1Greetings, prospective readers, and welcome to the first installment of my Kingdom Hearts-Final Fantasy XIII series. I was first introduced to Final Fantasy XIII a few years ago when I watched a family friend play it on his Xbox 360, but I could never remember which Final Fantasy it was. Thankfully, after acquiring XIII-2 (which will very much be the sequel to this story) I was able to figure it out, get my hands on both XIII-1 and Lightning Returns, and well, here we are.
Now then, a few things to go over. First off, Riku and Lightning will end up together, that goes without saying, and as a result of the two of them having hooked up, both Riku and Serah will remember the ending of Final Fantasy XIII that Etro retconned, and thus take part in the adventure of XIII-2. As far Lightning Returns goes… well, I'm planning on keeping my designs for that close to the vest.
Additionally, I also very much plan on having Riku be the only one in all of Cocoon/Gran Pulse/Nova Chrysalia who is actually immune to being branded by a fal'Cie and converted into a l'Cie, and thus cannot turn into crystal or become a Cie'th. How is such a thing actually possible you ask? Well, that can be summed up in one word: Keyblade.
If you'd like me to go a bit more in-depth, what that means is that since Riku is a Keyblade Wielder, and thus already has a wide array of magical powers, spells, attacks, and whatever else, trying to give him those exact same, or at least pretty damn similar, magical powers by branding him a l'Cie is pretty much the same thing as putting a round peg into a square hole: it ain't gonna work out.
As far as being branded by the actual Gods of the Final Fantasy XIII universe and its mythology (like how Lightning, Hope, Sazh, and Snow, as it turns out, were branded by Pulse, sibling God to Etro and Lindzei) goes, they just choose not to, purely for the sake of seeing how things play out with what they could honestly consider a wild card, or an aberration. After all, considering both Pulse and Lindzei pretty much MADE Cocoon and Gran Pulse alike, not to mention what Etro pulled while she was still alive, they would not only know all about Riku's true nature, but I'm pretty sure they could force a l'Cie brand onto him if they wanted to. I know this may seem like a lousy excuse for why Riku doesn't get a l'Cie brand from a fal'Cie or Pulse and/or Lindzei, but I found out about Pulse being the one who branded Light, Hope, Snow, and Sazh after I already started putting this thing together, so I kinda had to come up with a last-minute workaround.
That aside, in addition to the usual range of Healing Spells and abilities, I very much plan on having Riku keep his Darkness-based Magic (Dark Fire/Fira/Firaga, Dark Blizzard/Blizzara/Blizzaga, Dark Thunder/Thundara/Thundaga, etc) plus his Darkness-based abilities like Dark Aura. I also plan on giving him access to Vanitas' Dark Splicer, Dark Spiral, Dark Cannon, and Shadow Dive abilities, among other Darkness-based powers and abilities, all of which he can use without having to wear that stupid purple bodysuit (because Vanitas' outfit just doesn't work in those colors, and Riku cannot pull it off as well as he can) or turning into an Ansem, Seeker of Darkness look-a-like. The reason behind this choice is to help establish the fact that Riku is not a l'Cie of any kind, but is in fact a completely different breed of magic-using warrior than any of the FF-XIII Trilogy cast, be they heroes or villains, have ever seen or dealt with before in both their personal and in all of recorded history.
Also, please note that I do NOT INTEND TO HAVE RIKU START OUT WITH ALL OF THESE ABILITIES AT FULL POWER. That would make the story boring as hell with Riku just curb-stomping anything that gets thrown at him. In short, he's gotta level up just like everybody else in the actual game. I mean, I've been writing these things for years now, so you'd think I'd know how to work around potential problems like that.
Also, in case it isn't obvious by the cover art, I plan on having Riku rock his KHIII look for this story. His outfit looks the exact same as it does in KHIII, but due to being of Cocoonian manufacturing, it lacks the magical-darkness protecting bells and whistles the actual version of the outfit has, although it can still carry the same number and types of things that Sora and the others' outfits can, plus it can fix itself, regardless of how much clothing damage it takes.
