|Riku/KH| Ж .:The FAITH Inside:. Ж |Chapter 01|

((Love this banner... once again, if you know who made it, please let me know..!))

Ж Amunet’s Introduction Ж

Hello everyone! Welcome to the first chapter, second post! Which… is why I hate prologues, because they’re actually the first chapter, but because of their nature, they cannot be counted as a chapter. Technically.

Adiana: ‘Technically’ no one cares.

Amunet: Shup and go back to your own series!

Riku: *impatiently waiting for the morons to stop bickering*

Amunet: You know you’d better get down to business when Riku gets impatient. Confucius say that people break when Riku gets impatient.

Riku: You can say that again, Confucius.

Amunet: Well, I have nothing major to report… so onward, lovelies! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Ж Character Introduction Ж

Name: Estelle

Age: 17

Home World: Traverse Town

Personality: A kind girl at heart, Estelle has been slightly warped by her lack of memories. She is disturbed by their absence, and often questions her existence in relevance to her home world. Due to her insecurities she can be rather hot tempered and doesn’t trust easily. She is very driven by her intuition, making most if not all decision on her gut rather then her brain. She also puts extreme emphasis on dreams, since they are what she has in place of memories. She is a take action sort of person, and doesn’t enjoy being told she’s wrong. She hates to loose and can be extremely stubborn, but once her loyalties are won she can be a true friend.

Family: None known

Weapon: A plain, second hand sword… for the time being. ^_^v

Past: Unknown

Outfit: Subject to change, but she always wears a star necklace she’s had for as long as she can remember…

Abilities: Unknown

As you can see, Estelle’s a rather sketchy character at the moment… you’ll find out more about yourself as the story progresses, as par usual. I know; a bit annoying… and yet I love all the mystery, lol! Anyway, on to the story! And enjoy!

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Ж Chapter 01 :: The World the Worlds Forgot Ж

Flashes of light.

The sliding of a blade against steal.

Flashes of light.

A blur of movement, too fast for the eye to follow.

Flashes of light.

People, many people, gathered for solace.

Flashes of light.

A tanned hand, reaching out as if to aid you.

Flashes of light.

A tall door, bright white and glowing

Flashes of light.

Darkness before you but hands resting on your shoulders, lips brushing against your ears as he spoke into your ear.

“Traverse Town… the world the worlds forgot.”

You started awake, your heart slamming hard against your chest. Your breath was catching in your throat, your dark hair tumbling into your face as you pressed a hand to your heart, willing it to return to a normal speed. You swallowed and licked your lips, your dark eyes lifting to dart around the room.

The shadows were deep and dark; the fire you had built in the appointed place had dimmed to embers against the stone. Everything was quiet inside the familiar building; nothing was out of place. In fact, the only sound that came to your ears was the steady stream of rain on the outside. You sighed heavily and rubbed your eyes until you saw stars. It was no good; you were awake now. You glanced at the small clock you had hung on the wall and groaned; it was only eleven in the evening. Your slumber had only lasted an hour; the dreams had awakened you again.

The dreams had been there waiting for you every time you drifted off to sleep for as long as you could remember… which, admittedly, wasn’t far. Your memories only extended back a few years; the first memory was standing as a young girl, donning only your trademark necklace and a torn sheet wrapped around your pale frame. You had been standing with wide eyes as the first ones came… that is where your memories began. And it is when the dreams began.

‘Traverse Town… the world the worlds forgot’. It was the underlying theme of all your dreams, spoken against your ear by a soothing male’s voice. You could never see him, never interact with him, but he seemed oddly concerned with that concept… that and something about Kingdom Hearts, but since it was so vague you usually wrote it off as a useless bit of brain babble and something not to waste time thinking on. The world the worlds forgot, however… that was a completely different story.

You blinked and shook your head roughly, trying to clear it from that tried path. You had puzzled over that idea so often it threatened to drive you mad; something you would highly enjoy avoiding. You made the decision to move around, rebuild the fire… get your mind on other things.

