Kingdom Hearts 1. The Pursuit of Knowledge

**A N D R O I D**

_Chapter One  
_**THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE**

Erael's dark eyes flicked over every minute detailing of the castle's structure. He had always had an affinity for architecture, or for anything constructed. In fact his life ambition was to deconstruct life itself, to solve the mysteries of the universe and beyond, the meaning of life and the origin of everything in existence. He was a scientist, self-acclaimed and as brilliant as any other. His eyes glistened every time a new question was raised and he would immediately begin formulating hypotheses and theories. As for this very moment, he was deconstructing exactly how the towers were standing so strong.

Of course, he could just go inside and inspect the interior scaffolding, but where was the fun in that? The best part about science was the guessing, the pondering, and then the confirmation of the theories conjured. However, after a few more minutes of such tower-gazing, Erael forced himself to rip his eyes away from the monument and turned regally towards the large doors. While doing so, he slipped an arm out of one of his backpack's straps and let gravity do the rest of the work, catching it in his remaining hand.

From the backpack, he pulled a large map, which he unfolded as he stepped over the threshold. He had his route sorted already. Climb the first flight of stairs, up the hall, through a door, up some more stairs, and finally into a maze-like hallway to a secret passageway behind a wall, which, if he was reading the map correctly, should have led him to the highest point in the castle. Of course, he was not here to look at the fancy architecture. His priorities were much more significant. He was here to stargaze, or in more specific terms, world-gaze. From what he knew, there were new worlds everywhere in the universe, and he wanted to study them… from afar of course. It wasn't that he didn't have the resources or the munny. It was just that – well – he didn't have the courage to venture out to them. Who knows what dangers he would get himself into? Not to mention the "World Order". He definitely wouldn't want to disrupt that.

He was surprised that his voyage to the secret room was not disrupted by heartless. Sure, the world was very recently swept clean of any and all heartless by a keyblade master, but by now there would have been at least a few heartless popping up. Not to mention the fact that the castle itself was notorious for its heartless swarms being more frequent than most other parts of Radiant Garden. Shrugging it off, however, Erael continued into the room – it was surprisingly easy to get into after a very careful analysis. After all, his neighbours had been accessing it for years now and they weren't nearly as intelligent as he.

But alas, there was no window for him to set up his telescope at, which was frustrating. Erael should have surveyed this room before lugging all of his research materials up. An honest mistake; as brilliant as he may have been, Erael was never one to think things through before taking action. Thus, with a sigh that could weigh down a Behemoth, the young scientist turned swiftly on his feet and took a step toward the exit. But then, he stopped. He could not explain why, but he did. And he stood stiff for a moment, staring confoundedly at the exit in front of him. As if permitting his mind to take over again, his body suddenly shook, a tremble that raced from his tailbone to the top of his neck. He was in control again, but his scientist curiosity began to create spin questions.

In full control now, Erael turned around once more and faced the desk. On it was a small, black ant-like creature, twitching its antennae and jerking its head awkwardly and maniacally, like something in its mind was disturbed. It was standing on what looked like a journal, or perhaps a notebook. Erael knew exactly what the creature was, and was well prepared against it. In a matter of seconds he had drawn a small glass vial from his coat pocket. As if sensing the condensed light inside the vial, the shadow shrunk until it disappeared. It seemed as though Erael had developed a heartless repellent. He was going to make millions.

But he could not think about this now, he was far too intrigued by the notebook. It had caught his eye, and now his mind wouldn't wander. Brows furrowed in thought, he stepped closer, slipping the vial back into his pocket with one hand and taking the book into his other. It seemed to be a report notebook, not unlike the many Erael himself had created with his own research, all stacked in his own house. The pages looked as though they had been ripped out and then pasted back in. His scientific conscience intrigued by the work of other minds, he began reading.

_Much of my life has been dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge…_

_-.-.-  
_

Rien had been standing for a whole two hours now. His body was slouched over the fruits his mother sold in the Rabanastre Bazaar and his eyes were beginning to fall shut. It was too hot to be working today, even with the leather canopy over his head. The air was dry and warm, his mouth has began to become sticky and his vision blurry. His mother, at present, was away from the stall to fetch some water to keep them cool and hydrated. Sure they could have just used the juices from the fruits in front of them, but his mother wasn't the biggest fan of that idea.

"The fruit here is for others, there's no profit in us eating them ourselves," she would say, with that look she had with her brows raised in a matter-of-fact manner. "Water from the well down the road is free, so we can quench our thirst without spending anything." Just like a frugal mother would. She was a real businesswoman – she could sell a pebble for fifty gil. It was a wonder why the family was still stuck working in the bazaar as opposed to owning a growing company. Then again, after the recent deaths of four different members of their extended family and a major mortgage debt, they didn't have the funds to keep up, let alone start a business. Selling fruit wasn't going to get them anywhere fast, though.

"Rien!" his mother grunted, snapping him out of his overheated daze. His head snapped up to see the woman he called mother with one hand on her hip and the other holding two large bottles of water. For a woman, she was definitely not lacking in testosterone. She was, as some would call, butch. She worked so hard every day that the muscles came naturally. She released one of the water bottles into the air towards Rien, who caught it with both his hands, wobbling a little. "You look like you're falling asleep. Your father was never _this_ lazy."

Rien stayed silent, eagerly gulping down his water and awaiting its effects. It wasn't as cool as he would have liked, but it was definitely refreshing. With a huff, his mother skirted around the stall and into the shade, throwing back as much water as she could. By this time, Rien had set his bottle down and begun serving a viera woman. She had come around a few times before, always after several months of travelling distant kingdoms and countries countries, for the mysterious star-shaped fruit only his mother sold. She called it something like pow-poo fruit, and that it wasn't native to much of Dalmasca, or Ivalice for that matter. In fact, he had no idea where it had come from. For all he knew, it could have come from another _world_. The viera woman even once said it had special powers, too, though Rien just tried not to be as obviously sceptical as he was.

"Thanks! Come again soon!" Rien said through a smile. His head then snapped away, staring down the street as if sensing the group of Bangaa hunters stalking aggressively towards them. "Um, mum… we have company."

