Quistis. “Oh, it’s just you.” The blonde shook her head, “Were you throwing a ball? Cause let me tell you, it flew out of nowhere and nearly hit me! Well, that explains one of those seven wonders, kids playing.” she said and turned to leave.

Max watched her go, and followed, never seeing the energy appear in front of the wall, and vanished. As the redhead passed by an old train tunnel, she heard a moan; Max glanced around and shrugged before going in. Down two steep inclines she found Vivi, “Hey little guy, how you doing…” she trailed off as Vivi split into three, and felt the Keyblade appear in her hand. Max waited for one or all of the Vivi clones to charge, and blocked their attacks, only to bring the blade down -with one hit each the Vivis turned into data and vanished.

“What is it Max?” Vivi asked as he walked in from the entrance, and approached the girl with his practice sword, “Oh, did you need this? Planning on getting in some practice, I bet.”

“Er…” Max shook her head, “It’s just that…there were so many of you…”

“Huh? So many of me?” The boy asked, blinking, “I don’t get it.” he shook his head, “Anyway, I’m done with this, you can take your time.” He said laying the sword down, and walked back to the doorway just as Quistis walked in.

“So the moans weren’t ghosts, just Vivi practicing.”

Max shook her head, “No! Listen, there were a whole bunch of Vivi clones here just a minute ago!” She said causing Quistis to quirk her eyebrows, neither saw Vivi turn into a Dusk and float out.

That was it, Max left and headed to the small waterfall fountain, at least it was quiet there. As the redhead approached, she saw her reflection in the water and gasped as it turned completely dark, and was holding a blade. She jumped back as the reflection stepped out of the water and charged her. Max ducked under the dark blade, and swept the feet out from under the dark reflection, as she felt the Keyblade appear, and brought it down on the reflection’s chest. The redhead was knocked down as her reflection turned into data and vanished.

“Max!” Quistis shouted and hurried over to help her friend off the ground, “You all right?” she asked glancing at the waterfall, “Now that’s spooky! I thought I saw someone, but it was just my reflection. It has to explain that wonder.” she said and walked off.

“Another me?” Max sighed, and followed Quistis, never noticing the dark reflection reappear. The redhead walked up to Sunset Hill and saw a small bag, moving. Blinking, she stepped over, and was knocked back as the bag bounced over her. “That’s it.” she said and jumped onto the bag, and opened it -allowing a dog to hop out.

Quistis slowly walked over, “Did you let the dog out of the bag?” Max nodded, “Well, there goes that wonder.” she said, and both girls didn’t notice the dog turning into a Dusk and floating away.

“Well, that wasn’t wonderful.”

“I understand, but this next one’s gonna be really great! Wonder number six.” Quistis said as Garnet and Selphie ran up the hill.

“We got a lead, a ghost train!” Both girls shouted.

Quistis sighed, “Everybody knows about wonder number six.”

Garnet crossed her arms, “Well I didn’t.”

Selphie sat down, “We just wait here, this is where you see it from.” she said and pulled Max down next to her. “If it’s true, it’ll be here any minute. They say the train is empty, no driver, no conductor, no passengers… No return.” The four girls did not wait long, a blue and gold train -decorated with stars and moons- came barreling down the tracks, and passed through the tunnel.

“It’s really true!” Max shouted, “And there’s really no one aboard! What’s the catch? There’s gotta be a catch, right?” she asked as her friends glanced at one another, “Then it’s real? C’mon, let’s go to the station!” she ran off with the others behind her, and rushed to the station where the train sat. “Let’s go in.” Max started towards the train, only to be held back by Garnet, “What?”

“You’ll get hurt.” The dark haired girl said as the train disappeared.

“The train will be arriving shortly.” An announcement said as the regular orange train pulled into the station.

“C’mon, let’s go back.”

“Wait, a train came from the beach right? There was no driver, right?” Max asked Selphie -who nodded. The redhead heard a groan from Garnet, and was pulled into the train that would take them back home.

Once the train arrived back to the inner part of the city, Garnet sighed, “Let’s go home and work on our paper.”

“The rumors were bogus. The end.” Quistis said, grinning.

Selphie rolled her eyes, “At least we can still make it sound good.”

Max looked up, “Hey, what about the last one?”

“Who cares?!” Garnet shouted as she crossed her arms.

“I do.” Max glared at her friend, “Tell me, Quistis.”

The blonde nodded, “It’s at the haunted mansion.” She said and followed the angry Garnet as she walked away.

Max watched her three friends walk away, and sighed, what was wrong with Garnet? Sure she could be a real bitch, but not like that, shrugging; Max walked down the street, and followed it to the mansion. As she entered, and cleared the woods, she was thankful that none of those monsters attacked her. The redhead stared up at the two story mansion, the curtains were flapping like there was a breeze entering the rooms, “You know something..” Quistis’ voice made her jump and spin around, “We were gonna check this place out tomorrow. It IS the most suspicious place. Even Seifer’s gang was gonna help.”

“Seifer?”

“Yeah, Garnet asked him to.”

Max turned back to the mansion, and looked at the left window, “So, what’re we lookin’ for?”

“Well, they say there's a girl who appears at the second floor window even though no one's lived here for years.”

Max stared at the window, and was suddenly inside a white room with a long white table, and many drawings on the walls. The only color in the room was from the drawings, everything else was completely white. One of the drawings showed the princesses Tara and Faith. “Max.”

“Naminé?” Max asked as she looked over another drawing of her and Axel, both wearing black cloaks, “This is…me? And Axel’s here too.”

“You are friends.” Naminé said as she appeared in a chair at the table.

“Very funny.”

Naminé sadly looked at the table, “Don't you want to know the truth about who you really are?”

Max smirked as she leaned against the table, No one knows me better than me.” she said, and the smirk melted away, “But I don’t get what’s been happening lately.” a drawing of Willow, Tara, Buffy, Faith, Donald and Goofy appeared on the table.

“You know this group, don’t you?”

The redhead nodded, “Yeah, they’re from the dreams.”

