Video Game: Kingdom Hearts SOS: The Road To Light

Beuce watched as Aux bumbled out an apology. That...hadn't been quite how he pictured it happening, but it happened all the same. Ven seemed a bit off-put by this but quickly forgave Aux under the condition that he helped find his other friends. Beuce, deciding that Ventus was truly a good kid, spoke up for their first order of business. "Alright, well since we can't do regular aura training, I figured instead we could-" Beuce was blindsided by a wad of paper hitting his right temple. Reaching down and picking it up, he uncrumpled it to find that it was a note.

"Meet me at the bell tower
- <3 Sok"

Beuce looked around but could find no trace of anyone who could've thrown the note. "Well, I guess we're going to the belltower now." He said, showing it to the others. "This could be something interesting." Beuce then turned to directly address Aux. "You've spent the most time here. Why don't you lead the way?" ​

 

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Watching the simulated track forge itself reminded him greatly of the light cycle competition that he'd participated in on Space Paranoids. Even though the obstacles gave it its own clear distinction from having to crash light rays into other light cycles. Kel watched as at the press of a button things got colder as the weather changed. "Maybe you should've kept your jacket on," He remarked to Karina. With or without his aura on right now, the cold didn't really faze him and not just because he was wearing a jacket with sleeves underneath it. His own aura had been much colder than this right now whenever it was used.

 

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Faust found himself trying to figure out why that Shiro guy had called him “Faustalot”, he really was just Faust the Traveling magician. He knew that sometimes with the world of mouth spreading things around that people tended to mix things up. He had just come to this conclusion as he and the others made it to where this “obstacle course” was, and their teacher explained that they needed to run it multiple times while they seemed to simulate the dead of winter. The winters on the chained isles had felt colder but that might have been just because of the fact he had more rags than clothes though the chunks of ice were quite the nuisance with the sting they left where they hit. Still as annoying as the ice was he tried to figure out how to path the course that Karbine girl seemed to have gotten quite the head start on Faust as she raced off coated in aura. He could only really sigh as even just looking at someone else doing the obstacle looked tiring. He was more of the dexterity sort even when he was growing up so this looked like it would be a total pain, still he plastered his usual carefree smile as he shot a look to Shiro saying “Not the worst chill I had felt since I grew up on the streets, but could make me Slate on the uptake you know.” giving himself a quick stretch before adding “Oh and the names just Faust not Faustalot, Hiro”


He made it almost all the way up the rope slanted wall in quick time although it left him all ready out of breath before stepping his foot on a piece of slate causing him to slip on the chunk of ice tumbling back to the base of the wall. Picking himself up another frustrated sigh coating himself in his lighting Aura as well causing small arcs of fractal energy to shatter the slate that came close to him preventing another slip up like that from happening again though it didn’t do much for the cold. Making it across the balancing was easy work even in his exhausted huffing state was simple. His work on the elevated horizontal ladder contraption on the hand was a daunting slow task as he felt his hands and arms tremble and shake. He just glanced at the rest of the course feeling more tired and sore than he had for years and he hadn’t even finished the first lap. This whole thing just felt like he had drawn the shortest straw once again.

 

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Kel watched as Karina lit her own aura ablaze to combat the cold before running on ahead and soon Faust had done the same. Following suite he let the coldness of his own aura envelope him, practically nullifying the coldness brought on by the weather, and took off on the obstacle course. While his aura prevented the cold from bothering him, it didn't make him immune to any of the build-up of snow and weather on the course. So he still needed to tread carefully up the rope climb to make sure that he wouldn't slip up and fall, the trip down on the other hand was made easier with the ice at his feet allowing him to slide down and to the monkey bars, where the slipperiness of the bars allowed him to gain momentum to get processing forward. The last climbing wall was handled similarly to the rope climb, with patience and focus that would help him traverse it. His aura held strong at the end of the first lap, but it would not last the whole five laps. Meaning that he would have to make the most of it while he had it.

 

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It was all very sentimental and aw-inspiring for one moment, then this heaviness set in among the group as Orion explained what each path being taken would really mean to everyone. Aux pretty much bailed out of it, and it seemed like the girl who was with them, who said she was a princess and a carrier of light, didn't think this path was for her as well. Beuce, however... The more he talked, the darker it seemed. To take a life? No, more than one. As many as he had to, he said. And to have the burden of it on his shoulders for the rest of his life. It sounded so... lonely. And heavy.

