Text Beyond The Chain

[Philip Ellwell 5,487]

Rated T for mild fantasy violence, one or two mild swears, and one sexual innuendo 

Please read:

 

So this is the first time I've posted a story in awhile: I've posted some things in the past we can all just ignore for eternity the time being.
This story is about what went on in Sora's mind during the year asleep, where he went on to high school and dated Kairi on and off, growing up, and feuding with Riku. But pieces of his past bleed through the illusion through dreams, and soon it shatters fully as Organization 13 finds him.
Canon-wise, this takes place during the year Sora slept, ignores DAYS utterly, and ends slightly different from KH II. Sora also has been moved several times in an attempt to protect him, and is currently in the empty house in Traverse Town.
Criticism is welcome, but please don't tell me how to write.

 

 

 

"S..."

"So...."

These sounds, even in the haze. They break through somehow, their source unseen.

"Sor..."

"Sora."

                                                 ********************************************

CYCLE 1

"Sora!"

"Huh..whu...?!" 

He sat up quickly, wiping the drool off his face and trying to look alert, the teacher glaring. "Try to stay awake for once, Mr. Konoha: I'd hate to see you flunk this term." She said, managing to look both sympathetic and also slightly bird-like in old fashioned pinc-nez glasses with a gold chain. 

"Yes, Mrs. Kettlewell." He muttered, defeated. Riku smirked, and Sora made a rude hand motion at him, making him snicker. Kairi was too busy doodling on her notebook to notice any of this, and sora poked her side to get her to pay attention: good artist or not, she wasn't getting anywhere if she flunked high school.

After the droning class and pile of homework ("First 7 chapter's of Verne's Journey to The Center of The Earth BY TOMORROW, and an essay of the use of male and female roles and sterotypes portrayed in the novel by Monday"), sora gladly left school, dragging his heels through the dirt on his way home. Riku ran up to him, smacking his back. "Hey, dweeb. What's up with you falling asleep in class like a geek?" A good kick to the shins from a non-too-pleased Sora shut him up. "I'm not sleeping well, okay? Just shut up..."

"Hey, fine.." Riku backed off, looking at him strangely. "Whatever, man."

Kairi trailed her way lazily, never one to hurry. "Hi, boys." She said, knowing full well she was flirting her rear off. Riku grinned like a idiot, but sora didn't give her a passing glance, shouldering his backpack as he headed on. "I'll see you later, okay?" 

"Fine.. on TT later tonight, then?" 

"Yeah, sure."

Riku gave a small wave, and caught up to Kairi, his lame excuse for flirting apparent even from that distance, as Sora headed home. 

He didn't sleep well..he'd been having weird dreams..weird thoughts lately.. 

They kept him up for hours, with visions of places he didn't know: a town under a huge ruined castle, a watery cave of old artifacts, a cold castle of dark stone and echoing roars.. nothing he knew. 

He sighed, and headed home.

Edited January 14, 2015 by Jack Overland Frost

[Alicia Maddox 2,141]

Wow, this is pretty good! Sorry I didn't post earlier.

[Philip Ellwell 5,487]

Wow, this is pretty good! Sorry I didn't post earlier.

Thanks. I've been improving to the best of my ability since I last posted something. (At least I tried too)

[Philip Ellwell 5,487]

"You have to tell him."

She looked up at him, and sighed, looking away as he stood behind her. "I can't. If you break the illusion at this point... he might not recover."

The man thought this over, as she continued her work, the light fading outside as the sun set over the hills. 

"How does he know who they are? All his memories were broken."

"He doesn't...not really. He knows of them, but not as friends."

He blinked. "I don't understand."

She stood, walking to the window and staring out at the plaza, quiet at this time of night, the people headed home after the days work, the shops closed. "It doesn't matter. Everything will happen like it's supposed to."

He didn't believe it anymore than she did. 

                                                                 ***************************

CYCLE 2 

 

He didn't sleep much that night: the dreams kept him awake. He didn't know why they were really upsetting, but seeing places he'd never been, and shouldn't know of scared him: Castles of ruined stone echoing with roars and sliding walls covered in pipes, forests of mushrooms and jingling flowers.. it was pretty messed up crap. The castle was the only thing he really remembered clearly: a room full of glass cubicle type pods, leading to a massive room with a blasted portal of pipes on a stone platform, much like an alter, the skies grey and dank through holes in the roof. 

He'd never been to any such place, yet knew all about it, and its oddities. 

At least it was a weekend, and he could relax some: Riku had come by trying to drum up players for a game of Grandstander, but he turned him down, pretending he needed to work on his paper, which he'd already finished. 

He spent most of the day in bed, and dreamt. His dreams scared him, twisting and turning with faces he didn't know, and voices he'd never heard before. 

He awoke long after dark, when his mother angrily yelled for him to come down to dinner. 

                                                                     ******************************

 

A figure stood outside the house as Sora picked through his noodles at the table besides his mother, his father off to work. 