All right, I think that should actually cover everything I wanted to go over, so let us start the game!
Prologue
A Twist of Fate
Vanille believes that the thirteen days after she and Fang woke up from their centuries-long crystal slumber was the beginning of the end. I however, say otherwise.
I believe that the events that ultimately led up to doomsday actually began just shy of six years before they got their wake up call. To be precise, those events truly started the day I showed up in Bodhum and crossed paths with a fifteen year old girl with rose-colored hair and her baby sister, all thanks to a twist of fate. Although, one would think that it tends to happen when you get blasted to another dimension thanks to an explosion caused by a device trying to digitize a celestial entity, manufactured or otherwise.
My name is Master Riku Yoake of the Keyblade. Husband of Claire "Lightning" Farron-Yoake, and father of our children, Lumina and Dusk. And this is my story. True, it might have started out as a five-hundred-and-nine-year-long detour from the main story, but in all honesty, that's my best friend's story, I'm just a major supporting character in that particular tale. This, however, is completely and entirely my own story.
So, why don't we track this from the very beginning…
The Castle That Never Was-Rooftop Accessway
Two individuals emerged from a staircase within the castle and onto the outdoor passage, where they had a clear view of what looked like a massive heart-shaped moon that shone down upon the empty realm along with the city and castle that dwelt within it. One of these individuals was the King of Disney Castle, Mickey Mouse, easily recognized by his large round ears and clad in a red, black, and yellow outfit.
The second individual was a human male who looked to be approaching the twilight years of his life, carrying a large, unknown device with him as he climbed up the stairs. He had long, slicked back blonde hair with a matching beard, and wore a long, red cape with a quadrate cross cut taken out at the chest that was outlined with yellow at the edges, a black shirt with a white symbol on it, grey, segmented armor over his sides and abdomen, a long, black cloth lined with yellow, with several decorative straps pinned onto it.
"This spot should do," Ansem the Wise told King Mickey as he placed his device down onto the ground and began setting it up.
As Ansem continued setting up the device, Mickey, his smile still ever-present on his face, couldn't help but ask his old friend, "What's this gadget for?"
"It's a device to reclaim Kingdom Hearts, and encode it as data," explained Ansem, indicating the heart-shaped moon in the horizon as he spoke.
Encode Kingdom Hearts as data? As in, computer data? Is such a thing even possible? thought Mickey before he addressed his old friend. "Not sure I get it."
"I do not claim to know the outcome of this venture either," admitted Ansem as he took aim at Kingdom Hearts with the business end of his encoding device.
"After all… hearts are unpredictable."
And on that note, Ansem pressed the "Initialize Encoding" command on his device, which then proceeded to fire a beam at Kingdom Hearts, a small dark hole forming where the beam struck the moon, which slowly began to grow larger as the celestial entity became digitized.
For quite a long time, the two monarchs sat in relative silence, until Ansem noticed a small warning indicator on his device. Clearly, Kingdom Hearts was too much for the machine to handle.
I should have realized… after all these years spent in solitude, plotting my plots, scheming my schemes, and planning my plans to attain my vengeance on Organization XIII with Sora as my instrument, I have failed to learn my lesson…thought Ansem, an amused smile crossing his face. I profess to know and understand the heart, and yet I continue to show that I truly know nothing about it… and one who knows nothing can understand nothing.
It wasn't long before Mickey took notice of both the violent shaking and occasional sparking of the machine and Ansem's smile. "Ansem?" the mouse king asked his good friend.
Ansem couldn't help himself. He laughed at both himself and at his folly. "I'm a fool… I spent years studying the workings of the heart… yet it seems I still haven't learned a thing!" he said, shaking his head in sorrow as he spoke.
"Whaddya mean?" asked Mickey.