Ven watched the interaction with a small frown on his face before he realized the attention was now turned on him. "Oh, m-me?" he pointed at himself awkwardly and thought for a moment, looking at who was left in the group. "I don't suppose you can help me unlock the first level of aura, could you? That seems like that's my first step in this whole training regime. Apparently I haven't unlocked it yet because I'm not a keyblade master. I need to be out there looking for my friends that were taken by Ne- I mean, Eliza. But I don't want to slow everybody down on the team. I'm willing to learn and catch up."

 

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The next run of the course had been like clockwork as he went through the same motions as before by utilizing his own aura while keeping pace with Karina. She was far enough that he could still see her as he chased behind her, but never close enough for him to be able to pass and take the lead from her. Her speed was definitely showing here as while he could start sprinting to pass her, that would wear him out faster and give her an easy opening to pass him.

His aura started to wane on him on his third time through the course, allowing some of the cold to start affecting him. It still wasn't enough to have any hindering effects on him even if it meant he would need to change up his game plan slightly moving forward especially as fatigue started to catch up him with towards the end. The fourth run was when his body started showing signs of fatigue. His breathing became more labored and it was more of a struggled to keep up a steady pace. The distance between Karina and himself had widened over time. What truly decided that was when he lacked the momentum to breeze through monkey bars and nearly slipped off of them. His grip however remained firm and he was able to power through the last run before finally reaching the end. Once again his legs just wanted to cave in and rest and again Kel, for better or worse, remained standing in spite of that. "That settles it." Kel started in between taking in some deep breaths. "You're definitely faster than me now."

 

As we laid down, Quill was simply restless. The others seemed to sleep so easily but...closing his eyes too long only brought back terrible memories. He finally had to ask the old wizard to simply put him to sleep, his mind simply was too clouded for rest. Quill drifted off instantly upon his enchantment and came to somewhere else, some island. IHe had never felt the sand of a beach before, though he'd read of it in fantasy books. It was so new to Quill, it felt almost endless. Every grain called out to him, he could feel connected to every single mineral. This was the beginnings to the aura he once has control over. Yet he had to admit sand was rather coarse and rough and irritating, and it gets everywhere.

Quill laid back in the sand, content to simply stay and sleep for once. Yet looking up he saw the shadow of something falling at his head. He freaked out and rolled sideways in time for his stone keyblade to not impale his head. "You couldn't leave me alone, even in a dream could you?" Grumbling to himself, Quill stood up and nodded to his allies. He wished them luck on their trip and journeyed into the forest.

Stalking through the dark jungle, Quill found himself thinking of his past. First the most immediate past, his last couple days of discussion. Then his time in prison, sitting alone in his cell. Then, blackness. He didn't know how much time went by floating in darkness, a broken shattered heart that had nothing but the endless void as company. The crushing pressure of shadow trying to constantly assimilate his being into the crushing infinite corruption. All in all, it was rather tiring. But why was all this coming back to him now?

Walking through the jungle, a tiny sparkle of light can be seen in the distance. I start running through the extensive brush.

 

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Yen Sid led the group to a pool of glowing water. Beside the poolside were a row of nearly a dozen open sleeping pods. 'As I understand... these sleeping chambers will help to monitor your health while in deep meditation. Should anything life threatening occur in your dream state.... I shall wake you up.' A dream how interesting. 'Andrew must find his hidden in the clouds.' while ordinarily he would be worried on how on earth he would get to the clouds without a keyblade he had quickly came up with a plan. 'And Kaida must find hers at the bottom of the ocean.' Oh no he knew Kaida was not found of water after the whole ocean thing. He opened his eyes and found himself on some unknown island. Quill quickly ran off. "Wait Quill." It might have been to late while he could go after him he did not like the idea of getting lost in the forest no mater how dream like this place was. While yen Sid had said no keyblades there was no mention of not working together and his first thought was to do that but seeing as Quill was gone that was kind of out the window.

 

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It was kind of unnerving meeting the other man's gaze for a moment. He was surprised when he was given such a simple task, and he wasn't quite sure how in shape he was, but he was willing to give it a shot. When he was given a ten second head start, he hesitated a moment and then looked to Beuce and Orion before he took off running as fast as he could.

