7Heart of the Free Wielder
By: warrior of six blades
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC, Matthew. So don't even try to sue me you bastards. I got enough money problems as it is.
Beta: AngelofFluffiness
AN: I dedicate this story, not chapter, but the story itself to my feelings for Elly and my prayer for us both.
AN: Also, IF anyone has problems with OC stories or with OC's falling in love with characters from a series, I suggest you leave now because this story has both and I got no time to waste on haters. That said, for those who are more accepting, please read, enjoy, and review!
"Speaking."
'Thinking.'
Prologue: Awakening
A boy opens his eyes to reveal bright blue irises with golden flecks near the pupil. He sees he is falling or... sinking underwater? The boy is a young teenager with a peach skin tone who has brown hair that goes down to his neck, with a grey stripe on the front of it going down the middle. He wears a blue t-shirt with gray sleeves and collar. Along with that, he wears blue pants, plus black and silver sneakers with white laces.
This boy is Matthew, he isn't sure if he is dreaming or in a new place entirely.
Soon he finds himself landing softly on solid black ground. Only birds shot up from the ground as he took a step, the birds simply flying past the boy and out of sight, while the ground itself seems to be glowing. Matthew now notices the ground he is standing on turns out to be a giant stained glass circle. On the stained glass circle is a picture of a sleeping young woman on it. The woman has white skin, purple hair done in pigtails held by a purple and white is wearing a white and pinkish-purple dress with a white overcoat layer. Sleeveless but collared, the overcoat bears a gold star broach and a purple ribbon at the throat of the collar. Finishing her outfit are knee high purple socks with pink diamond symbols on the sides and white dress shoes that have a gold star on them. The background shows a green field with a starry night sky above and around the girl, with a crescent moon hanging above the girl's head.
Around her, rather close to her, appear to be three smaller circles with people's faces on them. The first one to the upper left is a boy with peach skin, spiky red hair, and red eyes. He is wearing a red shirt with a red and white jacket. The boy has a confident grin on his face like he is ready to take on anything.
The one on the upper right is a young woman with white skin, green eyes, and pointy ears. She is wearing a sleeveless shirt that is blue at the top. The woman has a friendly smile on her face that can make one feel safe or at ease.
The next on the lower right was either a boy or a girl, Matthew couldn't tell. Having white skin, blue eyes, and short blond hair with brown tips on some strands of hair. They are wearing massive amounts of blue and white armor. The boy or girl has a small gentle smile.
So much to do, so little time.
Startled out of his observation of the beautifully done stained glass, the boy began looking around for the source of the voice. However, he couldn't tell where it came from since all he can see around him is just black all around the outside of the platform...
Take your time. Don't be afraid.
A light shines down on the center of the platform from above after the voice tells him this.
The Door is still shut. Now, step forward. Can you do it?
The voice asks Matthew this as he looks at the light confused for a second. Eventually he finds himself shrugging, not seeing the harm in this, before following the simple instruction. The boy steps toward the light that shines from above to the center of the platform. He is not sure what is going on, but he hopes to find out soon. Only once he gets to the center of the platform and under the light, does the voice speak up again.
Power sleeps within you...
So says the voice as a stone trapezoid rises from the ground. When the stone stops rising, a staff appears on top of it, simply hovering over the stone under some power he cannot see.
If you give it form...
Another stone trapezoid rises as well, this time a sword appears to begin hovering on top of it.
It will give you strength.
A third and final stone trapezoid rises from the stained glass. This time a shield appears, hovering on top of it like the two previous stones before it.
Choose well.
The voice says this as the boy looks at the three pillars carefully. Not sure what to think from what he's seeing, he mentally decides it might be a else can he explain stone trapezoids rising from a stained glass floor with weapons hovering over them?
Well, that or it's magic... Figuring that as a safe assumption for now, he decides to go along with the voice for now and see if this is a dream or that in mind, he goes to check the sword first. He jumps onto the stone and holds it in his hand to examine it. Finding it to be a double edged sword with a mouse head shaped symbol on the hilt of the blade, he feels a surge of confidence and power flow into him as he holds it. With a feeling that he could fight off any threat that comes his way, he soon hears the voice again.
The power of the Warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. Is this the power you seek?
The voice asks as Matthew then feels conflicted. On one hand he thinks this blade is something he can get use to wielding, but the terrible destruction part of it concerns him. What does it mean by terrible destruction? Would this power hurt him or someone he cared for? He decides to check out the other weapons first and choose after he sees them all. So, jumping off of the stone, he walks to the shield next and jumps up to it. He holds the shield, feeling a warm and protective sensation flow through him. It makes him feel a strong desire to help and protect those around him. Matthew also gathers a feeling he can possibly take any attack and still be able to fight on.
The power of the Guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. Is this the power you seek?
The voice speaks as Matthew is now seriously tempted to accept it. This sounds more like a power he honestly wants, but he decides to see what the staff holds first. So he jumps off the pillar and runs up to the other side of the platform where the pillar holding the staff is. He jumps up onto it and holds the staff in his hands. Yet again, a feeling surges into him, only this time he feels like this staff can help him do things beyond his imagination. A strong feeling also develops deep within himself, a feeling that is hard to describe for him...
The power of the Mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. Is this the power you seek?
The voiced asks Matthew again and he jumps off the pillar to think of his choice. Now he istrying to figure out what it means this time. Power of the Mystic? What does that mean? Staff of wonder and ruin, he figures, has something to do with how he uses it or something like that. Inner strength though, is something he really struggles to understand the most, as he usually thinks courage is inner strength, but the sword already has that. So if courage isn't inner strength, then what is? He thinks hard on it and tries to consider the feeling the staff gave him as he held it. A feeling that made him feel strong, but in a different way from the sword. Like... he wouldn't give up or never backing down. Finally makingup his mind, he approached the shield once more and held it in his hand again.
The power of the Guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. Is this the power you seek.