"The process of encoding hearts is incalculable," replied Ansem as he struggled to maintain his grip on the encoder. "The inhabitants of my Twilight Town were data created from real hearts… I was convinced that they would think and behave the way that I had envisioned, but I couldn't have been more wrong… a heart is so much more than any system… I saw it when Roxas and Kairi crossed paths… I knew… but, I was too stubborn to accept it."
"It's always the same…" lamented Ansem. "I try to wrap my mind around things my heart already knows, only to fail. While I was trying to bring Sora back, I had so many plans in store… but, once Sora was an acting force, they fell apart. All my research amounted to nothing compared with that one boy's heart…"
As Ansem finished his lament, the encoder device suddenly began shaking and sparking a lot more violently as the status screens on it suddenly turned a vivid shade of red.
"Ansem! The machine!" Mickey was quick to exclaim in worry and panic.
"All the more proof that hearts cannot be contained by data," said Ansem, his tone quickly turning urgent. "Run, my friend! It's going to self-destruct! And anything could happen!"
"But-" Mickey started to say only to be cut off by a voice from nearby.
"Your Majesty!"
Both Ansem and Mickey turned towards the source of the voice and found a large group of people heading their way. Among them were two of Mickey's oldest and most dear friends since childhood, to the point that he considered them to be his brothers just as much as his long-lost older half-brother, Oswald: his court magician, Donald Duck, Save the Queen+ at the ready, and Goofy, the Captain of his Royal Guard, who likewise had Save the King+ at the ready.
Ahead of Mickey's most trusted friends and allies were three humans. One of them seemed to be an adult male in his early or mid-twenties with tan skin and silver hair that seemed to reach halfway down his back, and was clad in the long black coat, black leather gloves, black pants, and black and silver boots. To those who didn't know any better, one would think that this was Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and impersonator of the bearded blonde struggling to contain the encoder's energy. In truth, however, he was a young man of sixteen who was stuck in the form of the defeated Seeker of Darkness due to terrible mistakes born from jealousy and misinformed choices that he'd made over a year ago named Riku Yoake.
Right alongside Riku, Donald, and Goofy was a young woman of fifteen with long red hair wearing a pink strapless mini-dress that had three zippers and a white halter top with a black hood underneath, three bracelets on her left wrist, a black belt reminiscent of suspenders with a note book shaped bag attachment, and lilac sneakers with black laces. This was Kairi Destanti, Princess of Heart and probably the only one in perhaps all of recorded history to actually become a Keybearer.
And finally, leading the charge up the stairs to where Ansem and Mickey were was none other than the very boy that Ansem had previously been talking about. Sora Hikari had brown hair that was spiky enough that, if such a thing were possible, could easily be used as an impromptu weapon. He was clad in a navy blue v-neck t-shirt, black shorts with yellow belts, a black hooded jacket with pauldron-like additions on the shoulder with yellow belts hanging off the front, black fingerless gloves, black and yellow shoes, and a silver necklace with a crown pendant on it.
Upon hearing Sora and company's approach, Ansem turned to look at the brown haired boy, a solemn and regretful look on his face as he spoke. "Sora… the rest is up to you… and Roxas… I doubt you can hear me but… I am sorry…"
Upon hearing Ansem's apology, Sora felt as though someone else from within his heart was making an attempt to use his mouth to say "I forgive you…"
But before the words could actually escape his lips, Sora felt the feeling and urge to vocalize what he could only assume was Roxas' forgiveness by Mickey's cry of "Ansem!"
"My heart is telling me what I must do! Please allow me to do what it says!" said Ansem.
"No!" cried Mickey, desperate to save his friend only to feel Riku's gloved hand on his shoulder trying to hold him back. "Riku!" the mouse king exclaimed as he turned to face the black-clad person.
"His heart's decided," Riku said in his normal voice, which was very hoarse after having to do an admittedly very good impression of the fake Ansem's voice for over a year. Still, it was rather weird to hear Riku's normal voice coming from the mouth of the Seeker of Darkness. "We can't change that."