Naminé glanced back at the picture, “About a year ago, some things happened, and I had to take apart the memories chained together in Willow’s heart. But now... I'm putting them all back exactly the way they were. It's taken me a long time, but pretty soon Willow will be her old self again. The process has been affecting you, too, Max.”

“You mean...the dreams?”

Naminé settled her eyes on the young woman, “Yes... You and Willow are connected. And...in order for her to become completely whole again... she needs you.” she said as Max saw a picture of herself with Willow. “You hold half of what she is.”

Max sat down at the far end of the table, “Naminé...who are you?”

“I'm a witch with power over Willow’s memories and those around her.”

“A witch?”

The blonde nodded, “That's what Diz called me. But I don't know why I have this power, I just do. I'm not even sure there's a right way for me to use it.”

“Hmm...I can't help you there.” Max said looking over at the drawing of herself and Axel, “It's funny... Suddenly I feel like I don't know myself at all... I guess I would like to know. What do you know about me...that I don't?”

“You...you were never supposed to exist, Max.”

The redhead’s eyes widened as her head shot up towards Naminé, “How could you even say such a thing…even if it were true?” she asked sadly.

Naminé lowered her eyes, and apologized, “I’m sorry,” she said with a hitch in her voice, “I guess some things really are better left unsaid.”

“Max!” Quistis called as she shook her friend, “Did you see her?”

Max nodded and pointed to the left window, “Yeah, watch that window, closely.”

The blonde peered at the window and sighed, “How lame, just the curtains moving in the wind.” She said and tuned toward the woods, “Come on, let’s head back to the meeting place. Garnet and Selphie are waiting.” Quistis took Max’s hand and pulled her back toward the town, never seeing that Naminé was standing in the window.

Selphie approached the two as they walked into the room, with a grin she asked, “How’d it go?”

“It turned out to be a curtain flapping in the wind.” Quistis shrugged.

The brown haired girl held up the report, “Well, it’s already done, so let’s go find Garnet, she should be atop the station with ice cream.” she said laying the report down, and pulling the others with her. “We only have two more days together.” Selphie spoke as she pulled the two girls along behind her, and up toward the station.

“Huh?”

“Summer vacation, remember?”

Max nodded, “Yeah.” she opened the door to the station, and headed up the stairs leading to the top.

“Tomorrow we search the town.” Garnet said as she held out three bars of ice cream as the others approached.

“And the day after that’s the fair.” Quistis said sitting down between Selphie and Max.

Selphie leaned back, “The last day of summer.”

Garnet grabbed the side of her head, “Don’t say that! You’ll give me an ulcer!”

“Not if you explode from all that ice cream first.” Quistis grinned, causing everyone but Max to laugh. The redhead couldn’t help but feel sad as she heard bells ringing in the background. Something was going to happen, she didn’t know what, but Max just knew something would happen -and for her, it felt like it would be bad.

**********
Well, there it is, hope y'all enjoyed it. ^_^
You don't have to swim faster than the shark, just faster than the guy next to you.

Everytime someone asks why a character is Silenced because of the Nethicite; The Gods kill a Moogle! Save the Moogles!
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Re: FFX-4

Postby ceridwen » Wed Aug 08, 2007 4:08 pm

Hey

I have to say this fic just keeps getting weirder and weirder... or at least it stays confusing... i mean, its like some things are clearing up but even more questions are coming up @_@

Um... anyway, the non-confusing parts were good and the confusing parts were... confusing :tongue

I liked the tournament :grin
Last edited by ceridwen on Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
Nadie debe decidir por mí a quién debo amar, con quién debo acostarme.

Hector Avellan.
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Chapter 4

Postby Stormforce » Mon Oct 08, 2007 12:45 pm

Pairing: W/T, B/F
Feedback: Yeah, sure, tell me what you think ^_^
Rating: Pretty much PG-13 - R depending on the language and fighting.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than the new game systems.

Note: I don't have a beta, so any and all mistakes are mine. Although, if anyone wants to beta for me, I would be happy for the help. ^_^


Chapter Four: The Final Day

The computer room was only lit by the light of the screens as Diz sat in his chair, still staring at the screens. One of the two doors at the back of the room whooshed upward, and Fayt and Karite walked in, “Why did you show her the train?” Karite asked as she and Fayt sat down next to the man in red.

Diz shrugged as he turned in his chair, and faced the two girls, “Because she missed the trip to the beach.”

“Humph.” Fayt crossed her arms, “That’s almost kind of you.”

Diz quirked his eyebrows under his red face wrap, “Now, what about both of you?” he asked slightly cocking his head to the left, “Are the holes in your memories starting to fill in?”

Both girls nodded, “Yeah,” Fayt said and leaned back, “The haze is clearing.”

“The same thing is happening to everyone who had ties to Willow and the girls. Very soon, to them, they will be like good friends who has gone away for a year.” The man stopped and grinned, “Except for two, and they already remember.”

Karite glanced toward her sister, “We’ve waited, and now we want to know. What is it that you want?”

“Revenge.” Diz said simply.

“Revenge…?” Fayt really wanted to ask, ‘Revenge for what?’, but she just sighed, no use in upsetting the man to calm her curious side.

Diz turned back to the screens and began typing, “Now, for the finishing touches. First, we must dispose of Naminé. She did a splendid job with Willow, but it's high time she disappeared. Max isn't the only one who was never meant to exist.” He slightly turned his head, “Take care of it, girls.”

“Restoration at 97%” The computer said.

----

The girls, Donald and Goofy stood in front of the Gate to the Dark in the End of the World, and saw fragments floating in every direction. “Gawrsh,” Goofy stared, “is that all that’s left of the worlds taken by the Heartless?” No one said a word, they could only nod. There had to be thousands upon thousands of small, medium, and large chunks of rocks, homes, castles…everything from the worlds, floating in front of them.

Willow turned toward the others, “Those worlds will be restored if we beat D’Hoffryn, right?” She asked and glanced back at the fragments.

“You betcha!” Donald nodded.

“But, if we do beat him, and all these worlds become restored and disconnected, what’s gonna happen to this place?” Willow shivered, “And to us?”