The green couch in Cid’s old shop was your chosen bed for the evening; a thin blanket that had been covering your body slipping to the floor as you moved. You sat up and instantly snatched the blanket from the ground to place it reverently at your side. This blanket, a thin but strong white sheet, was what you had been dressed in when the others had first come to Traverse Town. The ones that had arrived had given you ‘real’ clothes, of course… but you had been unable to toss the thing away. It was one of two things that you couldn’t remember obtaining; the only survivors from your forgotten past.

Your fingers fell to the second trinket, fingering it compulsively. Dangling from a long silver chain around your neck to lay against your ribs, the crystal star was cool to your touch, just like it always was. It caught in the dim light, seeming to shimmer in a variety of different colors. No one had been able to tell you exactly what the star that was large enough to rest in the valley of your palm was made of… there were only vague, generic guesses of “crystal”. But you didn’t mind… you enjoyed the concept of being able to hold a star in your hands and couldn’t have cared less what it was made of.

Of course, you knew the stars you could see on a clear night were actually other worlds. Far, far away from your little Travers Town, chock full of people and things. It would have been a hard concept for you to grasp had you not seen these people from other worlds up close and personal. Once, Traverse Town had been filled with such people. Back then, your town had been filled with vagabonds. People with strong wills who had been cast from their worlds with the coming of darkness. They had been everywhere; eating in the small restaurant, chatting as they navigated the three districts, taking shelter in the colorful hotel. Everywhere you had turned there were people. You had loved it, loved the energy. And then... Cid left.

Your heart tightened at the memory, and you looked around the shop with a small sigh. Efforts to keep it clean were visible to those that knew what to look for, but there was no escaping the dust that gathered on shelves out of your reach, on the cash register, on the steps that led up to the second story of the shop. You had tried to move around often, keep the place looking like it had when it was owned by Cid… but that was hard to do without customers, visitors, or, most importantly, Cid.

Cid was the first person who had come up to you, bright blue eyes puzzled as he’d observed your trembling form, wrapped tightly in your sheet. He had looked around, instantly ready to attack, to defend you. You had been unable to speak, your eyes darting from his grizzled face to the people who were behind him. Other people… they had been so new, so odd to you back then… and then Cid had laid a hand on your shoulder, directing you towards warmth and concerned people. Because of his gruff way of expressing concern, because of his stern and loud –yet lovable— ways, you had grown fonder of him then you had of any other.

Which is why the day he left stood out so vividly in your memories.

You had stood in his shop and watched him as he packed up his things, as he hung a ‘Closed’ sign on the front door and securely locked the deadbolt on the back. He had stopped and put his hands on your shoulders to tell you in that gravely drawl of his that he, Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith were going to go help someone named the Keyblade Master. What a familiar title; at the time you’d had the vague impression of a brown haired kid that had passed few the Town some time before… but you'd had no time to think on it. Cid wanted you to stay there, in Traverse Town. He decided that it was much safer for you, and had pressed the spare key to the front door of his shop into your palm when he noticed you had begun to cry.

You hadn’t meant to let the tears come, but the thought of loosing the people you had adopted as a replacement family served as an almost crippling stab to your heart. Such pain was felt so deeply that you hadn’t even noticed the tears until Cid bumbled over brushing them away, muttering about how you were getting too emotional. His voice had become almost frighteningly cheerful as he explained that he would see you soon, because he was positive that his home world was your home world too.

He was wrong.

Not long after you had dried your tears and regained your optimism towards Cid's promise, everyone in Traverse Town disappeared. In one great moment, they all returned to their home worlds. You remembered hearing their joyous cries, their laughter, their sobs of gratitude at the unknown forces that would deliver them back to the ones they loved.

In that moment, you realized the truth. You would never end up in Cid's world, Hollow Bastion. There was no world for you to return to; Traverse Town IS your home world. Traverse Town and no other.

At first, you weren’t quite sure how to deal with that revelation. You had no parents, or, rather, you had no mention of them throughout the scope of your memory. No siblings, no lingering friends… no people to which you belonged. There was only you, alone in a vast and empty neon world.

