Kingdom Hearts: Voided Birth

Chapter 3: Darkness Can't be Escaped

Gargled speech and roaring rain, crackling thunder that pierces the very heavens. To these sounds, Zero awoke, and as he sat up, a hunch backed man in a brown cloak stood there, gazing at Zero. Zero began to hyperventilate as he stared back at the mysterious figure, and with one deep breath prepared to scream. However, this man anticipated this, and immediately started "There is no use in screaming boy, for I have not come to harm you, but simply to see the largest conduit of darkness within this world." but these words simply worried Zero even more. "W....What are you talking about?! Where's my mom?! And my dad?! Who are you?!" Zero panicked. The man in the cloak turned his head, and took a look out the window at the harsh storm, pounding on Destiny Islands. "It has been connected." He said shortly. "Answer me!!" Zero insisted, his voice cracking and trembling. "The darkness has been taking a liking to you boy. Your bloodline hath turned against you, though you don't seem to understand the power you really hold." Said the mysterious figure. Zero tried to scream, however no words came out, as fear began to take over every being of his body, but the mysterious man started again "It's raining quite hard outside. You should be wary. As opposed to your friend. He's seemed to run off. Something important?" The mysterious man stated, watching Sora row his boat towards the shores of the island. Zero facepalmed and mumbled to himself  "The raft...". Zero sprung up, and luckily for him, he had crashed without changing into pajamas, and still had his regular outfit on. He looked back at the mysterious man, but much to his surprise, he had disappeared. Zero shook his head and left to catch up to the knuckleheaded Sora. "What's that...?" Sora said curiously as he walked down the dock. There was a large orb of darkness looming over the main island. He looked back and saw two other boats, belonging to Riku and Kairi respectively, but then from the distance came a shriek. It was Zero's voice! But what was he trying to say...? "SORA YOU IDIOT!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. Sora laughed nervously and awaited Zero's arrival. "Are you dumb? What's wrong with you?!" Zero scolded. "I'm really sorry Zero, but the raft! It could've been destroyed. We gotta save it!" Sora insisted, to which Zero responded "FORGET THE RAFT! This is really....REALLY dangerous! Instead of saving the raft, let's save OUR LIVES." Zero growled. Despite his anger and aggression, he was incredibly worried. "We...We can't." Sora admitted. "And why not?!" Zero barked. "Because Riku and Kairi are here too! We have to go find them! We need to preserve the raft! Then we all gotta find shelter!" Sora told him in confidence. Zero loooked down at the two other rafts and gasped. "Why? Why does everyone care so much about this raft?! We could've--" But Zero stopped in his tracks. The duo looked over, and in a matter of seconds, those black creatures with buldging yellow eyes arose from the ground. Sora took up arms, reaching for the wooden sword on his waist. Zero on the other hand, had left his form of protection at home since he, unlike the others, doesn't carry a weapon everywhere. Unfortunately, those shadowy demons were restless, and jumped at Sora and Zero. Zero jumped out of the way, and Sora blocked the hit, yet was unable to deal damage. The two realized they couldn't do anything, and ran in fear. As they ran Sora proposed they split up, and as much as Zero hated the idea, Sora did it anyway. "You find Riku!!!" He yelled, as he branched off to find Kairi. Straight ahead, and over the bridge, right by the paopu tree stood Riku, motionless. Zero stood there and began to scold "What are you two doing here?! It's dangerous and you could get killed and--" Zero was cut off as Riku began to speak "The door has opened..." He mumbled. "What??" Zero barked wearily. "The door has opened, Zero! Now we can go to the outside world!" Riku exclaimed excitedly. "I've had just about enough about open doors for one day! C'mon, finding Kairi is our first priority! Then we gotta head out!" Zero insisted. "Kairi's coming with us!" Riku informed Zero. Zero raised an eyebrow to match his worried expression. Riku continued "Once we step through, we might not be able to come back...We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back. But this may be our only chance! We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!" Riku spilled confidently. "Riku, are you dumb?! The darkness will swallow and destroy yo..." and Zero stopped, as the darkness slowly crept up Riku's body. Riku held out his hand, and Zero reached for it, but he couldn't move. The darkness had him too. They were both slipping and being gobbled up by the raging darkness. Zero screamed, and nothing came out, and in a swift second, the darkness had him in their grasp. But then there seemed to be a small spark of light. It shined so intensely, and without tire. The light continued to grow, and grow, and grow, until it finally manifested into oversized key. Though it got rid of the darkness, Zero feared what this could mean for him. He threw the keyblade in paranoia, but it just kept reappearin back into his grasp. He couldn't get rid of it, so he might as well keep it. For now. Examining the key more, it had a red and black color scheme. The blade being a sleek black, and the hilt was a metallic silver. However, the octagonal shape around the hilt was a crimson red. From that thing around the hilt a keychain came out the bottom. It was also a sleek black, with three circles in a particular pattern. It seemed to make up a face of some sorts. There came a voice, that consistently and continuously said

Keyblade...

                                                                                     Keyblade....

                                        Keyblade.....

                                                                              Keyblade  

Keyblade.....

Riku had disappeared along with the darkness infesting him. Zero looked back, and decided to go regroup with Sora. Along the way Zero found out the shadow creatures could easily be disposed of with the keyblade. He fought when he needed too, and he searched tenaciously for Sora. Zero quickly approached the secret cove. However something was incredibly different, as the tiny hole that used to act as an entrance was now some kind of extravagant and oversized door. As he entered he ran down the corridor, but was hit by this overwhelming force. Zero tried his best to move forward one step at a time, but Sora came flying down the corridor, and hit Zero off his feet, and they both went tumbling. Where they landed, however, wasn't right. They didn't land outside of the cove, but on a fragment of the island in what seemed to be the middle of the sky. The duo looked over the edge into nothingness, and swallowed saliva nervously. Zero looked back and screeched in panic. Not only where they right below the humongous orb of darkness, but there stood that shadow. Not one of the small little minion shadows, but the gargantuan embodiment of darkness. The same one they fought on the glass panel. How? Why? The Island? What...? WHAT...?! The duo both summoned a weapon of the same kind. They both had a keyblade, and even though that's an odd coincidence, it was a blessing at this point. They couldn't sit around and wonder, for they had to take action, and destroy that large body of darkness! It was the exact formula from before. Slash and attack the hands of the dark being, as they cannot reach the head. The dark creature did the same attacks as in the supposed dream. Within no time the dark creature couldn't take it anymore, and caved to the power of the duo and their keyblades. The large shadowy creature was lifted into the large orb of darkness, and soon enough, everything else was beginning to get sucked in as well. Sora hung on to a tree, and Zero hung onto Sora, but the force was too much, and the duo was sucked into the ominous orb. At that point it was nothing but darkness. Lost in the crippling abyss.