His mother looked up at the Bangaa trio, each of them holding their swords out proudly. The leader, and the more well-armoured, grabbed a star-shaped fruit and eyed it with a harsh curiosity. Rien's mother flinched. It wasn't usual for her to be this freaked out, even with her uncommon fear of the Bangaa species. Her back was stiff and her eyes darted around nervously. This was wrong, mothers were meant to be stronger than this, and Rien's was the last woman anybody would think of to be an exception.

"I-I don't have it, I'm sorry!" she stammered, eyes wildly searching the scene, like she needed an escape route. "I swear I'll have it on Monday, just be – be patient! And don't – don't do a-anything in front of my son!"

"Sorry, lady, but a deal's a deal," the leader shot back with a rumbling voice and dark eyes glinting. He took a bite of the star-shaped fruit and cringed before spitting it out and nonchalantly throwing the rest at a passing pedestrian. "We've wait'd long enough. We killed the beast that was threat'nin' yer supply route, and we want ter be paid."

"I-I…"

Rien watched as his mother was breaking inside. He had never seen these guys before, nor had his mother ever mentioned them, or the fact that she has put up a mark. He didn't even know that their supply route was being cut off by one of the beasts of the Giza Plains. Something was wrong here. Usually Game Hunters were fine with waiting for payment. Whatever this payment was, it must have been very valuable.

"'_I-I…_' – stop yer sniv'llin', lady," the Bangaa leader growled mockingly, leaping clean over the fruit in front of them and landing between Rien and his mother. The man from next door tried to interrupt, but was thrown back into his produce by one of the other two Game Hunters' magicks. "Cover me, boys."

The Bangaa leader turned and smacked an elbow into Rien's jaw, and then a foot into his stomach, sending him staggering back out of the leather canopy and into the harsh sun. An instant later, the fruit stall was surrounded by a violet-white magick wall and Rien's mother's mouth was locked shut with a dark purple light. Rien was on the other side of the magick wall. His mother was in danger and he couldn't do a thing.

"Now listen," the leader grunted, forcing her to the ground, her shirt scrunched in his hands. "Every day…" – his hands unclenched and began travelling up her shirt – "that you don't have our payment…" – Rien stumbled back as the Bangaa leader began ripping his mother's top – "I, or one of my boys 'ere…" – Rien had to think of a plan, or his mother was going to be seriously hurt – "will find yer…" – The bangaa leader almost had Rien's mother's torso stripped to its undergarments – why was nobody noticing? – "and have our way with yer…" – the bangaa started on her shorts as Rien himself skirted around to the stall across the road and grabbed one of his maces – "and yer son there will have to watch. If you tell a soul, he dies."

"I have to borrow this!" Rien said quickly to the perplexed shop keeper. He swung his thin frame around and lifted the mace off the table. It was a lot heavier than he realised; he couldn't hold it any higher than a few inches of the ground. There went the idea of knocking the two magick-using Bangaas before him out. Instead, he was forced to swing it low, hitting them in the ankles and knocking them both off them to the ground.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" the shop owner called from behind him.

"Argh!" the lead bangaa roared from behind Rien's mother's fruit stall, obviously noticing that the magick force-field had subsided. The other two bangaas stumbled to their feet, glaring ferociously at Rien, who dropped the mace and took a few backward steps away from the Game Hunter trio. All three drew their swords (Rien himself didn't realise they'd put them away) and stalked forward. The leader, once again, leapt clean over the fruit table and joined the other two. "You… you little _punk_."

At this moment, Rien ran. His mother would be fine; another shop keeper would help her out. Rien himself, however, needed to worry about his life. These Game Hunters had the worst attitude he had ever seen on a Bangaa, and that was an understatement. Whatever this payment was, his mother wasn't going to give it up easily, and this infuriated them. Why had she even agreed to pay them with something so _valuable_ anyway?

Exiting the Bazaar, Rien found himself in running through some back alleys. His heart was racing as fast as his head. He needed a place to hide – maybe a barrel or a crate? But first, he had to get far enough ahead of the Bangaas before he could even think about trying to hide. And he needed to do it fast, as he was running out of alleyways that weren't dead ends. Sooner or later, his luck would run out. He just hoped it was later rather than sooner.

But the fates were unfortunately not on his side. Rien made a stupid wrong turn and ran straight towards a brick wall too high to climb. He was now trapped between three murderous Game Hunters with swords and a hard place. With wicked smirks spread across their faces, they stalked ever closer. Rien felt around, searching for something he could defend himself with, all the while keeping his eyes locked on the lead Bangaa's own eyes as if the moment he turned away they would pounce. There was nothing in grasping range. This was it; Rien could only hope and wish for a miracle now. The stress built up, and it became too much, and everything went black.

* * *

So here's a heeeyuge **Author's note** I'm going to leave you with, and hopefully no more will be necessary for a long time after it.

Basically, this is a mostly Original Character fic. I prefer not to play canons in my writing, it makes things kinda annoying. I barely ever find a fic where the main characters are excluded completely (or almost completely). Also, I'm sick of seeing the Kingdom Hearts fandom clogged up with the same old crap - fan girls, people being sucked into their Kingdom Hearts games, self-insertions, schools and overall Mary-Sue clichéd lameness. I am going to make this more interesting. I'm actually going to flesh out an entire plot, which is mostly thought up, just not written down. And I am going to make this one of the best Kingdom Hearts fics on the site. You'll see ;3

There will be some boy love, girl love, pretty much any kind of romance. I enjoy romance. Expect it.

As for characters, I have plenty thought up, so I definitely won't be needing OC submissions. My deviantART is linked on my profile and I should start posting character profiles and drawings up on there at some point.

So um, anyway. Constructive criticism is what I need to make this story as amazing as I want it to be, and you, as readers, can help me with that. So please review, and I hope you enjoy the rest of what I have planned for this.

Peace. x


	2. Special Delivery

**A N D R O I D**

_Chapter Two_  
**SPECIAL DELIVERY**

Erael had been sat at his desk for days. His eyes were glazed and he had barely gotten any sleep. Something about this book was keeping him reading, though he had read through it at least fifty times already. He could quote the reports mindlessly now; one just had to say the word and he'd list them off, one by one. It didn't take long for him to realise that the reports were made by the great Ansem the Wise, and that the hidden room he had been in was his study. It was a wonder that he hadn't noticed it in the first place. Maybe those brats next door had refurbished it or something. What did they call their little club? "The Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee"?

"Stop now… while you can."