Any further discussion on the matter was quickly brought to an abrupt halt by the all-too-familiar sound of a member of Organization XIII's leadership warping in.
"I was wondering who would dare interfere with my Kingdom Hearts…" the deep voice of Xemnas, leader and founder of Organization XIII, who had long silver hair not dissimilar to the hairstyle that Riku was currently sporting and clad in the attire of Organization XIII. "And look… here you all are… how convenient for me…"
After a moment, Xemnas turned his attention to the man who had taught him everything he knew, and was currently trying to keep his machine from exploding for as long as he could. "Ansem the Wise… you look pathetic," Xemnas said, not that Ansem minded how disrespectful his old student was being.
"Have your laugh," muttered Ansem. "I deserve as much for failing to see you for the fool that you are…"
"Students do take after their teachers…" Xemnas replied as easy as you please. "Only a fool would be your apprentice. After all, none of this would have happened without you. You are the source of all Heartless. It was your research that inspired me to go further than you ever dared."
"I admit… my disregard brought chaos to more worlds than one…" lamented Ansem, recalling how his Radiant Garden, his city of light, had fallen into the darkness and became twisted into Hollow Bastion, with so many innocent people lost to either death or darkness, the grandmother of a certain red haired girl who happened to be among those present to hear this exchange being one such victim. "But… what were you seeking? You erased me from the world, only to take my name, and continue research better left forgotten… is this the answer you've been looking for?"
"All that and more," replied Xemnas, a stone-cold glare in his eyes as he looked upon his former master and teacher. "I'm carrying on what you yourself began, and I'm creating a brand new world, one heart at a time." Not entirely true, of course. After all, the old fool didn't know everything about him, or even what he had done prior to becoming his apprentice, back when he was nothing more than an old man with only a demon crafted from the darkness torn from his pathetic excuse of an apprentice and dreams of attaining the ultimate weapon and starting the Second Keyblade War.
Now that he thought about it… Roxas actually had an uncanny resemblance to that apprentice, despite being, without a shadow of a doubt, the Nobody of the Hero of the Keyblade who stood before him now. It was quite an interesting quandary, considering the Nobodies who had retained their human form always looked completely identical to their human selves, due to being the bodies they had left behind when they became Heartless. Xemnas would have to look into it once he dealt with his uninvited guests.
"I thought you'd praise me, but all you ever do is hold me back," Xemnas continued before taking a mock bow of respect. "I understand, though. Unlike me, you have a heart, and you're powerless to control it. Consumed by the jealousy you feel towards the student who has surpassed you."
Ansem couldn't help but shake his head and give a small, sad chuckle as his encoder device began to shake ever the more violently in his hands. "Xehanort… foolish apprentice of a foolish man… you have surpassed nothing. Only proved how little we both know. We may profess to know the heart, but its essence is beyond our reach. We are both ignorant, as oblivious today as when we began eleven years ago. I'm afraid that any world you try to create… any world of yours would be an empire of ignorance! That is why you and your creation are destined to fall!" declared Ansem before he returned his attention to his machine.
"We've said enough! Riku, you know what to do!" Ansem said to the dark skinned man, who merely nodded once in response as Ansem looked at Mickey, who had a sorrowful expression on his face. "King Mickey, my friend… forgive me… farewell!"
Almost as if it was on an unspoken and unknown cue, Ansem's encoder device emitted a bright glow that quickly consumed the man. Acting quickly, Riku moved to stop Sora, Donald, and Goofy from trying to save Ansem while Kairi tried to hold back Mickey from doing the same.
As the encoder device detonated in a magnificent explosion of unknown energies, Riku turned around just in time to see a massive surge of light from the machine's explosion heading right for all of them, causing his eyes to widen in panic and fear.