At first you had been determined to enjoy the solitude. You ate dessert before dinner, stayed up as late as you wanted, and explored every corner of your town. You had danced down the street singing nonsensical songs, rifted through abandoned potions, read forbidden spell books, and had long mock-battles in the square; the abandoned sword you had found chipping chunks of wood from anything stationary as you thrust, swung, and parried.

You sighed to yourself as the memory of those first few childish weeks flashed across your mind. You had done a lot of growing up since then.

You reached for the supple brown boots you had discarded and laced them firmly up to your knees, securing the black laces in a neat bow. You stood and gave yourself a brief glance over, sighing heavily at the result. You wore your usual outfit, one that was beginning to show signs of wear and tear. You could have gone looking for new duds, but you were reluctant to… Cid had picked this outfit out for you.

Besides, the sleeveless black shirt that buttoned down your front was comfortable, and the outfit’s colors complimented your dark hair. Extending down your ribcage was a worn leather corset that laced up with black string, ending in a bow; the material stretched down to frame your hips with a gently flowing miniskirt. A thin sliver of your stomach was revealed before your skin disappeared into tight black pants that covered your thighs and knees to disappear into the brown boots that began where your knee ended. Brown belts were wrapped around your thighs and wrists, to which were synched black bags of varying sizes. Your hair was left free to flow around you as it pleased; you had never been on to waste time being patient with the dark strands.

You moved to crouch next to the dying fire, reaching for the stack of logs you had the foresight to put aside for a night just like this. You called them ‘logs’, but they were actually pieces of furniture you had found in long abandoned buildings. It gave you a slightly queasy feeling at first, but survival won out over sentimentality any day. For several long moments you devoted your attention to the fire, eyes stern in concentration… until it crackled merrily in the hearth, casting odd shadows around the semi-abandoned building. It cheered you up slightly, and you shot a fond look at the flames before straightening once more.

Though your head ached from lack of sleep, you were loath to return to your couch; only confusing dreams awaited you. They made you uneasy, restless… you wanted to go somewhere, do something. But there was nowhere you hadn’t been in Traverse Town; nobody to go pay a visit to. And it was raining for heaven’s sake… with your luck you’d catch cold, and then what would you do?

“Just go back to sleep, Estelle.” You said aloud, having no one else to talk to. You nodded once and turned to do just that… when you heard the noise. You instantly froze, tilting your head to the side as you listened. It took you a long moment to recognize that sound. “Footsteps..?”

It was raining heavily outside, a rare occurrence in Traverse Town, and you sat still for several long moments trying to tell yourself that your imagination was running away with you. That it was just the weather, the wind... anything to quell the instant and irrational joy that had arisen within you. Because it would be too incredibly cruel for you to have your hopes dashed once again, as they had been dashed countless times in the many many weeks since Cid left. It wouldn’t do to get your hopes up… You closed your eyes with an even sigh as you sat against green material, your muscles just beginning to relax… when you heard it again.

You obviously weren’t as relaxed as you were telling yourself since your immediate reaction was to spring to your feet, your eyes wide as you grabbed the second hand sword that was leaning against the couch by the sheath and secured it around your waist (after all, it was far more likely to be some residual Heartless then an actual living being). You hurried over to the back door where you thought you had heard the noise and pressed your ear to the wood paneling, listening. For a long time you heard nothing but rain. And then...

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Footsteps. Regular, measured footsteps. There was no doubting it.

Without pausing to grab any sort of raincoat, you flipped the lock and tugged the heavy door inward, slipping your malnourished frame through the opening and out into the elements. The rain was coming down in sheets, cutting your visibility in half and leaving you instantly soaked. You brushed your dripping bangs from your eyes and peered through the downpour, the streets around you illuminated only by the wobbly light from the lampposts. Your heart slammed loudly in your chest as your eyes scanned over the nooks and crannies, expectant. There was nothing. No figure, no movement, not even any Heartless. Just… nothing.