The voice came from behind him. It was low, and it droned; something about it was extraordinarily familiar. Erael did not turn around, though, as nobody ever visited him and his doors and windows were never left open or unlocked. He was imagining this voice. He would have heard its arrival if it was somebody real.

"… It is clear that you have not learned from my own mistakes. Even with… the reports."

Erael spun around this time, to prove to himself that he was just hearing things. When he saw nothing and nobody there, he smirked to himself. They didn't call him a genius for nothing, after all. After huffing to himself, amused, he turned back around and went back to reading. For a moment, his breathing became erratic and it felt as though his very eyeballs were tingling with pins and needles. He rubbed them, passing his behaviour off as sleep deprivation and read the last line of the report he was on and passed out at his desk, with but one thought running through his head – _gummi ship_.

Almost twenty-four hours later, Erael finally opened his eyes, his vision blurry and his neck and back stiff. His blue-gray hair was swept in front of his eyes, poking into them, obscuring his vision further. The room he was in was dark – pitch black, even – and held an ominous demeanour. Erael, however, sensed past the threatening and into the surges of pure dark power around him. Power that scared him, but intrigued him; power that, when he finally noticed them, was coming from the circular yellow eyes bobbing around him. He wasn't in his house any more, or the borough. But how could he have gotten here, in this densely dark room? Wherever this room was, exactly

In a sudden state of panic, Erael patted his entire body for some form of weapon. It was clear his concentrated light solution was not with him, as even in his black pockets it would have emitted at least a feeble glow through the dark fabric. The eyes began to multiply, meaning more and more heartless were appearing. After a few moments, there was a sudden weight on his chest and two yellow eyes were peering right into him. He could see the creature at this point; watch it as it lifted its left claw and brought it down at his face, cutting deep into his cheek.

He screamed as he rolled over automatically. The shadow lost its balance and fell off his chest, just as its cohorts leapt.

-.-.-

Rien's mother stood alone, eyes covered by thick bangs. There was a peculiar emotion coming from her, one Rien had never seen on his mother before. It was an aura of pure, untainted fear. Rien ran forward – or at least he tried. He didn't move an inch, but he didn't stop his legs from moving. He needed to get to her, to see what was wrong. Was it those Bangaa? Because they were put behind bars after the incident that had happened the day before.

His mother took in a sharp breath and gripped at her muscular chest, bending over like she had been hit by some invisible force. From her hands, a sudden glow appeared, glowing brighter by the second, until it consumed her, and she staggered back, finally looking up at Rien. The glow faded as quickly as it came, pale shades of pink swirling through the light until it all gathered in one small heart shape, barely the size of her hand. It emitted the same glow, as if it had been created from it. Pairs of yellow dots began appearing in the darkness, two by two, like bright eyes without bodies. Or, in afterthought, maybe they were camouflaged with the darkness. Whatever they were, they were menacing, like the eyes of a hell hound. Every single yellow dot around them was looking directly at the tiny heart.

Very slowly, wispy tendrils of the blackness surrounding them wound themselves around her ankles, then slowly up her legs. Rien tried taking one more step forward and was suddenly directly before her face, pale in the subtle glow of the small, crystalline heart in her hands. Without meaning to, Rien took the heart into his own, just before the creeping wisps of darkness had climbed to her bust. As soon as the heart was transferred, the darkness covering her lower body shattered and fell away, only to begin creeping once more, this time a lot faster, consuming Rien himself. His mother hung her head, and then…

And then he was falling.

He was diving head-first downwards, though he was far too confused to notice the danger he was meant to be in – the further he fell, the harder he would hit the ground. That is, if there was a ground to hit.

His thoughts were interrupted by yet another white light, this one brighter than anything he'd seen before. It stretched out around him, either soothing him or numbing him. Rien knew now that the darkness could not hurt him, even as the light disappeared, as quickly as it came, leaving him somehow standing on a beach. There were voices around him, but no people. In fact, the voice had no sound at all. It wasn't telepathy, though; it was clearly working at his eardrums, but still… there was no sound, save for the waves before him and distant coos of seagulls. In the distance, there was a silhouette of another island, one inhabited by people, tiny lights glimmering from their homes.

Before he could ask out loud where he was, the voiceless words calmingly spoke, _"you are home. But this is no time for questions. Time has already run out."_

With that, Rien woke to his mother's knee pressing gently down on his side as she leaned over him to open the curtains. Rolling over and burying his face in his pillow for darkness, Rien growled and curled his body, tucking his knees under his stomach. His mother's arms grabbed under his stomach and pulled him upright, then ruffling his hair. Right. Work.

-.-.-

The bazaar was particularly busy that day. Rien, his mother and his cousin, Byrin, were all working hard amidst the floods of customers. As usual, the star-shaped fruit wasn't selling as well as the others. Rien had never thought it had tasted well anyway, but every now and then his mother would be offered a large sum of money for them, usually by a wayfarer of sorts. All of them said the same thing –the fruit had legendary powers and grew on a special tree on another world, just like that viera woman always told him. A metaphor, of course, as would be expected from wayfarers; there was no such thing as other worlds. Just Ivalice and all those stars.

"Rien, can I get you to do a – heeyuuugh! – huge favour for me?" Rien's mother asked as she lifted a box of fruit onto the counter.

Rien huffed and threw some gil he had just received in the tin beside him. He turned to his mother, who was now presenting the fruit in neat little pyramid-shaped stacks to the side of the table. She looked up quickly, to make sure Rien was listening, and smiled as she dug into her back pocket. When her hand returned, it was holding a small box wrapped in brown paper and tied with a piece of string.

"You know the Nomads out in the Giza Plains?" Rien nodded. The Nomads set up camp just outside Rabanastre every year, during the dry season. Rien suspected that it was something to do with the Sunstones they made. His mother placed one last, circular fruit atop the pyramid and turned fully to Rien, continuing. "Would you mind taking this to them? It's just a gift from the man who lives next door. He's too old to take it himself, so he asked for my help. You'd best take these, too. Thanks, baby."

She held out two swords, one in its sheath. They were too long to be of the knife or dagger families, but too short to be any kind of short sword he had ever seen before. There was probably a name for them, though. They both had some delicate designs carved into the tough metal as well. Rien only guessed they were made of mythril. His mother couldn't afford anything more spectacular than that. Without questioning, though, he took them and clipped them to his hip, then took the package.

