• Title: Moods, Lives, and Smiles

    Author: Kyatsuki Ora

    Notes: I’m feeling damn depressed right now. Since it’s not going anywhere, I might as well do something with it, hm? Italics are thoughts. I know I’m twisting the truth like a pretzel in some places, but hey. It’s my fic.

    Disclaimer: I don’t own Kingdom Hearts. Got it memorized?
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    Castle Oblivion, Hollow Bastion… Who came up with all these contradictory names anyway? Tsuki smiled humorlessly as she stalked down the starched white all of said castle. Like all the nobodies living here, she has no memories of anything in her past. Her mental tape would go back to the place when she waked up from sleeping on the hard floor and then goes blank. It frustrated her at first, but she accepted the reality with reluctance. The same goes when no one could see her. Oh, the people here know that there is a new addition to the castle’s staff. They also know that she could control the heartless and lesser nobodies and manipulate magic as well as any of them. The only problem is that they cannot see nor hear her. She cannot communicate with them either, nor can she touch or take anything alive. That is why she is wandering aimlessly in the castle while everyone else is busy with something.

    The reason? She has half of a heart…

    The heartless and nobodies have no heart and constantly searches for one. The ones who have a heart, those who are alive, battle those who do not. The two extreme ends of life can see each other, but neither can see those who stand between them. The owners of half-hearts stand at the edge of both worlds, unable to cross into either side. They are cursed with the inability to interfere with anything, only can watch the worlds swirl and fall around them.

    Amidst all these gloomy thoughts flying around her mind, Tsuki could only shrug and move forward. There is nothing she would do about her ‘condition’, so why not only watch and wait for the worlds to be saved or fall? Turning a corner, she finds herself in Vixen’s lab. She was about to get out before some heartless of his comes when a swirling vortex caught her attention. Sending dancer nobodies across the room, Tsuki stepped casually in front of the swirling mass of purple and black. She squinted at the whirlpool and seems can make out a few things. For one, this is definitely a dark corridor going to another place, which seems to be as lifeless as Castle Oblivion. Two, the place is a castle, if the shape was any indication. She let out an uncontrolled gasp when she has a name for the place. And here I was, thinking about the name. Hello, Hollow Bastion. Tsuki smirked at the rays coming from the constant twilight sky.

    Testing it, she commanded a dancer nobody to leap through and come back. Nothing happened. Not a trap was sprung. Excited at the prospect of going somewhere, Tsuki dismissed the nobodies and stepped into the place formerly known as Radiant Garden. The first thing she noticed was the air. It is always cold and lifeless in Castle Oblivion, but here warm air and bustling sounds greeted her. Flexing her hand, Tsuki sighed as warmth spread across her cold fingertips. As she climbed up at the Rising Fall, she froze when she saw someone coming down. However, the person nimbly left her behind without a glance. Letting out the breath she unconsciously was holding, Tsuki sighed. What else did she expect?

    After navigating through a series of gates and rooms, she arrived at the entrance hall. A girl about her age was solving the puzzle needed to go upward. As she stepped toward it, a second puzzle popped out to greet her. Quickly solving the puzzle, Tsuki stepped onto the lift when the girl said cheerfully, “You’re pretty quick for a newcomer.”

    Imagine the shock on Tsuki’s face, hearing the words. “You…can see me?”

    “Of course I can,” the girl’s liquid brown eyes stared at her as if she is a bit daft. “If you had an invisibility spell on, it’s off now.”

    Not knowing what to say, Tsuki just kept walking. The girl followed her, long dark hair blowing in every direction. “Although I can understand why you’d wear one. There’s still a lot of heartless roaming around. My name’s Tori, by the way. What’s yours?”

    “Tsuki.”

    “Not a talkative person, aren’t you?” Tori huffed, pretending to be hurt. “Well, I might as well show you around.” She opened the door they had arrived at, revealing a mess inside. “This is the Chapel, where Maleficent used to live. Thank goodness, she’s finally dead. I can’t stand the sight of her. Cid wants this room to be put to use again, so I’m here to help them clean this place.” With that introduction, Tori began attacking one of the piles. “Feel free to wander around. I’ll show you some more of the place after the noon bell rings.”

    Maleficent. Tsuki remembered the Organization members talking about an epic battle involving this character. The name sounded unpleasant though, so Tsuki chose to pick her way around the shredded piles of paper and clothes, looking for something interesting. She noticed a semi-intact page on a table and scanned it. “Ansem… Who is that?”

    “Oh, that used to be the ruler who lived here. Nobody knows where he is now.” Tori’s voice floated over, making Tsuki smirk again. There is a half-truth in the words. The nobodies do know what happened to Ansem, but they will never tell a soul. Smiling at her own joke, she did not react when Tori turned around. “Oi! If you’re not doing anything, com--”

    A second later, the words reached her. “Did you say something?”

