Kingdom Hearts: Hearts of Hope and Dreams: Part 1: Shattered Hopes

By: Cauryn Val

Chapter three- Mysterious Strangers

I do not own any Disney, Final Fantasy, or Kingdom Hearts characters.

Only the ones I invent ☺

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Part 1: After a year or so of peaceful bliss, our trio’s world is shattered once again when two strangers land on Destiny Islands. Sora is worried that Ansem has returned, and fears for Kairi’s safety above all things, while Riku is plagued with the self-doubt of being able to fight the darkness that still resides deep in his heart. Can he fight it? And can Sora save the worlds again?

“Riku…”

“Riku…”

“…come…”

“come back to me…”

“RIKU!!”

Riku sat up abruptly, covered in a cold sweat. He slowly brought up a shaking hand to his aching head and closed his eyes. Wh-what? He wondered. Bird song caused him to look out the window at the morning light. Riku shook his head and got up. I’ve never slept this late before…

Kairi greeted him with a smile when he appeared downstairs.

“Morning, sleepy head.” Riku smiled at her.

“Morning. Where’s Sora?”

“He went for a walk. Said he’d be back in an hour or two.”

“He probably fell asleep on the beach again.” Riku said with a small smile. Kairi giggled.

“If I know Sora.” She said.

At that precise moment, Sora came running up the porch staircase. “Hey Guys! The ship made port last night!” He said excitedly. “You should SEE it! It’s crazy down there!!”

“Well, this ship was supposed to be the biggest shipment in the past three years.” Riku pointed out. He couldn’t help but smiled when he saw the shine in his friend’s eyes. “Sora, sometimes, I don’t think you ever grew up. You know that?”

“Come on, let me goof!” Sora said, punching Riku in the arm. Riku retuned the punch.

“Yeah, yeah, I still say you act like a kid more often than not.” Riku ruffled Sora’s hair as he walked by. Sora followed him with an intense blue gaze.

“Hey, Riku?”

“Yeah?” Riku turned to face Sora.

“You okay? You look a little pale.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I didn’t get much sleep last night for some reason.” Riku lied. It was the dream with the disembodied voice that had him feeling odd. “I’m fine, really.” Neither Sora nor Kairi looked convinced.

“Are you sure, Riku?” Kairi asked.

“Yeah. I just need to get outside. “Riku replied. Sora quickly agreed, and they were soon on their way to the port.

The sun did seem to do Riku some good. Once outside, the paleness seemed to lessen and by the time the reached the bustling port, his skin had returned to normal. The three friends stood gazing out over the crowd. Riku whistled.

“Wow. I see what had you so exited, Sora.” He said.

“Come on, let’s go see some of the sailors.” Kairi said, linking her fingers with Sora’s. Riku felt a twinge of sadness as he witnessed this. He still loved her, even though she was with Sora, and he was honestly happy for them.

Sora and Kairi led the way through the crowd, stopping to talk to people here and there, all three getting harassed good naturally.

The three sat down at a seafood booth, and were soon joined by a group of sailors including Wakkah, a childhood friend. They soon found out what the talk of the town was. The majority of the sailors and those outside the night before had seen the burning object. Theories and questions had sprouted all over the subject. Many believed a ship had crash landed in the islands, and some of those were all for investigating. A small number of locals passed it off as nothing, unwilling to admit their fright.

“But it couldn’t have been a ship, ya? Gummi’s haven’t bee flyin’ for years.” Wakkah said. He was one of the few fixed on the belief that it was nothing to be worried about.

“Aye, believe what ya want, laddies.” An old sea captain growled. “But that was too big to pass off as nuthin’.” He grabbed a shrimp from the bowl before the group, popping it into his mouth as if that closed the subject. Wakkah and a few others, including our hero’s, shook their heads.

“It’s just not possible.” Sora said. “The walls between the worlds repaired themselves. Gummi ships can’t get through.” Wakkah looked at Sora curiously.

“How do you know all that, ya?” He asked.

“I stayed with a Gummi ship expert in Traverse Town.” Sora replied calmly. Riku took a sip from his cup. He’s thought Sora had been found out. Sora had deliberately failed to tell their friends he was the Keyblade Master. He still had all his key chains, and merely told everyone that they were collectables in Travers Town. Riku gazed out over the crowd, remembering when he had been told he should have been the Keyblade Master. Malfeasant’s plan had worked; Riku had turned against Sora, thus opening his heart further to darkness. This also led to his eventual full fall in to the darkness within himself.

