Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sand is soft under your feet as you walk to the edge of the beach. You fiddle with the art bag on your shoulder, wondering if you really should have come out here today. A heavy sigh escapes your lips and you turn to follow the edge of the water. The waves gently brush against the sole of your nearest shoe.

As you meander along the beach you spot Sora up ahead, asleep in the sand. Your hand slips into your bag and returns with a large sketchbook, pencil through the spiral spine. You flip to a blank page and begin sketching the scene in front of you, pencil dancing quickly across the paper. As you start on the background you can hear soft steps approach behind you.

"What are you drawing?" Kairi giggles, walking up beside you. "Oh, Sora?"

"Mm-hmm." You reply glancing between the sleeping boy and your work, your face somber.

"Oh add me!" She exclaims and hurries past you to stand at Sora's head. She crouches down and flashes you a double victory sign with a grin.

You quickly add her to the piece and shoot her a thumbs up once you finish. As she stands to move back to you Sora sits up and stares forward groggily. He yawns and lays back down when Kairi leans back down over him.

He jolts forward once he notices her. "Woah! ...Give me a break Kairi!"

You tune out their conversation as you finalize your lines and date the piece. You hear Sora mention something about other worlds and darkness swallowing him or something as you shove your sketchbook back into your bag.

You hear more heavy footsteps come from behind you. "There you two are, I guess I'm the only one working on the..." Riku trails off once he notices you with them.

You turn your head to give him a quick glance, and he returns to you what you'd describe as masked disgust. He shifts the large log under his muscular arm as he slows his approach. You avert your eyes and begin to walk past Sora and Kairi. She asks you to show her the picture later and you respond with a small wave of your hand.

"You could try being nicer Riku." Sora states softly to his approaching friend.

"Maybe I would be if she weren't so consistently annoying." Riku's words trail off as you make your way up to the treehouse.

"Yeah this was a bad idea, I should just leave."

Sticking your legs through the railings, you lean back on the wooden deck. Would they really care if you left? Sora and Kairi would, but what for? It's not like you're hanging out with them or anything. They're too focused on building their raft, and Riku won't have anything to do with you regardless. The raft was a stupid idea, the dumbasses were going to get themselves killed. You doubt any of them did any research on seafaring before deciding to risk their life on the open ocean. You lie, telling yourself your frustration is from concern. But in reality, you were jealous. You want off this island too, but you were painfully aware you weren't welcome to go with them.

You watch as Riku chucks the log onto Sora before talking to Kairi. You pull the bag off your shoulder as the three of them take off under the small bridge connecting to the paopu tree platform. Fiddling with one of the ribbons in your hair, you lean farther back until you're laying flat. You take in a deep breath and hold it for a time before exhaling. You close your eyes, maybe you'll just take a quick nap.

You're standing on dusty, dry ground. Wind howls as you turn to survey the surrounding area. You're in some strange wasteland, jagged rocks and mountains pepper the horizon, some flat and plateaued at the top.

"Where am I?"

Something jolts through you. Panic. You have to go. Something is coming. You can't see it, but you can feel it.

You turn, the closest rock wall to you has a large crack gouged in it. You start running towards it, your movement like molasses. You grit your teeth.

"Move!" You command your body, it does not obey.

It's getting closer, whatever it is. You need to go, need to get away.

After what feels like forever you reach the crevasse and begin to squeeze your way through it. You turn to the side as you inch your way past sharp rocks jutting from the walls. Claustrophobia seeps in as you feel the rock wall move behind you, you scramble quicker.

You get around a tight corner, the walls rub against your front and back as you push yourself deeper. Your hand slides along the stone, when suddenly a hand shoots out and clamps around your wrist. You scream as it starts to pull you back towards where you came in from. You look at the hand, the skin an oily black, or was that a glove? You jerk your wrist from its grip and it slams its palm against the cave wall in response. It cracks the stone below it, you move faster.

You finally push your way out into a room, your front room. All the furniture sits on the ceiling. A puddle of black liquid drips upwards and spreads across the ceiling, staining the legs of the furniture. You give the liquid a wide berth as you make your way to the door on the other side. You look back to the crack in the wall, the hand slithers its way out from the darkness. A voice growls out as you tug the door open and slide through past the wood.

You emerge back into the cave, slamming the door behind you. You run down the tunnel in front of you. It twists and turns, you hear footsteps behind you.

You burst from the tunnel into the dusty open air, you glance around for another path as you run. But there isn't one. You're closed in on all sides by the same tall rocks you'd seen earlier. You come to a pause as you survey the rocks for somewhere you can climb.

"How long do you plan on running?" A voice whispers out from right behind you.

You turn your head, but there's no one there. You turn to face the hole in the wall as you back away from it. You step into something wet. You look down at the small pool of black water you'd stepped in, it spreads out quickly below your feet. Just before you can move your foot, a hand shoots up and grabs your ankle. You scream. Another one snatches your other ankle, they look like the one from the cave, pitch black and glistening from the water. The water spreads out to the edges of the surrounding rocks, you begin to sink into it. You thrash and try to pull your feet free, but more hands sprout from the surface and grab at your legs. The fingers dig into your calves and thighs, more emerge each time one dips below the surface as you're pulled in deeper. You scream and tug at the hands as they drag you down, they grab your wrists in return. You're in up to your waist at this point. Your breathing is fast, panicked.

"Let go!" You cry out. But they don't listen.

They grab wildly, you let out a squeak as one wraps its fingers around your breast. Others dig their fingers into your upper arms. You squirm in their grip, the water is just below your chest now. The water in front of you stirs with movement and you freeze in fear. You stare as a head and shoulders emerge from the water. Your captors pause in their effort to drag you under the surface as the thing before you opens its eyes and gives you a wicked grin. It wore Riku's face, it made your skin crawl the way it looked down at you. Its hands shoot up from the water and grab either side of your head. You let out a small squeak as it leans in to tower over you.

"Don't struggle. Let it take you. Give in." The voice is deep, it feels wrong, seeing it come from Riku's mouth.

"No..." You whisper in response.

It doesn't respond as it slips below the water, releasing your face as it goes. You get in one more inhale before you feel two hands dig into your hips and pull you below the surface. You grab at its wrists, trying to pry them off you as you thrash around. Your eyes are wrenched shut as it pulls you deeper and deeper. Your eyes shoot open when you feel your feet touch ground, 'Riku' floats in front of you. He sticks out in the murky water, his white hair and pale skin almost glows. Your lungs burn as you claw at the fingers holding you in place. It releases its grip and you kick off, desperate to surface. You see hands in your periphery, the arms are longer than what should be natural, they sway in the water like long lines of black kelp. You kick your legs and pump your arms as the surface comes into view.

You let out some of the air held in your lungs, you can't hold out much longer. Your fingers almost breach the surface when you feel an iron grip around your ankle once more. You open your mouth and scream.

Your eyes shoot open as you take in a ragged breath. You stare up at the doorframe of the treehouse, you'd somehow wormed your way across the deck in your sleep. You pull yourself up to sit, rubbing at your face. You look out to the sky, the sun sets in the distance. You were going to regret this tonight. You crawl over to your bag, pulling it over your shoulder with shaky hands.

"Oh you're finally awake?" Sora calls out to you when he sees you emerge from the treehouse. "I was getting kinda worried, you were murmuring in your sleep but you wouldn't wake up."

"Mmm..." You reply as you rub at your hips. They hurt for some reason, did you grab at yourself in your sleep? "When did you check on me..?"

"Hours ago, I went into the tree house to get that old piece of cloth. You were, uh, writhing and mumbling, but when I tried shaking you awake you quieted down so I figured you would be ok." He replied.

You wondered how many dreams you'd had before that last one. You raise on wobbly legs and inch your way to the ladder. You make your way down, Sora meets you at the last rung.

"Hey." He whispered. "Are you planning on coming out tomorrow?"

"Uh.." You pause, glancing over at Riku and Kairi on the dock untethering their boats. "I dunno Sora, what's the point of me coming out with you guys?"

"I want you to see the raft before we take it out. I want your expertise."

"Expertise? Really now..." You furrow your brows at him.

"You know some things about boats don't you? You're full of all sorts of information!" He smiles at you.

"Random trivia and knowledge does not correlate to useful, real life applicable information Sora." You exhale.

"Oh c'mon [Name]. Please?" He gives you a sincere, begging look.

Your eyes meet for just a second before you look out to stare at the horizon. Maybe you'll do this one last thing for him before you end things.

"Hey! You coming or are you planning on camping here overnight?" Riku shouts to Sora.

"Think about it, ok?" Sora turns to face the dock, casually throwing his hands behind his head. "We're coming!"

You dig your feet into the sand before slowly trailing behind Sora to climb into your boat to return to the main island.