    “Oh my…” Tori’s shocked face surprised Tsuki. “You’re standing in…in…” Tsuki looked at the direction of her trembling finger, and silently berated herself. Being between the worlds, she cannot touch anything that was once living. That involves humans, animals, trees, wood, and, in this case, paper. To anyone looking it would seem as if Tsuki’s floating on top of the pile. As she stepped out, Tori narrowed her eyes. “I don’t think anyone could … That robe…”

    “What about it?” Tsuki asked, feeling cornered.

    Tori thought for a second before gasping again. “You’re from Organization XIII!”

    Tsuki laughed and shook her head. “No, I’m not. It’s true that I am a Nobody, and that’s a half too, but I don’t belong to the Organization.”

    “And why should I believe you?”

    “Well, you shouldn’t.”

    The two stared at each other before Tori asked. “What do you mean by ‘half’? You can’t be half a Nobody!”

    “You’ll be surprised.” Leaning against the window, Tsuki said darkly before switching the topic. “Since you’re asking questions, it’s only fair I get to ask one too. Why are you here when you could be outside?”

    Tori stared at her, almost as if debating whether she should tell the black-robed figure or not. Finally made a decision, Tori pulled over a chair and sat down. “My family.”

    “What about it?”

    “I’m avoiding them, that’s what.” Tori spat the words out vehemently. The story took up almost an hour, and by the end Tsuki is so shocked that her mouth was open. Feeling the pain of nostalgia, she let out a pain laugh. The sound had an opposite effect on Tori though, and she became enraged. She ran toward Tsuki with an arm raised and shouting, “It’s not fun—” The sentence was cut short when Tori ran through Tsuki and fell out the window. Quickly, Tsuki weaved a spell of net to catch the falling girl and slowly lifted her up.

    “You’re one handful, aren’t you?” Tsuki almost laughed, but decided against it. “And I’m not laughing at you. It’s just that your story reminded me of someone with the same exact story as you. I couldn’t help her at all, just like I wouldn’t be able to help you now. It took me all I had to make sure that my magic could reach your plane so that you wouldn’t be scraped off the ground like splattered fruits.” With sweat poring down her face, Tsuki carefully set Tori down on the floor and slid down against the wall, not caring if her body seemed buried in the wooden chair. “You have no idea how frustrating it is, to see and hear so much but can only do so little.”
    .
    She looked so sad that Tori could only say, “I’m sorry.”

    “It’s not your fault.” Tsuki frowned, wanted to say something but Tori asked another question.

    “Who’s her?” She asked, but only got another frown in reply. “You’ve mention about not being able to help ‘her’. Who is that?”

    “…I don’t know. I don’t even know why I said her…” Closing her eyes, Tsuki tried to remember why. She looked through her memories as a Nobody until she suddenly hit something else. It’s fuzzy compared to the clear memories floating around, and she definitely did not remember having a… “Tm remembering my past…” Tsuki suddenly sat up, shocked once again.

    “Your past? I thought Nobodies have no memories…”

    “Well, whoever told you that is wrong. Several of the Organization members could remember their full past.” Tsuki retorted. She stood, pacing, and whispered to herself. “When I remember my past, would I go back to the world of the living or become a full Nobody? Only time will tell now.” Finally, she turned her attention back to Tori and extended a hand to her. “Thank you. Your past is helping me to regain mine, and it showed me a new path that I can take. So, thank you.”

    Tori stared at the hand, hesitated, and finally reached out to grasp it when someone showed up, asking, “What are you doing, Tori-chan, staring off into space?”

    “Oh hi, Cid! I uh… I was just talking to my friend here.” Tori laughed uneasily, taking a nervous glance at the Nobody.

    “Well, tell your invisible friend good-bye now. We’re going to get supplies. Meet in the entrance hall.” Cid laughed good-naturedly and left.

    Tori twirled around, shocked. “He—”

    “Yes, he can’t see me.” Tsuki smiled sadly before making the gesture that would reopen the dark corridor back to Castle Oblivion. “Well, let’s just keep this meeting to ourselves, eh? No use for you to be called a lunatic.” She said cheerfully, trying to lift Tori’s moods.

    “What are you going to do then? Still remain a bystander?” Tori asked, a bit sad to see a friend go away.
    “No. I’m going to try now. Trying to do the same thing one of your friends did when he fell into darkness. I’m going to try…to walk the path to dawn.”
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    Admittedly, a cliché ending. But hey, nobody will be reading this…is that a pun? Well, no pun was intended. Just take it as it is.