“I’m tellin’ ya!” The disgruntled captain’s voice brought Riku back to the real world. “That was a ship!”

“What makes you so sure, ya?” Wakkah asked.

“Well, laddies,” The captain leaned in, causing the rest to do so. “If that wasn’t a ship, how do you explain that lad?” He jerked a thumb to his left slyly. “He’s been wanderin’ around since before dawn.” The whole group looked in the direction the captain was pointing in.

There, less than one hundred feet from them, was a strange young man they had never seen before. He appeared relatively young, with a nice build. But whatever complements his physical build gained him, the rest of him drowned them out. His baggy, gothic-like pants looked bloodstained as well as his combat boots that had dirt caked all over them, and chains hung from belt loops. He wore a ¾ sleeve, 3 button black shirt and had left the buttons undone. He wore a spiked dog collar necklace and on a silver chain, a skull pendant with a ruby sword driven through the top. His black hair hung about his face and looked like it hadn’t been washed in a while. His lower arms were bandaged from his elbow to halfway up his fingers. His thumbs were sticking into the large pockets and looked a little relaxed, though alert. The, “wrong side of the tracks” look got worse when he turned.

Kairi was hardly able to keep a tiny scream from coming out, as the stranger had one red eye, and the other black, giving him a lethal look, and the hunters gleam was all to visible in his eyes.

Kairi gulped and scooted closer to Sora. Riku moved in as well, the captain didn’t miss their reaction.

“Aye, I’d keep me eyes out for the likes of him.” He said. “I’ll be seen’ ya.” The old captain got up and tottered off, the sway of the sea forever burned into his movements. Riku plucked at the glove on his left hand.

“We should go home…” Riku said. His gut instinct told him something bad would happen, but he refused to believe it.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Sora agreed. Kairi nodded and stood. Riku’s stomach knotted up as he felt the intense gaze of the stranger boring into his back. He looked over at Sora and Kairi, but they seemed okay. The three turned a corner and he relaxed, but only for a moment.

About 10 feet to their left, Riku spotted another stranger at a booth. This time it was a girl. Riku even dared a second look. The girl had silky black hair that was cut to an even length that reached her waist and hung between two small black wings on her back. Two long tresses, cut to chest length, hung around her face and in front of her and swayed a bit from the rush of the customers around her. She wore a black shirt that showed her bare midriff, and her black jacket, with lots of shiny silver zippers and buttons, barely covered her chest. She wore black baggy pants, like the male stranger, that cut off a little below mid calf to show combat boots laced tightly. At her waist hung what looked like a dagger sheath at first sight, but instead held a long box securely tied inside and a long, elegant silver flute. The belt that this was tied to was thick, and accented her already noticeable figure, causing Riku to blush a tiny bit. He shook his head and jogged a bit to catch up with his friends. Embarrassed he had gawked the way he had. She’s attractive, I’ll giver her that… He thought.

All thoughts of the strangers were wiped from his mind for a moment as he saw Sora glance at his right hand, then look at it again. Sora lifted his hand up, looking at it in a puzzled way as he clenched and unclenched it several times. Riku moved up beside Sora and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Sora, you okay?” He asked, drawing Kairi’s attention.

“Something wrong?”

“No, no, not really. My hand just got all these shivers all of a sudden. No big deal.”

“Yeah… no big deal…” Riku muttered, looking towards the sea, his mind troubled once more. Sora turned and Riku flinched. He mentally cursed the darkness still within him.

By the time they got home, the sun had set and the moon risen. Riku bade Sora and Kairi goodnight, and went up to bed. The upstairs were Riku’s ‘domain’ because he hadn’t finished remodeling it yet. He walked into his room, shut the door, and sat in the windowsill as he did every night. He concentrated on the stars, wondering if the other worlds were alright, how they were holding up, and if they thought about the friends they had made.

A flicker of light caught Riku’s eye. He blinked, but couldn’t see anything. He relaxed, and then saw it again. He spent a bit more time looking before sitting again.

There it was!! The star He had just been gazing at flickered, then disappeared. Riku’s heart began to race as his eyes frantically scanned the night sky. Then another star went out. The worlds were once again under attack. Riku gripped the window sill and swore.

“Shit!”

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Heh heh heh…. Who shall the strangers be??? Friend or Foe? And are the girl’ wings real?? ^-^ not much of a cliff anger, but that’s not what I was aiming for. I hope you keep reading! Review please! I love ALL feed back!! ^-^