Once more the voice asks him the question again, before Matthew nods in response to the question. His mind fully made up on his choice.
"I do," The boy speaks softly, but sincerely determined about his choice.
Watching the shield disappear, he jumps down from the pillar to face the two remaining choices. He is about to ask what next, but the voice beats him to it with its next instruction.
Now, choose which power to give up.
The voice continues now, shocking Matthew. He looks between the sword and the staff, mentally trying to decide which one he wants to give up. He begins to feel frustrated with the fact that both feel equally important to him, seeing that one can't be brave without courage, but inner strength sounds really useful too. Like he will not give up or maybe some inner power he doesn't understand maybe? He doesn't know which was more important and was thankful the voice was quiet, so he could think in peace.
'Which is more important to me? Invincible courage or inner strength?' the boy thought, looking at both the sword and staff on their separate pillars.
Finally taking a deep breath, the boy makes his way to the sword and picks it up.
The power of the Warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. You give up this power?
The boy thinks hard on it before nodding in response.
"I do," Matthew confirms once more as the sword vanishes, as much as he prefers sword combat. He feels like the inner strength might be what he needs to protect his friends. Besides, that feeling of never backing down is something he swears feels familiar to him and is something he may need. So he decides to keep it and hope he is right, though he does wish he could have kept the sword as his weapon of choice.
Crack...
'What the?' the boy wonders, breaking out of his thoughts.
He is then surprised to see the glass platform with the picture of the girl breaking to pieces rapidly all around him. The whole floor he is standing on shatters before he can say, think, or do anything. Yelling in shock and surprise as he falls into the dark, only to see a new platform he is falling toward.
'Oh no...' Matthew thinks, worried that he will slam into it, before unexpectedly slowing down.
Surprised again by this change of events, he takes the few seconds to admire the platform he is about to land on. This platform showed that young woman with white skin, long blond hair and pointy ears from the smaller circle before. This time however, he cannot see her eyes because she is sleeping this time. She is wearing a sleeveless dress that is mainly green, but has blue on the sides and it she wears a brown belt that has silver pieces around her waist loosely. The outfit is complete by white thigh socks with blue at the top that have a strange symbol on them, as well as gray metal short-heel boots. In the background is a large dense forest and a small green crystal in the distance attached to a lone tree on a hill.
Just like the purple haired girl he saw on the last platform, the blonde haired lady has three circles around her too. To her upper right is the red haired boy with red eyes still giving his confident grin. To the upper left is the purple haired girl with pigtails, but her eyes are opened to reveal her purple eyes with a smile on her face. A little over the blond lady's head was the final circle. Even now Matthew couldn't tell if he was looking at a boy or girl on the circle. With white skin, blue eyes, blonde hair with bits of brown near the tip on some of his or her hair, the appearance is very androgynous. They are once again wearing the white and blue armor with a small smile.
As he lands light as a feather, he looks around wondering what is gonna happen next. Only to see a flash of light on his right hand before the shield appears for him to firmly hold in his right hand as the voice makes its presence known once more.
You've gained the power to fight.
Matthew begins searching for the voice as he listens, only to unknowingly pout at not seeing the speaker anywhere. Why is the voice's source hiding from him in the dark? Not seeing anything to do, the boy takes a few test swings holding the shield by the handle. Trying to get use to using it, though finding it quite awkward to use, as he has little idea how to fight with a shield. Mentally noting the bottom looked like a sharp, but blunt point, he swings it down, before quickly doing a punch with it. Then swings it to the side as he spins in a circle. After doing that, he held the shield by both hands on the outside edges and slammed down, like he was using a steel chair.
All right! You've got it.
The voice calls out again, surprising the boy and making him jump slightly. He composes himself, before he holds the shield properly by the handle again.
Use this power to protect yourself and others.
The voice tells him this and Matthew nods, actually feeling serious at this. Protecting others is what he has wanted to do for a long while sure sounds like this power could help him do just that. Feeling something...weird, and dangerous to his right, the boy looks in the direction he felt the weird and dangerous feeling coming from. Immediately he sees a shadow appear on the ground not far from his right, but this shadow isn't connected to him... And it is moving,...?
'What is that?' he wonders to himself.
There will be times you have to fight.
The voice speaks to the boy again, making the boy tense at those words. Matthew watches, partly amazed and shocked, to see the shadow rising from the stained glass floor. This eventually reveals a creature that has an all black body with yellow eyes that seem to glow and a little antenna on its head. It has claws for hands that have three sharp fingers moving about strangely, twitching and swaying a bit. It is almost as tall as he is too.
Keep your light burning strong.
The voice continues to speak as more Shadows, as he dubs them mentally, arise from the ground as well. This begins making the boy nervous because he isn't used to fighting with a shield at all, let alone against actual enemies.
'I should have picked the sword first...' Matthew thinks to himself, a little worried.
However, he gathers his courage, holding his shield tight. One of them jumps toward him with its claws ready to tear into him. The boy's eyes widen as he quickly rushes out of the way. That thing actually jumped as high as he normally does, despite being just a little shorter then himself. Matthew doesn't have much time to think as they tried to gang up on him, so he dodges three of them jumping for him. He begins leading them on a little chase, as Matthew looks up to ask the voice for a favor.
"Hey! Mr. or Ms. Voice! Can I get the sword or staff from earlier to fight these guys? I never chose the staff for either choice. So can I have that at least?" Matthew asks, with a youthful restrained voice like he is normally short on words.
Still, these creatures aren't slowing down or showing any sign in stopping their chase. So after a few seconds of running around and not getting an answer from the voice, Matthew figures the voice isn't going to give him the sword or boy quickly sees that the shadow monsters are trying to gang up on him again. Swinging the sharp point of the shield down on top of the closest Shadow's head making it flinch from the pain, Matthew spots a chance to take control of the fight. As he quickly punches it back with the shield, swinging his shield to the side using both hands for added power, four heartless vanish in black smoke. Green orbs drop to the ground where the Shadows were before as the remaining heartless quickly vanish back into the ground.