That night was restless. You couldn't sleep because of your hours long nap on the island earlier in the day. All you could do was stare up into the dark until the early morning light splashed across your ceiling.

After eating you groggily made your way to where everyone's small boats were docked. None were missing so you'd be the first one out there today. You thought about what Sora said to you yesterday. Should you even bother? Deep in your gut, you knew this was a bad idea. But you were resigned to do this one last thing for Sora. Exhaling heavily, you climb into your boat and paddle out to the island.

You reach the island and tie your boat to the dock. You stand and stare at the scenery before you, gathering the willpower to move your feet. After a moment you drag yourself over to the small waterfall, peering into the small cave next to it. You crouch down and make your way through the tunnel. You emerge into the inner space, white markings litter the walls and rocks within from you and the other kids. You make faces at some of your old art pieces, holding back on the urge to scratch them away completely. While battling your intrusive thoughts you look over at the large wooden door wedged in the cave wall. You never got an answer to where that led to, just that 'It's always been there'. You approach it slowly. You reach your hand out, the wood is cool under your touch. You can hear something, you bring your face and other hand to the wood as well. Is that a voice?

"Hello?" You whisper.

"Hello." Is the response.

You furrow your brow as you close your eyes, focusing everything on listening. The voice is masculine, but it's hard to hear. You consider the possibility that you're hallucinating. It wouldn't be the first time.

"You can hear me?" The voice sounds closer to the door now.

"Yes." You reply. "Who are you?"

"My name is unimportant."

"If you say so. How did you get on the other side of this door?"

"Again, it's unimportant. Do you even know what this door is?" The voice questions.

"No."

"Then I doubt you would understand even if I did tell you." The voice says arrogantly. "Is there any point in explaining concepts so far above one's head?"

"I enjoy learning new things." You respond with a huff.

The voice laughs. "Well, if you survive, maybe I'll enlighten you."

Your eyes flick open. Survive? You must be hallucinating, how else would this voice know of your plans to end yourself. You bite your lip, considering whether not to respond. 

"A-alright. Goodbye then." Why were you talking to yourself.

"Farewell girl." It responds.

You pull away from the door, you hadn't realized you had pressed your body completely against the cool wood. Your body shook from some feeling you couldn't identify. You step back a bit before turning and making your way out of the small cave. Once out, you wet your hand in the waterfall and rub it against you face. Maybe you should go for a swim.

You drop your bag off inside the small shack on the beach, kicking off your shoes and ankle socks next to it. You unzip your jean shorts and drop them onto your bag before peeling off your arm warmer and upper arm sweatbands and doing the same with them. You exit the shack in your leggings and tank top, not swim gear but they'd dry quick enough.

You wade out into the water up to your waist and walk your way around to the back of the island. Knowing the raft was being built over here, you wanted to see it before Sora showed it to you so you could come up with some points before hand. You were never good with on the spot criticism The water is up to your neck as you hop gently along, fish swim casually between your arms. Eventually you reach the raft and walk ashore so you can give it a once over.

Your brows furrow. These idiots are for sure gonna get themselves killed. This thing wouldn't survive a trip around the island, let alone the open water. Not your problem though, as if they'd take your advice anyways.

You return to the water and spend the next hour swimming before you hear the splash of paddles and chatter from the others. You take the long way around the island in an effort to avoid them for a bit longer. You feel less groggy at least.

As you circle around Selphie waves at you from the docks. You lazily wave back.

"Oh there you are. Sora is looking for you."

"I figured." You grumble.

"Awfully grumpy aren't you? You mad you weren't invited to go with them?" Selphie jabs.

"I plan on killing myself in a less agonizing way, thank you very much. Dying of dehydration on a rickety ass raft is a bit too much for me." You reply, deadpan.

"What the hell [Name]?" She furrows her brow at you.

"Joking, obviously." You weren't.

She watches as you swim over to where the paopu tree is and climb up the ladder. You stand on the curved tree trunk and grab one of the star shaped fruits before walking across the small bridge to run it under the waterfall. Walking back to the bridge, you sit facing away from the dock. Your legs dangle off the side as you bite into your snack. You picked a good one this time. You take quick bites, drinking up any juice that pools in the marks your teeth leave behind. Then you pause. You lower your hands to your lap as you zone out, staring out to the horizon.

"[Name]! I'm so glad you came out!" Sora exclaims from below you.

You flinch, nearly dropping the remaining fruit on his head. You quickly stuff the last piece into your mouth and throw the stem into the water.

"Yeah I guess I'm here." You choke out your reply, coughing on the paopu. "What are you working on today?"

"Oh, I'm getting the provisions today. We also named the raft, raced Riku and won so I chose the name Excalibur." Sora beamed.

"Oh yeah?" 

"Yeah. I'll come get you once I've gathered everything, then you can see the raft and we can get your opinion." 

"...Alright." You pull your feet up and stretch out on the bridge to dry. You wave to Sora as he does his 'supply run'. 

It doesn't take long as it's a particularly hot day. After some time Sora runs under you for the last time and you roll off the bridge and land on your feet. You go into the shack and pull the rest of your clothes back on. You exit the shack and sit under the bridge, pulling out your sketch book. You decide to draw yesterday's dream, it would haunt you otherwise.

Your pencil digs deep into the paper as you find yourself pressing harder than you mean to. Multiple times you have to stop and remind yourself not to press so hard. Giving your dream form was somehow both stressful and cathartic, hands shaking from your grip and pressure. The page fills up with dark aggressive marks and sharp angles. On the next page you decided to draw 'him'. Your pulse raced and you did so, "don't draw me anymore." his words were harsh in your memory. It's not like it was ACTUALLY him or anything, but you knew he'd be pissed regardless if he saw. You needed to get it done before Sora came to get you, not wanting to have to explain shit to him.

When you finished, you looked over your completed piece. Sharp eyes stared up at you from the paper, it was hard to look at. Not as hard as looking into the real Riku's eyes; but still hard enough to make you quickly glance around the paper before returning to the face. It carved into your soul.

A bark of laughter escapes your lips. "I really am pathetic, huh?" You close the book quickly as you hear footsteps approaching.

"[Name]! C'mon let's go!" Sora offers you his hand excitedly.

You refuse his hand and stand on your own, tucking your sketchbook under your arm. "Alright, lemme see it."

Sora's leads you to the door and tunnel that connects to the other half of the island. Once you reach the raft where Kairi and Riku are standing Sora shoots his hands out to display their work.

"Ta-da! Not to shabby huh?" Sora beams.

You offer the boy a small smile. As you approach you can see they've made extra adjustments to make the raft more sturdy.

"Do you take constructive criticism?"

"No." Riku replies rudely.

Kairi gives his arm a soft smack, he grumbles in response.

Sora glances at his friend, then back to you. "Uh, yeah. Let us have it."

"So it's not too bad, looks like it could make it around the island at least." You feel bad crushing Sora's excitement. "But where are you guys gonna shelter on this thing? And how much food are you guys bringing? Setting out across open ocean isn't a day trip sorta thing."

"Oh." His face falters slightly. "I guess we should make a few more revisions, huh?"

You felt guilty now. "It's a good first build though, don't get me wrong. I just... I don't think I'd trust this in a storm though, it's a pretty small vessel."

"Not like you'll have to worry about that." Riku bites. He was mad at you.

"Look, you wanna be suicidal? Fine. But don't go dragging them into your mess without them knowing the potential cost." You snap back.

He scowls at you, you look away, a frustrated frown on your lips. The silence drags on for what feels like a painfully long time.

"How about we go devise a second draft then?" Kairi chimes in. "Afterwards, we can come back and at least give this one a test drive."

Sora agrees and the two start making their way to the door as you turn to follow. 

"[Name], stop. We need to talk. Sora, we'll catch up with you in a minute." Riku's words stop you in your tracks. 

Sora and Kairi exchange quick glances and he whispers something to her.

"Ok, just don't take too long!" She calls back before they disappear through the tunnel.

It suddenly feels very cold as he stares at you, arms crossing his chest. He takes a few steps towards you.

"What are you up to?" He questions you harshly.

"I'm not up to anything."

"Oh yeah, sure. That's why you came to opine on our raft right? What a random coincident." His voice is accusatory.

"Excuse you. Sora asked for my opinion, take it up with him."

He glares at you. "Uh-huh sure, that's the only reason. I know you're just butt hurt cuz you're not invited to go with us."

He wasn't completely wrong.

You decide against responding, so you turn to head for the door, when suddenly your sketchbook is snatched from your arm.

"Hey!" You turn to see Riku has the book open to the first page. "Give that back!"

"Hmm, no."

Panic floods your system as he starts thumbing through your work. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"I just wanna see what you were working on earlier, you had a terrified look in your eyes." He gives you a smug smile. "Almost like the look you're giving me right now."

"Riku! Give it back! You can't look at it!" You lurch forward but he slips out of your reach, continuing his flipping of pages. "Stop!"