----

“All worlds being in darkness, and all so end.” D’Hoffryn said smirking. “The heart is no different. You see, darkness is the heart’s true essence.

“That’s not true!” Tara shouted.

“The heart may be weak, and sometimes it may even give in. But I’ve learned that deep down, there’s a light that never goes out!” Willow narrowed her eyes.

----

D’Hoffryn raised his hands toward the sky, “Kingdom Hearts!” he shouted, “Fill me with the power of darkness!”

Willow stood on shaky legs, “You’re wrong!” she shouted as the others straightened up.

“I know,” Tara took her wife’s hand, “We know, without a doubt, Kingdom Hearts is light!”

----

“Now, Girls, let's close this door for good!” Mickey said.

“Take care of them.” Willow’s twin spoke.

“Tell them we love them, and we will return.” Buffy’s twin said.

----

“Now what do we do?” Donald asked as the group sat around the campfire.

Willow sat her plate down and stretched, “We’ve gotta find the twins and King Mickey.”

Pluto ran away from the group.

----

In a mysterious dark city rain began falling from the black sky as hundreds of large Heartless shadows began rising from the ground. They stood five foot tall with two antennas on either side of their head, yellow glowing eyes, and sharp claws -these were known as Neoshadows. The city had no name, but many buildings and skyscrapers stood proudly, as if watching over the dark city. The Neoshadows surrounding a figure dressed in black, a figure that took out two different Keyblades, and swung them in position in front of her.

The first Keyblade, Oblivion, had a batwing hand guard on either side of the hilt, a dark blue gem sat at the base of the hilt where the blade met -looking ever-so-much like a bright blue eye; the long black blade had an engraving of a chain down the center. The tip of the blade turned into a sharp point, and an upside down crown shape below the point. The second Keyblade, Oathkeeper, had a foot long chain with a star at the end of the hilt, around the hilt sat two feather-like hand guards. The blade itself split in two, and curled inwards at the tip. A seven pointed star sat under the tip, two long star tip protruded from either end, and three points stuck out from the bottom, and the last two merged with the bottom blade.

The girl jumped forward, destroying several of the Neoshadows, and spun in a circle -taking out even more of the Heartless creatures. The girl felt someone watching, and stopped fighting long enough to look to the top of the main skyscraper of the city. The rain had stopped falling for just a moment, long enough for the girl to see two young women standing on the roof watching her. The young women were, like the girl, dressed in a black cloak, but were un-hooded, and had blindfolds over their eyes.

Ignoring the Heartless; the girl ran towards the skyscraper, and up the side of the building, half way there she threw the Oblivion Keyblade towards the women. The one on the right caught the blade as the one on the left held out her own blade. The hilt was an almost black purple as it curved downward where the blade met, and had a bluish colored gem set in the center. The blade curved around into a point, back towards the hilt, before curving back and leading to a sharp point. The top curved down, then up coming to a point, and curving back down, and once more coming to another point -before meeting the hilt. For anyone looking at it, they would have assumed it was made to look like a bat’s wing. The blade, colored black, with red where the would be wings were.

The two women dived off the edge of the building, and fell past the running girl. The blindfolded women smirked as they passed by, and flipped several times before landing on the ground -soon followed by the third. As if by an unspoken agreement, the three young women jump into the center of the Neoshadows, and finish them off, then spin around to face one another.

Both blindfolded women lunged towards the girl and exchange blows, sending the girl staggering back. With a loud battle cry, the girl spun around, knocking both blades from her opponent’s hands, and sent them falling to the ground. “Why?!” The one on the left looked at the Keyblade in the girl’s hand.

“Why do you have the Keyblade?!” The second shouted as if the blindfold over her eyes didn’t hinder her site.

“You shouldn’t have it!” The first shouted, again, it was as if the blindfold wasn’t there.

The girl swung the Keyblade down, “Shut up, both of you!” she shouted and jumped forward.

Max quickly snapped her eyes open as she shot up in bed, once more. She sighed and slid out of bed. If any one would have been watching, they would have seen another form overlap hers several times as Max approached the window and saw birds flying by. The redhead stretched and yawned as she dressed, and walked out of her bedroom. With her mind on the dreams she never noticed other people on the street, never tried to speak with them, only headed to the meeting place.

The young woman could hear her friends laughing and stepped inside the room, scratching the back of her head she looked up, “Man, I could not sleep last night.” she said but no one turned around to ask why, no one even greeted her, “Guys?” she asked and reached for Garnet’s hand, only to find she passed right through the other girl. “Huh?”

Max stepped back, watching her friends laugh with no notion of her existence. Garnet turned around and ran right through her body, Quistis and Selphie following. The young redhead watched her friends leave and sighed before picking up a picture. The picture showed Garnet and Quistis standing in front of a kneeling Selphie, all three were in front of the mansion just past the woods. Max blinked, that picture had included her, she knew, she remembered standing beside Garnet, and watching as Vivi had taken the picture.

“What is going on?” she whispered to herself as she walked back outside, and jumped as Dusks appeared.

“Look at what it’s come to.” Axel said as he appeared behind her, “I’ve been given these icky orders to destroy you, but only if you refuse to come back with me.”

Max looked at the odd man, “We’re…best friends, right?”

Axel scratched his head and nodded, “Yeah, but I’m not getting turned into a Dusk for…” he stopped, his eyes going wide, “Wait a sec! You remember now?!”

“Umm… Y…eah…”

“Great!” Axel shouted pumping his fist in the air, “But I gotta make sure and all… So, umm… What’s our boss’s name?” Max didn’t answer, how could she? She didn’t really remember, she didn’t even know what was happening. Axel sighed sadly, “Can’t believe this.” he said as his chakram appeared, “I’m sorry…” he lunged forward, and froze in time.

“Max, get to the mansion!” Diz’s voice said in her head, “The time has come.”

With one last look around, Max felt as if she would never see that place again, she hurried off. As the redhead disappeared down Market Street, Axel unfroze, “The Max I know is long gone… Fine, I see how it is…” he said sadly, almost on the verge of tears, and disappeared.