"Ah... probably just the shop sign blowing in the wind." You murmured, your voice sounding flat and quiet under the rain drops.

Despite that guess you stood still for several long seconds, fighting off the fierce disappointment. You knew you were suffering from mental problems of some sort when you were even ready to accept Heartless as suitable company. You had told yourself again and again not to get your hopes up… and you had anyway. Resisting the urge to snort, you turned to go back in the shop......and froze when the sharp point of a weapon pressed against your spine.

Despite the sudden and apparently dangerous situation you found yourself in, you felt your heart leap with joy. You hadn't been hearing things. You weren’t alone. There was somebody with you in this abandoned world… and hey, that somebody even sported the bonus of not being a Heartless! So what if they were poking you with something sharp; you were delighted. You took a deep breath and slowly turned your head, hoping to see...

"Don't move." The voice, obviously identifying the armed individual as a male, made you freeze. It wasn't a cruel voice by any means, but had an odd ring to it that convinced you that disobeying would not be the intelligent option. It was a warm voice, strong and determined. And familiar... so familiar...

"Are you alone?" he interrupted your thoughts.

"Do you see anyone else here?" you replied without thinking. You instantly winced; your tongue is notoriously sharp, and obeys few of the impulses your slightly more reasonable brain sends to it.

"There's not supposed to be. This world is supposed to be deserted." He informed you, pressing the sharp tip of his weapon a little more into your back.

“Hence me being alone.” You replied, the happiness at actually being with somebody rapidly surrendering to the reality of the situation, which was that the somebody who you were with could kill you at any second. “Everyone else went back to their own worlds…”

“Ah… that’s right. The King mentioned that…” the guy muttered, no caring to fill you in as he continued. “And you..? Why didn’t you return to your home world?”

“I don’t know. But it makes sense that if everyone returned to their home world, and I stayed here, that this is my home world.” you spoke slowly, hating that you had to speak louder then normal to be heard over the rain.

“That’s impossible.” The young man you were already forming a fond dislike of snapped instantly. “This place is a dumping ground; there are no natives.”

“Shows what you know.” I snapped. “And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk about my home world like that…”

“This is not your home world.” He growled, sounding as irritated as I was. “This world is a place formed by the light in an effort to help…” his voice abruptly faded off, the pattering of rain filling the gap of several long seconds before he spoke again. "Unless... what's your name, girl?"

"Why should I tell YOU? Are you going to kill me?" I asked. "If so, why does a name matter?"

"Depends on the name. Turn around."

You considered ignoring the order, but the weapon was rather insistent against your back. You complied slowly, not wanting to incite violence with any sudden moves. Curiosity and mild forms of apprehension formed within you when your eyes fell on the young man before you. He was taller then you by about a head, his build slender but strong. He wore a full length black coat that zipped up the front with a large silver zipper, thick soled back boots, and leather gloves. The attached hood of his coat was pulled up over his face, masking his features completely, and several odd objects hung from attached cords that strung out from under the lining of his hood. Whatever weapon he had held had disappeared, annoying and confusing you.

You were being held up by an enigma… a darn sneaky enigma.

"Answer me!” he spoke, apparently not taking kindly to your scrutiny. “Is your name... Estelle?"

The pronunciation of your name made you start, and you peered at him cautiously. There was a nagging sensation in the corner of your mind, like he was someone you had known long ago and was trying furiously to remember. Which was ridiculous, but still… there was something about him your gut was trying to tell you. But the water in the air must have leaked into your brain somehow, because the exact realization was not coming fast enough.

"How do you know my name...?" you asked guardedly.

"So it is, then." It might have been my imagination, but he sounded relieved. "Who'd have guessed you would be here, of all places..."

"What are you talking about?!? Who are you?" you snapped in reply.

"My name doesn't matter." He replied, ignoring your scowl. "So... you're Estelle. I recognize you…"

“Who are you?” you repeated through gritted teeth. “How do I know you..?”

“Know me..? You don’t know me… you’ve never seen me before.” He sounded faintly bemused for some reason, and you swallowed hard. Was he… toying with you..?

