KINGDOM HEARTS - FINAL MASTER (Parts One and Two Redone)

FINAL MASTER started as a short story that I was working on in a writing class during my senior year of high-school. Then, while on a cosplay binge, I created a character named Adrian. He was Sora's older brother of five years and dual-wielded the Kingdom Key and Darkside. I saw the potential for a fan-fiction. I dug around, and found my old, hand-written first-draft of FINAL MASTER and read through it again. I felt that the story was good enough to continue and beefed it up. So, upon my joining of KH-Vids.NET, I looked around to see if anyone had come up with similar ideas for stories. Seeing none, I started to type it up, adding a chapter here and there for about half a year. I finally ended Part One with an exciting cliff-hanger. When I started Part Two, I was on a obsessive cycle of playing Chain of Memories on my emulator and playing Kingdom Hearts II on my PS2, hacking both of them with codes that I'd found, (where else?) on KHV. So, you can kinda see where the inspiration for that part came from.

As it is now, I never finished the story. I was saddened to think that FINAL MASTER was dead. So, to keep things going a little bit, (and in the hopes that I would someday finish the story), I made the FINAL MASTER website, (CLICK HERE). Still far from done with this idea, I had an brainstorm -- why not re-write the story to better follow the KH Saga's storyline? Birth By Sleep is out, so there will be plenty of new material when I get the game, and I know the plotline pretty well, already. It's like trying to decide what to do with $30: buy pizza now, or save it and not buy anything... Hmmmmm... What a big decision... PIZZA! xD

So, here is a re-vamped version of FINAL MASTER. Enjoy!

- D...

Part One

Prologue: Twilight Town...​

What is Kingdom Hearts?

When many people hear that name, they try to picture the Heart of All Worlds, and imagine the power housed within. It is nothing but a bedtime story to them. A tale to be told to young children for them to dream about, building adventures and stories out of what they hear. But we know better, don't we? We know that the Keyblade holds the answer...

Keyblade?

Have you not heard of the very weapon that you are meant to be carrying? The Keyblade is but an instrument of the person wielding it. There are some who believe it to be a weapon of fate. Not lightly does this legendary sword relinquish its power, they say... Some others believe that the Keyblade is but an earned treasure, nothing more. Who can say which side holds closer to the truth? It is up to you, my young protege, to find the answer that strikes true to you...

Master Xehanort... Who was he?

You have heard the name before I told you of him. Have you not, my Apprentice? He was my Master, once. But he is nothing more than a distant memory to me now. He has no part to play with us, does he? Him and that foolish boy...

Ventus.

And what about him? He was swallowed by the Darkness, his heart forever lost.

Then how was it that he returned? If he was lost --

He is not important!

I... I apologize, Master. I spoke rashly...

Boy, you speak your mind. Ahhhhh... If you were only here to witness, for yourself, what is about to unfold...

What do you mean, Master?

You will know before long. Just... Watch the Twilit Sky...

Excerpt from the LDT Logs, Radiant Gardens​

Chapter One: Destiny Islands...
Countdown to the Connecting of Worlds: 21 years​

“Congratulations, ma'am,†the doctor said over the wailing of the baby in his arms to the woman on the hospital bed, “It's a boy!â€

The woman looked up as the doctor said this and a small tear came to her eye. Her long, shiny, brown hair was disheveled and her beautiful, green eyes were dulled with weariness, but she still had a joyous glow around her. Her face was now contorting with a mixture of weariness and pure, unmistakable ecstasy. She wiped her face on her hospital gown and held out her arms to her beautiful baby boy. The doctor gently placed the child in her arms and, suddenly, the baby stopped crying. The eyes that gazed back at her were green like his her's but the sparse hair on the top of his head was pure, jet black. The mother looked up at the doctor and cocked her head to one side.