This is much to Matthew's relief, as he guesses they knew he was too dangerous to mess with. Hopefully, anyway... What the boy doesn't notice was a shadow appear again nearby, before quickly making its way behind him and rising from the ground ready to strike. He notices that weird and dangerous feeling again, only to be confused when he sees nothing nearby. Yet he knows the feeling is closer now...
Behind you!
The voice warns Matthew as he looks behind him, only to jump to the side as the shadow creature tries to attack him. The boy then holds his shield by both hands on the edges and bashes it over the creature's head repeatedly. It takes three hits before the creature vanishes in some black smoke, just like the other four he hit earlier. He has little time to think of it, before he notices more rushing him from the corner of his eye. Taking the shield in his hand by the handle again, he tries to get used to punching and swinging it by the handle. Soon he takes out one heartless with little trouble, but hisses in pain when a Shadow scratches him on his left arm making it bleed from the fresh wound. On reflex he swings the shield to his left, trying to ignore the pain in his left arm, as he hit the creature. Knocking it back on the ground, he proceeds to take the shield with both hands on the edges again and bash its body twice, finally making it vanish.
"Agh!" The boy cries out in pain from feeling two claws scratch the back of his right leg, while another got his right arm this time.
He jumps to the left and briefly examines his wounds, only to feel shock at the sight of his blood coming from his wounds. He is surprised at this, how could he be bleeding if this is a dream? Is this even a dream at all? Those thoughts are quickly replaced with anger toward the little monsters. Grabbing the shield by the handle, he hit both with a punch to one and a downward slam to stun the other, before swinging it sideways with both hands to get rid of them both. Watching as green orbs drop again and one close by flies into him, he tilts his head in surprise. A small, soothing feeling flows through him as the wound on his left arm heals a little, making it no more then a small scratch on his arm, compared to the semi deep claw like wound before. Though he is still bleeding as he tries to collect the rest, but they vanish before he can reach anymore.
Unfortunately Matthew gets absolutely no time to think about it as one heartless sinks into the glass platform, making a black spot slowly grow in size.
'What the-?' Matthew thinks to himself before his thoughts are again cut off.
As more black spots appear and grow large enough to cover the whole platform's picture in black and purple substance, Matthew feels his legs sink into the shadows. Struggling to try and free himself, he begins reaching out for someone to help as the shadows pull him inside quickly. His body briefly feels that dangerous feeling as everything goes black, like being lost in darkness with no light.
He doesn't like it.
So he tries to struggle out of it, moving about and trying to free himself from the darkness with his eyes closed. Eventually, he is reopening his eyes and he stops moving as he realizes that the feeling is gone now. Matthew looks around to see he is now on another platform. The platform he is standing on has three images of women, but unlike the previous stained glass platforms, they are silhouettes arranged in a triangle. The background of the stained glass floor picture is mostly in red and gold, almost like the sky during sunset.
Upon closer look at the three silhouettes, Matthew sees that at the head is a young woman with a shoulder-length, skinny ponytail. She appears to be wearinga long sleeve shirt, with a short skirt that goes a fourth of the way down her thighs. Her outfit also sports gloves, sneakers, a gauntlet on her right wrist, and holding a single edge claymore in left hand. What ends up getting his attention is the red symbol on her right hand and the fiery aura around her, both in color against the silhouette. Adding in the fact she is holding the sword with one hand, despite it's size,only serves to intrigue the boy more.
'She must be pretty strong to hold her sword like that,' Matthew marvels mentally, noticing the sword's size and shape.
While he doesn't know how much it weighs, he knows from size alone it must be a heavy blade. 'What is that symbol on her hand though...?' Matthew ponders in confusion and curiosity, before dismissing it soon after to focus on the other two silhouettes.
The second silhouette, on the left of the first, is of a woman with long braided hairthat is bound in a ribbon. She is wearing a frilly dress with a pouch of some kind on the side, while bearing a white glow around her. The woman is dual wielding a cutlass in one hand and a one handed claymore in the other, surprising the boy.
'That's two women holding a large sword with a single hand...' Matthew realizes, currently impressed as he proceeds to turn his attention to the third silhouette.
The third silhouette is of a young woman with her hair down to the middle of her back. She wears a t-shirt as well as a skirt just above the knees while wielding a strange key-shaped sword in her right hand. What grabs the boy's attentionthis time isthe black and purple aura around the mysterious third young woman. As Matthew observes this platform, he wonders just why these three are like shadows instead of seeing the actual person. This does not last long before he iswincing from feeling a throb of pain from his wounds. His attention goes from the mysterious stained glass picture to his wounds, one of which is slightly healed from the green orb thing. One on his left arm seems closer to being healed, but the one on his right leg hasn't changed at all and the wound on his right arm is still the same too. In totality, that leaves one small scratch on his left arm and one semi deep on his right forearm, close to his right elbow. Along with those isa big, but shallow, claw wound on the back of his right leg. It stings quite a bit when running or jumping, but is thankfully not enough to stop him from doing either action.
'Guess I can't say this is a dream now. I mean, I'm notsuppose to feel pain in my dreams...right?' The boy wonders to himself as he gently touches the wound on his leg, before wincing from the tiny flash of pain and soon seeing the blood on his finger.
He sighs at this as he gets up and notices a door with a light shining down on it.
'Wonder what's behind the door? Hopefully something to help heal me. Like maybe those green orbs or at least some type of bandages to stop the bleeding...' Matthew hopes silently, walking up to the door only to discover it is transparent.
'That's new...' The boy thinks to himself, blinking at the odd and slightly worrying sight.
Last he can recall, doors aren't supposed to be see through. Reaching out, he tries to open it, but his hand goes right through it like the door isn't there.