In a matter of moments, the explosion consumed everything within the party's sight, before everything went black, and they knew no more.
Cocoon-The Seaside City of Bodhum
It was the feeling of rain on his face that caused Riku to begin to slowly return to the realm of consciousness. The process was quickly sped up when Riku became aware enough to realize that the rain felt… different somehow. That it didn't feel anything remotely like rain was supposed to feel, be it on Destiny Islands, the World That Never Was, or any of the other worlds he had visited. It was almost as though someone with a chemistry set had tried to make a close approximation of rain, and had somewhat succeeded.
Sitting bolt upright, wide awake with his senses about him, Riku quickly realized that there was a black piece of cloth shrouding his eyes. The pieces starting to fall into place, Riku quickly looked around for something to check his reflection with, and soon found what he was looking for in the form of what looked to be the water of the ocean.
Gone was the form of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. As he removed the blindfold, Riku was met with the image of his true form, a young man of sixteen with silver hair that reached down to his upper back and blue-green eyes. Quickly switching out of his Organization XIII outfit, he saw that his new outfit, consisting of a sleeveless black shirt under a white, yellow, and blue vest that exposed his bellybutton, a white wrist guard on his left arm, blue baggy pants held up by a black and silver belt, and white shoes.
Quickly stashing his Organization XIII disguise into one of his pockets, Riku couldn't help but laugh. Ansem had once told him that if his encoder machine were unable to handle Kingdom Hearts, there was a very real chance that the resulting explosion of unknown energies could have unpredictable results and effects on anyone caught within it. In Riku's case, it had purged him of the last of the corruption that Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and Maleficent had poisoned him with. True, he could still feel the darkness running through his veins, but it no longer held him captive in its chains.
A moment later, Riku realized he had another, far more serious issue that he really needed to attend to: where the hell was he even?
Getting up off the ground, Riku looked around at his immediate surroundings, noticing that it looked more like a technologically advanced version of Destiny Islands in a way. Riku was certainly no slouch when it came to operating and using technology, and that last time he had checked, Kairi could find her way around technology easy enough. Sora on the other hand, he had his doubts. Prior to all the insanity with the Heartless and the Organization, Sora had been able to use technology about as well as the rest of them, and had actually been one of the top students in their grade. But after what he had seen Sora do at the D.T.D. terminal in Hollow Bastion aka Radiant Garden from the shadows, he started to have his doubts about that holding true these days.
Then again, Naminé did tell him and Ansem that there might be some side effects from screwing around with Sora's memories so much. Brain damage, short-term memory loss, and his intelligence being affected, for instance.
As Riku made his way off the beach and into the town proper, he saw a nearby sign indicating that the town he was in was called "Bodhum," while other signs indicated that something called "Gil" was the currency here, rendering what munny he had completely useless. All the further proof that he was definitely not in Kansas anymore, as he had never of any worlds that hosted such settlements, and he had been to a large variety of different worlds in the past year, both before and after he had been possessed by the Seeker of Darkness. On top of that, every single one of those worlds he had been to, for some reason or another, always seemed to use munny for their currency, never mind the fact that not only were these worlds supposed to be secret from one another.
Regardless, to say Riku wasn't worried or anxious about his current predicament would be an understatement, but perhaps if he found someone who at least seemed friendly enough, perhaps he could learn more about this world. Although, considering the unusual circumstances behind his presence in Bodhum, he would need to come up with a story about his past that he would be able to sell well enough to avoid suspicion.
As Riku was making his way through the city, looking for some form of information center like a public library or something similar, the sound of crying reached his ears. Looking towards the source of the crying, Riku caught sight of what looked to be two girls wearing black dresses sitting helplessly on the ground in an alleyway as they tried to support each other. One looked to be a year younger than Riku, and was quite beautiful in his opinion, while the second looked to be only twelve. Judging from the hair that was the exact same shade of rose pink that the late Organization XIII member Marluxia had, Riku had no choice but to assume they were sisters.