“Why is his hair this color? My husband's hair is blond and mine is brown... Wait. Does it have something to do with, um, what's it called...â€

“Recessive genes.†The doctor smiled. “That is what you mean, but I'm not sure that that's it...â€

“What? What do you mean?â€

“When he was born, I was sure that his hair was blond. Then, when he was being cleaned, it looked brown. Now, it is black! I'm not sure what that was about, but his eyes did the same thing. I looked into his eyes a while ago and they were blue. Now they are green... It's like his body can't make up it's mind on what color everything should be! It sure is a mystery...â€

But the woman wasn't paying attention. She was lost in the eyes of her son. Her one and only child. In fact, she had been staring into his eyes since she had asked the last question.

Hmmmm, she said to herself, I feel like he knows exactly what I'm thinking, what I'm saying... There is an intelligence in his eyes that can only come with age and wisdom. What are you thinking, little one? I wish I could see into your head, my little Adrian...

“Ma'am?†The doctor tried to get into her field of vision, but she was completely oblivious to him and everything around her. He smiled and left the room, closing the door gently behind him.

Meanwhile, in Radiant Gardens...​

"Well, well, well!" Braig hopped down off of the ledge he'd been sitting on. "What have he here?"

"Leave it alone, Braig!" Even scowled, getting in between Braig and the large box that was being carted into the castle.

"Is it for me? C'mon! Let me see!"

"No! Get back!"

"Tsk tsk tsk! Y'know, that's not being very nice!"

"What are you going to do? Call for help in robbing a scientist?"

"As if!" Braig pulled out one of his arrowguns and twirled it around as he hopped back up onto his ledge. "I'm just curious..."

"And you know what they say about curiosity...?"

"Yeah, yeah, it killed the cat, and whatever... But," he said, looking down the length of his arrowgun and then holstering it, "I ain't no ordinary cat!"

"Just stay out of the way! Ienzo! Go notify Master Ansem of the arrival!"

"Yes, sir." The young boy ran off into the castle through the Postern's door.

"Shame he's not gonna see the end of this project..."

Even whipped around and glared at Braig.

"How do you know about that?!"

"Come on, dude! Get with it! I've known about that ol' thing since it started!" He leaned down toward Even. "I got some reliable sources!"

"That 'project,' as you call it, is not any of your concern! So keep out of it!"

"Fine, fine, whatever you say..."

And with that, he rolled backward once and hopped up, giving Even a sarcastic salute and disappearing into the town. Even, angered at Braig's knowledge of the project, continued overseeing the movement of the box into the castle's Postern...

Flashforward: 20 years later, Midgar, Sector Five Slums...​

"Zack?" A pretty girl with brown hair tied up in a pink ribbon called out from a patch of flowers she was working on in the middle of a church in the slums. Midgar was about 150 feet above them, its polluted stink surrounding the church and permeating the air in the slums around it. But the smell never actually got inside the church -- maybe the flowers' fragrance was just enough to drive the smell away.

A young, black-haired man with a large sword on his back was sitting by the door to the church, looking around at the slums.

"Y'know, Aerith," he called back to her, "I could get used to this."

"What? Sitting on your bum all day, doing nothing?"

They laughed, enjoying the rare time that Zack got off from work. He was a SOLDIER, 1st Class, and, thus, had little time for R&R. He liked it here, though. It was almost enough for him to lay down his sword and give up this whole fighting the army of Genisis Copies that seemed to know just how to strike... Of course, they were clones of possibly the best SOLDIER operative within Shin-Ra. Well, technically not in Shin-Ra, anymore, as he did desert about a year ago...

"Zack? What's on your mind?"

Zack jumped.

"Oops!" Aerith laughed, sitting next to him and grabbing his hand to hold. She lay her head on his shoulder guard and sighed. "I wish you didn't have all this damn work to do..."

Zack looked at her funny.

"That's a new side of you... Since when has my work ever bothered you?"

She pulled away and looked him straight in his intoxicating blue, mako-spiced eyes. She normally couldn't resist melting on the inside when she did this, but this time, she wanted him to know how serious she was.

"Since the beginning."

"Oh." He looked away, embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I... I never thought you had any problem with it..."

"Well, I do!" She stood now, and Zack knew he was in for it. "You go out there and get on the front lines and fight fight fight! All you can think about when you're out there is which enemy is going to be the biggest threat and how you can take him down! All I can think about is if you're going to come back! Not 'when' -- 'if!' I can't stand it...!"