'I can't open it...' The boy thought a little annoyed as he frowned in frustration at his situation. Wondering what he is going to do now, he ends uplooking behind him to see a light shine down on the opposite end of the platform. A small treasure chest appears magically, confusing the boy as he approaches it.
'Might as well see what's inside,'Matthew decides, trying to open it with his hands, but grunts in building annoyance as it doesn't budge.
Mentally wishing he had the shield in his hand, he is surprised to see the shield appearing in his hand. Quickly pushing his surprise to the back of his mind, he decides to begin attempting to use the shield to break the chest open. Hoping to find something useful inside, several loud thuds ring as he hits the shield against the chest.
Thud. Thud! Thud!
Giving a snort of annoyance that bashing the chest wasn't working, Matthew stared at it for a second before tapping it with the shield to listen for an echo. He hopes it might give him some clue how much space is taken up inside the chest. Maybe then he could know what kind of material he is dealing with or how much space said material is taking up.Unfortunately, this leads to complete shock as it flies open after being tapped three times.
'Are you kidding me?'Matthew is amazed, yet annoyed, that simple tapping is all it took to open the chest.
Shaking his head in exasperation at all the weird things he is going through right now, he decides it'll be best not to question a good thing. Looking inside the chest, he finds nothing and it vanishes before his eyes. Then a big wooden box with a yellow star symbol appears not too far from the door.
'This just gets stranger and stranger...'Matthew thinks, seeing the shield disappear as he walks up to the big wooden box.
Push the box.
Matthew hears the voice whisper into his mind, causing him to look around, but find nothing once again. Seems the voice really doesn't want to be found... Playing along with the voice's call anyway, he pushes the box wondering what else he will be told to do.
Smash it.
Ah, guess he doesn't have to wait long for that to happen. Stopping, Matthew tries to mentally will the shield to appear again, and is thankful when it does so just as he thought of the shield by the handle, he mentally aims the sharp point on the shield toward the box before slamming the shield down on it. Surprise floods him at seeing it not just break open, but completely fall apart to pieces of wood. Those pieces quickly vanish, while an item falls out of the giant box. A blue and gold decorated ball that floats over to him, letting him catch it. As he does, the ball turns into a potion, a clear bottle with green liquid inside meant to heal people.
'Huh? Ask and you shall receive I guess, but I should save this. These wounds aren't serious enough for this yet,' Matthew decides, knowing this potion can heal numerous wounds.
Of course, more serious wounds usually just become smaller to make it easier to be treated or reduce the need of serious medical these small injuries to a serious wound is laughable in his mind, so he puts the potion away for later in his pants pocket. Just as he does that, the outer edge of the door emits a soft glow and becomes more solid in narrows his eyes at the strange, but interesting sight. His mind quickly figures out that listening to the voice will help him make the door solid. Another glow of light appears before it reveals a barrel, which he looks at curiously as he walks up to it. It is a brown wooden barrel with metal lining on the top and bottom of it, holding the wood together. Yellow stars and two squiggly linesare painted near the top and bottom of the barrel, going all the way around.
Lift it, carry it, throw it, and be sure to break it.
The voice whispered in his mind, Matthew thus having a deadpan look on his face that said 'really?', before he finally does so. It is quite light, so he tosses it over his head and catches it with ease using both hand as he smirksa bit at his own small bit of showing off. Hey, if you have to do minor tasks like this, then why not have a little fun doing it? Onward. the boy proceeds to carry it a bit, before throwing it and expecting it to tumble onto its side. He ends upslightly surprised to see it still right side up, but quickly shrugs it already stopped trying to make sense of these weird things after seeing stone trapezoids rise from the stained glass floors that didn't even crack when he first started walking. Yet they shattered right after he chose which weapon to use and which to give up, which he considers strange enough.
'I wonder what happened to the staff though...' Matthew wonders, curious for a second before shaking it off.
No sense in wondering about something that's already said and done with nothing to do about it. With his mental musing settled, Matthew charges toward the barrel with an overhead slamand follows that up with a punch from the shield to push it back. He then spins and moves forward to slam the shield's side into the barrel, sending it flying surprisingly far. This finally breaks it into pieces as it glides off the platform, much to his mild , the rest of the door then becomes solid much to his relief. Matthew quickly approaches the door, looking at it as he slowly takes in the appearance of it. The aforementioned door is a purple double door with a dull gold color metal holding the silver colored attention is taken bythe small stained glass circle and two stained glass pieces at the top of the door. It seems a bit weird for a design, but he decides not to waste time thinking about it further.
To his surprise the door opens on its own and a bright light shines out. The door slowly finishes opening all the way as the glow softens enough where the boy cannot be blinded. The boy takes a cautious step forward before the light seems to engulf everything around him. The light loses intensity and clears up enough for the boy to see , Matthew then feels surprised to find as he is on the balcony connected to and held up by some trees at their play island on Destiny Islands.
Hold on. The door won't open just yet. First, tell me more about yourself.
The voice explains as the boy notices he isn't alone. What waits for him is the sight of three friends he has not been expecting to see here at all, but is glad none the less. The first is a brown haired boy with spiky hair that goes everywhere, blue eyes, and lightly tan skin. He is wearing a red jumpsuit with a white and black jacket, a pair of white and yellow gloves, along with big yellow shoes. This is complete with a crown necklace around his neck.
The second is a silver shoulder length haired boy with bright blue and green eyes. He is wearing a yellow and black tanktop with white trim, black straps which crisscross and had white on each end. His hands are contained within a pair of black gloves, along with black wristbands. The outfit continues with dark blue pants that have bright blue, baggy pant legs connected with white-studded suspenders, buckled with small black straps on his ankles. A black belt with a silver rectangular buckle is secured around his waist while a pair of blue shoes with white trim and black straps cover his feet. These shoes also sport gray soles, which were decorated with crisscrossing yellow strings on the sides.