Or what he believed was his father. 

No matter how perfect, no illusion was without flaw, and the figure saw this with the light rani starting to fall not hitting the ground, and the houses behind him along the street being completely empty. Most weren't even houses, just facades. Behind was nothing but blank walls. The whole illusion made up large rooms, not unlike something else Sora had seen before. 

The figure stood for a few seconds, his green eyes briefly catching Sora's, but he was gone before he could get a good look, leaving Sora to think he'd seen a cat. 

The girl hadn't made her memories as strong as she'd thought: they'd easily found a hole into the data, into the worlds within his mind. 

It was only a matter of waiting, now. Watching, and waiting for the dream to shatter. 

Edited January 14, 2015 by Jack Overland Frost

[Philip Ellwell 5,487]

"We've had a breach." She spoke without emotion, beaten by this.

"What?" The man looked up from his place by the window, having had dozed off in an armchair.

"They're breached the data. Sora isn't alone in there." She said, looking to the pod in the corner of the house: inside, Sora slept, eyes flickering in dreams uneasily.

                                                                  ****************************

 

CYCLE 3

The next day was rainy, and Sora spent most of it inside, catching up for once on reading for homework. Riku wasn't on TT.net later, so Sora wandered the MORPG's town, battling a few other players to get some power stones he needed to forge the ultima weapon at the shop. 

Lightning crackled, and Sora let out a groan as the screen fizzled to a dot, the power out. Unplugging the machine, he flopped onto his bed, staring up at the old glow in the dark stars he'd been too lazy to take down, the lightning flashing now and then.

The closet door was half open, and on each flash it looked like something was standing there from the angle Sora lay, a figure in a dark coat. He assumed it was just his school jacket, but when it moved swiftly, entering the room, Sora knew something had gotten in somehow. 

He couldn't speak, watching the thing move closer: the coat covered it so closely it was hard to tell if it was a male or female under the fabric, but it dragged a large blue..instrument? 

Tripping, the figure let out a curse, as Sora's sneakers sent it sprawling on its rear. "I TOLD them I wasn't cut out for this crap.." It muttered. 

Lightning flashed, and Sora fell back, falling into a doze. 

                                                                                    ***********************

 

 

"Can you fix it?"

"He's gotten into the room, but I can get rid of him for now. The breach is too big: all I can do is bandage it for one night."

"One night may be all we need. I'm going in."

"Diz, you.."

"Do you have a better idea?"

She fell silent, hand working quickly over her drawing pad. "He's gone. Sora will sleep it off."

"We have to do something before the Organization sends in the big guns. That monkey of a member was a test, a check up on how large the breach is."

The man, Diz, looked to the sun setting over the hills, the town closing up as it did each night.

"I only hope we're not going to be to late."

Edited January 14, 2015 by Jack Overland Frost

[Alicia Maddox 2,141]

Very good. I like your moody, atmospheric take on this part of the story. Is this a draft, or a finished story? 

[Philip Ellwell 5,487]

Very good. I like your moody, atmospheric take on this part of the story. Is this a draft, or a finished story? 

Completely finished. I don't draft much, and I also don't plan on dragging this story out mega far: The next two parts will be longer. 

[Alicia Maddox 2,141]

I see. Well, I like the story, but I feel like the transitions between Sora's dream life and the real world are just a little bit choppy. I would like to see some smoother transitions. But that's just a suggestion.

[Philip Ellwell 5,487]

I see. Well, I like the story, but I feel like the transitions between Sora's dream life and the real world are just a little bit choppy. I would like to see some smoother transitions. But that's just a suggestion.

No, no: I'm open to suggestions. 

Choppy how, sudden you mean? Because I was kinda going for shock value: suddenly jerking you out of Sora's dreamworld to the real life events. But I'm open to any suggestions you have to make the transition better: there's always the edit button. 

[Alicia Maddox 2,141]

I understand where you're coming from, but when I read it, I was a little confused while reading. It took me a moment to distinguish that I had made the transition to the real world.

[Philip Ellwell 5,487]

I understand where you're coming from, but when I read it, I was a little confused while reading. It took me a moment to distinguish that I had made the transition to the real world.

Hmm...

Would something like * * * between each transition help? Or different coloured text for each section?

[Alicia Maddox 2,141]

Separation like ********** would help a lot, yes.

[Philip Ellwell 5,487]

Separation like ********** would help a lot, yes.

Alright. That's why they invented the edit button

[Philip Ellwell 5,487]

CYCLE 4

The weekend dragged by slowly, hour by hour, and Sora spent most of it online, playing through TT's massive challenges instead of doing anything productive or actually useful. A strange feeling of something being off constantly kept him in his room: he was almost afraid to leave. 

Monday snailed in like the usual beast it was, and he was forced to trudge to school. Riku was out sick, and Kairi was distant, not really talking to him much. It was very odd. 

