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Kingdom Hearts: Dark Dawn	By : RotSeele Category: Kingdom Hearts > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 3168 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I do not make any money from this story.

Chapter List
- 6
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- 8
Seven - Beast’s Castle

Kaoru woke to a world draped in white. He pushed himself up slowly and heard unfamiliar crunching beneath his hands. In fact, every time he moved, the same crunching filled his ears. It took him a while to place the sound, and realized he was now kneeling in snow. As if that realization triggered his body to realize his sensations, he suddenly felt cold and began to shiver. Someone groaned beside him, and he turned slightly to see Rin shifting in the snow, slowly waking up as well.
“Ugh, my head...” Rin whimpered, pushing herself up only to clutch at her head. She seemed to realize she was sitting in the snow then and quickly jumped to her feet, wrapping her arms around herself to try and hold in her warmth. “Where are we?”
Kaoru got to his feet as well, brushing snow off himself before it began to melt into his clothes and make him even colder. He didn’t answer Rin right away, instead looking around them to try and place where they were. The snow they had woken up in was pristine all around, save for where they had churned it. There weren’t any signs of animals or anything else. The trees that surrounded them were thin and naked, their spindly limbs stretching toward the grey sky. Kaoru tilted his head back and decided that the clouds above meant it was going to start snowing again. He pivoted, trying to see anything different through the grey mass of the forest. It all looked the same, no matter what direction he turned in.
At last he said, “I don’t know. But it’s not where we were.”
“Gee, I never would’ve thought that.” Rin said, her teeth chattering. Her arms tightened around her chest and she took a few tentative steps forward. The snow crunched loudly under her feet. “What direction should we go in?”
Kaoru plowed a small path toward a tree, frowning as he touched the splotchy bark. There was no moss, nothing to tell him which way was north. Without that marker, there would be no way that they’d be able to make it out of the woods before night fell and they started to freeze. “I guess we’ll just pick a way. We need to focus on finding shelter.”
“I’d prefer to pick a way that leads toward civilization.”
Kaoru couldn’t agree with her more, but there was no real way to tell which direction would take them toward it. The trees were thin here where they had ended up, but he wondered if there were thicker trees further in. There was one other way he could divine a location, so he gestured to Rin and headed into the woods. She quickly followed him, hopping a little as she fought to keep from getting stuck in the snow.
At last he found a tree that might hold his weight. “Stay here.”
“Sure,” Rin said. “Don’t have to tell me twice.” She watched him ascend, tilting her head back until she could keep track of him moving through the branches. She glanced around her and shivered again, wishing she had decided to wear warmer clothes. But it had been summer on the Sky Islands, so she had dressed for summer, not winter. She knew Kaoru was in much the same state she was, but at least he was wearing pants. All she had was leggings and a skirt.
Kaoru reached the top branch of the tree and carefully pulled himself up onto it. He sat for a moment before carefully rising to his feet. With his head above the canopy of trees, he was able to see farther than had he been traveling on the ground. He carefully turned his head, seeing nothing but the grey expanse of leafless trees and snow in any direction he turned in. He didn’t even see smoke, a telltale sign of life. Slowly, he pivoted on the branch so he could face the other way and a grin split his face.
There, looming on a rise above the forest, was a huge castle. The windows seemed to glow with inner light, which told him the castle was inhabited. He raised his arm, trying to gauge distance, and frowned. Even if they started moving now, it wasn’t likely that they’d reach the castle before nightfall. Kaoru marked the direction in his mind, then slowly began to climb down the tree, dropping the last few feet back into the snow.
“Did you see anything?” Rinally asked, fighting to keep her teeth from chattering now.
“Yeah. A castle.” Kaoru pointed through the trees. “It’s that way, but even if we run, we won’t make it before dark.”
“I don’t want to run.” Rin complained. She shivered. “I don’t think I want to be out in the dark, either, though.”
Kaoru smiled. “Either way, we’d better get moving.”
“Right.”
Kaoru began to plow a trail through the snow, heading in the direction the castle lay. Rinally moved behind him, walking in the trail he blazed. Now that they were moving, the cold didn’t seem to bother them much. That wasn’t to say they weren’t still shivering; their hands were tucked up under their armpits to protect their fingers and their breath was steaming in the air. Kaoru could almost hear Rin’s teeth chattering as she walked behind him. His own teeth were chattering, and he was sure the skin on his face was turning brittle in the cold. The forest seemed to stretch on forever, untouched and pristine in its winter-locked state. The snow made traveling rough, but as tired as he was, Kaoru kept forcing himself to go forward. Then he heard something drop behind him and whirled.
Rinally was kneeling in the snow, curled up on herself. She was trembling badly and her lips were turning blue. It was dusk now, and the temperature was swiftly dropping. Snow had even started to fall again, and it was collecting on her hair and shoulders, just as it was collecting on Kaoru’s. He was shivering himself, but somehow, sheer determination was keeping him on his feet. He was tired and hungry, but he couldn’t give up. He moved back to Rin and crouched in front of her, reaching to smooth back her pink hair from her face.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, “I’m sorry. I can’t... I can’t...”
“It’s all right.” Kaoru turned, snow crunching under his feet. He presented her his back, looking at her over his shoulder. “Get on. I’ll carry you.”