"You know, the more you talk the less I like you." You countered, drawing your sword and gripping the handle tightly in your palms. The blade glinted strangely in the dim light and heavy rain. Streams of water dribbled down your face, and you cursed the young man before you for being nice and dry.

Stupid black leather coat.

"You can't honestly want to fight me..?"

"I will if you won't answer my questions!" you replied angrily.

"That's right..." he sounded amused, and made no effort to draw his mysterious weapon. “You hate questions without answers, don't you..?"

Your mouth fell open, and you quickly worked your expression into something less idiotic. A glare wasn't exactly idiotic, so you settled on that as a silence fell between the two of you. He had touched on one of your pet peeves. To know you well is to know your pet peeves. Something within you told you he wasn't just some stranger, that he was closer to you then you could ever realize... and that thought made you very uneasy.

"How do you know that? How do you know me?" you asked softly. There was no reply. "What are you doing here?" There was still no reply. "Why... WHY WON'T YOU ANSWER ME?!?" you roared, charging at him with your sword.

You took up sword about three years ago; when the influx of people meant that you had a wide variety of mantras and masters to choose from. You weren’t the best at it -- cursed with as little upper body strength as you were -- but you were fast and, given time and enough rage, deadly. This knowledge gave you confidence as you hefted your sword into the air and swung it at his side... only to stumble forward as he easily stepped out of the way.

"What the..?" you shook your head and swung your blade at him again, aiming for his legs. Again he easily dodged, and there was a certain smugness in his movements that was impossible to miss. It fueled your anger and you continued to attack him, moving as quickly as you could. And every single time... he just dodged, insulting you with his staunch refusal to draw his weapon.

"Why don't you just quit? You can't hurt me with that thing." He said after a while.

"I never quit." you said through clenched teeth, though your arms were beginning to tremble and new blisters were forming on your hands from the slipping rain made impossible to combat. "Why don't you just stand still and let me kill you? Won't that solve our problem just as well?"

"Heh. I don't think so."

"Then stop complaining!" you snapped as you charged again.

At first you thought this attack would be different from all the rest, that you had managed to catch him off guard and would successfully defeat the annoying and mysterious stranger. But just as the sharp edge of your blade was about to impale him he swiftly dodged, making your cut go wide once again. But instead of stepping away from you and giving you time to steady yourself, this time he moved behind you. Almost faster then you could follow he grabbed your wrists from behind and shoved you forward into the wet stone side of the nearest building. You winced at the pressure of the wall and of the gloved grip on your wrists, squeezing tighter and tighter until his aim was achieved: you dropped your sword. It clattered loudly, the noise accentuated by the empty alleyways and the rain.

“You’re not bad… but you need more training. You’ll never win against a real swordsman with wide, erratic moves like those.” He mused.

“Be quiet..!” you snarled, trying your best to twist free from him as your gut tried to kick sense and meaning into your consciousness.

"Stop struggling, you'll hurt yourself." He murmured against your ear.

You froze. Now you recognized him... rather, you recognized his voice. His was the voice that haunted you nightly in your dreams, both mocking and sympathetic in his utterances. The voice you both hated and…

"You..." you murmured in realization, your body relaxing. "I do know you..."

"...what?"

"You're the voice from my dreams. The one I've wanted to… er... strangle for the entire time I’ve been here." you couldn't stop your violently-inclined tongue, and found yourself smiling despite the fact that he could easily kill you.

"Your dreams, huh..?" You supposed you could count yourself lucky that he sounded intrigued. He was a better fighter then you could have ever dreamed, which left you only one option. You needed to think…

"What now?" you asked, finally coming to the conclusion that telling some psycho stranger that you were dreaming of him could be bad for your health and trying to change the subject.

"What now..?” I could imagine him rolling his eyes. “Now... you're coming with me." He replied, releasing one of your arms and turning you to face him. He spoke again as you opened your mouth to ask... "Don't bother asking where we're going. You'll find out when we get there."