The last is a red haired girl with blue eyes and white skin like the boy's own. She wears a white top with a black one underneath, as well as purple biker shorts underneath a purple skirt. Her skirt has a blue belt, while she also wears white slip on shoes with purple tops. The outfit is complete with a black choker, a yellow and purple wristband on her left arm, and a pair of bracelets on her right arm.
Walking up to the boy with brown spiky hair first, Matthew smiles in relief as he is about to ask his friend a question. However...
"What's most important to you?" the boy asks Matthew this before he can get a word in.
This results in Matthew being caught off guard at the sudden question. Just why would he ask him something like that right off the bat?
"Sora, I think we got bigger problems," he comments in response, shaking his head at the now identified Sora.
A boy who was his first friend ever on Destiny Island.
"Like what's going on here and did you hear that voice earlier?" Matthew asks his friend.
Sora says nothing though, just leaning against the rails and smiling without a care. Almost like he is waiting for the boy to answer him patiently. Which is hard to say considering it is Sora, because Matthew knows for a fact Sora can be impatient or easily bored if not given a good reason to wait.
"Sora? Are you listening? Don't start daydreaming man, I'm serious here," Matthew continues, starting to become a little worried and annoyed at Sora's continued silence.
The boy looks to the other two for some help, now thinking something is wrong with Sora.
"Riku! Kairi! I think something's wrong with Sora! What's going on?" The boy asks his other friends.
Neither respond to him or show any sign of hearing him, they just continue looking straight ahead without a care in the world. Freaking out slightly over this behavior as he looks back and forth between his friends, Matthew eventually looks back at Sora.
"Sora...please say something," the boy pleads to his friend, hoping he will respond to him.
It is weird seeing his friends act like this and he is honestly worried for them now.
"What's most important to you?" Sora asks again, with his goofy grin never leaving his face.
Matthew, however, sighs athearing that question again.
He is now starting to wonder if this is even his friends to begin with or not. Taking a breath and thinking on it, he eventually figures what is truly important to him.
"My friends are what's important to me," the boy says, firm in his decision as Sora tilts his head to the side like he's contemplating something.
"Are your friends really that important to you?" Sora asks, making the other look at him in panic and worry. How could he ask something like that?
"Of course you are! Why wouldn't I care for my friends? You guys saved me from my loneliness and taught me to stand up for myself! You guys are special to me! Why would you say that, Sora?" Matthew asks rather loudly, looking at Sora pleadingly in hopes he will understand.
Sora just keeps his goofy grin and doesn't mind the boy's pleading at all. After a few seconds of waiting, Matthew figures that this cannot be Sora, it just can't be... or something is seriously wrong here. Looking over to Riku, or a look alike of Riku in the corner, he walks over to him next. Hoping to get this over with and see actual friends soon,Matthew is starting to doubt these three before him are his friends. Riku's smirk stays on his face as Matthew walked up to him.
"Riku?" The boy inquires, hoping his friend will respond.
Fortunately he didn't have to wait long.
"What are you so afraid of?" Riku asks the boy as Matthew resists the urge to groan.
Another weird question coming out of left field just like Sora. Regardless, he thinks deeply about it. He considers mentioning his small fears of bees and spiders, but figures that won't do. This sounds too personal a question for something small. So he considers what he is truly afraid of...and there is only one thing that winds up coming to his mind.
"I fear losing my friends and family. I don't want to lose anyone I care for or for them to get hurt," Matthew admits, feeling a weight on his heart at the idea of losing anyone he loved and cared for.
Riku just shrugs at this answer, the same way he's constantly seen Riku do when he isn't concerned about what is going on or being talked about.
"Is losing those you care for so scary?" Riku asks without a care, not seeing or maybe not caring as the boy looked at Riku hurt by his answer...
"How can you say that? Of course it is! I had nothing when I woke up on the islands with no memories, except for my name and how old I was! I was alone until Sora befriended me and got us all to be friends," Matthew tells him with a serious gaze, but Riku never responds.
Matthew meanwhile, finds himself remembering all too well how he woke up in a strange house. Not knowing where he came from or how he got covered in bandages, only for his soon to be adopted parents to tell him how they found had found him on the beach. Bleeding from claw-like wounds with a slight head injury. Thankful to have survived, but very curious of why he couldn't recall anything except his name and that he was five years old. He had asked them to please tell him where he was and where his family was. Sadly, any other questions to die in his throat as they told him they had never seen him on the islands before two days ago. That said, they didn't hold any knowledge of his family or where he came from. They ended up asking if he knew, but felt sad as he told them he knew nothing but his name.
Matthew then recalls being worried about how he would live without any family or memories of his own. That was, until those same people adopted him into their home; even though he was a stranger to them, they would treat him as their own and even got a sister out of it in Kairi. Just as he thinks of her, Matthew turns and walks to what appears to be his adopted sister, Kairi. Now firmly believing these cannot be his friends or sister, he knows there is no way these guys are the real Sora, Riku, and Kairi. They can't be... Walking in front of Kairi, he can't believe how alike these fakes are compared to his friends as he sees this Kairi smile sweetly at him like the real Kairi would do to her closest friends.
"Kairi." Matthew says now, figuring she will talk once he called her name.
"What do you want out of life?" Kairi, or rather this look alike, speaks in response.
Matthew, once again, thinks very hard about it. For a long time, he didn't have much of a goal to live for. He had only thought of finding his lost memories and being strong enough to protect his friends. Other than that, he has no goals for years on out planned, except to find a girl he can say he loves with all his heart of course. The idea honestly makes him feel content, yet longing as well. Focusing on his desires a bit, he soon feels he has found his answer.
"To be stronger and protect those I care for. I don't want anything to hurt them and I refuse to be a burden to those I care for any longer," Matthew responds to this fake Kairi softly, yet passionately and genuinely meaning every word he speaks.