As you manage to get with in arms length he holds the book in both hands above his head, just out of your reach again. You look up to see what page he's on and your blood freezes. That page. He cocks his head slightly to regard you.

"What the hell did I say about drawing me?" His tone is angry.

"It's not you..." You squirm under his glare. "It was from a dream, it just... looked like you."

He makes a noise of disgust. "You dreamt of me?"

"It wasn't exactly an enjoyable, fun time! You were trying to fucking drown me!" Exasperation laces your words.

"I'm taking this page." He says after a moment's pause.

You snap. No way are you letting him destroy your work. You pull back and slam your fist into the center of his chest. He drops your book as he doubles over, coughing.

"Oh god why did I do that?"

You catch the book before it hits ground, closing it and pulling it to your chest. He looks up, rage in his eyes, as he rubs his chest. Coughs make way to a low growl.

You'd been backing away but as he stares you down you're suddenly frozen on the spot. You beg your legs to move, but they refuse. Riku's definitely faster than you overall, but your sprint is nothing to sneeze at, too bad you can't maintain it for long. But you'll take what advantages you can get.

You see his muscles tense. Your mind screams at your limbs to move. He launches towards you. A spike of adrenaline hits you. You pivot and speed your way towards the tunnel. Your feet carrying you faster than they ever have before.

"GO GO GO GO OH MY GOD GO!!!" Your mind screams as you plummet into the darkness of the tunnel. 

In the darkness you feel resistance against your bag, you release it. Riku angrily calls your name as he throws the bag behind him. You burst out of the tunnel, Riku hot on your heels. You feel yourself slowing down. A hand grips the back of your shirt.

"Shit."

You instinctively let out a scream. Sora and Kairi whip their heads to look in your direction. The other three teens look over from the large wooden deck they'd congregated on. You clench the book to your chest harder as Sora and Kairi come running over. You turn slightly to look at Riku, he grips your shirt tighter and pulls you back towards him.

"Riku stop! Let her go!" Sora calls out.

"No, if she want's to play rough, then I'm not holding back either!" Riku replies in aggravation.

"Play rough? What happened?" Sora looks between the two of you, concern painted on his face.

"She punched me!"

"Punched you? Where?" Kairi questions. "It couldn't be that bad, [Name]'s not particularly strong."

"Gee, thanks Kairi." You mumble out. Not like she was wrong or anything, your muscle mass was lacking but you definitely had weight to throw around.

"She hit me right in the chest. I couldn't breathe!"

"Yeah, I got you right in the solar plexus." You growl.

"How the fuck do you know about something like that?" He growls in return, pulling you even closer.

"I have knowledge of many random things. Not like it matters to you though, I told you to give me my book back and you refused." His grip got tighter, you were so dead.

Sora spits out a laugh. The three of you turn to stare at him "See? I told you that random info could be useful, [Name]!"

"Now's really not-" You're cut off mid sentence as Riku once again snatches the book from your arms.

He shoves you into Sora, causing you both to stumble. You whirl back around to see him holding your book loosely.

"Please don't." You choke out. "What do you want from me?"

"How about you start with an apology?" He scowls at you, making his hand into a fist. Your book bends under the pressure.

"Riku, I'm begging you, please don't. I-I'm sorry I hit you, just please, PLEASE give it back!" You were desperate, anything to stop him from ruining your work.

He seems to consider your begging for a moment and offers the book in your direction.

You gingerly take a few steps forward and stretch out your hand, before he frizbees the book out into the water. You shriek and lunge after it, hoping to catch it before it lands. But Riku roughly grabs your upper arm, you hear the splash, and you see red. Your open palm connects with his face.

It's the most physical contact you've had with any of them in years, and it's all been violent. That's all there is to you.

You rush into the water up to your thighs, snatching up the book. You shake it vigorously in a vain attempt to rid it of water. Your breathing quickens, tears prick at your eyes. No, NO. Don't cry. Not in front of them. 

Tears spill over, you hold your breath to not let sobs escape. You cough out an exhale, a sharp whine of an inhale. Godamnit. You're so fucking pathetic. 

You don't look back, you start making your way to the dock. You bite into your tongue, anything to hold your sobs back. You can feel everyone's eyes on you. You hate it. You hate yourself.

Tugging at the rope you slide into your boat, setting your book on the floor at your feet. You're scared to survey the damage. You can hear voices, but the blood rushing in your ears means you can't make out what they're saying. You push away from the dock and make big strokes, anything to get you away as quickly as possible.

You don't remember the ride back, only that you sobbed like a child. At least you got it out of your system by the time you got to shore. You sped walked back to your house, you feel like death. A headache pounded at your skull. You hate crying. You were so weak.

Luckily your mom was out so you ran to your room with no event.

You open your book, gently ripping out the pages, you pin them to hanging string. The pages were warped by water, but fortunately the art itself wasn't destroyed. With a sigh you tear off your shorts and leggings and throw them onto a chair to dry the rest of the way. Then you collapse onto your bed and sleep takes you.

You awake once the sun's set as you can hear your mom call you from downstairs. You groggily stand and pull on your leggings and shorts and stumble down the stairs. She tells you to get the door and you grunt in response. Sora's on the other side when you open. He's holding your art bag, a concerned frown on his face.

"[Name]-" He starts, but you put your hand up to stop him.

"It's fine Sora, it's my fault anyways... You guys are going tomorrow right?" You extend your arm to take your bag, he passes it over to you.

"But... You said-"

"It's your life, risk it if you want. I won't be going out tomorrow regardless." Your words are cold.

He looks like he wants to say something, but doesn't know how.

You let out a sigh. "Sora, don't think less of him." He looks at you, confused. "I antagonized him. That's why he lashed out." Why were you defending him? "So like, don't let this ruin you guys' trip... Thank you for bringing my bag back. Goodbye."

You close the door with a soft click and a swift turn of the lock. Your mom calls out from the kitchen, she inquires about the who was at the door, you give her sparse details and return to your room. You look out the window at the now looming storm clouds. The raft probably won't survive the night. It's probably for the best. You rummage around in your dresser until you find the bottle of sleeping pills you'd bought earlier in the week. You set it down when you hear the shatter of glass from the kitchen. You call out to your mom but get no response.

"Ma! You ok?" You stand and slip on your shoes, reaching for the door handle before something slaps at your window.

You turn to see undulating bodies and glowing yellow eyes pressed against the glass. You open the door to see more figures scurrying along the hall floor. You can hear your mom yelling at you to get out of the house. The things notice you and lunge just as you slam the door shut. You scream reflexively. Wedging your chair under the door handle you look around to find any kind of weapon, but you have nothing.

The glass of your window shatters and the shadows in the hall start to work their way under the door somehow. You back up as they close in on you. You throw your lamp at one of the things, but it does nothing to stop its movement. You continue to stumble backwards until you reach your closet, but as you pass the threshold, you find yourself falling into an ocean of darkness.

Chapter Text

It's dark. The spot of light from your closet door above you shrinks as you fall. Then it's overwhelmed by darkness and glowing yellow orbs. Those things were pouring through the door after you. You roll your head as you fall, you can't see anything. How long were you going to fall for? You steady your breathing. Was this death? If it was, why were you scared? Wasn't this what you wanted? You manage to roll yourself over in the air, a small pin prick of light opens far below you. As you approach, you can feel gravity shift slightly. You mentally prepare yourself for the worst. This must be hell.

You launch past the opening and hit the ground hard. You skid and ragdoll as you collide with the dusty earth. You finally come to rest when you crash into something metal, clattering can be heard from around you. You moan, your breathing is labored as you lay there with your eyes squeezed shut. You hurt everywhere. Sharp pieces of metal dig into your back as you rest atop them. You open your eyes and grit your teeth, flexing your toes and fingers with great effort. Good, your back wasn't broken.

You roll your head to the side to see what you landed on. Tarnished and weathered metal juts up from the dirt all around you. They looked like swords, maybe? But not any kind you'd seen before, that's probably a good thing though, otherwise you would have been shredded to ribbons. You force yourself to sit, looking at the state of your body. You grimace. Adrenaline and shock must be what's keeping you from feeling the worst of your injuries.

You have road rash on your exposed arms and shoulders, dirt cakes into the blood seeping from the scrapes. There's a gash across your stomach, blood spills down your pelvis and pools below you. You peel up your shirt and gently pull your skin apart with a hiss. Thank goodness it wasn't too deep, but it also had dirt in it. You needed to get yourself cleaned up, find help before you bleed out. You agonizingly pull yourself from the ground, using the strange swords for leverage.

Once standing, you grab one to use as a crutch. You hear a rumbling, causing you to look up. The hole you fell through is still in the sky, a small black body falls through it and splats onto the ground.

"Oh shit." You mutter under your breath.