A little while later, Rien was swiftly striding through the dry savannah, keeping an eye out for hyenas. None were in sight most of the way, though a few Giza Rabbits were dotted around. It wasn't until the Nomad camp was actually in sight that something happened. Before him, a light appeared and began swirling and darkening into some sort of black hole. From it stepped a bulky cloaked figure, shrouded in a long, hooded trench coat. Rien couldn't see the person's face, but he didn't need to see that to know that they weren't pleasant company. Warily, Rien decided just to let his hand dangle over the hilts of his swords. He stayed silent. Hopefully the cloaked person would leave him alone if he didn't do anything.

Of course, the cloaked person could also have simply magicked a pair of hooked blades into his hands, too. Rien had barely enough time to get a firm grip on his swords when the man disappeared in an instant. In that same instant, cold metal pierced through the back of Rien's vest, and something hard collided with the back of his head. It wasn't enough to knock him out, however, but was enough to at least make him dizzy and give him a headache. Rien flailed a bit on the hook, but was hit over the head once again, then thrown into the swirling black mass the cloaked man came out of. And for the second time in less than twenty-four hours, he passed out.


	3. Andromeda

**A N D R O I D**

_Chapter Three_  
**ANDROMEDA**

Rien didn't really dream when he was unconscious, but he was aware that he was stuck in the blackness of his mind for quite some time. At some points, he could feel himself coming to, but could not open his eyes, as he'd pass right back out. In those parts where he was awake, he could see neon lights through his eyelids, smell stale urine and feel incredibly uncomfortable lying face-down on a cobbled path of sorts. He was probably in Archadia or something. Or maybe Bhujerba – that would explain the urine. Archadia was too clean.

"Thunder!" Squeaked a voice, just before a surge of electrical energy shot into his body and snapped him awake. He rolled over onto his back, feeling a light weight fall off him. He could barely turn his head to see what was on his back when the voice piped up again. "Oh, no! Sorry, I missed. All right, stay still!"

Head turning to the other direction, to where the voice came from, Rien watched as a smiling girl with her hand out in front of her in the shape of a gun. Her focused expression would have been a little less humorous was it not for her slight smile and the tongue sticking out of her mouth. Her hair was brown, coming down just past her shoulders and was tied up at the side in a small ponytail. But none of these features compared to her eyes. They were huge and green, making her pixyish face look even more... well, pixyish.

"Aaaand _Fire!_" From the tip of her gun-fingers appeared a hot blob of flames, which were then shot forward, just past Rien's left shoulder and into a brick wall behind them. "Missed again! I must be losing my touch! Alright, boy, stand behind me, I'm gonna get this sucker before it gets us!"

It was then that Rien noticed what the girl was trying to destroy, and thankfully it was not Rien himself. It was a small, black, ant-like creature with menacing yellow eyes. It would have been cute if it hadn't been about to jump and attack him. Mid-air, however, it was hit by a lightning bolt and disappeared in wisps of black smoke. Rien wobbled to his feet, finally, and checked out his surroundings.

Well it definitely was not Bhujerba, nor was it Archadia. He seemed to be in some sort of alley, and it was night time. He had been unconscious for a while, then – it was only morning when he had been knocked out. There were neon lights coming from every direction, even over the doors in the alley.

"Whoa, nice swords!" The big-eyed girl said, bouncing towards him. She was about a foot shorter than him, he had just realised, and was wearing a strange outfit dotted with stars and moons. On her head was a rather peculiar hat with a blue and green feather sticking out of it. "You're from another world, aren't you? Let's see… you're wearing a strange getup. Notre Dame? You're a gypsy? No, you couldn't be. Gypsies don't wear armguards. Ooh, maybe you're some sort of gypsy warrior! Do they exist? I'm would not have a clue. Well, whoever you are, welcome to Traverse Town!"

Rien just stood blinking, trying to take this in. He was having a bit of an information overload. He wasn't home, that was for sure. He was in a place called Traverse Town, which he had never heard of. The girl said he had come from another world, which was not possible, but obviously it was. There was another world called Notre Dame with gypsies, so clearly there were more than just two of these worlds.

"What's your name, anyway?" the girl asked, hopping lightly in front of him. It seemed her smile was permanent. It was kind of creepy, actually, when someone always seemed so happy. Especially when they were just attacked by some sort of yellow-eyed bug of darkness. The girl held out her hand and continued. "I'm the great magician, Andromeda d'Elven! Andra for short!"

Overwhelmed and a little confused by her over-cheerfulness, Rien took her hand cautiously and shook it. "R-Rien. Rien Rukastre."

"That's a strange name. But I guess when considering where you come from you could say the same about me, right?" Andra babbled, snapping her fingers. It might have been a trick of the light, but the snapping seemed to be creating sparks from her fingertips. Rien stared, nodding occasionally. "So what brings you here? Just a traveller, like the rest of the other worlders? Or are you here on a mission? Oh, that would be so cool – what kind of mission is it?"

"I don't – I don't… know how I got here," Rien said in reply, staring around. "I was running an errand for my mo—Oh! The package!"

"Package?" Andra questioned, stepping back and folding her arms, an inquisitive smile on her face. Rien untied the small box from his side. It was still perfectly packaged in its brown paper, the string was intact and it didn't feel any heavier or lighter than before. "Oh, what's in it?"

"I dunno." It wasn't like he was going to open a package he was meant to be for somebody else. "I was delivering this to the Nomads outside my city. It could contain private things."

"Well you're a long way from home now. And I'm curious. Let's see what's inside."

"No, I've gotta get back home to get this to the Nomads," Rien said, tying it back onto his belt. "You wouldn't happen to know how I could get back, would you?"

Andra huffed and shifted into a thoughtful position. "Well… how did you get here?"

"I told you, I don't know," Rien said a little loudly. He was starting to get frustrated with this girl. "I was delivering the package when some guy appeared from a black swirl thing, hit me over the head and threw me into it. Then you woke me up."

"Well… maybe if we find the guy who attacked you, he'll help us get you back." Rien scoffed at this suggestion. Yeah, because the person in the black cloak would totally not attack if and when they found him. "Just a suggestion. Besides, I think we can take him."

"Oh, of course," Rien said sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "because you're such a good shot, and I'm a master swordsman. He seemed pretty experienced."