Zack jumped up when he saw tears coming to her eyes. She turned away, not wanting to show how upset she was, but he had already seen the emotion on her face. He wrapped her up in his arms and stroked her hair, shushing her as she let loose her tears into his shoulder.

"I will never abandon you, you hear me? Never." He said quietly. She shook her head.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because..."

He let go of her and pulled out his sword. He twirled it around and put it back on his back, winking and pointing his finger at her.

"I'm SOLDIER, 1st Class, Zack Fair! And I never break a promise!"

She couldn't help it. She busted up laughing.

"What? Was that too much?" Zack shrugged.

Aerith recovered and put a hand on his shoulder.

"One tip: never do that in front of a girl that you're trying to impress!"

They laughed a while, then became somber again. After a few minutes of just standing, staring out at the slums, Aerith turned to Zack again.

"Zack? Can I ask you something?"

Without turning, he replied, "Shoot."

"What happened to you 10 years ago?"

Zack turned to her, frowning.

"What do you mean? I was living in Gongaga, with my family. 6 years ago, I moved to the city to become SOLDIER..."

"Was it just a dream...?" Aerith turned away, hand to her chin, thinking."

I remember him. 10 years ago. I saw myself as I am now... But I was hollow. Dead to the world. Then he showed up. And he got sucked into that vortex...

"Aerith?" Zack shook her shoulder gently. She snapped out of her thoughts and smiled.

"Let's go see if that boy is staying out of trouble." She said. Then, she went out the door into the slums.

"Aerith!" Zack followed slowly. "Hey! Aerith! Wait up!"

"Come on, slowpoke! I'll leave you behind if you're slow!"

He ran to catch up to her and they walked to the Market.

Maybe, she thought to herself as they walked, Maybe that's something for anther time...

End of Chapter One...

 

Chapter Two: Destiny Islands...
Countdown to the Connecting of Worlds: 15 years​

"What do you mean, 'he's special?' He's only six years old! How can you know ANYTHING about him?!"

"I assure you, he has power held within him that would be beneficial to the ends I wish to achieve. I give you my word that he will come to no harm."

It was a warm evening on Destiny Islands' world. A woman held her son close to her as an elderly-looking, silver-haired man stood before her, hands clasped behind his back. His sharp, beady eyes bored into her's, almost as if they were trying to see into her soul...

"He will be treated with the utmost of care. He will be trained to harness the power held within him and he will save many lives... How can you turn down this opportunity for your son?"

The woman wavered. The man smiled: he had her.

"How about this? You think about it. All you have to do is be on the beach in one week," he held out one finger to emphasize this particular point, "and, if you have him, I will take him with me. I will bring him back every year on the anniversary of the day I took him. You can also come with me... Then, you need not miss a single moment with him."

The woman's eyes went vacant for a moment as she considered this. This man spoke of other worlds, far from home. But, what would her husband say? She was still pregnant with her second child...

As if he had already thought of this and knew that she was thinking about it, the man said, "Your husband is welcome to come along, as well..."

That was all it took. The woman's eyes came back into focus and she nodded.

"You have a deal, mister...?"

The man held out his hand.

"Just call me Xehanort."

Meanwhile, in the Land of Departure...​

"Aqua!"

The young, blue-haired girl turned at the sound of her friend's voice. The boy who ran at her had spiky, brown hair and wore tan and gold clothes - the signature of one who studied the power of the Keyblade.

"Hey, Terra." Aqua kept walking as Terra caught up to her. "How do you think you did on your Initiation Exam?"

"Oh, not to bad. It was pretty easy for the most part. But that part about magic...?" He made a sound of disgust.

"You REALLY don't like magic, do you?" Aqua said, laughing.

"Nah, it's not that. I'm just not GOOD at it! It ticks me off how Eraqus wants us to study ALL aspects of fighting. Magic, power, finesse... I can get power good. No problem! And finesse is okay, I guess. I can move around faster than most of the other students. But magic? I can't even cast Cure without setting something on fire!"