More trickle out, they spot you and begin scurrying in your direction. You free yourself from the sea of metal and scramble away as quickly as you can, your speed greatly hampered by your fall.

"Fuck. Where do I go?"

There were swords everywhere. This must be an abandoned battlefield. You take the only path you can, the one between the sea of swords. You head towards towering stones in the distance. This was familiar somehow. No time to think though, the sounds of movement were gaining on you. You turn, brandishing your borrowed sword as you continue to stumble backwards. You take a sloppy swing and the thing closest to you recoils away.

"That worked?"

You weren't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. You take another swing before turning in an attempt to gain more distance. Your body cries out for rest but you force yourself to start running. Tears prick at the corners of your eyes, the pain was setting in. You force yourself forward, picking up speed. The sounds of the things behind you were getting louder, you pant raggedly as you run.

Suddenly, you trip forward, hitting the ground with a sharp cry. You roll, pointing your weapon towards the encroaching horde. A few of them jump at you, they had swarmed so quickly it was difficult to pick out individual bodies.

"STOP!" You scream.

And they do. Everything freezes, as though time stopped in front of you. You pant, your mind swims in confusion. Then realization, you can't waste this. You agonizingly rise to your feet once more and hobble away as quickly as you can manage. Stealing glances over your shoulder, you can see the initial crowd of creatures still frozen in place, the ones pouring freshly from the hole in the sky seemed unaffected though. You turn back to focus on keeping yourself upright.

With great effort, you reach some towering rocks. You stop to catch your breath, instantly regretting your decision. Your whole body throbbed and you were feeling dizzy. 

"I need a way out of here." You squeeze your eyes shut, leaning against the cold stone. You jolt on contact, causing you to readjust so no open wound touches the rock.

You feel something. It tugs at you. Your eyes shoot open and you look around frantically, but you're alone. But something catches your attention; a small, barely noticeable black thread floats gently in the air. It was like a spider's silk, nearly invisible. It urges you to follow, you move around the rock where it trails to. There's a crack in the surface. A crack filled with darkness, the silk connects to it. You find yourself reaching out, fingers grazing at the swirling black before you. You dip your fingers in, then pull back. It gives off the same sensation as when you passed through your closet.

"A portal?" You're unsteady on your feet, swaying slightly. "Anywhere is better than here."

You grip hard at your weapon as you slip into the darkness once more, a small blip of light shines farther in. You stumble as you go, the unseen ground below you is uneven and it moves violently. You focus on the light as you stumble through the dark. As you trip over the writhing ground you drop your blade, it makes no noise as it hits ground. You give a quick glance behind you, the metal nowhere to be seen. You opt to leave it, you weren't too keen on spending any more time in here than necessary. Turning back, the light gets bigger and bigger, until you collapse forward onto cold stone.

You grunt as you lift yourself from the ground, but your quivering legs buckle beneath you. You resettle on the ground, hand grabbing your stomach. Your eyes squeeze shut as you let out a heavy exhale through your teeth. You're feeling faint now, you lift your head to look around. There are buildings all around you, a large cathedral perhaps, sits straight ahead. The stain glass windows glow against the night sky. To one side there's some shops, to the other side, a hotel. With some effort you look behind you so see a small mural of flowers set in a fountain.

"Hello?" Your voice comes out cracked and quiet. You clear your throat and try again. "Hello?!" You call out louder.

You regret your decision immediately. The small black creatures from before emerge from the ground in front of you. You let out a ragged scream as you scramble and push yourself backwards. Your back makes contact with the stone rim of the fountain and you try to pull yourself up, but you don't have the strength. You bring your arms up to block your face as they lunge at you, but the blow doesn't land. Instead you hear the rush of wind and feel a blast of heat. You open your eyes, it takes a few seconds for them to focus. Someone stands in front of you, a large sword in his hand. The hilt looks like the butt of a gun?

"Can you move?" He asks, blasting one of the monsters with fire from his free hand.

You shake your head. You're having trouble thinking.

He looks back at you when you don't respond. His free hand reaches down and grabs your forearm, pulling you to your feet. But you're lightheaded, and you crumple backwards. The last thing you feel is a pain to the back of your head.

The next time you wake, you're staring up at the canopy of a bed. You feel hands pressing against your stomach, pain shoots through you. You let out a panicked whine as you flail away from whatever is touching you. In your scrambling, you fall off the bed, your legs tangled in the sheets. You yelp when you hit the floor.

"Oh my goodness! Are you alright? Please don't move too much!" You hear a gentle voice call out.

You gasp and roll over onto your knees. You look straight ahead to see a pair of legs. Glancing up, you see a man with long brown hair and a scar running down his face. His head is turned, eyes averted, light pink dusts his cheeks. You wonder why, then you look down to see you're completely naked. You let out a small, embarrassed scream, one arm coming up to cover your chest, the other tugging at the sheet to cover your lower half.

"What the fuck?" You choke out.

A girl with long brown hair tied up in a ponytail comes around the bed and kneels down in front of you. She helps pull the sheet around you.

"Please don't panic. We had to clean and patch your wounds, we couldn't really work around your clothes." Her voice is calm and soothing.

"Where am I? Who are you people?" You question.

"We're the people who saved your life." The man replies.

You stare up at him for a moment.

"Oh..." That's right, he was the guy with the weird gun sword. "Thank you..." Your voice cracks, throat dry.

"Come on, I need to finish applying the potion." The girl gently pulls you from the floor and sits you back on the bed.

"Alright..." You let her pull the sheet down to reveal your stomach.

"What happened to you?" She grabs a cloth, soaked in potion and dabs it against your stomach wound. "How long has this wound been open? It's taking a long time to close."

"I... I fell." You weren't lying.

She gives you an incredulous look, but doesn't press. "What's your name?"

"It doesn't matter." No one needs to know.

The man makes an annoyed huff from behind you as a door clicks open. "Squall, Aerith! I got her clothes patched and washed- Oh!"

You turn to see a girl in ninja garb, your clothes draped over her arm, the small pieces in her clenched fist.

"Yuffie, I told you to call me Leon." He says, annoyed.

She comes over and drops your clothes on the bed next to you. "Man you really got messed up! What happened before we found you?"

"Fell." You reply quietly.

"Fell from what?! A speeding train?"

"Regardless of what you fell from..." Aerith speaks up. "You're just lucky Leon heard you when he did. You were an easy target for the heartless in that condition."

"Heartless..." You repeat absentmindedly. So that's what those things are. "So where am I right now."

"Traverse Town." Aerith replies. "It's where a lot of displaced people wind up."

You chew at the inside of your cheek. "Displaced... So I'm guessing my home..."

"It was most likely swallowed by the darkness." Leon cuts in.

"Yeah that would be my luck." You let out a humorless laugh.

You stare down as Aerith continues to dab potion onto your stomach, the wound finally knits itself together fully. You run your fingers across the spot, it still radiates a dull pain. You thank her as she begins shooing Leon out of the room so you can get dressed. You pull on your underwear, a pair of thongs, then quickly slip your black leggings over them. You pick up your shirt, stretching the fabric. It looks like there was never a cut in it.

"How'd you stitch this so seamlessly?" You question, lifting up your purple jean shorts. "And the blood stains..."

"Magic." Yuffie replies definitively.

"Magic?"

"Yeah, did your world not have magic?"

"... I'm not sure." You pull the red shirt over your head, then slip on your shorts.

There's a knock at the door before it opens and Leon walks in with your shoes, a pair of plain, black slip-ons.

"Yuffie, you forgot her shoes."

"Oh, whoops!"

You pull on your socks and accessories before walking over to Leon and sliding your shoes on your feet.

"So what now?" You ask your rescuers.

"You wait." Leon replies.

"Wait for what?"

"For the key to fix all this to arrive, it's the only thing that can hopefully reverse all this."

You contort your face in confusion. How is a key going to fix this? Or maybe it's a metaphorical key.

"Nowhere is really safe, but the first district would be the best place for you to wait. There's more people there, maybe you'll recognize someone from your world?" Aerith tries to reassure you.

Little does she know, that would probably just make you feel worse.

The group escorts you to the first district, then leave you to your own devices. You have no idea what to do with yourself, so you just stand there for a long while. After some time you begin taking slow lazy steps, looking around the district. The buildings and shops lit up by strange looking street lamps, some in unusual colors. You decide to avoid going into the shops, it's not like you have a way to pay for anything anyways. You find yourself standing in front of the second district door. You look around, checking for anyone around, before pushing the door open and slipping through.

You close the door behind you and press your back against it. You look back and forth, waiting for the heartless to pop up and attack you, but nothing happens. You begin to inch your way along the wall, past the hotel and up towards the white building with the stain glass windows. You get to the door and push it open, shocked by what you see. You thought the building was a church or something, but the inside was colorful and gaudy looking. Large cogs spun in the wall, unguarded. You can't help but think that's an accident waiting to happen. You continue your quiet walk out the other side of the building, but the other side only brought you to a drop off. You press your mouth into a thin line with a huff, then make your way back through the building.