"…if you're a master swordsman, how did you lose so easily?" Andra asked stupidly. Resisting the urge to smack himself in the face, Rien groaned and fixed his headband.

"Listen, could you just help me get ho—"

There was a loud crashing from above. Instinctively, Rien's gaze shot to the source of the noise. Andra copied, then squeaked. A woman was falling from the third story window, eyes closed. From the window jumped a strange creature in a silver helmet and a blue jumpsuit. The woman disappeared into a flurry of white lights. One light itself floated faster than others; it seemed to have a pinky tinge as opposed to the pure white of the others. The creature was faster, though, grabbing onto that one light somehow and… well, Rien could only describe the action as eating the light.

The creature then landed before them, shook and twitched a little, then looked up at them. It had yellow eyes, a lot like those bug-things from before. It also was pure black underneath the helmet and jumpsuit. If Rien didn't know better, he would have guessed that they were the exact same creature, just with a little extra armour. It took a few steps towards the two, kind of sniffing a little and then made a strange cooing screech. From nowhere, another two appeared and Andra's hand grasped around Rien's wrist.

"We've gotta go," she said, with a hint of fear showing through her voice. She then pointed her gun fingers at the creatures, sending a lightning bolt at the one closest to them. It was knocked back some, but didn't disappear. Clearly these were much stronger than the others. Andra turned and began pulling Rien, who followed almost faster than the petit girl herself, towards a door in the alley, and without another look back at their pursuers. The doors opened a lot more easily than they appeared. As they closed the doors, however, one of the creatures was quick enough to somersault in mid-air and slip through the crack in the doors, landing in front of them.

"Hyah!" Andra yelled, releasing Rien's hand to shoot nothing from her fingertips. A block of ice did, however, randomly appear above the creature, and would have fallen onto it if it hadn't moved out of the way to leap at Rien.

His first instinct was to duck, and as he did, the monster in armour simply flew over him, colliding with the door behind. Andra shot another fireball at the beast, catching its left arm on fire, though it simply shook the flames off and wobbled a bit before leaping once more, right claw outstretched, at Rien.

Rien hopped out of the way and stood behind Andra, who seemed to be getting tired of casting random spells and missing. Without a warning, she grabbed one of the two blades at Rien's waist, pulled it away from him and began slashing at the air. It was a little strange to see, not to mention Rien though it wasn't even possible, when Andra's eyes widened, but focused at the same time. The creature circled the pair, jerking occasionally, just staring, then leapt once more, but was caught this time by the blade in Andra's hands, which pierced right through its helmet, tore through the head and out the other side of the helmet. The creature finally disappeared, the same pinkish light from before floating up into the sky.

"."

Rien paused for a moment, watching Andra. She stared down at the blade in her hands with a bright grin. It was a little creepy. "Huh?"

Andra bounced on her toes a little. "Can I hold onto this? Please! Oh, I will be ever so careful with it. I'll give it back, I swear!"

Rien simply, albeit slowly, nodded.

"Oh, oh, oh! I have an idea!"

Great. More talking.

"Keyblade!" Andra's eyes, still focused on the blade she was holding, lit up with her idea. Rien decided he'd just go with it and not ask any questions, though he still couldn't help the confusion on his face. "Follow me!"

Rien felt Andra grab onto his hand once again and she tugged him along, down a rather large staircase, into a sort of paved courtyard. There were still neon lights everywhere, but there was also a golden statue in the corner and another set of huge double-doors – a lot larger than the doors they came through. Andra pulled him across the courtyard, still babbling about keyblades, until they reached a wall.

It wasn't like all of the other walls. It was decorated in coloured paint, red, blue and yellow, and in the centre of it all was a small, black keyhole, barely noticeable amidst the colours. Andra stopped her verbosity as they stopped at this wall. She then stuck the blade in her mouth and created two finger-guns in her hand.

"Awite. Stand back," she said through the blade, aiming her gun fingers to the keyhole. Her brows came together in concentration. In a moment, her fingertips were engulfed in flames, which then began to crackle with an electrical current that circled around the flames. Finally, a cold mist formed around the electrically-charged flames, quickly encrusting around it to form a ball of ice. It was then that Andra finally let the magic element ball thing shoot from her fingertips and smack into the keyhole. Almost immediately, the red, blue and yellow colours on the doors brightened and then faded. The whole door then seemed to vanish instantly, revealing a pathway.

Without hesitation, Andra, wide-eyed, took the blade from her mouth and walked along the path. Rien followed slowly, gripping his own blade firmly at the hilt. The two had barely walked a metre into the path when the wall that had just vanished reappeared behind them. Rien jumped slightly at the sudden darkness, but soon settled down when tiny, white lights began to appear in the atmosphere around them. With the path illuminated once more, Andra continued forward. Rien could only follow her with the same confused and overwhelmed look he had had since he arrived in this neon town.


	4. Legendary

**A N D R O I D**

_Chapter Four_  
**LEGENDARY**

"The place up ahead used to be home to a really powerful magician."

"Mm."

Rien and Andra hadn't been walking for a second before she began talking again. Andra bounced lightly on her toes, facing backwards as she squeaked out word vomit in front of Rien, who matched her pace in walking speed, albeit with a little less grace. His only contributions to their conversation included nods and grunts. He was, after all, only half listening to what the girl was blabbing on about.

"Yeah, my old teacher used to talk really highly about him," she continued, giant, focused eyes darting around the area as she delicately dangled the blade in her hand out to the side. "Said he was a master with all kinds of magic and even taught one of the greatest Keybladers in the world how to use magic! Master did say he was a little bit of an eccentric though. A bit of a loony, you know?"

Rien could only snort at this. Loony must have run in the job class.

"But now this place is home to a Keyblade Master. He's a little old, but he still knows his stuff, you know?" Andra informed. She then turned on her heel and focused her own and then Rien's attention to the place they had stopped at. Before them was a large lake with a small island in the middle. On the island was a relatively small stone tower that looked like it had been renovated one too many times. Anyone would think that the tower itself was being held up by magic alone, considering how awkwardly-built it looked.

Leading up to the island was row of large rocks floating in the water. Andra tucked the blade into one of the loopy things coming off her tights and took a few steps back. She then bolted at the water and leapt the few feet onto the first stone. Immediately the stone began floating away, though not for long, as Andra had leapt onto the next stone with acrobatic grace, landing on her hand. As this rock began moving in another direction and the first returned to its original state, she pushed off the rock, and then landed cleanly on the one after. This continued until she was standing as tall as her petite form could, hands resting lightly on her hips.

