Title: Incognito
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, well….. you get the picture. Lol.
Warning: This story is shonen ai, if you don't like boy/boy I beg you not to read it. So please keep your flames to yourselves. Thanks.
A/N: This is my first shonen ai story ever! I am really psyched about it and I hope you enjoy it. However, keep in mind that this story will be one that develops the relationship between the boys slowly. So be patient. I really despise those stories that jump right into the fluffly stuff. Also, I know this chapter is short but they will eventually get longer once I have the plot fully straightened out. Ok, well that's about it! Thanks for reading and reviews are very much appreciated!
Chapter 1: Lost
It was late into the night and the sky was pitch black with no moon in sight. The air was heavy with moisture and the clouds rumbled overhead. The rain sounded with a constant pitter pat along the paved city streets and murky water gurgled as it swirled down the gutters. A lone figure walked steadily through the pouring rain. Their stride was slow and their shoulders were hunched. The sound of footsteps echoed off the walls of the slick city buildings. If somebody were to pass by they would take no notice of the figure walking with their head bowed. Probably just another night owl out to seek the thrills of nightlife. However, their thoughts would change immediately when they saw the long silver keyblade held in the person's hand.
Sora was cold, wet and tired. His black clothes were soaked and chilling him to the bone. He shivered slightly. Not only from his damp apparel but also from the silence of the city. It was so damn quiet and it irked him. He was not surprised with his conclusion of the place.
No one was here.
No sound of cars rushing past, no people talking, no signs of life whatsoever. Only the pitter pat of the rain kept him company.
Sora sighed and adjusted his grip on the keyblade. His whole body ached from the crash. It was typical for Donald and him to argue but did it have to always end up like this? With the gummi ship spinning out of control and flinging them off in every which direction just because they fought over the controls? He'd probably never find them in this place. Whatever this place was.
He came to what looked like the main square of the city. The large area was empty, not to his surprise and a huge screen on one of the larger buildings blinked through faded ads. He walked to the center and stared up at the sky. Endless droplets of water fell on his face, the thousand of tears he refused to shed. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to steady his nerves. Yes, he was lost. But why did he feel so hopeless now? And why did this journey seem such a burden all of a sudden? He didn't even have a plan and that thought was the one that hurt him the most.
"Fuck."
He wasn't one to utter such language but in extreme situations such as this he felt like it was called for and no one would hear him anyway. He dragged himself over to a nearby bench and dropped down on its wet surface. Maybe he could just sit here for a while until an idea came to him. Normally sitting down and taking a rest made him feel guilty but for once he didn't care. His body needed it. He was so tired. The keyblade dropped on the ground beside him and the sound of metal against pavement echoed around the area. He closed his eyes and wished it wasn't so cold at the moment, and wished that he didn't feel so weak, and wished that he wasn't feeling so hopeless.
"I wish this never happened to me."
The words were whispered to the night air but rang loudly in his ears. And the thoughts that had been tearing at his mind surfaced. The door to the light, Riku, Donald, Goofy, Kairi; he had to find all of them. But why him? Why did he have to be chosen? The feeling for all of this to end coiled tighter and tighter in his stomach. A small sob escaped him and at that point he knew just how desperate he felt. The restless thoughts in his mind swirled in a never ending movement clouding his brain. He closed his eyes willing exhaustion to take over him. It did, and before he knew it he was deep asleep.
Ow..paiinn….
Sora rubbed the back of his sore neck. Why oh why did he have to fall asleep on a park bench, why? He straightened out of his slouched position and hissed through his teeth. Nothing like having neck and back pain at the same time. He looked around. It was still dark out. He breathed a sigh a relief. Good, I didn't sleep too long. The rain had stopped and a clear sky with bright stars was now overhead. He stretched out his remaining sore limbs and reached down beside him, expecting to feel a familiar metal handle. His hand hit ground.
"Oh shit," he muttered and turned to his right. His eyes widened in panic. Where was it? He was so sure he had left the keyblade right beside him. He got up and looked around the bench and found nothing. He ran a hand through his damp hair in frustration. This...was..not..good.. How was he going to be a keyblade master if he didn't have a keyblade? The situation turned for the worst when all of a sudden dark creatures loomed out of the ground in front of him.
Heartless.
"Oh, great." He backed away, tripping over the edge of the bench as he did so. He really wished he had his keyblade right now. The creature's antennas twitched and their beady yellow eyes focused solely on him. Sora eyed the creature's sharp claws warily. He had no intention of having himself torn to pieces, not to mention his heart taken too. He thought of the next best thing.
Run!
The streets were still slick from the rain and it wasn't long before Sora was slipping and sliding through the puddles. He desperately tried to get a grip on himself as he was running like a bat out of hell. He could hear a dull rumble behind him signifying that now more than a dozen heartless were after him. The city was a maze and alley after alley looked exactly the same. The feeling of panic within him heightened. Where was he going? He turned left, then right, then left again and a long alley quite different from the others stretched out before him. It looked like some way out so he dashed down it. He looked over his shoulder and yellow eyes were not far behind. He returned his gaze forward and ran straight into….