You cautiously walk around to the stairs, taking you back down to where you'd first found yourself. You come across an alley way and look around before quickly trailing your way down it. At the end, you see a small wooden door, '3rd District' sits above the frame. You reach the door and push it open.

Once in the third district, you walk over to the stone guard wall and look down. You can see a small fountain set in a corner, neon signs light up the area. You slowly walk down the ramp, looking at the door that circled back around to the first district.

"Huh..." You whisper under your breath.

You turn and see another small wooden door, a flame and some markings are carved into it, sigils are carved into the frame. You walk to the opening of the small alley, then pause. You tilt your head up, there's a rumbling noise. You turn around as something gigantic crashes into the ground before you. You stare wide-eyed as the huge pieces of metal float up to form a body. There's a bell of a body, large gauntlet hands float beside it, metal feet clang on the ground. An armored head floats above the body. You let out a shocked yelp. What the hell was this thing? A heartless? This thing was huge in comparison to the scurrying shadow ones you ran into before.

The heartless starts stomping its way to you. You make a choked scream as you stumble back down the alley. It reaches out for you, so you turn and run to the wooden door. There's no handle so you turn and press yourself flat against it. You watch as the giant heartless starts to squeeze its way down the alley after you.

"Stop!" You command, digging your fingers into the wood behind you.

But the heartless continues on its path towards you. Why didn't it work that time? Soon its fingers are close enough to brush you.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" You scream, slamming your hands against the door.

The door slides up and opens behind you, causing you to roll backwards onto the floor. The door quickly slams shut once again. You listen as the heartless hits at the door before turning and stomping away. You lay on the ground, heart beating out of your chest. You sit up fully and rub your thumb against your open palm, it was warm, really warm. Did the door burn you?

You turn around to look at the cavern you now find yourself in. There's a small island with a house on it, sitting in the center of a large lake. Flat rocks sit atop the water's surface, making a path across. You raise to your feet and slowly walk to the edge of the water, peering down into its depths. You reach out a foot and put pressure on the rock, it bobs slightly under your weight and you pull back. You take a breath, it's not like you couldn't swim. You take a few steps back, then get a running start as you jump from stone to stone.

Your feet touch down on the island and you scramble up the stairs to look at the rocks behind you. They sit there, unbothered by your touch. You're glad you won't have to swim back across.

You walk up to the building, the front door is boarded up so you decide to walk around the structure. There's a hole in the wall, covered by a cloth. You pause.

"What the fuck am I doing?" But something in your gut urges you forward.

You push the cloth aside and walk in. All you see before you is a large empty room with a short stone platform in the center. You knit your brows. There was no sign of habitation, how odd. Were you really the first person to make it in here? You turn to leave, only to come face to face with a short man with a long beard. You scream as you jump back away from him. He recoils from your reaction.

"Woah! Oh goodness!" The man adjusts his glasses as he regains his composure. "Well you're certainly not who I was expecting."

You, somehow in your panic, had clambered up onto the stone platform. You stare down at him, body primed to bolt. "W-what?"

"I was expecting different company." He makes his way over to and up the stairs of the platform. You jump down and back away until you're next to the door. "Give me a moment to unpack."

You watch as he sets his bag on the floor and unlatches the clasp. He raises his hands, one holds a wand, then he begins moving. You weren't sure if it was dancing, but small things began flying out of his bag. As they got farther from the mouth of the bag, they grew in size. Your eyes grow wide in confusion as you watch the scene in front of you.

Soon the space is filled with furniture and books, making it look more like a home. On the platform sits a table with two chairs and a torch, filling the room with warm light. 

"There we are. Well come, sit. I'm sure you must be hungry." He sits in his chair, motioning to the other seat for you.

"I..." Your stomach growls in protest. You were hungry, you hadn't eaten anything aside from that paopu fruit. Was that yesterday? How much time had passed?

You cautiously walk up and sit across from the man dressed all in blue. He gives you a smile and moves his wand and a tea set with plates fly out of the bag, setting down on the table. You slowly reach forward and grab the teapot, opening the lid and taking a whiff, before pouring some tea into your cup. A plate full of tea biscuits slides to sit in front of you. You lift one and sniff it as well, before taking a small bite.

"So, what is your name?"

You shake your head. "I don't give that out to people."

The wizard just gives you a laugh. "Very well miss, you don't have to tell me."

You look down, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry, I can't..." You stuff the rest of the biscuit into your mouth.

"So I'm guessing your home disappeared too?" You nod. He hums in thought. "You wouldn't happen to be magically inclined, would you?"

"What?" You eat another biscuit.

"Magic. You seem to have a large magic reserve, miss." He chuckles.

You stare at him. "What are you talking about? I can't do magic."

"How did you get in here then?"

"I- The door. The one with the flame on it." You look down at your hand.

"Yes, and you have to do magic to get through it."

"But I didn't..." You think of the heat in your palm. "I don't understand..." You mutter.

"You've never done something you couldn't explain?"

You stare at your tea cup as you stuff more food in your mouth. Something you couldn't explain? You were certain the door burned you, not the other way around. And the battlefield...

"There's been a lot of things in my life that I couldn't explain... But what, because you're a wizard you can tell just by looking at me that I have a lot of magic? That's kinda suspicious don't you think?" 

"I'm a sorcerer, young lady. You may call me Merlin." He takes a drink of his tea. "I can understand your apprehension. In my world, I was a tutor to the young King Arthur. I had an omniscient knowledge of things to come in my world, but it doesn't quite translate here... But I can tell you have something powerful."

"There's nothing powerful about me." You say through gritted teeth.

He slides his bag over to you. You regard him suspiciously. "Open it and grab a spare wand for me."

You open the bag and look inside. All you can see is a dark void. You gently dip your hand past the opening and feel around, but there's nothing. You reach deeper and deeper until your fingers brush something. You get whatever it is between your fingers, then you realize you're reaching farther into the bag than should be possible, you're in the bag up to your shoulder. You quickly jerk back, causing the item you grabbed to fly up into the air. The simple wand clatters onto the table, knocking against the tea pot. Merlin gives you a victorious smile.

"That doesn't prove anything. Your weird hammer space bag is magical on its own, it has nothing to do with me." You close the bag and slide it back towards him.

"But it's a special kind of dimensional magic. It's not something normal people can get to work for them." He lifts the wand and offers it to you, but pulls it back when you refuse to take it. "Would you like more biscuits?"

You glance down, your plate empty. You didn't realize you'd eaten all of them. You're disgusted with yourself. You shake your head, bringing your tea cup to your lips, looking away from him. "I don't need anymore food."

"Take the wand." He offers it to you again. "Try putting it in your own, what did you call it? Hammer space?"

"Why?"

"It doesn't hurt to try, right?"

You make eye contact with him then quickly look away, offering your hand out. He smiles and sets the spare wand in your hand. You roll it around in your hand, setting your cup down. Put it in your own hammer space, huh? You spend a few minutes silently trying to make the wand go somewhere.

"Disappear... Go... Put it away... File it... Uh, poof...?" You let out a frustrated huff. "See? Nothing."

"Try again, don't force it! Magic should flow from you naturally, treat it like an extension of yourself." He encourages you.

You grumble. "Yeah why don't I just put it in the pussy pocket. Stupid..." The wand disappears in a swirl of darkness. You shriek. "Pull it out!" It reappears in your hand.

"See! Just like that, good job miss! What did you do to make it work?"

You don't respond. You have your face buried in your hands to hide your embarrassment. Of course you doing something stupid would work.

Merlin just chuckles. He reaches over and wrestles the wand from your fingers. You look through your hair and fingers to watch him. He seems to send flashes of magic through the wand, blue, yellow and green. He hands it back to you, your hand tingles on contact.

"What'd you do?"

"I imbued the spells for ice, thunder and cure into your wand for you. You seem to learn in less than conventional ways." He chuckles again. "Try using them sometime, you'll see how powerful you are."

"... Thank you." At least now you might have a way to defend yourself.

You feel something against your skin, a faint tickle against your wrist. You look down at your hand, another black silk thread is wrapped loosely around you. You look to where the thread trails to. The blanket covered doorway. You feel that pulling sensation again, it urges you to go. You stand absentmindedly, letting your wand dissipate.

"I'm sorry, I... I need to go."

"I hope you find what you're looking for." He gives you a smile as you stumble down off the platform.

You nod as you push the blanket aside, staring into the swirling dark. You take a deep breath and step forward, leaving the sorcerer to himself for the time being.

Once more, you dive into the dark.