 

Quill's breathing increased, his heart was beating he ran so hard he felt his lungs could pop. Every step seemed harder than the last, it felt like he was running through quicksand. Quill heard echos behind him, it was AJ's voice. 'Wait Quill' Quill didn't look back "AJ don't follow me, this path is too rough for you just stay back." He ran ahead and broke through another wall of vines and brush. He nearly tripped on loose branches, loose bark leaving cuts on his body. He kept running, trying to avoid as much as he could. His breathing kept increasing, why was the air so murky and heavy. He had to fight for every breath.

Another echo from behind 'Wait Quill' Quill angrily screamed back "I told you I'm fine! Just let me take this path!" More vines wrapped around him, only making him heavier. Mud caked his legs and almost seemed to harden on his feet. He kept angrily trudging through, his face and body covered in sweat that burned his cuts. Another voice this time 'Where are you running Quill' He didn't look back "The light, I'm so close to it. It could only be a couple minutes away, i'm so close..." But even as he ran as hard as he could, Quill wasn't moving forward.

No matter how much he ran, the light never got closer, it never got brighter. The voice came again 'You're not getting any closer, why don't you stay here with us?' The voice seemed to echo in his head repeatedly. The brush and vines and mud entangling him seemed to lose shape. They became shadowy murk then morphed into hands, they had long nails that dug into his skin. They dragged at Quill's feet and made him slow "No I'm so close, I just have to keep going....keep running!" Quill ripped at the vines in front of him, broke the tree roots on the ground, rended the brush with long claws. A large tree stood in his way and instead of moving, Quill clawed and cut at it repeatedly. He sundered the tree till it broke in half, Quill ran along the shattered trunk. "I have to be close..."

 

At the bottom of the ocean.

Her task didn't quite sink in until she was standing on the beach. She was going to have to swim? Well that was just wonderful. The task on it's own would have been monumental enough if Kaida were not forced to overcome some of her fears. Was it a fear? Falling in the ocean and not being able to swim seemed like a reasonable thing but it wasn't like she was afraid of the ocean itself. She remembered the Symphony of Sorcery when she became a fish and swam around to the music. She was not afraid then.

Kaida walked to the shoreline nervously and stared at it for a long while before walking further in. When the water level was at her knees, she waited a moment before she felt that ping of nervousness come back and she turned around to take a deep breath before she heard a voice calling out. She couldn't figure out what it may have been saying, only that there was a shout coming from the ocean. When the girl turned back to look for the source she saw someone standing at a distance in just the right spot where the light of the sun obscured their face. But she recognized features. Blue hair, a little taller than her, a black and green shirt. He had a hand reaching out towards her and Kaida strained to see but felt herself begin running towards them. Why? Who was this? Why was this the urge.

But the more she ran at them the deeper the ocean became and the further away they seemed. She ran until she felt a sudden drop off in the water and let out a yelp before plummeting in deep into the water. She sank quickly, not knowing what to do with herself with no knowledge of swimming. She wasn't even trying to float back. She couldn't find the person anywhere and her surprise at the drop off made it so she was running out of air quickly. Kaida looked to the bottom of the ocean, or tried to but only saw the black abyss that seemed never ending. She let herself sink further as she tried to hold her breath longer. The sharp pain from holding breath too long overtook her first, then she panicked and flailed her arms to try and push herself up to the surface. It worked a little, managing to get her arms moving in a way that brought her closer to the surface. But it was not enough. Kaida couldn't hold her breath anymore and felt herself gasp out as the water began to fill her lungs. There was no real use in squirming or trying to cough the water out, but the blond attempted anyway. It only resulted in more water sucking itself in. The drowning itself did not last much longer before things began to grow dark.

Then the light suddenly flashed bright again, and Kaida found herself standing knee deep in the water looking towards the blue haired figure again in the sunlight. Her body ran towards the water first before her brain processed things seemed to go back in time. Kaida stopped herself just before the deep drop off. She just drowned, didn't she? Well, clearly not. But she knew enough to not run an inch too far. The blond knocked herself on the head and had to remind herself a million times that this was a dream. Of course things looping wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. But that drowning pain was so real. And where was the blue haired kid? She didn't see them on the horizon anymore. She looked down and saw them sinking. Their face obscured, but it looked as though they were drowning.

Why the girl who couldn't swim felt the logical solution was to jump into the deep water to save them was beyond her. But she had held her breath and was swimming towards them anyway. She wasn't making it very far, single she wasn't using any proper swimming technique. But she kept going further and further trying to chase after them. She held her breath for quite a long time trying to make chase before that familiar feeling of drowning came back. She tried desperately to keep it held as she tried to keep telling herself this was a dream. But that didn't stop her from gasping out and feeling the water rush into her lungs once more. Her vision grew dark before it grew brighter.