SMACK!
A wall.
Sora looked up from his position on the ground and rubbed his injured head. Walls weren't supposed to pop out of thin air! He turned around and fear shot through him. The heartless were not more than thirty feet away and they were closing in every second. He grit his teeth. How was he going to get out of this one? He backed up against the wall and laughed bitterly to himself. It was a pretty pathetic way to die. He had lost his keyblade, ran like a mad man, crashed into a wall and was inevitably going to be ripped to shreds by heartless. Sora slumped in defeat. This really was the end.
The creatures now fully surrounded him and poised themselves for attack. When they lunged Sora covered himself with his arms and prepared for the searing pain he was about to experience. Yet none came and instead the sound of clashing metal met his ears. Utterly confused he peeked through his hands.
"What the?"
Only a few feet away a cloaked figure was lashing out at the heartless. Their quick and agile moves easily destroyed the dozen of heartless that had been closing in on him. Their back was turned and Sora did not fail to notice the two keyblades the person held. And one of them was his! The oathkeeper gleamed meaningfully in the moonlight next to a keyblade he did not recognize. He furrowed his brow, who the heck was this person? As if sensing Sora's gaze they turned around, keyblades clanking together as they did so. Sora's mouth opened in shock. Before him stood a boy, the hood of the cloak was pulled up over his head shrouding his face in darkness. Blonde bangs spilled out before his eyes and a tentative smirk had formed on his lips. Sora scrambled to his feet. Embarrassed with himself for looking so helpless and annoyed that he hadn't fought the heartless off himself. He regained a defensive stance and shot the new comer a glare.
"Give it back," he spat out.
The smirk on the boy across from him widened. "Give what back?" The voice was tinged with adolescence and spoken with such innocence that Sora wanted to strangle the kid even though he had just met him.
"You know what I'm talking about!" Sora said exasperated. "You stole it, it's mine, so give it back!"
The boy raised the oathkeeper in the air and looked at it as if he were studying it for the first time. "This one, right?"
"Yes!"
The smirked turned into a taunting smile. "Oh no, you're quite wrong actually. This keyblade is mine and has always been."
"What are you talking about?" sputtered Sora. This guy was really getting on his nerves.
The blonde leaned casually on the keyblade and tucked the second one beneath his cloak. "I've been looking for it and apparently you had it. So I took it, it's mine." His smile grew. "There's not much to it. It's quite simple, really."
Sora was furious. "Look, I don't know who you are and what you want but F-Y-I that keyblade is mine!" He had never felt so frustrated in his life.
"Whoa, take it easy," the boy said taking a step backward. "Don't want to attract more heartless with that loud voice of yours, now do we?
Sora saw red and before he knew it he had flung himself at the other youth and tackled him to the ground. They let out a yelp as they hit the ground hard. Sora raised a fist, ready to sink it into the other's face when the hood fell back and a pair of bright blue eyes met his own. He froze. It was like looking into a mirror. His own eyes gazed back up at him except in a mix of shock and horror and…was that recognition? The sight had him at a loss for words. Snapping out of his trance and realizing what he had done, Sora rolled off the boy and quickly got to his feet. What had come over him to act like that? The blonde gracefully stood up and brushed himself off while Sora stared at the ground and shifted uneasily from foot to foot. He looked up, an apology on the edge of his tongue when -
"Here, catch."
The keyblade was gently thrown and Sora caught it between his hands. Confused, he looked up at the other boy who regarded him with an unreadable expression. After a moment the blonde then turned and began walking away.
"Huh?" Sora stared at the retreating back. Registering at what just happened and kicking himself into gear, he ran to catch up. "Wait!" He wanted answers and he wanted them now.
"The heartless are coming, we cannot stay here." The boy's reply was evenly toned, nothing like the taunt in his voice before. "Please follow me."
"Follow you?" Sora stopped in his tracks, startled by the abrupt mood swing in the other youth. "How can I trust you? As I recall you were the one who stole my weapon, and now you expect me to follow you?" He rounded the boy and met him with a stern gaze. "Just who are you?"
The boy stared at him with a small frown, his gaze just as piercing as Sora's. The brunette tried not to flinch; looking into a pair of his own eyes was disturbing. "Raise your hand."
Sora felt suspicious, wondering what the heck this guy was trying to do, but did as he was told and slowly raised his hand up. The other raised his own hand and paused for a second before touching his palm to Sora's. The reaction was instant. Sora gasped and felt a shock run through his whole body. It wasn't painful but it wasn't pleasant. It was the weirdest feeling ever. The hand left his own a second later and Sora found himself breathing heavily.
"There, now you know," the boy said wheezing slightly. Sora could tell he wasn't the only one affected by the contact. He looked down at his own hand. The flesh was as smooth as it had been before, it wasn't burnt or scarred. Odd.