Chapter Text

You stumble through the path of darkness once more, making your way to a pinprick of light in the distance. The ground shifts and churns under your feet like before and you try your best to maintain balance. But that's easier said than done. You trip a few times but never fall, luckily. You wonder if it was possible to fall through the ground here, but you weren't too keen on finding out.

As you close in on the light, it starts to dim. It makes you panic and you pick up your pace, not wanting to be trapped in this strange void. Your exit grows dark as you approach, but you can still see it; a different shade of dark. You quickly push through and stagger forward into more darkness. But this darkness was damp, musty and filled with stagnant air. You look back to see your strange portal gone, now what do you do? Where were you? It's impossible to see, but you feel the ground below you is solid. You bring your hand up and close your fingers together, trying to summon your wand. Fortunately it appears in your hand, now you just have to get your magic to work.

You clear your throat. "Fire."

But nothing happens. You frown. Ok, don't panic, just try again.

"Fire!"

Nothing.

You huff in frustration and lower your hand, stuffing your wand into your back pocket. You bring your hands back up and begin shuffling forward in the dark. You come to a stone wall and follow along it until you reach wood. Upon running your fingers along it, you realize it to be a support beam and not a door. You shuffle along the wall and you kick something metal that clatters. You reach down to feel a chain connected to the wall, and when you follow it, you find something leathery. Your fingers brush over the object, and you stick your hand into an open mouth.

You scream and jolt back, grabbing your wand. "Fire, damnit!"

The tip of your wand glows with fire, illuminating a small area in front of you, revealing the remains of a withered man. You just stuck your hand in a corpse's mouth! Disgusting! You make a noise in disgust, but go silent when you hear stone grinding against stone. You turn around brandishing your wand to see a large stone in the wall hit the floor with a thud. A small floating orb shoots through the cloud of dust and closes in on you and you shriek, trying to swat it away.

"Hello?" Comes a soft voice.

You snatch the orb in your hand and it pulses with blue light, shaking as if annoyed. "What the hell is this?!"

"It's my bauble, it won't hurt you!"

You look over to see a young girl with long blonde hair sticking her head through a large hole in the wall.

"Oh." You release the orb. "Sorry..."

"Were you kidnapped too?" She asks.

"Uh, I don't know. Where am I?"

She gives you a perplexed look. "You're in the Horned King's castle. How did you get in here without knowing what it was?"

"I don't- uh, remember..."

"Well, would you care to join me?"

You just nod and crawl through the hole in the wall after her. Her orb of light bobs gracefully in front of her as you brandish your flaming wand like a caveman. The two of you move silently as things scurry around you. The bauble reveals most to be rats, but some are larger, more bulbous. Heartless. But they don't get close enough to attack, seemingly held back by the magic orb somehow. But you wouldn't complain; you weren't too confident in your ability to wield your magic yet. She turns to you after crawling through a tight tunnel.

"I don't think I properly introduced myself. I'm Princess Eilonwy."

You stand up and dust off your knees. "Uh, it's nice to meet you."

She cocks an eyebrow. "Do you have a name?"

"I'm sorry, I-" Don't tell anyone your real name. "I can't remember..."

"Oh. How would you like me to refer to you then?"

"'Hey you' works, I guess."

She giggles. "I can't call you that! Hmm..."

"Just call me Stranger for now." You point your wand behind you, peeking into the hole. Yellow eyes stare back at you. "We need to keep moving."

She just nods and the two of you hustle away from the hole. You go deeper into the castle when you hear something that sounds like crying. Eilonwy decides to go check it out the noise while you stay and guard the way you two were going. You chew on your lip as you think, your head on a swivel. What is it holding the heartless back? They seemed to be hesitant to get close to her orb, but now that it was just you with your wand, they slink close experimentally. You slowly turn your wand to point at one and it pauses. It doesn't seem aggressive, but you weren't taking any chances.

The bauble zips past your head and runs off the creatures that had been creeping closer to you. You turn back to see Eilonwy with a boy trailing behind her.

"Stanger, I found someone else. His name is Taran."

You give him a small wave. "Hey."

"Stranger?"

"She can't remember her name." Eilonwy starts walking ahead. "Let's keep moving."

The three of you continue your way through the cobweb filled tunnels; Eilonwy in front, Taran behind her, and you taking up the rear. You look forward to see her orb chase a rat, then follow it through a hole in the wall. The three of you hurry over and look through the gap. Taran puts his hands on the wall and both he and Eilonwy lean against it.

"Is that a burial room?" Taran asks.

"It's so grand, this must be the king's tomb!" She replies in amazement.

You look behind you again, then back to them. "So I'm guessing the Horned King stole this castle?"

"Ye-" She's cut off when the wall collapses forward and Taran tumbles with it.

"Oh shit!" You run forward.

"Are you alright?!"

"Ah, I think so..." Taran pushes up from the stones beneath him

After checking the boy over, your group trails into the burial room. You all take a look at the dead man resting on the large stone pedestal, then you and Eilonwy keep moving towards what you think is the exit. You can hear as Taran quickly scampers up behind you. The three of you make it to a corner but freeze when you hear talking and rattling noises. You peek around the corner, a torch light illuminates a man pulling a cart with skeletal corpses while a small green goblin-like creature yells at him. Once they get inside and close the massive doors of some room, the three of you hurry past.

As you rest against a wall, you notice Taran has something in his hands.

"Where'd you get that sword?"

"Taran! Did you take that from the burial room?" Eilonwy chides.

"Well it's not like he's going to use it."

"He's got a point."

She scoffs and gives both of you a look of disgust.

Shouting pulls her from her disappointment and all three of you look down a dimly lit hallway. It was a man's voice, but it didn't sound aggressive- more panicked. You hurry down the hall and to a set of stairs climbing up a tall wall, the panicked shouting continues with intermittent pathetic begging. You gesture they go up first and you keep your flaming wand pointed behind you as you climb. They peek in the door, but your eyes are locked on the heartless slowly trailing you. They all stay coagulated at the bottom of the stairs.

"Shadows."

"Huh?" You say.

"Shhh!" Eilonwy turns to hush you.

You turn to look at the princess, she has a finger pulled up to her lips. Who spoke just now? It was a deep voice, neither of theirs. Did they hear it too? You open your mouth to speak but she turns back to the door and starts to push it open when whoever inside starts to wail for help. You look back down the stairs as the 'Shadows' begin to test their luck at creeping closer. You angle your hand and take a deep breath. You try your best to let the magic flow through you like a river.

"Fire." You say softly.

A massive fireball blasts from the tip of your wand. Your eyes go wide as it collides with a large clump of heartless and they explode. You pull your hand up as the Shadows at the bottom of the stairs scatter into the cracks of darkness. Ok, next time you'll try a stream.

"Hey! What was that?!" Comes a gruff man's voice.

"Oh shit." You run into the room and slam the door shut. "We need to go!"

There's an older man tied to the wall, a harp hangs from his neck. Taran has one of his hands untied and they all look over to you.

"What happened?"

"I shot fire at the Shadows! They were coming up the stairs-" You jolt at the sound of footsteps. "People heard me!"

"You must go! Run!" Cries the man tied to the wall.

Taran grabs Eilonwy's hand and they both run through the second doorway attached to the room. You glance to the old man and he seems to realize his fate and he tries to untie his other hand. You run forward, sticking your wand through the strap of your shirt as you reach up and try to quickly undo the last rope.

It's harder than you thought it'd be. You're starting to panic as you hear the booming footsteps reach the stairs. Why won't your fingers work?!

"What are you doing!? Save yourself!" He urges.

"Shut up!" You grab your wand and point it to the door leading to the stairs. "Ice!"

A large blast of ice covers the door and wall, blocking that entrance. You stuff the wand back in your shirt as you return your focus to untying the rope. You can hear as the wood is rattled, then splintered as the people on the other side do their best to break it down. You get the man free, then look to the ice coated door. An axe slices through the wood and causes a deep crack in the thick layer of ice.

"Run!" You yell as you turn and push through the door the other two escaped through earlier.

You sprint; wildly and aimlessly through the castle, only stopping when your lungs can't handle the burn any longer. You turn to talk to the man, only to see you'd lost him some point in your mad dash. You curse under your breath. You hope he didn't get caught and killed. 

And then you hear it. The sound of the castle erupting in chaos.

You jog on, hoping to run into one of your fellow escapees and not one of the Horned King's men. You're met with neither as a large swarm of heartless come into view. You stumble back and aim your wand at the mass of darkness.

"Fire!"

Another large fireball erupts from your wand and destroys a large swath of the mass. They take notice of you and start to rush you.

"Yeek! Fire! FIRE!" You start firing wildly and the Shadows around you burst into black puffs of smoke.

You manage to destroy a decent amount of them, but far too many had flattened themselves against the ground in a way that you couldn't hit them. You huff in frustration and run past them. You don't have any time to waste, you need to hopefully find the others and get the hell out of here.