Of course, Rien followed along a lot less gracefully. About ten minutes later, he was hunched over, panting, rear end resting against a nearby pole as water from the lake surrounding him practically cascaded from his body like rain. He must have fallen in a dozen times before he finally got it right.

After taking a few steps, the two came to a large, wooden door patterned with stars and moons. Andra spared no hesitation in leaning forward and knocking quaintly on the door. Rien and Andra stood for a few moments, not hearing anything from inside, then Andra knocked again. This time, there was a bit of a flash in the window along the wall and a quiet shuffling noise coming closer to them. Like slippers on cobbled stones.

It turned out that was exactly what the shuffling was, as the door opened inwards, revealing an old man in a night gown and furry grey slippers. The man's face looked worn, scars dotted about it like the dead rats in the Rabanastre Underground and a ruffled, grey beard. His expression was fierce, yet frail, like it had been used much too often and aged with its owner. Then, a bright orange light appeared, along with a scorching heat and it was then that Rien noticed that the old man was pointing some kind of sword-like weapon at them. Not a sword, actually – more like a giant key. At the tip of this key was a large, star-shaped flame.

In a deep, coarse voice, the man questioned, "Why are you here?" The heat from the flames began to cause Rien to sweat. Andra looked as though she was trying to hide her fear and shock, but was failing rather dismally at it.

"I'm sorry mister keyblade man-sir, we just needed some help!" Her voice was even higher-pitched than her normal squeak and very fast paced. "This boy came from another world, like Nortre Dame or Wonderland or something and he needs to get back because he was on his way to deliver a package to some tribe and he was knocked out by a man in a black cloak and ended up in the second district somehow and there were heartless and scary people and we ran here because I knew you could help us because you're oh so great and mighty and keybladey and please don't kill me!"

The old man with the "keyblade" simply stared, brow furrowed, looking stern as he seemed to be mulling over what Andra had just said. Finally, he muttered something inaudible to himself and looked away, just before lowering his weapon, the fire-star disappearing in wisps. The man took one last glance at the two and relaxed his face as he stepped aside to let Andra and Rien inside.

They entered a large, circular room made seemingly completely of stone, with a stage-like platform in the centre. Atop this platform was a round, wooden table surrounded by four creaky wooden chairs. Around the rest of the room were bookshelves, desks, a small bed and a large computer with various diagrams and scientific formulas dotted on the screen. Rien and Andra were led to the wooden table, where they sat awkwardly on the chairs while the man left the room through a door adjacent to the one they entered in.

"I've never seen a keyblade that close-up before." Of course, Andra wasted no time in breaking the silence. As she babbled on, she rested the blade she was holding on the table, though still kept herself attached to the hilt. "It looks so mighty when you watch a keyblade master fight from afar, but up close it just looks silly. Of course, when it's conjuring a flame and aiming towards your face, it's really scary!"

"Wh-what _is_ a keyblade, exactly?" Rien asked, though he regretted it immediately. Andra's expression went from awestruck, to confused, to absolutely beaming with excitement. It seemed Rien had hit some kind of delicate string of nerves that cause Andra to over excite herself.

"Are you serious? It's only the most amazing weapon in existence! Only very powerful people are chosen to weild them. You have to have incredible courage and virtue and might and a heck of a lot of light in your heart to even be considered! It's the strongest weapon anyone can weild when battling with the heartless – those black things with the yellow eyes? Yeah, those are heartless – and is basically the only thing that can even land a hit on a Nobody – let's hope we never, ever have to face a nobody in battle!"

"So this guy's a keyblade master," Rien concluded, folding his arms and leaning back in his chair.

"One of the best," she said through a bright grin. The sound of shuffling footsteps returned, along with their owner, the keyblade master. Andra stared up at him, admiration and excitement in her eyes. "His name's Saud. He's responsible for the end of the Nightmare War and founder of the League of Keys. He's a legend."

"But I didn't invite you in to talk about that, girlie," Saud interrupted with a piercing look. Andra froze completely, mouth agape. Saud then lifted his arms up and snapped his fingers. Immediately, three glasses of water appeared, two filled with water, the third holding a brown-coloured liquid with a peculiar odour. Saud took his glass and sat on one of the creaky chairs. Rien took one of the glasses of water and took a small sip from it, making sure not to look the man in the eye. "I want you to tell me about this man in the black cloak. Did he have any distinct symbols on his clothes? Anything like this?"

With another click of his finger, tiny light particles appeared and came together to form what looked like an upside-down heart with a trio of spikes coming from the tip. Rien shook his head. He had not seen anything like that symbol in his life. Judging by how the symbol unnerved him, he concluded to himself that he would have remembered it if he'd seen it. Saud clicked his fingers and the symbol vanished.

"Was the cloak made of any specific material? Leather?" he asked, downing his drink all in one go, then clicking his fingers for a refill. "Did it fit close or loosely on the body? Did he carry any kind of weapon?"

It took a moment for Rien to take all this in, but eventually, he replied. "It wasn't made of leather; it was like a really soft, stretchy material. It fitted closely around the body, but had loose sleeves and a really large hood. I couldn't see his face at all. He hit me across the head with the handle of a large hook."

Saud looked slightly taken aback, eyebrows furrowed and head slightly tilted. He downed his whole drink once more and slammed the glass down on the table before himself. Rien jumped at the sound, while Andra simply looked at him in admiration, twirling Rien's blade in her hand. Saud sat up when he saw the weapon, looking shocked for just a second, then deadly serious. "Nice blade. Where'd you get it?"

"Oh, it's not mine," Andra chirped, swinging the weapon down to point to Rien. "It's his."

"Where did _you_ get it?"

"Oh, uh. My mother gave it to me them for protection just before I left my home city on a delivery," Rien explained. Saud nodded and held his hand out to Andra, who, albeit unwilling, handed it over by the hilt. Her focused eyes relaxed and began to dart around to take the room in. Saud inspected the blade with stern, dark eyes, running his thin fingers along the edges of it and then handed it to Rien. He took the blade and placed it back into its sheath.