Max ran through the streets, dodging the Dusks if she could, and only fighting the ones she had to. The young woman ran through the woods and up the path to the mansion, to a locked gate. More and more Dusks were appearing behind her as she rattled the gate, “Damn it! Don’t call me and then lock me out!” she shouted, and stopped. A vision of Willow using her Keyblade appeared in her mind. Stepping back, Max held out her hand, calling the Keyblade, and aimed it to the lock. A bright light shot towards the gate, and the lock fell to the ground.

The gate swung open, allowing Max to run through, with the Dusks following. Two black cloaked women appeared in front of the enemies, and held out their blades, the one on the right with the batwing-like sword and the other holding the Oblivion Keyblade. They jumped towards the creatures, giving Max enough time to enter the mansion.

The inside of the mansion looked as if a battle had taken place there, broken glass and cement from the walls littered the floor. In front of her stood a display case with something inside. A door on either side of the entryway, but both were blocked by rubble. A set of stairs with red carpet stood in front of her, both leading to the same walkway on the second floor. Max could see two more doors, one on either side, and sighed, which one? Walking forward, she looked in the case and saw a crumbling replica of a city, and shivered as a familiar feeling came over her.

With one last look around, Max took the left set of stairs, and opened the door at the top, and entered the white room she sat in with Naminé. As she walked around she noticed several drawings. One of the drawings showed her in an alleyway of the dark city from her dreams, and she grabbed her head in pain.

Thunder rumbled in the black sky of the dark city as she, dressed in a black cloak, walked down the dark streets. She passed by Axel who was leaning on the wall, and crossed his arms, “So, your mind’s made up?” he asked.

Max stopped, and turned around, “Why did the Keyblade choose me?” she asked then looked to the ground, “I have to know.”

“You can’t turn on the Organization!”

Max’s vision stopped, and she saw Naminé sitting at the table, “Organization XIII... they're a bad group.”

“Bad or good, I don't know. They're a group of incomplete people who wish to be whole. To that end, they're desperately searching for something.”

The redhead blinked, “What?”

“Kingdom Hearts.” Max chuckled, “What’s funny?”

“It’s just, I think… I’ve been running away from the question I really wanna ask.” she said and walked over to the table, and leaned against it, “What’s gonna happen to me now?” she asked and shrugged, “Just tell me that. Nothing else really matters anymore.”

“You are…” Naminé flickered for a moment and her form broke into several pieces of data and disappeared as Diz appeared in a flash of more data.

“There’s no knowledge that has the power to change your fate.” Diz said staring at the young woman.

Max straightened up and glared angrily at the red cloaked man, “Even if it doesn’t, I wanna know! I have the damn right to know!” she shouted, slamming her fist on the table.

“A Nobody doesn’t have any rights. Nor does it even have the right to even be.”

“Damn it! What the hell IS a Nobody?!”

D’Hoffryn’s sisters appeared, “Diz, we’re outta time!” Karite said, ignoring Max, she had to, she knew what the girl’s fate was to be.

“Too many Nobodies!” Fayt shouted, also ignoring the girl.

A black portal appeared behind Diz, and Naminé stepped out, “Max. Nobodies like us are only half a person. You won’t disappear, you’ll be whole!”

“I’ll…disappear…?”

Diz stepped behind the blonde, and grabbed her shoulders, “No further outbursts!”

“No! You won’t disappear! You’ll…” Naminé was cut off by Diz putting his hand over her mouth.

Max quickly stepped towards the portal, only to be stopped by the cloaked girls, “Wait!”

Naminé grabbed Diz’s hand, and pulled it from her mouth, “Max! We will meet again! And then we can talk about everything.” she said pushing Diz’s hand away again, “I may not know it’s you, and you may not know it’s me. But we WILL meet again. Someday soon, I promise!” she called out as Diz backed into the portal, pulling the blonde with him.

“Let her go!” Max shouted, and was -almost gently- pushed away by the two cloaked women as they stepped inside and vanished with the portal.

“Damn it!” Max screamed and kicked the wall. After five minutes of calming herself down, Max decided to find out where the other door led, and hurried across the balcony. A library with a table in the center of the room, with three drawings on it. One of the drawings was missing something, remembering the symbol from somewhere -Max drew in the X. “Whoa!” she ran towards the door as the whole floor disappeared, revealing a secret staircase.

Carefully walking down the stairs, Max saw a door in the wall, and slipped through, and into the computer room. Her head began hurting again as her memories returned.

A white room with thirteen tall white thrones, and in each throne sat a member of Organization XIII.

She was running down the dark city streets being chased by Dusks.

The fight with the blindfolded girls. She had jumped forward, intending on finishing them off, but was knocked back as one grabbed the Oblivion Keyblade and slashed at her -knocking her into the wall, and unconscious. The two women stood up, walked over to the unconscious girl, and picked her up before disappearing. As they reappeared they lay Max underneath an odd machine as Diz watched, “Will it work?” Fayt asked stepping away from Max.

“If we can maintain the simulated town until Naminé finishes chaining together Willow’s memories.”

Karite stared at the girl, “What will happen to her?”

Diz turned, “She holds half of Willow’s power within her, and in the end, she will have to give it back.” he said and turned toward the monitors, “Until then, she’ll need another personality to throw off her pursuers.”

“Poor thing.” Fayt sighed and sat down next to her sister.

Diz sat down in his own chair, and began typing, “It’s the fate of a Nobody.” he said as the machine started up, changed Max into data, and she was gone. Teleported into the fake Twilight Town.

Max’s headache stopped and her anger rose. The Keyblade appeared in her hand, and she began beating on the computer monitors, violently. It all became clear, the stolen word, the Dusks chasing after her, everything. She had been in a fake town, one made of data, the Dusks had stolen the data creating the words. “Why!?” she shouted turning to the screens on the wall, “Why me!?” tears filled her eyes as she continued to beat on the, now, broken monitors. A door opened, startling Max; the young woman wiped her eyes, and carefully stepped into another room with another door.

“Amazing, Max, simply amazing meeting you here.” Axel said as he appeared in front of her.

“Axel.”