You kick open each door you pass in hopes that one will lead you out of the castle. You push open a door and up ahead you can see light peeking under a far off door. Your heart leaps into your throat as you close in on the thick piece of wood and shove it open. Sunlight hits your eyes and you squint, blinking hard a couple times. You were outside, good. There was a wall of men in front of you, bad. You hold your breath as they're facing away from you, throwing their spears. You creep past them and down a set of stairs just to the side of them.

"Hey! Grab her!" You start moving faster as you hear them yelling behind you.

You reach the bottom of the stairs and quickly pivot, taking aim as the first massive man reaches out for you.

"Thunder!" A bolt of electricity arches from your want tip and connects with him.

He goes rigid and falls back against the man behind him, who also gets a dose of electricity. You stop the flow and turn to continue running as you hear one of them calling you a witch. As you go you spot Taran and Eilonwy headed off in a different direction.

You turn to follow them, but something causes you to pause for a split second. You glance at your wrist to see the spider silk again, the thread trying to lead you in a different direction. You're pulled back to the chaos around you and quickly follow after the two as they dodge projectile weapons. 

"Hey!" You call out when you manage to catch up with them.

"Oh Stranger-!"

"Where are we headed?!" You don't mean to cut her off, but formalities can come later.

"Hopefully out of here!" Taran repiles.

A spear hits right next to your foot and you turn over your shoulder and give someone a jolt of electricity. They both return their focus to what's ahead of them and Eilonwy gasps. You turn to see the drawbridge is up. Well shit. 

Once you reach it, you turn and try to make yourself a smaller target as you take aim and start wildly firing magic at the people closing in on your group. They return your volley with ones of their own in the form of massive spears and axes. You shriek when one lands too close to your head for comfort. You aim a flurry of ice at their feet to hopefully ruin their footing.

"Taran do something!" Eilonwy cries out.

You turn to look at them. "What the hell is he-?"

You see his sword glowing as he pulls the sword up over his head. He brings the blade down on the absolutely massive chain holding the drawbridge in place, slicing through it. You turn to see the bridge falling heavily to the ground. You waste no time and start running across with them as the gate starts falling behind you. You turn to look over your shoulder when you hear the old man from earlier yelling again. He was alive, but a big gray hound was chasing him and it managed to bite down on some part of him. You stare, steps slowing as you watch him just narrowly slip past the falling gate. You sigh in relief and turn to follow the other two as he quickly catches up.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a magic sword?!" He calls up to Taran as the four of you flee from the castle.

Chapter Text

Your group fortunately managed to escape the castle and make your way into the forest surrounding it. You only stop to rest once you can no longer see it in the distance and you collapse onto your ass, panting hard.

"Holy shit, that was so close." You whine.

"There is no need for such vulgarity young lady-" The old man chides. "But yes that was an incredibly close call..."

You look up from your spot on the ground and catch sight of a river past some bushes. You gasp and push up from your reclined position, then scramble forward.

"A river!" You drop down to your hands and knees, then drop your head into the water.

Your party of escapees follow you to the edge of the water and just watch as you eventually pull your head back up to take a desperate gasp of air. You scoot away from the edge, then flop flat on the grass and stare at the sky.

"I don't believe I caught your name miss-" The older man starts.

"Oh, she doesn't remember her name." Eilonwy pipes in. "We've been calling her 'Stranger'."

"Oh dear. Well, I am Fflewddur Fflam. Thank you for saving me earlier."

You wave your hand dismisively. "Oh yeah no worries. I was concerned when I lost you in the castle, thought they got ya."

"Well, they nearly did." He turns his hips to the side to reveal the hole ripped in the butt of his pants.

"Oh goodness!" Eilonwy brings a hand to her mouth. "Here, let me patch those for you."

Fflewddur stands behind a bush and plays his harp, serenading the group as Eilonwy sews a patch onto his pants. Taran cleans his sword next to her while you remain reclined on the grass near the river. It's a bit farther away from the group, so you find yourself zoning out as you stare up at the passing clouds. You run one hand over the grass and let your eyes slip shut. It's so different feeling than the grass from the islands. Softer, more plush.

Your eyes snap open though when your ears pick up agitation in the conversation. You turn your head slightly, watching things unfold.

"It takes a great warrior to handle a sword like this!"

Eilonwy looks back to Taran. "It's still just a magic sword."

Taran gets in her face. "Hmph! What does a girl know about swords anyways?" His words are condescending.

"Girl? Girl?!" She starts marching towards him. It seems to catch him off guard and he stumbles back as she starts ripping into him. "If it weren't for this girl; you'd still be stuck in the dungeon!"

Fflewddur tries breaking it up, but Eilonwy angrily throws his pants back at him, accusing him of siding with Taran. She wasn't wrong though, who knows if any of you would have escaped had she not stumbled across you. You're about to interject but both Eilonwy and Taran start stomping off in opposite directions.

"Silly girl. Even if she is a princess." Taran gets in one last dig before they part and you can hear her start to cry.

You and Fflewddur just stare at each other awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

"... Do you suppose we should go after them?" He asks as he pulls his pants back on.

You push up to sit. "When I'm upset, I like to be alone... I think we should leave them, for a bit at least."

"Very well." He walks over to the tree root the two had been sitting on earlier, then sits down facing you. "So you really can't remember your name?"

"Nope."

"Do you remember anything at all before being captured?"

You look to the river, watching the sun glisten across the water. "I remember sand and waves." You pick up a fallen leaf and set it gently on the surface, then let go and watch as it floats away.

"Sounds like you lived near the shore." He offers. "Did you have friends there?"

Your heart skips a beat. "... No. I don't think so."

"Oh, that's too bad."

"I guess." You stand and dust the grass off your leggings. "Welp. I need to go pee." You jab your thumb to the side. "I'll be back, alright?"

"Don't go too far."

"Yeah, I won't." You turn and head into trees.

You wander around for awhile, looking for a good spot to pee. You want it to be behind a tree so there's less chance for someone to see you, but you also need a tree with specific root growth. You want to be elevated so there's no splash on your shoes or legs.

Your wandering and searching takes you deeper into the woods than intended, but maybe that's a good thing. You really don't want the others to find you while you're taking a piss.

You come around a particularly large tree and sigh in relief. The roots come out in a large split and they're at least a foot off the ground. You step up onto the roots and buckle your knees together to pull your shorts and leggings down your thighs, then you place a hand against the trunk and inch your way down. You have your back pressed against the trunk, holding yourself up in a wall sit as you relieve yourself.

Once you're done peeing, it hits you. You don't have any toilet paper out here. Your lips form a thin line as you look to the side, but any foliage is out of your reach. You groan at yourself, then bring your free hand between your thighs to fan your crotch. Air-drying it is then.

You glance up absentmindedly to spot something stark black some distance ahead of you, yellow eyes trained on your form. You flinch and dig your nails into the bark of the tree. Shit! Why the fuck was a heartless here now of all times?! You pull your other hand from your thighs slowly, grabbing the tree to hold yourself up. Your thighs start to quiver as you slowly start to inch your way up. The tall shadow cocks its head in a twitchy manner, then takes a step toward you. You freeze up again.

Each time you move, it moves. It seems more curious than aggressive, but you want to get your shorts up before it reaches you; just in case you have to fight. You continue your arduous attempt to stand fully as it slinks ever closer, and you stand fully as it reaches you. It looks up at you, then back at your crotch. Your cheeks burn and you bring your hand to cover yourself. You get a good look at it, noting it was tall and thin, much more humanoid in shape. Why the hell was this thing so close to you? Why wasn't it attacking you?

"Neo Shadow." A voice seems to whisper right in your ear.

You snap your head to the side, but there's no one there. You snap it forward when you feel the Neo Shadow push your hand to the side. You're caught off guard when the heartless grabs both your thighs and pulls them apart as far as your shorts will allow, then stuffs its head between your legs. You grab onto the tree for support, your other hand tries pushing the Neo Shadow's head away from you. It's stronger than you though and it starts nuzzling its face against your pussy. You glance around nervously, praying no one comes across you being assaulted by this thing.

What the actual fuck was it doing?! Why was it doing this? You bite your lips and grab one of its antennae, trying in vain to pull it away from you. It pays you no mind and continues to rub its face against your sex.

You struggle awkwardly with it, pushing and trying to squeeze its head between your legs. But the thing was determined. Eventually it finds a rhythm- a rhythm you know all too well.

Oh shit.

You bite your lips and your thighs twitch against its head. It feels good. You pant heavily through your nose, squinting your eyes. You release its head and try to summon your wand, but you can't focus on anything beside the stimulation between your thighs. You grab the base of its antennae with both hands and hunch forward slightly, panting as it rubs its face in circles against your clit. This was wrong, but holy shit at this point you don't care. You want it to make you cum.