How can he protect anyone if he's too weak to protect them or himself? The only way he can protect them is if he gets stronger. He will do whatever he can to get stronger and make sure those he cares for are kept safe. "Kairi" meanwhile hums in thought over the boy's answer.
"To be stronger and protect those you care for..."Kairi speaks, trailing off thoughtfully with that sweet smile as she stares at the sky now.
You want friendship. You're afraid of losing those you care for. You want to be stronger and protect those you care for.
The voice lists off the boy's answers from all around him,surprising Matthew as he spins around at hearing the voice again. Looking around to see if he can see who was speaking., he ends up frowning as the voice's speaker can't be seen again, despite it being broad daylight out...
Your adventure begins at midday. Keep a steady pace and you'll come through fine.
The voice continues speaking, as Matthew looks up still trying to spot it despite paying attention to what it is saying and trying to wrap his head around its mysterious words. Though he perks up at the mention of an adventure, seeing as he always wanted to go on an adventure.
"Sounds good to me," Matthew says, ready for an adventure.
Maybe he can gain the strength he needs to protect his friends while on his adventure!
The day you will protect the world of El and others that come in your path is both far off and very near.
The voice tells the boy softly, confusing Matthew as a flash of light appears and envelops everything again.
'World of El?'Matthew thinks in wonder and confusion as the light blinds him for a few seconds. Walking forward to see the light dying down, Matthew finally sees he is on another stained glass platform again. Stopping to admire the platform he is standing on this time. This one is showing the sleeping image of a young woman with pale white skin, a blue gem on her head, and a gold rim surrounding the blue silver hair is in a pair of side buns. She wears a short and skinny white dress with black top, along with a longer and more flowing coat, and tall white gray boots attached to a garter belt or her woman has pictures of the red haired boy, along with two drones near her, one a black drone with a white mask and one white drone with a black mask. While the red haired boy with red eyes was still giving his confident grin. This ends up confusing the boy as he cannot help but wonder why only the red haired boy and those little machine things is near the woman...
He takes a few steps forward across this platform as a light shines down on the center of the platform. The boy walks up to it and soon a shadow appears not too far from him. Rising out of the ground with more coming along. Sensing that weird and dangerous feeling again, he looks over his shoulder to see the Shadows from before. His shield appears in hand, with which he grips the handle as he assumes a battle stance to face his foes. The Shadows swarm toward him from the front, left and right. They are clearly trying to overwhelm him in numbers, before he moves to the right flank and punches one of the creatures. Following this by slamming the shield over it's head, he is soon spinning around in a full circle with both hands on the shield handle for extra force. Knocking into the Shadows around him, they are sent flying as the side of his shield makes contact. Five Shadows bite the dust, but one scratches his back for his hisses in pain, before dodging to the left to avoid a follow up attack. Spinning around to face the shadows and punching the one who attacked him back, he then sees out of the corner of his eye that more are coming out of the ground.
'I need to avoid getting surrounded,'Matthew reminds himself as he slams the shield's sharp point over the Shadow's head.
He then whacks it away with a two handed side swipe from his shield, thus killing the shadow and dropping more green balls like the previous ones had a strange feeling envelops him at this instant. Making him feel...more solid? He doesn't have time to think about it as he focuses on the quickly advancing shadow time collecting the green orbs as he runs to avoid being surrounded, Matthew lets out a relieved sigh as he feels the wounds healing with each orb his body absorbs. Happy to see his wounds are all healed from the brief glances he throws to both his arms and his right leg, he still feels the blood on his body as he jumps back to avoid two more attacking him from the the shield sharp point down on one about to sneak attack him on the right, Matthew then punches the one closest to his front, and spins again as they all come in to gang up on him.
"Take this!" Matthew shouts, knocking seven of them back while holding the shield with both hands in a spin attack with his full strength.
"Agh!" Matthew grunts in pain, feeling two claws graze into him.
One claw is on his right forearm and another is clawing into the back of his right leg again. Jumping away from the four heartless chasing him, he glares at the little monsters, but wonders why they don't hurt as bad this time thought is quickly kicked out of his mind as he feels a flash of pain from putting too much pressure on his leg during the landing.
"I just had that healed, you monster!" Matthew yells in fury as he races forward.
They jump, trying to hit him from multiple sides, only for the boy to lean forward and roll under their attack. This immediately ends up causing them to miss as he quickly gets back on his feet, sprinting toward them again. This time, he jumps while running to the right, letting his momentum do extra damage when he punches the lone heartless on the far right. It flinches back, before he slams the shield sharp point on it. Then he moves to its left, slamming the side of the shield into it as well as the nearest monster racing toward him, getting two Shadows with one attack. The last two Shadows are now rushing toward him as the boy races right at them. Seeing one jump, he shield blitzes the one on the ground. The one jumping barely scratches his shoulder as he tries to avoid the attack. He doesn't mind it as he takes his shield and pierces the shadow's body with the sharp bottom of his shield before side-swiping it away. Its body vanishes, before the boy feels that ominous feeling coming closer behind him. Spinning around to see the last one slowly rising from the ground, he takes the shield in both hands from the shield's edges again and bashes it over the head like a steel chair three times. This kills the last offending shadow and leaves the boy panting in exhaustion.
"That...was...a workout..." Matthew murmurs to himself, panting lightly.
Mentally kicking himself for getting clawed multiple times, he's thankful for those little green orbs that healed his wounds. Without them he would be a bleeding mess, he is sure. Though he definitely looks like he got into a bloody fight, judging from his pants leg being a mix of blue and bloodstains with tears in the jeans. His shirt has some claw marks on it now, with some blood staining it too. His right shoe and sock also have blood stains from where it trailed down his injured leg. He lets out a sigh of exasperation, hoping he will still have clothes by the time he figures out what is going on. Matthew begins looking up and around the platform to see if anything is going to happen.