Saud gulped down the glass of whatever he was drinking, in one go, again and then slammed it down onto the table, causing Rien to flinch again, this time Andra doing the same. "You said she gave you 'them', right? That means you have a second, judging by the other sheath." Rien nodded, but kept his mouth shut. Saud stood and pointed a finger to the door, his face unreadable. "You have to go."

"But how do I get ho—"

"Find my good friend, Pinocchio, in the first district," Saud interrupted, not moving from his position at the table, arm still outstretched and eyes fixated on the table. Only able to judge by his tone, Rien thought this sounded serious. "Tell him I sent you. He'll help you get back to Ivalice."

Rien and Andra both looked at the man in bewilderment. Saud had been so hospitable just a few seconds ago, and now he was forcing them out of his home. It seemed a little sudden and rude, though Rien stood anyway, taking another quick sip from his glass, which vanished at a click of Saud's fingers.

"_Out! _And if you see anything on your way back to the Third District, don't even _think_ about returning!"

"Okay, okay!" Andra squeaked, circling the table to grab Rien. She then morphed her fingers back into gun-shape, pointing towards the door.

A second later, the two were standing on the edge of the lake, looking out at the tiny island with Saud's stone home on it. From up in the sky, there were a half a dozen swirling abysses of black and purple shadows. From these shadows, what could only be described as pitch black clouds appeared, shooting down and around the house, smashing through windows, doors, even walls. There was a small flash of white light from inside and the house and the entire building vanished, leaving just a small, flat island in the middle of the lake.

Andra turned to the tunnel they had entered the lake through and let in a sharp gasp. Rien turned in curiosity, then regretted it immediately. The tunnel was as dark as ever, without any of those tiny light particles to lead them through. Instead, there were hundreds upon hundreds of menacing yellow eyes, blinking back at them. Waiting for them.


	5. Fate

**A N D R O I D**

_Chapter Five_**  
FATE**

Rien's immediate reaction was to run, but of course his body was frozen in place. It felt to him like the seconds staring at the masses of beady yellow eyes were hours. Hours before they eventually began to stalk closer, sinking flat to the ground like shadows. Heartless was what Andra had called them.

There was no way around them. Backwards was a lake of black water and an island they were told not to return to. Even though they were probably allowed to now that the tower was gone, there was no way there, as when Rien turned to figure out an escape route, it seemed that the floating stone path had sunk. Their only choice was to fight, but Rien was having trouble convincing himself that they could do it. Rien had no idea how to fight and Andra was a terrible aim. Cutting through these masses of heartless seemed almost impossible to him.

Rien breathed out hard, staring seriously out at the swarm as he drew his blades. Andra looked at him in disbelief, but nonetheless he charged forward as if his heart was made of solid steel. He commando rolled underneath three simultaneously leaping shadows, then spun up into a standing position, holding his blade out offensively as he pivoted on the spot. The blades easily cut through one of the heartless, successfully slicing it in half. It disappeared in wisps and was replaced by three more, forming a triangle around him.

Realising he was surrounded, Rien called out to Andra for help, who was simply standing there in shock. He swung one blade down through one of the three shadows, but was jumped by the other two, knocking him down onto his back. The two shadows began clawing at the flesh on his chest, hungry for what was inside. Rien writhed in pain, the claws like stakes, ripping relentlessly into him. More and more of the things piled onto him by the second, he couldn't move his arms. As soon as his right arm was free however, he was able to skewer three shadows onto his blade by the heads, all of them disappearing like the first.

One of the heartless then latched onto his free arm and attempted to pin it down again. It was unsuccessful and Rien was able to slash through a bunch of the heartless on his torso and left arm. Then there was a flash of orange light and blistering heat and the heartless on his legs disappeared, allowing him to stand once more. Rien staggered back to see Andra with both her gun-shaped hands out and a fiercely energetic expression on her face. He spun around to see how many heartless he had left to face and groaned internally. There were more there than there had been when he first started fighting them off.

For another five minutes the two fought the heartless off. Rien stood a mere few feet in front of Andra, who covered him with long-range elemental attacks. After those five minutes, however, they began to tire immensely and were suddenly being driven back towards the water. Rien took one last step back to find himself at the bank of the lakeside, trying hard to keep his balance and Andra sent one last flash of ice out into the crowd. They were all out of energy and were ready to give up. The heartless kept crawling towards them like thick, black sludge rolling down a hill.

And then three tiny, green blurs shot past Rien's head. At various points in front of the two, the blurs stabbed into the ground and shot out what could only be described as a green bubble of light out from them. As the bubble grew, it smashed the crowd of heartless back, not destroying them, but keeping them at bay. In the light of the bubble, Rien could clearly see the three green blurs had actually been long, fluorescent green arrows. He then quickly turned around to see who had shot the arrows, but he could only see the stretch of water and the remnants of the island.

Realising these arrows had created some kind of force field, Rien stood at the edge of the bubble and began hacking at the heartless outside, though a lot less energetically than he would have liked. He was exhausted and could barely lift his arms, let alone swing the blades. Thankfully, Andra had a better idea jumped forward to pull one of the green arrows from the dirt. The force field did not drop completely, but did become smaller, enough to only fit her as she stepped forward, forcing the dark creatures before her to scatter from her path.

"It works!" she squeaked, bouncing on her toes and then dancing forward with a newfound energy. "Follow me!"

Rien ran back to the centre of the force field and grabbed the closest arrow, wrenching it from the ground and rushing forward as the light closed in around him. From there, they advanced steadily through the hoards of heartless, Andra occasionally sending out a blast of fire or ice through the masses. She seemed to be getting increasingly tired every time she cast a spell. They were halfway through the tunnel when she collapsed after one of her Fire spells.

"Don't bother fighting, the arrows are enough," Rien said, rushing over to help her up off the ground. The force field around him kept the heartless at bay, but it seems to be weakening the longer they spent in the darkness.

Draping one of Andra's arms around his shoulders, Rien lifted her up and pressed on. With the two arrows now in such close proximity, the strength of their light seemed to fuse and strengthen, albeit only for a short while. The light was fading fast – if only Rien could run without an exhausted magician hanging heavily from him. Maybe he'd be able to reach the Third District and call for some help before their shield of light ran out of energy.