“You really do remember me this time?” Axel asked, sarcastically, “I’m SO FLATTERED!” he shouted, his anger causing a circle of ceiling high flames to erupt, “But you’re too late!” Max felt the power flowing through her body, and felt two Keyblades appear her hands, “Two?!” Axel sneered as both his chakram appeared, “Come over here, and I’ll make it all stop.” he lunged toward Max.

Max fell backwards, allowing the chakram to pass over her body, and circled around behind Axel, bringing both blades down in an X. The reddish orange haired man grunted from the pain, and spun around, throwing his weapons towards the girl. Max quickly knocked the chakram away, and jumped into the air, “Rising Force!” she shouted as she came down, and slammed the blades into the floor, causing two six foot tall shockwaves to speed towards Axel -knocking him into the flames.

“Can you find me?” he asked using the flames as a shield to hide behind.

Max allowed her senses to take over, and felt out the location of her enemy just as he jumped through the flames, and aimed his weapons at her head. The young woman spun around, and leaned to the left, allowing one chakram to pass by, and fell backwards as the other passed overhead. She flipped forward, extended her legs, and began twirling around, her feet hitting Axel in the face.

As Max slowed, the chakram returned to Axel, and he brought the weapons down, slicing into her right leg. Back flipping, Max threw both blades, and watched as the lodged into Axel’s stomach, and in a flash of light returned to her. The redhead stared at her enemy as the flames disappeared, and remembered the alleyway again.

----

“You get on their bad side and they’ll destroy you!” Axel had said, pleading with her to rethink her decision.

Max had shrugged, “No one would miss me.” she said and started to walk away.

“That’s not true.” Axel whispered, “I would.”

----

“Axel…” Max watched as the man began to fade away.

He had felt himself begin to fade, and smiled just a little, “Let’s meet again in the next life.”

Max nodded, “Yeah, I’ll be waiting.”

“Silly. Just because you have a next life…” Axel never finished his sentence.

A sigh escaped her lips as the Keyblades vanished from her hands. Max approached the door, and peered through, she saw five capsules and walked over. Her eyes went wide, “Tara.” she stared at the first one and looked into the others a moment later, “Faith. Buffy. Donald. Goofy.” All five were sleeping, but where was Willow?

Turning the corner she found one last door, and opened it. Another white room greeted her, and inside was another large capsule, “At last.” Diz said as he appeared, “One of the Keyblade’s chosen ones.”

“Just who are you talking to? Me? Or Willow?”

“To half of Willow, of course. You reside in darkness. What I need is someone who can move about the realm of light and destroy Organization XIII”

Max narrowed her eyes, “Why? Who are you?”

“I am a servant of the world.” Diz laughed, “And if I’m a servant, then you should consider yourself a tool, at best.”

“Was that… Was that supposed to be a joke?!” Max growled as the Keyblade appeared in her hand, “Cause I’m not laughing!” she shouted and ran towards Diz, and swung her blade right through him.

Diz chuckled again, “My apologies, this is only a data-based projection.” he said causing Max to scream in anger, and strike at the projection three more times. On the third strike, the projection vanished, and reappeared behind her. As Max caught her breath, Diz walked over to the capsule, “Come, over here.”

Max glared, “I hate you.”

“You should share some of that hate with Willow, she really is too nice for her own good, you know.”

“No! My heart belongs to me!” Max shouted and ran forward again, and once more, struck at the projection, causing it to disappear.

The capsule glowed bright white as Max got closer to it. Diz watched from the other side of the room as the mechanical petals opened slowly. “Willow…” Max whispered as the petals opened fully, revealing Willow, still sleeping, and floating inside.

“Go on, Max,” Diz said softly as he approached from behind, “She needs you, they need her, and the worlds need all of them.”

Max felt tears stinging her eyes as she turned to the red cloaked man, “But why… what did I ever do…?”

“This is not your fault.” Fayt said as she and Karite appeared in the room, “Blame the Heartless.”

“You did nothing wrong…not like us…” Karite whispered and looked away from the sleeping Willow.

Diz turned away, “Come, girls, let us give her some privacy.” he said and vanished.

The sisters nodded, “Don’t be afraid.” Karite pulled back her hood and smiled, “There’s nothing to be afraid of.” she vanished.

Fayt pulled her hood down, and winked, “Remember what Naminé said, you won’t disappear, you’ll just be whole again.” she was then gone.

Max turned back to the sleeping Willow and stepped up onto the platform, “You’re lucky.” she said as she touched Willow’s cheek, “Looks like my summer vacation is…over.” Max slowly closed the small space between her body and the sleeping Willow’s, and wrapped her arms around the other young woman’s waist. With a single tear sliding down her right cheek, Max vanished, and felt herself become one with Willow once again.
You don't have to swim faster than the shark, just faster than the guy next to you.

Everytime someone asks why a character is Silenced because of the Nethicite; The Gods kill a Moogle! Save the Moogles!
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Chapter 4

Postby Stormforce » Mon Oct 08, 2007 12:48 pm

Pairing: W/T, B/F
Feedback: Yeah, sure, tell me what you think ^_^
Rating: Pretty much PG-13 - R depending on the language and fighting.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than the new game systems.

Note: I don't have a beta, so any and all mistakes are mine. If anyone would like to beta for me, I would be happy for the help. ^_^

Chapter Four: The Final Day

The computer room was only lit by the light of the screens as Diz sat in his chair, still staring at the screens. One of the two doors at the back of the room whooshed upward, and Fayt and Karite walked in, “Why did you show her the train?” Karite asked as she and Fayt sat down next to the man in red.

Diz shrugged as he turned in his chair, and faced the two girls, “Because she missed the trip to the beach.”

“Humph.” Fayt crossed her arms, “That’s almost kind of you.”

Diz quirked his eyebrows under his red face wrap, “Now, what about both of you?” he asked slightly cocking his head to the left, “Are the holes in your memories starting to fill in?”

Both girls nodded, “Yeah,” Fayt said and leaned back, “The haze is clearing.”

“The same thing is happening to everyone who had ties to Willow and the girls. Very soon, to them, they will be like good friends who has gone away for a year.” The man stopped and grinned, “Except for two, and they already remember.”