And after some more vigorous rubbing, it does.

You hunch forward more, letting out the softest gasp you can manage. Your eyes squint as you convulse against the heartless. As the thrumming slows, you feel something wet run across your lips and into your vagina. It seems like it was licking you clean. You don't remember it having a mouth though.

Once it gets done licking you, it releases the iron grip on your thighs. It shuffles back and looks up at you, the remnants of you are smeared all over its face. Without warning, it flattens onto the ground, then disappears into the trees, leaving you panting and half naked in confusion. You shakily reach down and grab your shorts pulling them up with one hand while the other holds your shaking form against the tree.

The first time someone else touches you sexually; and it's a fucking shadow monster.

You stand there for a moment longer, until the trembling in your legs stops. You step gingerly down the root when you pick up a man screaming in the distance. It sounds like Fflewddur, so you quickly scramble towards the noise, summoning your wand as you go. When you burst back into the small clearing, wand at the ready, you see a small furry creature wearing Fflewddur's hat tugging at the harp around the old man's neck. Before you can step forward to stop it, Taran comes running around a tree, pulling his sword out. When he sees the animal, he sighs in aggravation and slides the sword back into its sheath. 

"Gurgi-"

"Master?" The creature perks up. "Um- old man fell down!"

You put your wand away, then walk closer as Gurgi tries to explain away what had happened. Taran knows the thing, so he must not be dangerous- just pungent, apparently. Eilonwy finally catches up to Taran and catches sight of the fuzzy assailant, giggling as she greets him kindly. You stand off to the side awkwardly as they decide what to do with him. Fflewddur eventually shoos him away, so Gurgi turns and stomps past you.

"Is he a woodchuc-?" You try whispering before you're cut off.

"Tracks!" Gurgi exclaims. "Gurgu saw piggy's tracks!"

"Piggy?"

"Yes! Master has piggy! Saw its tracks today!"

You glance over to Taran. "You better not be lying." The boy warns.

"Gurgi not lie, not this time! Gurgi show master and pretty lady!" He tugs at Eilonwy's skirt to prompt her forward.

She giggles and follows after him with the rest of you falling in line behind them.

"You have a pig?" You ask Taran.

"Yes. She has special powers that can find the Black Cauldron."

"A cauldron?"

"Oh, you didn't know?" You give him a deadpan look. "Oh, right... Well the Horned King is looking for the cauldron so he can raise his army of the dead. We have to make sure he doesn't get it."

"Wow. Gnarly."

You look up at the sky, watching as the sun gradually drops during your trek through the woods. Gurgi takes your group over a fallen log, allowing you to gain speed as the others fall behind a bit. Gurgi looks up at you as you reach and keep pace with him.

"Why ribbon lady dressed so weird?"

"What?"

"Ribbon lady has weird clothes." He points to your arm band.

"Um- I don't know. I don't remember anything before I woke up in the castle."

"Nothing at all?"

"Nope."

Gurgi perks up and points forward, towards a large pond with rocks making a path across it. "There master! See piggy's tracks!"

"Oh good!" Taran kneels down to get a closer look. "They look fresh too."

Gurgi starts hopping across the rocks and you instinctually follow him. You could walk around- but something in you wants to hop across the stones too. He stops suddenly on the largest rock in the center of the pond. You can't stop your momentum and jump onto the rock with him, standing awkwardly so you don't step on him.

"Woah! Why'd you-?" Then you feel the rock shift underneath you. "Uh-"

Gurgi grabs onto your legs as the rock lifts up, then starts spinning. You grab him under the armpits and lift him up as the rock starts to sink. You toss him to Taran, then last minute try jumping as close to the water's edge as possible, but you land unceremoniously in the water. The pond picks up into a powerful whirlpool and whips you around.

"Stranger! Grab my hand!" Taran steps into the water, Gurgi gripping onto his shoulders, terrified.

You manage to grab him on rotation, but the water is too strong and he loses his footing. Eilonwy grabs onto Fflewddur as she snatches Taran's arm, yelping as they all get sucked into the torrent with you. You fight the water in an attempt to stay upright, but you and your group are thrown around roughly as the water pulls you down deeper than the pond should realistically reach. The turbulent spinning gives you horrendous waves of vertigo and unfortunately, closing your eyes does little to help.

Finally, you hit ground, but your head still spins and you don't dare risk sitting up yet. That was certainly up there with some of the least fun things you've experienced in your life. After a moment, you stir and open your eyes. You slowly and experimentally push up to sit, looking at your travel companions as they also begin to stir.

"That was horrible..." Eilonwy bemoans softly as she sits and rubs her temples.

"Yeah. What the fuck happened?" You question shakily as you look up at the slab of pond water siting far above you.

Fflewddur opens his mouth to chastise your language when sudden shouting pulls everyone's attention from you. Your group crawls over to a rock and everyone peeks over to see two small floating people struggling to keep some scaffolding of twigs and leaves held together.

"Need help?" You offer without thinking.

That seems to startle them and they lose their grip, causing the thing to collapse. You wince when everything clatters to the ground.

"Oh, h-hello!" Greets the small pixie dressed in red. "I am King Eidilleg of the Fair Folk." He turns to the one in yellow to speak under his breath. "I thought you fixed the whirlpool?"

"I did fix it!" The yellow one barks.

"Well then how did they get down here Doli?"

"Oh sure blame me! I broke the whirlpool! I let the pig in-!" Doli shouts in exhasperation.

"You have Hen Wen?!" Taran cuts in.

The king turns to face Taran. "Oh, she's your pig?"

"Yes! We've been looking for her-"

"That's great! Doli, go get her." The king orders.

Doli flies away grumbling as more Fair Folk start fluttering into view, come to see the commotion. They flutter all around your group, one gently lifts a bit of Eilonwy's hair, causing her to giggle in amusement. Gurgi catches one in his hands, but it somehow manages to turn to fairy dust, then reappear beside him. You eye them nervously.

You really hope they stayed underground. The mortifying thought of them seeing you-

Doli shouts as thumping noises seem to grow closer. A pig runs out of a tunnel and Taran drops to his knees.

"Hen Wen! I was so worried!"

Hen Wen jumps excitedly into his arms, snorting happily. You stare down at the tiny animal, she was the cutest pig you've ever seen. You step closer and kneel down.

"Can I pet her?"

"Oh? Sure." Taran moves an arm so you can pat her head.

"She's so cute- look at her little face!" You coo under your breath.

"So, tell me- is the killing still going on up there?" King Eidilleg asks.

"Yes, unfortunately..." Fflewddur responds. "It's truly awful."

"We're trying to stop it though." Taran adds. "We're looking for the Black Cauldron- we need to get it before the Horned King does."

"Oh, he'll never find it. It's safely hidden."

"It is?"

"Yes, in Morva... At least, I think it is." The king responds, a little unsure. "Oh Doli-! Is that where it is?"

"Oh what?! Is that my job too? Keeping track of the cauldron?" Doli shouts from down a tunnel as something else clatters to the stone ground.

"But Morva is is a hard place to find- I know! Doli can take you!"

Doli zips around a corner. "What?!"

"Are you sure we should be trusting him?" Fflewddur asks under his breath.

"Trust me? You have a problem with me, do ya?" The yellow fairy gets up in his face.

You get up and put a hand between them. "We trust you." You try to de-escalate. "Fflewddur is just a nervous person, pay him no mind."

Doli grumbles and floats back a bit, giving Fflewddur the stink eye. The old man gives you a withered look that you interpret as a thank you.

"Well! Let's get you going then!" King Eidilleg motions for the other fairies, then they suddenly turn into blue dust.

It glows and quickly surrounds your group as you all watch, curious as to the purpose. It makes contact with your body, and suddenly you feel weightless. You freeze nervously as you start to float upwards. Taran, Gurgi and Eilonwy take the floating well, but Fflewddur flounders awkwardly. Suddenly Taran looks down when he notices Hen Wen isn't next to him.

"Hen!"

King Eidilleg zips out of the dust to reappear next to Hen Wen as she hops up, trying to join your group. "Don't worry! We'll see her home safely!"

"Oh thank you sir!" Taran waves down. "You be good Hen- I'll see you soon."

You quickly reach the water, then push through, but don't get wet. The glowing fairy dust sets you all down next to the pond, then quickly shoot back down to safety. All except one, that is. Doli has his arms crossed, pouting grumpily over the fact he was unwillingly volunteered to be your guide. He looks back to you, then gestures forward.

"Well come on then! I don't want be out here any longer than I have to."

"But it's so late already." Eilonwy points out. "Shouldn't we rest for the night?"

"You want to rest here? Out in the open?" He huffs. "No, we move for now. You can rest in a bit."

You make eye contact with Eilonwy, then shrug your shoulders. Looks like it's going to be a long night.