Fortunately the light shines down from above to reveal a glowing green circle. When he steps on it with caution, he feels a feeling of safety coming from the aforementioned circle. Weird as it is for him and wondering why it makes him feel safe, the boy soon shakes the thoughts away while feeling blissful and safe. Feeling almost like nothing will harm him as long as he stands on this circle, he discovers that the wounds on his body are quickly healing, thankfully without any scars left behind. Looking down on himself, the boy frowns when seeing his clothes still look torn and bloodied.
'Kairi is going to freak if she sees me like this,' Matthew thinks, knowing Kairi hates seeing her friends hurt, especially Sora and Riku.
Still, he himself is third on that short list. Before he knows it, a stained glass pathway appears, leading to what he assumes to be a pillar holding up a stained glass platform.
'Wait, does that mean I'm on a pillar too?' Matthew wonders, walking to the path and glancing over the edge before gulping.
Now knowing that he really doesn't want to fall over, seeing that there is nothing but black darkness as far as he can see down there. He quickly looks back up and makes his way to the pathway up to the new pillar. He finds himself hoping for some answers to the strange things he has been through now, as well as about the creatures he fought to get here. Soon he is on the new platform of stained glass to see it is a picture of two ladies sleeping back to back. He can almost say they are twins, except for some key differences between them.
One is a young woman with white skin and long black hair in twin braids. Another is a young woman with free flowing white hair, as well as fox ears on her head, and nine white tails laying around the two sleeping young women. Oddly, they wear the same clothing... A short, sleeveless dress colored black and red that comes above the knees. The skirt is layered, with gold rims along it. A red and white jacket is worn with it, along with a red and gold sash around the middle. The two women both also wear simple crew socks in white, with a red trim at the top, and wear Japanese sandals on their they are twins or two very alike people with the same taste in clothes, Matthew just doesn't know which one of the two theories it is at the moment. He is also wondering why this station shows two sleeping women back to back with only a single spear between them and one image of a man nearby to them. This man has black skin, white hair, and red eyes. He has two curved horns on his head that are mainly black, but have some red in them. Oddly, he isn't smiling like most people in the pictures, rather having an expressionless look on his face. Despite this confusing the boy slightly, he shakes off the thought for now to look around. Seeing the beam of light on the center of the platform, Matthew walks up to it.
The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes.
The voice speaks to the boy, before he senses a much stronger version of the terrible feeling he keeps getting. Whatever it is, this thing must be much more dangerous then those little Shadows, so he slowly looks back warily to see his shadow has stretched out. It begins slowly rising out of the ground and growing in height. Shock rises within the boy as he sees the shadow of himself stand on its feet, before changing shape and stretching out it's hand toward him.
But don't be afraid.
The voice continues to speak to Matthew, who is slowly backing up as he sees it finish changing shape to look like a giant buff man made of shadows. Glowing yellow eyes stare fiercely at Matthew, while black tendril like hair, large muscular arms, and tiny legs detail the creature. Despite his surprise that those tiny legs can hold the creature, Matthew realizes one more feature. Most eye catching of all, he sees a heart shaped hole in its torso that sits where the stomach should be.
And don't forget.
The voice speaks once more before fading away as the boy looks back to see there is nowhere to go. Gulping, he stands his ground whilst trying to will the shield to appear. Once more, the shields ends up appearing at his mental call in a flash of light.
"Don't forget what?" Matthew asks before seeing the giant lower its arm.
Seeing its fist glowing a black and purple light as it stands full height with its glowing fist raised high, Matthew gets an idea. Running full speed for the legs closing their distance quickly, he begins swiping his shield at the monster's legs in a leg sweep fashion just as the giant strikes the ground with it's fist. To Matthew's shock however, the leg sweep does nothing as his shield passes through its legs harmlessly. He tries to figure in his head how that is possible, before seeing more little Shadows rising from a portal that surrounds the fist sunk into the stained glass pillar they were standing on.
"You've got to be kidding me," Matthew manages, gritting his teeth at the little annoyances being back for more.
Immediately charging them with a slam from the sharp point to the closest one, he then punches another on his right, and finally spins with both hands on the shield handle. While this ends up killing four heartless stupid enough to get too close, Matthew sees the giant shadow thing on its knees with its arms covering it's stomach. He is then forced to break attention as a shadow claws his right arm.
"Agh! You little..." Matthew trails angrily as he side swipes it.
With that knocking it down, he takes the shield by the edges and slams it on the shadow twice like a steel chair again. This kills it, before he senses that dangerous feeling coming closer behind him. Spinning around in time to see a purple orb heading for him, he smacks it with the shield in both of his hands while still holding the edges of the shield. Hitting with the shield knocks the orb toward the giant surprisingly, just as he slams downward only for the orb to hit its head. It groans in pain before firing another purple orb from the heart shaped hole. Matthew quickly repeats the tactic, to test if it works the way he thinks it does. However, this time he jumps up and slams it with the shield while in midair. Matthew feels intrigue and confidence swell within himself as it flies straight to its head, hurting it again. That strange solid feeling comes up again briefly, only this time he feels a little stronger instead of more solid. He quickly puts the thoughts aside as he lands on his feet.
Judging by the groan in pain as it takes the kneeling position again, Matthew decides this idea is working. Watching it cover that hole with its arms, Matthew chooses to test his luck and attacks the arms with the sharp point on the bottom of his shield, noticing he can hit this part too. Soon seeing the giant shadow fire three purple balls now, he retreats back to avoid getting hit immediately. Yet he notices they are still heading right for him.
'These things follow me?' Matthew ponders, confused as he holds the shield by the handle, before swinging sideways as the three purple orbs get close together.
Knocking all three back into the giant's head, he watches as it gets up again and slams its fist into the ground once more to create another portal of what he thinks might be darkness. As this makes more of those little Shadows show up again, Matthew narrows his eyes in annoyance as he rushes forward and starts attacking them with his shield. This time leading with a running punch, he then uses a strike from the sharp end of the shield over its head, before spinning with a shout. His spin knocks all Shadows away, and they are soon all dead. Once that happens, he sees the giant shadow charging more purple orbs with those arms over the hole again. Quickly running to one end of the platform he waits and watches it fire five of them this time.