-.-.-

It was a slow and tedious task, but Rien eventually got Andra to a safer location in the Third District. The shadows seemed to disperse as soon as they reached the edge of the tunnel connecting this district and Saud's lake, but their threat still lingered thick both in the atmosphere around the two and in Rien's own head. Setting the petite magician girl down beside him, the young Ivalician took a moment to both assess his surroundings and the situation he was currently in.

For some reason, Rien hadn't taken the time to realise how empty the town was. There was nobody on the streets, and the densely-packed houses seemed to have no occupants, though dull candle lights seemed to flicker in their curtained windows. The majority of the third district, though lit by bright neon lights, seemed to be very thickly blanketed in shadow. Every now and then a pair of menacing yellow eyes would flash from a blackened corner that the light of the neon would not reach, adding to Rien's paranoia on another heartless attack.

He had been here for little over an hour and the place already seemed to have an effect on him. Chills swam laps of his spine almost every moment. Traverse Town, so far, was a very foreboding and ugly place. There seemed to be danger in every place not occupied by the flickering lights. It made Rien wonder how anyone could stand to live here.

Then there was the situation he was in. A young boy, inexperienced in combat, in an unknown world with his only real protection unconscious – it did not take a genius to figure out that this was bad. Even if Andra was awake, she still was a horrible shot with her magic and Rien's own abilities with his blades seemed to mirror his companion's flaws in combat. He was completely defenceless now that the arrow's shield had run out as well. Rien had never truly felt the need to pray before, but for some reason this was a special case. Or at least he whispered "almighty espers, help me" quietly to himself. Although he wasn't quite sure if their strength reached past his home world, it still made him feel better to at least think that he had somebody watching over him. After all, those three arrows couldn't have come from nowhere, could they?

A quiet moan came from Andra, who seemed to be waking up, but Rien was too deep in his thoughts. He sat down, back faced to her, remembering how he had gotten into this position.

How long had he been passed out in that alleyway? A few hours? Maybe days? He had no clue, though the one sure thing in his mind was that his mother would have been completely fretting. She could handle herself, of course, but for all she knew, Rien had been mauled by hyenas or something on the outer sands of Rabanastre. What if those three hunters returned again? He wouldn't be there to help her this time. He needed to get back to his own world as fast as he could, and to do that he needed to follow Saud's advice and seek out this Pinocchio character.

"Do you believe in fate?"

Andra's squeaky voice interrupted Rien's train of thought at probably one of the better times, but the question posed by the tiny girl seemed to draw him into even deeper thought. This could all have been a plan laid out by the Gods from the beginning and at the end of it there would be some kind of lesson to be learnt. However, this idea was shaken away. Why would the Gods take the time to plan out a life like this for him, of all people? No, this was not at all planned by any kind of deity, the thought was too farfetched.

Instead of a direct response, Rien swung his body around to look into her huge, green eyes and asked, "Why?"

Andra simply shrugged. "I do."

Again, Rien could only think to respond with a short "why?"

"I believe 'coincidence' is a made up word," she said quietly, straightening her back to the wall Rien had leant her on. She still seemed extremely exhausted, but also looked as though she could cope. "I think cynics created it as a reason not to believe in the unexplainable, like magic. Most magic users tend to believe in fate. I think we were meant to meet, Rien. Don't ask me why; it's just faith."

Rien noticed her eyes flash down to the two golden blades at his hip. Since the two met, the blades had saved them numerous times. Rien was definitely very grateful towards his mother for lending them to him. Not that they helped against the cloaked man with the hooks, the reason he had even been brought to this godforsaken town. The mystery of the man in black's identity was actually really beginning to grate on Rien's nerves, not to mention why he even attacked Rien in the first place. There had to have been a reason behind it, but the longer they took in finding the man, the less he expected to find him on this world.

Before he even realised, they had started walking already, crossing a large plaza that seemed to be almost completely lit by a number of lights circling it.

"That's the door to the first district," Andra said slowly, clearly still tired. Rien was at least glad she was able to walk, and to lift her hand, albeit lethargically, to the sign above a gigantic set of wooden doors that read _1st District_. "Saud said go there, right? I think I might know the Pinocchio he was talking about."

Rien remained silent, as usual. All he really wanted was to get back home, finish his delivery and return to his life. He could feel it: a sensation crawling through his nerves; the closer he got to the door, the closer he got to his way back. Rien pushed the right door open just enough for him and Andra to slip through and then closed it behind them.

The atmosphere in the first district completely contrasted that of the third. The stone was not the slate gray of the third district, and the lights seemed to extend to every corner and crevice. There were a lot more people out and about in this district and the entire ambiance seemed to be one hundred percent less tense. Rien felt a lot more relaxed and safe here, blanketed in the warm glow of the street lights.

Straight across the large, paved courtyard they had found themselves in was a large restaurant, packed with customers, then to the left was a small dead-ended alleyway and further left of that was another set of large, double doors with a sign above them that said _See You Again! _Rien took a wild guess that that was the exit to the town and possibly the entire world. He couldn't help but wonder if his own world had a specific exit like this one, or if all worlds did. There was still so much he did not know.

Again, without him even realising, Andra had guided him up a large set of stone stairs to the right of the courtyard. They turned right, then left, then up another set of stairs and stopped at another restaurant, though it was a lot smaller and a lot less elegant than the last. It wasn't until Andra pointed it out that Rien noticed there was a sign hanging over the green door that read _Pinocchio's_. He was almost home.

But something was scratching at the back of his mind. It was Andra's question about fate and Rien's own thoughts about the man in the black cloak. There had to have been some kind of reason why a mysterious figure would just appear randomly and throw a boy across a whole multiverse – people didn't just do that out of sheer spontaneity. Was Rien even meant to go back home in the first place?

* * *

**A/N**

So I have a question.

Does 's Kingdom Hearts section condemn the idea of purely OC fics? I see the same things over and over, and I'm not interested in any of it. I like my stories to be completely different to the original stories of the fandom I choose. I like to use original characters, not because I find it easier to play characters I've made up myself, but because I like the creativity involved. Writing is meant to be creative expression, yes, and fanfiction is meant to be stories about your favourite fandoms, yes, but I don't see any creativity in the Kingdom Hearts section.

If anyone knows any good Adventure fics in the Kingdom Hearts section mainly revolving around an author's original characters, I would like to know of them. And if you're writing one yourself, I applaud you.

Thank you to those who have reviewed so far and sorry for the wait.


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