Kingdom Hearts; The Heartless Keeper

Chapter I; Awakening

The mansion was empty of all inhabitants, it had been for years. Or at least, that's what everyone in the town thought.

A woman in a white coat approached the gates of the mansion, a younger woman beside her. The woman stopped and stared up at the manor, her red eyes narrowing.

"My Lady?" The younger woman next to her asked. The younger woman appeared to be in her late teens, possibly just entering her twenties.

"We're close. She's hidden in this mansion." The woman said calmly. A small smile spread across her lips. "You thought you could hide her from us. How wrong you were." The woman said under her breath, talking to someone who was not there.

The younger woman beside her looked to the gates. Her lime green eyes studied the gate calmly, assessing the strength of the gate. She took a step forward and grabbed hold of one of the many locks on the gate. She calmly investigated it not saying a word.

"Well?" The woman demanded, brushing her white hair tipped in red aside.

"He must have had great faith that we would not think to look here. The locks are nothing special. More than likely put here by a human." The younger woman said releasing the lock and stepping back.

The woman smiled and laughed a little. "How foolish of him. To think we wouldn't search for our own kind." She shook her head and looked at the young woman. "Remove the locks."

"Yes, My Lady." The younger woman said. She reached into her coat and drew a gun. The gun was a sapphire blue with a thin barrel. The base looked like a crescent moon and had needles sticking up out of it. The guard around her hand formed the shape of a heart. The girl pointed the gun at the lock and squeezed the trigger. A bolt of lightning shot from the barrel and hit the lock. The lock fell from its chain. The younger woman took aim and repeated the process until all the locks fell from the gate. She tucked the gun away again and bowed to the woman.

The woman stepped forward and pulled the chains from the gate. With the chains carelessly thrown to the ground, the woman pulled open the gates. The gates screeched as they opened, the rusted hinges fighting every inch they moved. A flock of birds erupted out of a nearby tree flying away from the sound.

With the gates now open the woman entered the front yard of the manor. Old statues crumbled on either side of a path overgrown with weeds. In the center a fountain sat, worn by time. Ivy climbed the walls of the mansion unchecked. The place had quite obviously been abandoned long ago, and no one had bothered to take care of it since then.

The woman walked briskly through the yard to the front door. The younger woman followed behind flicking her red bang back out of her face mixing it with the rest of her hair, which was blonde. The woman pushed open the front doors and stepped into the dark manor.

The entrance once was an elegant room. With beautiful drapes, a fine chandelier, and expensive rugs. Now only a shadow of that grandeur remained. Dust clung to the walls, dulling the color of everything. Cobwebs hung off the ceiling.

The woman walked through the room without glancing around. This was not what she came for and she was not going to be detained by it. She climbed the stairs quickly and soundlessly. Surprisingly for the stairs age, they did not creak. The woman turned to the right taking another set of stairs into the east wing of the manor.

The woman walked down the hall, her eyes narrowing again. She was getting closer, she could feel it. The woman turned a corner and stopped. The hall was filled with Neoshadows. They all turned and looked at her. The woman smirked.

"Stand down." She said. The Neoshadows bowed their heads and moved aside to allow the woman through. At the end of the hall was a large set of doors. Carved into the doors was a phoenix with its wings spread out. The woman walked down the hall stopping in front of the door giving her companion time to catch up.