Karite glanced toward her sister, “We’ve waited, and now we want to know. What is it that you want?”

“Revenge.” Diz said simply.

“Revenge…?” Fayt really wanted to ask, ‘Revenge for what?’, but she just sighed, no use in upsetting the man to calm her curious side.

Diz turned back to the screens and began typing, “Now, for the finishing touches. First, we must dispose of Naminé. She did a splendid job with Willow, but it's high time she disappeared. Max isn't the only one who was never meant to exist.” He slightly turned his head, “Take care of it, girls.”

“Restoration at 97%” The computer said.

----

The girls, Donald and Goofy stood in front of the Gate to the Dark in the End of the World, and saw fragments floating in every direction. “Gawrsh,” Goofy stared, “is that all that’s left of the worlds taken by the Heartless?” No one said a word, they could only nod. There had to be thousands upon thousands of small, medium, and large chunks of rocks, homes, castles…everything from the worlds, floating in front of them.

Willow turned toward the others, “Those worlds will be restored if we beat D’Hoffryn, right?” She asked and glanced back at the fragments.

“You betcha!” Donald nodded.

“But, if we do beat him, and all these worlds become restored and disconnected, what’s gonna happen to this place?” Willow shivered, “And to us?”

----

“All worlds being in darkness, and all so end.” D’Hoffryn said smirking. “The heart is no different. You see, darkness is the heart’s true essence.

“That’s not true!” Tara shouted.

“The heart may be weak, and sometimes it may even give in. But I’ve learned that deep down, there’s a light that never goes out!” Willow narrowed her eyes.

----

D’Hoffryn raised his hands toward the sky, “Kingdom Hearts!” he shouted, “Fill me with the power of darkness!”

Willow stood on shaky legs, “You’re wrong!” she shouted as the others straightened up.

“I know,” Tara took her wife’s hand, “We know, without a doubt, Kingdom Hearts is light!”

----

“Now, Girls, let's close this door for good!” Mickey said.

“Take care of them.” Willow’s twin spoke.

“Tell them we love them, and we will return.” Buffy’s twin said.

----

“Now what do we do?” Donald asked as the group sat around the campfire.

Willow sat her plate down and stretched, “We’ve gotta find the twins and King Mickey.”

Pluto ran away from the group.

----

In a mysterious dark city rain began falling from the black sky as hundreds of large Heartless shadows began rising from the ground. They stood five foot tall with two antennas on either side of their head, yellow glowing eyes, and sharp claws -these were known as Neoshadows. The city had no name, but many buildings and skyscrapers stood proudly, as if watching over the dark city. The Neoshadows surrounding a figure dressed in black, a figure that took out two different Keyblades, and swung them in position in front of her.

The first Keyblade, Oblivion, had a batwing hand guard on either side of the hilt, a dark blue gem sat at the base of the hilt where the blade met -looking ever-so-much like a bright blue eye; the long black blade had an engraving of a chain down the center. The tip of the blade turned into a sharp point, and an upside down crown shape below the point. The second Keyblade, Oathkeeper, had a foot long chain with a star at the end of the hilt, around the hilt sat two feather-like hand guards. The blade itself split in two, and curled inwards at the tip. A seven pointed star sat under the tip, two long star tip protruded from either end, and three points stuck out from the bottom, and the last two merged with the bottom blade.

The girl jumped forward, destroying several of the Neoshadows, and spun in a circle -taking out even more of the Heartless creatures. The girl felt someone watching, and stopped fighting long enough to look to the top of the main skyscraper of the city. The rain had stopped falling for just a moment, long enough for the girl to see two young women standing on the roof watching her. The young women were, like the girl, dressed in a black cloak, but were un-hooded, and had blindfolds over their eyes.

Ignoring the Heartless; the girl ran towards the skyscraper, and up the side of the building, half way there she threw the Oblivion Keyblade towards the women. The one on the right caught the blade as the one on the left held out her own blade. The hilt was an almost black purple as it curved downward where the blade met, and had a bluish colored gem set in the center. The blade curved around into a point, back towards the hilt, before curving back and leading to a sharp point. The top curved down, then up coming to a point, and curving back down, and once more coming to another point -before meeting the hilt. For anyone looking at it, they would have assumed it was made to look like a bat’s wing. The blade, colored black, with red where the would be wings were.

The two women dived off the edge of the building, and fell past the running girl. The blindfolded women smirked as they passed by, and flipped several times before landing on the ground -soon followed by the third. As if by an unspoken agreement, the three young women jump into the center of the Neoshadows, and finish them off, then spin around to face one another.

Both blindfolded women lunged towards the girl and exchange blows, sending the girl staggering back. With a loud battle cry, the girl spun around, knocking both blades from her opponent’s hands, and sent them falling to the ground. “Why?!” The one on the left looked at the Keyblade in the girl’s hand.

“Why do you have the Keyblade?!” The second shouted as if the blindfold over her eyes didn’t hinder her site.

“You shouldn’t have it!” The first shouted, again, it was as if the blindfold wasn’t there.

The girl swung the Keyblade down, “Shut up, both of you!” she shouted and jumped forward.

Max quickly snapped her eyes open as she shot up in bed, once more. She sighed and slid out of bed. If any one would have been watching, they would have seen another form overlap hers several times as Max approached the window and saw birds flying by. The redhead stretched and yawned as she dressed, and walked out of her bedroom. With her mind on the dreams she never noticed other people on the street, never tried to speak with them, only headed to the meeting place.

The young woman could hear her friends laughing and stepped inside the room, scratching the back of her head she looked up, “Man, I could not sleep last night.” she said but no one turned around to ask why, no one even greeted her, “Guys?” she asked and reached for Garnet’s hand, only to find she passed right through the other girl. “Huh?”

Max stepped back, watching her friends laugh with no notion of her existence. Garnet turned around and ran right through her body, Quistis and Selphie following. The young redhead watched her friends leave and sighed before picking up a picture. The picture showed Garnet and Quistis standing in front of a kneeling Selphie, all three were in front of the mansion just past the woods. Max blinked, that picture had included her, she knew, she remembered standing beside Garnet, and watching as Vivi had taken the picture.