                                                       

                                       *                                               *                                                       *

The girl worked as hard as she could, weaving bandaids into the gaps, but it was little use: one of the friends had already shattered, and Kairi's data was breaking down. The dreamworld was unraveling at her fingertips. As she drew, the crayon snapped in a smush of red on Sora's face.

 

                                     *                                                 *                                                         *

The day dragged, the sky..off. All day, it was a grey, dark mass, never becoming full sun, but never really clouding over. Sora made it through his classes wearily, his...nightmare? Fantasy? from last night having had kept him up for hours, only managing to rest at dawn, a couple of hours before he was supposed to get up for school. He trudged through the throng of leaving kids, stopping at his locker for a long while as the hall emptied. Soon, he was the only one left. 

He looked down the dark expanse, and smothered a scream: a figure stood there, female or male he couldn't tell, in a shapeless coat with silvery fringes, staring at him. As he looked, it ducked back into a sudden spray of..darkness.. something...vanishing as suddenly as it had come, leaving Sora alone.

                                    *                                                 *                                                             *

"They're after him." The girl said, breathlessly, as the man watched the screens: Sora stood in the hall on it, watching as the figure vanished. 

"We have no choice in the matter any longer." The man said stiffly.

"You don't mean.."

"Yes. Send me inside. He must be shown how to fight. The year is almost up, we only need a bit more time yet."

She nodded grimly, and began to draw, eyes closed, hand moving fast as if by its own accord. 

[Philip Ellwell 5,487]

//Cycle 5 will be the final and longest part to this mini tale. 

[Philip Ellwell 5,487]

When Sora awoke the next morning after a sleepless night of twisting dreams, everything seemed...different: his room had taken on grey scale hues, like when you lower the tint on the tv. He yawned, his ears feeling fuzzy, like they'd been stuffed with cotton. At that moment, the illusions finally shattered around him, the band-aids crashing as Sora felt like he was falling through an open space, complete darkness surrounding him. He slammed painfully into a sort of...he struggled to sit up, feeling groggy.... a stained glass...?

Figures surrounded him: dressed as the figures he'd seen before, they stared at him, arms by their sides. He glanced fearfully from hood to hood: not a bit of their faces showed, each as souless as the last, a dark figure with no life to it. He shuddered, getting carefully to his feet, his shoes making him slide for a second...shoes? Hadn't he taken them off before going to bed..

"Sora." One of the figures said. It's voice was deep, and as it raised its hands to lower the hood, Sora saw the figure was lithe, but muscular, nothing you'd want against you in a fight. A scarred face with electric blue hair looked back at him, eyes cold and glaring. "The Keyblades' chosen one."

Sora laughed, trying to kid himself into thinking this was still a dream. "Make some sense, why don'tcha? Huh?"

The man stared back, unamused. "You will come with us now."

"W..what?" He stepped back, colliding with another, lankier figure, his elbow connecting at crotch level.  The figure cursed, and his hood fell back to show a youthful face framed by a odd haircut, short in front and longer at the back, his eyes enraged. "Watch it, squirt. Don't damage the merchandise."

"I.." Sora stepped away, standing in the center of a circle of these figures, as they began to close in...

*                                                                                                 *                                                                                                      *

"Now! Do it now!"  Diz screamed, watching the monitor with wide eyes, as Namine sent him in, fingers working fast....

*                                                                                                  *                                                                                                      *

"T..there's gotta be some sort of mistake...I..uh..I'll just go..now.." Sora tried half heatedly, but the circle was tight, blocking him in. 

"Please.." He began, but a dark light bubbled up besides him, a tall man with his face covered in red silk wrapping stepping out. "Sora.. come. " He said simply, glaring at the figures. They stood impassively, not moving. The blue haired one opened his mouth to speak, but fell silent, thinking otherwise. He turned away. "Another time, then..Sora."

The man gripped Sora's shoulder. "Sora..awaken from this dream..your time is over for rest..." With a sudden jerk, he tossed Sora into the darkened swirl before him. 

 

 

Darkness, and a feeling of grogginess, like when you've taken a very long nap. Light..what...

 

"Sora!" 

He opened his eyes, blinking at the sudden intrusion. Two figures stood there...and a smile crossed his face as he saw who it was. He jumped from the pod into their arms like a dork. "Donald! Goofy!" 

They hugged him, and the three danced like idiots briefly out of sheer joy, no cause for it, or reason..just the joy of being awake. 

From behind a pod far across the room, a figure watched, a slight blonde girl in a white shift. Her job had been hard, and the year long, the moves from Castle to house to mansion hardening this girl early into a mature adult. She was not remembered: Sora's promise was forgotten, as he and his friends left the Chamber, laughing and talking excitedly.

From now on, whatever lay ahead, whatever they might see, and whomever they might meet along the way, Sora, was at last, awake again, and all those who memory had snared in its grasp would sleep for now. 

She smiled softly, and was gone. 

The lights dimmed, and the Chamber was empty. 

 

 

-The End