'Oh shoot,'Matthew thinks, waiting for them to get close together.
Timing their approach, he jumps up and swings at them sideways in a spin. He hisses in pain as he knocks four back, but feels one hit his right shoulder. He lands on his feet, groaning from the weird feeling affecting his shoulder briefly. He cannot shake the feeling that screams "dark" and "dangerous" from the orb hitting him. Matthew soon sees the shadow giant lower its fist to sink into the floor again, and runs forward to whack the shield over its head like a steel chair. Performing this repeatedly, its body starts letting out sparks and it groans loudly in pain. At this same moment he feels himself become surrounded in that prior, non-dangerous feeling again before it vanishes. He doesn't notice any change like strength or solidness, but feels pretty good about the feeling nonetheless. It did nothing but help him so far, so why question it now?
Sadly, this victorious feeling is short lived as Matthew's shield disappears. Shocking the boy at the sudden disappearance, he quickly jumps back to avoid the muscular arm of the giant shadow slamming down where he was standing previously. Matthew is soon on the ground from his hasty jump backwards, only sensing the black and purple portal just as it appears under him. The darkness from it quickly wraps around his legs to prevent his escape.
But don't be afraid.
The voice calls as the giant stands a little taller, while Matthew is struggling to free himself.
You hold the mightiest weapon of all.
The voice continues despite the struggle Matthew is having to free himself. He doesn't know why it is telling him this, but he listens as he tries to free himself from getting surrounded in this darkness trying to wrap around his body. He is soon extending his arm out for someone, anyone, to save him from the darkness that was trying to drag him into the portal.
So don't forget:
The voice's call is loud and clear, despite the darkness surrounding his body. It is almost as if the darkness is trying to swallow him as everything is turning black.
You are the one, who will protect the world of El and others that come in your path.
The voice says this one final time as Matthew feels himself surrounded by darkness and everything finally goes black...
"Ah!" Matthew shouts, shooting up from his bed.
He ends up throwing the covers off his body and panting while trying to calm his rapidly beating heart from the experience of being swallowed by that... darkness. It is the only word that seems to make sense of what he is feeling from those Shadows and the giant shadow he fought. Plus that weird black and purple portal trying to swallow him up... After a few seconds, he calms himself enough to notice he is truly back in his own room. Sighing in relief that when he checks himself, he sees no wounds or blood on his body.
"Matt! Are you awake yet?!" A familiar voice calls out to him from outside.
Matthew sighs as he gets up from bed and makes his way to the window. Poking his head out to see Riku waving him over to the docks, Matthew can't help smiling at seeing his friend actually acting like himself again.
"Come on, Matt! Today's the day we start building the raft! Meet us at the spot we talked about, okay?" Riku calls to Matthew as he walks to the docks, with Matthew waving his hand to show he heard.
"I'll be there soon! Just let me get dressed and have some breakfast!" Matthew responds to Riku who gives a thumbs up before running off.
Satisfied that Riku understands, Matthew pulls back inside and stretches his arms out to work the kinks out of his body as he tries to fully wake up.
'Best get dressed and ready to meet up with Sora, Riku, and Kairi. Don't want to keep them waiting too long or Sora might slack off...again. Though that's assuming Kairi is already there and mom already woke her up,' Matthew thinks idly, walking to his closet and grabbing his pants to put them on.
This causes him to pause as he felt a bump in the pants against his right leg, a familiar bump that shouldn't be there. Reaching into his right pants pocket, he grabs what feels like a bottle and pulls it out. Worry and confusion fill his heart as he holds the potion in his hand.
'I know for a fact I emptied my pockets before bed. My parents wouldn't put things in my pants without telling me and neither would Kairi...' Matthew realizes, a little worried about the bottle he holds in his hand while he tries to figure out if this has to do with the strange messages the voice told him.
"Matt! Breakfast is ready!" Kairi's voice calls from the door, before opening it and taking one look before blushing as well as slamming the door shut.
"Put your clothes on, Matt! I don't want to see you in your underwear!" Kairi protests, rushing off, making Matthew blush at his slip up realizing she was right because he hasn't put his pants on all the way just yet.
'Oops...'Matthew thinks, very embarrassed at his mistake.
Leaning out the door to his room, he looks in her direction.
"Sorry, Kairi!" he tries calling to her, but she pays him little mind while rushing down the stairs.
He sighs to himself, before getting dressed in a hurry and hoping to put the bizarre dream out of his mind...
That's the Prologue chapter people! I know some of you aren't happy with me from my earlier work if you seen it, but I have run into complications that kept me from completing it and I will have a AN in the next chapter of Container's Bond to explain my reasons. Give it a read with the new chapter once ready and I hope you'll understand. If not, then do what you want EXCEPT flaming. I don't need any hate from anyone over circumstances I couldn't control!
So please review and NO FLAMES! I will accept criticism and advice meant to help me improve, but I won't tolerate haters. If hating is all you can do, then keep it to yourself! Especially anyone who hates OC's or having any characters from a series paired with an OC. Who I choose to let fall in love in MY story is MY business alone!
:IMPORTANT!: No, Matthew will not immediately go to Elrios. I mean, starting out as a kid with little to no training on an island and then waking up on Elrios would make it way harder on him to fight back. Let alone actually help or protect anyone he cares for. So I'm sorry fellow Elsword fans, but you'll have to wait a few worlds before he gets there. Also, I had to make slight adjustments to the prologue when I realized I overlooked the actual date of when Radiant Garden was overrun/infested with Heartless. So where he was found on Destiny Islands has changed in adjustment to his age of being found. Considering five year old kids falling out of tree houses is...very dangerous to say the least.