“What is going on?” she whispered to herself as she walked back outside, and jumped as Dusks appeared.

“Look at what it’s come to.” Axel said as he appeared behind her, “I’ve been given these icky orders to destroy you, but only if you refuse to come back with me.”

Max looked at the odd man, “We’re…best friends, right?”

Axel scratched his head and nodded, “Yeah, but I’m not getting turned into a Dusk for…” he stopped, his eyes going wide, “Wait a sec! You remember now?!”

“Umm… Y…eah…”

“Great!” Axel shouted pumping his fist in the air, “But I gotta make sure and all… So, umm… What’s our boss’s name?” Max didn’t answer, how could she? She didn’t really remember, she didn’t even know what was happening. Axel sighed sadly, “Can’t believe this.” he said as his chakram appeared, “I’m sorry…” he lunged forward, and froze in time.

“Max, get to the mansion!” Diz’s voice said in her head, “The time has come.”

With one last look around, Max felt as if she would never see that place again, she hurried off. As the redhead disappeared down Market Street, Axel unfroze, “The Max I know is long gone… Fine, I see how it is…” he said sadly, almost on the verge of tears, and disappeared.

Max ran through the streets, dodging the Dusks if she could, and only fighting the ones she had to. The young woman ran through the woods and up the path to the mansion, to a locked gate. More and more Dusks were appearing behind her as she rattled the gate, “Damn it! Don’t call me and then lock me out!” she shouted, and stopped. A vision of Willow using her Keyblade appeared in her mind. Stepping back, Max held out her hand, calling the Keyblade, and aimed it to the lock. A bright light shot towards the gate, and the lock fell to the ground.

The gate swung open, allowing Max to run through, with the Dusks following. Two black cloaked women appeared in front of the enemies, and held out their blades, the one on the right with the batwing-like sword and the other holding the Oblivion Keyblade. They jumped towards the creatures, giving Max enough time to enter the mansion.

The inside of the mansion looked as if a battle had taken place there, broken glass and cement from the walls littered the floor. In front of her stood a display case with something inside. A door on either side of the entryway, but both were blocked by rubble. A set of stairs with red carpet stood in front of her, both leading to the same walkway on the second floor. Max could see two more doors, one on either side, and sighed, which one? Walking forward, she looked in the case and saw a crumbling replica of a city, and shivered as a familiar feeling came over her.

With one last look around, Max took the left set of stairs, and opened the door at the top, and entered the white room she sat in with Naminé. As she walked around she noticed several drawings. One of the drawings showed her in an alleyway of the dark city from her dreams, and she grabbed her head in pain.

Thunder rumbled in the black sky of the dark city as she, dressed in a black cloak, walked down the dark streets. She passed by Axel who was leaning on the wall, and crossed his arms, “So, your mind’s made up?” he asked.

Max stopped, and turned around, “Why did the Keyblade choose me?” she asked then looked to the ground, “I have to know.”

“You can’t turn on the Organization!”

Max’s vision stopped, and she saw Naminé sitting at the table, “Organization XIII... they're a bad group.”

“Bad or good, I don't know. They're a group of incomplete people who wish to be whole. To that end, they're desperately searching for something.”

The redhead blinked, “What?”

“Kingdom Hearts.” Max chuckled, “What’s funny?”

“It’s just, I think… I’ve been running away from the question I really wanna ask.” she said and walked over to the table, and leaned against it, “What’s gonna happen to me now?” she asked and shrugged, “Just tell me that. Nothing else really matters anymore.”

“You are…” Naminé flickered for a moment and her form broke into several pieces of data and disappeared as Diz appeared in a flash of more data.

“There’s no knowledge that has the power to change your fate.” Diz said staring at the young woman.

Max straightened up and glared angrily at the red cloaked man, “Even if it doesn’t, I wanna know! I have the damn right to know!” she shouted, slamming her fist on the table.

“A Nobody doesn’t have any rights. Nor does it even have the right to even be.”

“Damn it! What the hell IS a Nobody?!”

D’Hoffryn’s sisters appeared, “Diz, we’re outta time!” Karite said, ignoring Max, she had to, she knew what the girl’s fate was to be.

“Too many Nobodies!” Fayt shouted, also ignoring the girl.

A black portal appeared behind Diz, and Naminé stepped out, “Max. Nobodies like us are only half a person. You won’t disappear, you’ll be whole!”

“I’ll…disappear…?”

Diz stepped behind the blonde, and grabbed her shoulders, “No further outbursts!”

“No! You won’t disappear! You’ll…” Naminé was cut off by Diz putting his hand over her mouth.

Max quickly stepped towards the portal, only to be stopped by the cloaked girls, “Wait!”

Naminé grabbed Diz’s hand, and pulled it from her mouth, “Max! We will meet again! And then we can talk about everything.” she said pushing Diz’s hand away again, “I may not know it’s you, and you may not know it’s me. But we WILL meet again. Someday soon, I promise!” she called out as Diz backed into the portal, pulling the blonde with him.

“Let her go!” Max shouted, and was -almost gently- pushed away by the two cloaked women as they stepped inside and vanished with the portal.

“Damn it!” Max screamed and kicked the wall. After five minutes of calming herself down, Max decided to find out where the other door led, and hurried across the balcony. A library with a table in the center of the room, with three drawings on it. One of the drawings was missing something, remembering the symbol from somewhere -Max drew in the X. “Whoa!” she ran towards the door as the whole floor disappeared, revealing a secret staircase.

Carefully walking down the stairs, Max saw a door in the wall, and slipped through, and into the computer room. Her head began hurting again as her memories returned.

A white room with thirteen tall white thrones, and in each throne sat a member of Organization XIII.

She was running down the dark city streets being chased by Dusks.

The fight with the blindfolded girls. She had jumped forward, intending on finishing them off, but was knocked back as one grabbed the Oblivion Keyblade and slashed at her -knocking her into the wall, and unconscious. The two women stood up, walked over to the unconscious girl, and picked her up before disappearing. As they reappeared they lay Max underneath an odd machine as Diz watched, “Will it work?” Fayt asked stepping away from Max.