"You'll get used to it." Aqua patted him on the shoulder.

They walked back to the dorms and went their separate ways. Later that night, Terra lay awake, suddenly unable to sleep. He felt a strange feeling creeping up on him. Like some kind of monster was lurking toward him in the distance. He could see it, but it was out of focus. Blurry. He shook his head. He'd deal with it in the morning. Maybe, if Xehanort came back tomorrow, he'd be able to help...

One week later, on Destiny Islands...​

It was late, and a cool wind was blowing in off the ocean. The mother and father of the black-haired boy stood on the beach, waiting for that mysterious man to return. The mother looked at her husband and saw that he had his face turned up to the star-lit sky, eyes closed. She followed suit and enjoyed the breeze.

The young boy stared out at the ocean. There was little island in the distance, with the moon setting over it. He looked closer and saw that there was a flickering light on it. Then, a pillar of shadow flashed across the moon. The boy tugged on his mother's pant leg.

"Mommy. He's here."

"Who's here? The silver-haired man?" The mother looked around. She frowned. "Hun, there's nobody here..."

The boy simply pointed out to sea. Way out in the distance between the small island and the one they were on, there was a boat. It was speeding faster than any boat that they'd ever seen go before. On it, lit from behind by the pale moonlight, was Xehanort. The three people on the beach couldn't see it, but he had a wicked smile on his face. A smile that, if the parents had seen it, would have deterred this deal from EVER being set up.

And so, the story of Adrian begins.

End of Chapter Two...

 

Now. That. Was. BRILIANT! I loved it, you got everyone in character, and the plot so far is amazing! Keep it up, I don't care how long it takes, but I realy don't want to see this story die.

 

Thank you so much! I appreciate your support.

Also, if at all possible, I would like some constuctive criticism about my style, grammar, or inaccuracies in the story. I'm trying to keep it accurate for Part One, so...

I'll update sometime in the next week.

- 2br02b

 

NOTE: I updated Chapter One, (first post), to be more accurate to the following chapter's section with Zack...

Chapter Three: Land of Departure...
Countdown to the Connecting of Worlds: 14 years​

A young, black-haired boy ran through the gardens toward the Masters' Studies. He wore a tan and black robe with silver fastenings. He was a studier of the versatility of the Keyblade. Master Eraqus stood in front of the large, castle-like building with arms folded over his chest. The sever-year-old ran right up to him and stopped, panting. Then, after a moment, stood straight and saluted.

"Master! Forgive me for being late!" The boy stopped saluting and stood at attention. The Master laughed.

"There is nothing to forgive, young one." He turned around and went to the doors into the Studies. He stopped with the door held open. "Come this way."

The boy nodded and followed the Master into the Studies. Along the walls were pictures of old Masters, long gone. At the end of the hall was a portrait that was easily twice the size of the others. On it was the likeness of the Master who had recently died, Master Ador. He had been the youngest Master ever to become so. Eraqus stopped in front of it. After a short pause, he spoke.

"He was your age," he said, "when he first graced these halls with his power. He was a wonder. Only 16, and he became a Master." He paused. "Passed the Master's Exam with the highest score on record... Damn Unversed..." He stared off into space at the smiling, young face of Master Ador's portrait. Then, he turned back to the boy, smiling. "If you become as good as him, make sure you don't get over-confident."

The boy nodded promptly, always one to please the superiors. Eraqus laughed.

"Come on. I have someone you should meet."

They continued walking until they made it to Eraqus' Study. When he opened the door, they both saw a young boy of about 10 years old standing at the window, looking out at all the beautiful scenery. He wore the same kind of robe that the younger boy wore, and had spiky, blond hair. He turned when they entered. He smiled at the younger boy and sized him up. Apparently approving of what he saw, he came over to them and held out his hand. The younger boy took it.

"Hi. I'm Adrian." He said, smiling. The blond-haired boy smiled and let go of Adrian's hand.

"Hey there. My name's Ventus. But you can call me Ven."

Meanwhile, in Midgar's Sector 8 Plaza...​

"Zack!"