Kaida felt herself standing knee deep in the water and making chase at the blue haired kid again before she managed to stop herself at the edge of the deep end again. This was a loop wasn't it? It always started right as she charged in and felt determination to reach the boy. She looked across to find them and they were gone, and in the water she saw them drowning again. And her instinct told her to jump in and save him. It kept her from giving herself much time to think about getting into the water and only gave Kaida just enough time to reprocess this was the beginning again. She dove into the water and swam further with a little more practice but she still didn't reach the boy before drowning again.

 

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He turned his attention to Kaida who was still standing there. "Remember that this place is only are real as you want it to be." At this point he walked to the edge of the forest and pick a good size stick. "So what..." He turned around and Kaida was gone and the ripples of the ocean where she want in was the only thing that could be seen. That was when you could hear Quill say, 'AJ don't follow me, this path is too rough for you just stay back.' Seriously he could take care of himself. He had not actually planed on following him. That was when a second AJ appeared next to him and repeated what he had just said. There was two possibilities here one Quill and kaida were still standing on the beach with him and he could not see them or two they left. He did not think it was the first option. So he turned to the second AJ which he had ignored up to this point and thought you are not real. Looking for a good size rock and he just kept on thinking it. As he found one the AJ that was standing there disappeared. So this dream could see there thoughts some how and he wondered if he had already figured out what it was doing. So the options left was not to think or just ignore what the dream had come up with next. Taking the rock and banging it one a larger rock until it was just the right size and sharp enough to cut something he looked to the forest and attached the rock to the stick and made his way into the forest using his makeshift weapon to clear a path. He kept walking looking for some tall tree or a mountain just something that would get him closer to the clouds. He had figure that Kaida had left wanting to do her trail on her own.

 

Beuce was a bit confused as to why they were suddenly required to play tag. To him, it didn't seem to line up with what orion had just told him, but he was hardly in a position to argue. He counted down the seconds after Ventus took off running, and after ten, Beuce darted after the boy. Ventus had certainly surprised Beuce with his speed, so he buckled down and ran as fast as he could after him. ​

 

Drowning. Chasing. Drowning. Chasing. How many times had this cycle repeated itself at this point? Her body was just as energetic and alive, refreshed each time. But her mind grew exhausted. How many times had she felt the sharp pain of drowning? Her mind had begun with each consecutive dive to teach her better techniques for swimming. Remembering how others swam and eventually getting it down. She'd managed to learn how to swim and dive in this loop. But she couldn't reach the body who was drowning. That wasn't the initial task, she knew that, but she needed to reach them. If they were passed out they wouldn't be able to do anything to save themselves. But she couldn't reach them, the further and faster she swam the deeper they sank. Like a fish being lured. But it worked and she knew it.

She had started counting and had reached about 127 before she lost track. And that must have been a long time ago. Or no time at all. But the loop kept her from turning around. She tried. Her brain knew this was happening but she couldn't stop the instinct to jump in. She wanted out of the loop. And that meant getting to this boy. Or getting to the bottom of the ocean. Whichever one came first. She could grab the boy, bring him up, and go back down. At this rate she knew how to swim, so starting over would be a piece of cake. But she still couldn't see the bottom of the ocean from here. As she dove in again, she watched him sinking even faster and it was infuriating. She just needed to get him, that was all. She just wanted to stop this nonsense and stop him from sinking so quickly. She needed to stop drowning. This loop needed to stop. Everything needed to stop.

Stop.

Kaida moved for quite a bit of time not feeling any loss of breath. Watching as the water seemed to move still and the boy actually seemed to not be moving rather than him sinking further. She dove further just in reach of his hand before the water began to move once more and the body sank ever further. Kaida was in a bit of shock that it worked but not before she felt herself gasping for air.

And she was on the beach running once more. Diving in after the boy as he sank deeper. And she teached out and willed time to stop. She dove further just about to reach the boy before time began once more and she tried again. She felt herself not losing air as quickly this way, and getting closer each time. But he sunk so quickly she'd still have to speed up. But as time began she gasped out for air and felt her lungs fill once more.

Drowning. Chasing. Diving. Stop. Diving. Stop. Drowning. Chasing. Diving. Stop. Diving. Stop. Diving. Stop. Drowning...