“If we can maintain the simulated town until Naminé finishes chaining together Willow’s memories.”

Karite stared at the girl, “What will happen to her?”

Diz turned, “She holds half of Willow’s power within her, and in the end, she will have to give it back.” he said and turned toward the monitors, “Until then, she’ll need another personality to throw off her pursuers.”

“Poor thing.” Fayt sighed and sat down next to her sister.

Diz sat down in his own chair, and began typing, “It’s the fate of a Nobody.” he said as the machine started up, changed Max into data, and she was gone. Teleported into the fake Twilight Town.

Max’s headache stopped and her anger rose. The Keyblade appeared in her hand, and she began beating on the computer monitors, violently. It all became clear, the stolen word, the Dusks chasing after her, everything. She had been in a fake town, one made of data, the Dusks had stolen the data creating the words. “Why!?” she shouted turning to the screens on the wall, “Why me!?” tears filled her eyes as she continued to beat on the, now, broken monitors. A door opened, startling Max; the young woman wiped her eyes, and carefully stepped into another room with another door.

“Amazing, Max, simply amazing meeting you here.” Axel said as he appeared in front of her.

“Axel.”

“You really do remember me this time?” Axel asked, sarcastically, “I’m SO FLATTERED!” he shouted, his anger causing a circle of ceiling high flames to erupt, “But you’re too late!” Max felt the power flowing through her body, and felt two Keyblades appear her hands, “Two?!” Axel sneered as both his chakram appeared, “Come over here, and I’ll make it all stop.” he lunged toward Max.

Max fell backwards, allowing the chakram to pass over her body, and circled around behind Axel, bringing both blades down in an X. The reddish orange haired man grunted from the pain, and spun around, throwing his weapons towards the girl. Max quickly knocked the chakram away, and jumped into the air, “Rising Force!” she shouted as she came down, and slammed the blades into the floor, causing two six foot tall shockwaves to speed towards Axel -knocking him into the flames.

“Can you find me?” he asked using the flames as a shield to hide behind.

Max allowed her senses to take over, and felt out the location of her enemy just as he jumped through the flames, and aimed his weapons at her head. The young woman spun around, and leaned to the left, allowing one chakram to pass by, and fell backwards as the other passed overhead. She flipped forward, extended her legs, and began twirling around, her feet hitting Axel in the face.

As Max slowed, the chakram returned to Axel, and he brought the weapons down, slicing into her right leg. Back flipping, Max threw both blades, and watched as the lodged into Axel’s stomach, and in a flash of light returned to her. The redhead stared at her enemy as the flames disappeared, and remembered the alleyway again.

----

“You get on their bad side and they’ll destroy you!” Axel had said, pleading with her to rethink her decision.

Max had shrugged, “No one would miss me.” she said and started to walk away.

“That’s not true.” Axel whispered, “I would.”

----

“Axel…” Max watched as the man began to fade away.

He had felt himself begin to fade, and smiled just a little, “Let’s meet again in the next life.”

Max nodded, “Yeah, I’ll be waiting.”

“Silly. Just because you have a next life…” Axel never finished his sentence.

A sigh escaped her lips as the Keyblades vanished from her hands. Max approached the door, and peered through, she saw five capsules and walked over. Her eyes went wide, “Tara.” she stared at the first one and looked into the others a moment later, “Faith. Buffy. Donald. Goofy.” All five were sleeping, but where was Willow?

Turning the corner she found one last door, and opened it. Another white room greeted her, and inside was another large capsule, “At last.” Diz said as he appeared, “One of the Keyblade’s chosen ones.”

“Just who are you talking to? Me? Or Willow?”

“To half of Willow, of course. You reside in darkness. What I need is someone who can move about the realm of light and destroy Organization XIII”

Max narrowed her eyes, “Why? Who are you?”

“I am a servant of the world.” Diz laughed, “And if I’m a servant, then you should consider yourself a tool, at best.”

“Was that… Was that supposed to be a joke?!” Max growled as the Keyblade appeared in her hand, “Cause I’m not laughing!” she shouted and ran towards Diz, and swung her blade right through him.

Diz chuckled again, “My apologies, this is only a data-based projection.” he said causing Max to scream in anger, and strike at the projection three more times. On the third strike, the projection vanished, and reappeared behind her. As Max caught her breath, Diz walked over to the capsule, “Come, over here.”

Max glared, “I hate you.”

“You should share some of that hate with Willow, she really is too nice for her own good, you know.”

“No! My heart belongs to me!” Max shouted and ran forward again, and once more, struck at the projection, causing it to disappear.

The capsule glowed bright white as Max got closer to it. Diz watched from the other side of the room as the mechanical petals opened slowly. “Willow…” Max whispered as the petals opened fully, revealing Willow, still sleeping, and floating inside.

“Go on, Max,” Diz said softly as he approached from behind, “She needs you, they need her, and the worlds need all of them.”

Max felt tears stinging her eyes as she turned to the red cloaked man, “But why… what did I ever do…?”

“This is not your fault.” Fayt said as she and Karite appeared in the room, “Blame the Heartless.”

“You did nothing wrong…not like us…” Karite whispered and looked away from the sleeping Willow.

Diz turned away, “Come, girls, let us give her some privacy.” he said and vanished.

The sisters nodded, “Don’t be afraid.” Karite pulled back her hood and smiled, “There’s nothing to be afraid of.” she vanished.

Fayt pulled her hood down, and winked, “Remember what Naminé said, you won’t disappear, you’ll just be whole again.” she was then gone.

Max turned back to the sleeping Willow and stepped up onto the platform, “You’re lucky.” she said as she touched Willow’s cheek, “Looks like my summer vacation is…over.” Max slowly closed the small space between her body and the sleeping Willow’s, and wrapped her arms around the other young woman’s waist. With a single tear sliding down her right cheek, Max vanished, and felt herself become one with Willow once again.
You don't have to swim faster than the shark, just faster than the guy next to you.

Everytime someone asks why a character is Silenced because of the Nethicite; The Gods kill a Moogle! Save the Moogles!
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Stormforce
2. Floating Rose
 
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