"You're... you're taking me away from here..?" you asked softly, trying to penetrate the shadows of his hood to get a glimpse of his face. But just like in your dreams, his features eluded you.

"I'm... sorry. But you have no choice." He said, his tone oddly uncomfortable. "You shouldn't be here any..."

You stopped listening; the rest of what he was saying didn't matter anyway. You didn’t like living alone on an (almost) abandoned world, but you sure as heck didn’t like the idea of going away to who knows where with a man you knew through dreams. Your gut wasn’t sending any particular warning flags your way in regards to him, but you were ignoring it and listening to your brain for once. And your brain said don’t talk to, get in a Gummi Ship with, or take candy from strangers. Which meant you had to get away from this one. Since kicking him in the shin didn’t seem like the most successful option, you decided to give your brain run of the show for the night and let it puzzle out a way for you to escape.

“Ah… well… ok.” You said with a heavy, dramatic sigh that a normal person never would have brought since you were a notoriously terrible liar. But the rain must have been helping muffle your terrible acting, because the young man’s tight grip on your arm loosened slightly. “But can you wait a minute..? I left something in Cid’s shop. It’s really special to me. I… I can’t leave it behind!”

He hesitated and you held your breath; sure he had figured you out. You had to resist the urge to sigh in relief when his hands slowly slid from your skin and he took a step back, giving you room to move.

“Alright…” his tone was a bit suspicious. “Where is it..?”

“Back in Cid’s shop… I just don’t want the Heartless to get it.” You replied, speaking too fast.

“Heartless..?” he was listening now.

“Yeah, they were here yesterday. Over there.” You babbled, pointing in a random direction away from the one you intended to go.

“Hmm…” he was silent for a moment before, amazingly, doing as you had hoped by turning away in the direction you pointed. “You get your thing, I’ll go look. They might be able to help explain you…”

You didn’t waste time pondering his words, slowly moving back into Cid’s shop. You carefully eased inside and locked the door behind you as quickly as you could. From then on you stopped moving slow; you know you had a minute tops before he got suspicious and came back to drag you kicking and screaming to wherever he came from. You instantly made for the blanket you had left on the sofa, gingerly shifting to hide it under a cushion. That done you darted for the second floor of the shop, slipping out a window onto the rooftop. The rain made your decent off the rooftop much faster then you would have liked, but you survived the drop down to the front of the store. Your knees popped, bringing on a wince as you hobble-ran towards the massive door to the Second District. There were several safe spots you had set up for just this purpose… although you had always assumed it would be Heartless you would be running from rather then some dream-familiar, dry coat wearing freak.

You rubbed the rain from your eyes as you ran, hearing the door bolt securely behind you by no means of your own. Traverse Town itself was aiding you in your escape, and that helped secure your decision. Traverse Town was your home, and you would not leave it… not even for the man in your dreams.

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Ж End Note Time! Ж

First (real) chapter: done!

You know, I thought it would be a real drag getting through this first chapter, but I actually enjoyed writing it. I liked being able to flesh Estelle out… and, since I’m not limited to a one shot, I can afford to draw this whole leaving Traverse Town thing out so it feels better then the one shot. *thanks God*

If you don’t know by now, I’m a favor of plot over hormones, which means romance in my story is going to be of the gradual variety. But because of the romantic implications in the ‘man of her dreams’ concept, it’s going to be a building romance… so hold back on the throwing of things for a few more chapters, ok..?

I know there will be some timeline questions and such, all of which will be answered in later chapters. And I feel the need to point out that even though I didn’t name the person who came to Estelle in this chapter, I do in fact know who it is. XD Which I know you all were mildly to extremely worried about.

Annnnd that’s all. I totally like sticking the icons at the end to make sure people at least look at my end info, lol. XD Makes me feel tricksy. Anyway, rate and message; Amunet thrives on feedback! Feedback and pocky! Feedback, pocky, and new anime! Feedback, pocky, new anime, and plushies! Feedback, pocky… eh, I think you get my drift. ^_^;

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and thanks for reading! ^_^