And judging from the fact that they were both wearing black and that they were both sobbing wrecks, it was clear to Riku that they had just been to a family member's funeral. Hopefully, it wasn't Marluxia's funeral, or that of his human self.
Regardless, Riku didn't have much of a choice. For one thing, he hated seeing girls cry, especially girls as pretty as the elder sister… ugh, what was he thinking?
"Hey, you two," Riku said to the two rose-haired girls as he approached them. "You guys okay?"
The elder sister drew the younger into a protective embrace as she gave Riku an annoyed look. "Serah and I just got back from our mom's funeral. We lost Dad when we were little, then Mom got sick, and now she's gone… and we have no one left to take care of us… I'm just a kid, and now… now I have to fend for myself and my baby sister… so you tell me… do we look like we're okay?!" the elder sister snarled at Riku.
Riku grimaced. He knew that these two girls had likely come back from a loved one's last rites, but he didn't realize that they were in such dire straits… what could he do?
"Look…" Riku said as he sat down next to the sisters. "I won't pretend to understand how you feel exactly. After all, different people may suffer the same tragedies in their lives, so the way they grieve after those tragedies might be as different from one another as day is from night, or light from darkness. But, I do know this. You have to be strong," Riku said as the elder sister looked at him. "And not just for your sake, but for… Serah, was it? You have to be strong for her sake as well. Strength of heart will carry you through the hardest of trials, and it will give you the power and physical strength you need to protect what matters most. An old friend of mine taught me that a long time ago."
Riku frowned for a moment after that particular sentence. Wonder whatever happened to Terra? Xemnas kinda looked like him, now that I think about it, but his voice was too deep, and there's no way his hair could've turned to silver that quickly, even if it has been eleven years. Not a guy that young… thought Riku before the elder sister's voice pulled him out of his musings.
"Thanks for that…" she said as she wiped her eyes. Little Serah, meanwhile, seemed to have cried herself to sleep. Shifting her sister in her arms, the girl looked up at Riku. "You know… I don't think I've seen you around here before… what's your name?" she asked.
"Name's Riku Yoake… I arrived in Bodhum just tonight, truth be told," Riku said before adopting a somber expression. "You see, I'm what you might call a drifter. Have been for a little over a year now, ever since monsters destroyed my hometown. Not that it was anywhere important or big or anything, but still… it's all gone now, and I'm the only survivor."
Not entirely true, but it was certainly close enough to the truth that he didn't feel like he was completely lying. Besides, Destiny Islands, despite the fact that it was restored with the other worlds that had fallen into darkness thanks to Mickey and Sora, had been destroyed by the Heartless, even if he was the one who led them there.
Regardless, the elder sister looked horrified at Riku's story. "That's terrible…" she said.
"It really is… but, the wounds healed a long time ago, and the scars have just started to fade… but, trust me when I say that they're still there, and will always be there. After all, why do you think scars fade instead of healing with the wound that made them?" Riku said with a shrug. "But, what about you? What's your name?"
The girl looked down towards the ground before she spoke.
"Claire. My name is Claire Farron," the now-identified Claire said.
"Well, Claire Farron…" Riku said with the first genuine smile he had worn in a long time. "I think I might stick around here in Bodhum for awhile. Truth be told, it… kinda reminds me of home."
And thus concludes the Prologue! I know some of you might think that Lightning was a bit out of character in this chapter, but you gotta remember, this is BEFORE she joins the Guardian Corps and becomes Lightning Farron, so she's still very much in touch with the part of herself that eventually becomes Lumina, and hasn't become that cold, emotionless Soldier Girl who becomes a l'Cie, then a Knight of Etro, and then ultimately becomes The Savior.
In any case, if you liked what you saw here, then be sure to fav, follow, and review, and I'll see you guys next time as we get into the real meat-and-potatoes of this fic: the storyline of Final Fantasy XIII-1!