The young SOLDIER turned as a he heard his buddy, Kunsel, call out his name. He smiled.

"'Sup, Kunsel? You got some time off?"

"No time for chatting, man. You gotta get back to HQ, ASAP!" He seemed frantic. Almost... Scared.

"Kunsel, come on! Pull yourself together! You're SOLDIER, aren't you?" Zack started jogging back to the Shin-Ra Building with him. They spoke on the way. "What's goin' on? Something wrong?"

"There's NO WAY I'll be able to describe it right. You just gotta see if for yourself." As Zack looked at him, he saw that Kunsel was sweating and his eyes were dilated, like he'd been staring into a black hole, or something.

They made it back and took the elevator to the SOLDIER floor. A couple 1st Class SOLDIERS, namely Genesis and Sephiroth, were standing near the front of a crowd, which was separated into 2nd's and 3rd's. Zack and Kunsel got with the 3rd's. Sephiroth spoke.

"We have a situation in the Training Room." His cool, collected voice was a real contrast against the way that Kunsel had been acting earlier and the terrified faces of the SOLDIERs around them. "Many of you have seen it already, but the Director has sealed off the room. We need one or two of you to go in with helmet cams to investigate. You will be paid extra overtime wages as well as get a bonus on your next paycheck. Do any of you want to volunteer?"

The whole room went silent. It literally looked like the whole crowd shrunk away from the word "volunteer." Zack shrugged.

"I'll do it."

As if he'd just said that he'd stop a meteor from destroying the planet, everyone in the whole room slowly looked over to him and stared. He shrugged again.

"It can't be THAT bad, can it? We're SOLDIER..." He faltered after looking around. "R-right...?"

Genesis stepped forward. "You have no idea what's in there. What if it was, say, a black vortex that we can't see anything in?"

Zack regained his composure.

"It's nothing I can't handle!"

"If you're sure..." Genesis and Sephiroth made their way to Zack as the crowd parted for them. The three of them walked toward the Training Room amidst whispers and murmurs from the SOLDIER operatives around them. When they were in front of the door, Sephiroth turned to Zack.

"We can't go in with you. The more people there are in there, the more violent the vortex gets."

"So you weren't kidding about that, huh?" Zack muttered.

"Why would I be?" Genesis went over to the door's control and started putting in the access code.

"Just go in and investigate." Sephiroth handed Zack a headset that had a camera attached to it. "Don't go too near the vortex if you can help it. We'll monitor your progress from the Briefing Room."

"Roger!" Zack pulled his sword off his back and faced the door after putting on the headset camera. Genesis opened the door and Zack entered.

The door slid closed behind him and he was plunged into the red glow of the emergency lights. A voice crackled in his ear from the ear-piece that was attached to the headset.

"Activating overhead lighting..." A moment later, the lights in the room flickered on. Zack gasped at what he saw.

The room was thrashed: computers were ripped apart; the lights were hanging from the ceiling. But the strangest things were the glass of the Training Room's simulator and the strange strands that were flowing from various points around the room. The glass wasn't broken. Despite the obvious damage to the rest of the room, the glass was intact. Also, the flowing strands were light-green in color and seemed to be flowing THROUGH the glass into the simulator. And, inside the simulator, the most shocking part of the picture was swirling and flickering in a dark, shadowy vortex. It looked like the green strands were being pulled into it...

Then, Zack saw something that scared him more than anything else in the room. A girl with brown hair with a pink bow in it wearing brown boots and a pink dress was standing, back to him, staring into the tempest. The edges of her figure were blurring and most of the green strands were flowing out of her into the tempest. He stepped forward and tried calling out. But his voice made no noise. It was as if all sound had been canceled out. Suddenly, as if she'd heard him, the girl turned to him. Then, he saw her eyes...

They were deep black. And as empty as the vortex that flowed behind her.

He heard Sephiroth's voice yelling, but as if it was miles away. Then, a deep ringing filled his ears as he felt himself fall forward, a black abyss of emptiness enveloping him until he felt nothing, at all.

End of Chapter Three...