"Well, I don't know how that happened, but it still doesn't answer my question," he said looking back up. Frustration was beginning to boil inside him. He drew his keyblade out and held it out in front of him, inches away from the other's face. "What are you playing at?"
The cloaked youth opened his mouth, looking as if he were searching for words and eyeing the keyblade uneasily. After a moment he said quietly, "So, you don't know?" His expression was one of confusion, and surprisingly it matched Sora's expression perfectly except without the traces of anger.
"Of course I don't know," Sora said gesturing with the keyblade. "I have honestly no clue what you are talking about, but you better tell me exactly who you are or you are going to regret it."
"I…" But before he could finish a blast of ice and snow came out of nowhere hitting him full force and the blonde was thrown back against the alley wall. Sora looked to his left. Heartless. He looked to his right. The kid was in a heap on the ground not moving.
Leaving him, Sora held his keyblade at the ready and charged at the colorful floating heartless. It wasn't easy dodging random acts of nature's power but Sora made it look easy. He dodged rolled in and out, waving his keyblade in every direction. Within a few minutes all the heartless were destroyed. Sora wiped his brow and ran over to where the boy was lying.
"Ouch," Sora winced as he saw a huge bump forming beneath the crop full of hair on the blonde's head. It was definite that he was out like a light. Not knowing what to do Sora sat down near the unconscious form. The ground was cold and icky, but he didn't mind too much. The body next to him let off a comforting warmth, it was reassuring. He glanced at the boy's face; he looked sixteen at the most, about Sora's age. The once tidy blonde hair was now haphazardly thrown around his face and his mouth was still formed in that slight frown. But what really got Sora were the eyes. Thinking back on when he had first seen them, there was no denying that those eyes were his. His own eyes. It sounded strange even to his own ears. But why would someone else have the same exact eyes as him? The question sent his head for a spin. The spinning increased when he thought of when they had touched and that odd feeling rushed through him. Was there some sort of connection between them? It was so bizarre. Sora tore his eyes away from the boy's face, realizing he had been staring. He knew there would be some questions to be answered, but the best thing to do was to wait until he woke up. He settled back against the wall in a more comfortable position and closed his eyes. Sleep came to him in a few minutes and washed away his concerns for the time being.
Eurrghhh…..
Sora awoke slowly, it was like trying to run through water, his sleep had been so dense that it took almost all the energy he had just regained to wake up. He blinked twice and looked at his surroundings. Dark alley, no heartless (thank god!), no annoying kid to bother him. Wait. No annoying..what? He looked down to his left.
"Oh crud."
The guy was gone. A twinge of panic surfaced. What was he going to do now? But Sora sighed in relief when he felt his keyblade tucked safely against him. Well, at least I can pretend this never happened, he thought to himself. The pain in his back and neck and returned but it wasn't as pronounced as before. He might as well get used to sleeping on wet ground considering it would probably happen again. As Sora picked himself up and made his way toward the end of the alley he realized his questions never got answered. Oh well, good riddance anyway; the kid had been so annoying.
The sun was peeking over the tops of the buildings, casting small rays of light in the dark corners of the city. Sora smiled at the sight. He had never really like the night but it wasn't that he was scared of the dark it was just that it reminded of what he was up against. Darkness. He was one on one with darkness. And the sun reminded him of the light he was eventually going to find. Now in a much brighter mood, Sora walked through the empty streets, trying to back track his steps and find some sense of direction in the sprawling metropolis. The alleys weren't as intimidating in daytime as they were at night but to Sora they still looked all the same. After several hours of searching, the bright mood he once had began to fade and was replaced by the awful feelings of panic and anxiety. He felt like he was going in circles, and he probably was because he had passed that stupid café on his left several times now. He let out a long breath to try and calm himself.
The sun was higher in the sky now and he could feel its warmth on his face. His clothes were much drier and it didn't feel like they were weighing him down. He drew the keyblade out and watched the charm Kairi had given him glint in the sunlight. He remembered when he had made that silent vow of making sure he would return it. And he wasn't going to give up on it, he would keep that promise. He pointed the keyblade at arms length out in front of him, hoping with all his might that it would possibly show him the way. He inwardly chuckled at himself, thinking how silly he must look with his eyes closed and a strange key stretched out in front of him. He was going to drop the stupid idea when he felt his arm being tugged. He snapped open his eyes and found no one in front of him. He frowned, what was going on? He began to lower the keyblade but was immediately pulled forward by it. He stumbled several steps as the tugging continued. The first thought that came to his mind was that his keyblade was jinxed but he was proved wrong when the keyblade jerked him sharply off to the right down a very thin alley. It must be leading me somewhere, he thought. He followed its relentless movements for what seemed like ten minutes when all of a sudden it stopped and dropped to his side. He looked at it curiously before tucking it away and looking around. And of course, the area he was in now didn't look much different from the area he was in before. However something in the distance caught his eye. A figure in a black cloak was standing deathly still in the middle of the street. Sora smiled when he recognized the patch of blonde hair that stood out against the gray of the buildings. He began walking towards them and with each step he began to feel a little less lost.