She stared at him, startled, then nodded. She reached to hook her arms over his shoulders, and then pressed close to his back. Kaoru hooked his arms under her legs as he lifted her up, bouncing her once to get her more comfortable for him to carry. Then he started walking again. It was slower now, having to carry Rin and plow through snow that was sometimes as high as his thighs, but Kaoru kept moving, even as darkness slowly enveloped them.
Rin pressed her chin against Kaoru’s shoulder, watching his face out of the corner of her eye. “Have you carried someone like this before?”
“Yeah.” Kaoru replied, his blue eyes holding forward. He glanced at her only once and smiled, then resumed focusing on the path in front of them.
“Who?”
“My friend Tae. We met in elementary school, and it turned out we were neighbors. So we would play with each other all the time. One day, we went to the park to play and she got lost.” Kaoru grinned at the memory, but it had a note of sadness to it. “Turns out she fell down an embankment that the park authority forgot to rope off. She twisted her ankle and couldn’t get out. I found her and carried her out.”
“She sounds like a ditz.” Rin said, a joking tone in her voice.
Kaoru laughed. “She is, kinda. I think you’d like her. She’s a bit bubbly and kind of air-headed, but... she’s really nice.”
“Sounds like you love her.”
“I guess I do, in a way. She’s like my sister. Even when my mom got a new job and we moved across the city, we never let a day go by that we didn’t talk with one another.”
Rin hummed, smiling a little bit. “She sounds like a really nice person.”
“She is. And my friend Hiromu is pretty cool, too. Tae and I met him about five years ago, during spring break. He’s a little bossy sometimes, but he’s a really nice guy.” Kaoru trailed off, faltering in his words. For some reason, the memory of Hiromu glaring at him in the hours before Paradise City had been destroyed teased him now. If Rin noticed, she didn’t comment on it, but she tightened her hold briefly, giving him a slight hug. Kaoru smiled, grateful for the obvious motion of comfort. “What about your family?”
“My family? Well...” Rinally paused, her eyes staring off into the darkness as her lips formed a slight frown. “My parents are cool, I guess. As much as parents can be, anyway. My dad is a teacher, and my mom runs a jewelry shop that’s popular with tourists. They pretty much ignore me in favor of my little sister. She’s about three years younger than me, and is just the most lovable darling.”
Kaoru didn’t miss the slight sneer in Rin’s voice as she described her sister. He couldn’t understand, really, only because he didn’t have siblings of his own. “You don’t like your sister?”
“She’s a spoiled little brat. She gets everything she wants and if something doesn’t go her way, she cries about it until my parents appease her.” Rin growled softly. “She always follows me around, and if I don’t let her, it’s “Rin, she’s your little sister! She loves you and just wants to be with you!” or “Rin, be nice to your sister!” Every time I want to be alone, she shows up. And not only does she go through my stuff and take what she wants, I’m just supposed to let her and not make a fuss about it.”
“Sounds like being a big sister is really hard.”
Rin nodded, but turned her face away from Kaoru’s. Her voice was incredibly sad when she answered, “It is. But... but that doesn’t mean I don’t love her, you know? She gave me this barrette the day the Sky Islands were destroyed. It was supposed to be a birthday gift, but for some reason, she just gave it to me then.”
“We’ll find her.” Kaoru said softly. “We’ll get our worlds back.”
“I know.”
They lapsed into silence after that, with the only sounds being their chattering teeth and the crunching of snow beneath their feet. Kaoru moved even slower than before now that night was fully upon them. He didn’t want to make a misstep and end up hurting himself or Rin. Still, he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to keep moving for much longer. His body was becoming heavier, and his eyes were becoming more and more difficult to keep open. His stomach was twisting in hunger knots, and his throat was parched. He raised his head, trying to see any hint of light through the trees, but all he saw was the dark shadows of trees looming out of the darkness and the crackling expanse of snow. More snow kept falling from above, leaving him no respite from the cold.
“Kaoru,” Rin whispered, “we’re not going to make it to the castle, are we?”
“Of course we are.” Kaoru said, taking one heavy step after another. “We’ll make it. You’ll see.”
Rinally’s arms tightened around his shoulders, pulling her closer to him. They were sharing what little warmth they had left between them already, but it wasn’t doing them much good. Kaoru didn’t want to deviate from the direction he’d chosen, but he needed to find shelter. He needed to get them both out of the snow, needed to try and warm them both up. If he didn’t, they weren’t going to survive much longer.
Kaoru stopped moving in order to set Rin on her feet. She wobbled, but she managed to stay upright even as he stepped away to try and see how deep the snow was. He’d seen on television how someone had survived being caught in a snowstorm by digging a den in the snow itself. He crouched, trying to start a hole in a nearby drift. Rin was soon beside him, trying to help. They’d barely gotten a quarter of the way before a wolf’s howl rose into the night.
Kaoru was on his feet in an instant, Guardian in his hand. He could barely hold onto the weapon, his fingers felt so frozen. Rinally crouched low in the snow, her eyes wide as another howl joined the first. Kaoru knew there was no way they could run. Their bodies were too tired, too weak, to really put up much of a fight. Kaoru felt them, the wolves slowly circling around them. The beasts were focused on the two teens, sensing their weakness, and were preparing to attack. Kaoru was sure he could fend off one or two, but he didn’t think he would survive long enough to do any good. He heard them coming closer, but he couldn’t tell how many there were.
“Kaoru,” whispered Rin. She wasn’t standing; instead, she was crouched even lower in the snow, as if she could hide if she got low enough. “What do we do?”
“I don’t know.” He could almost see them now, seven shadows slinking about in the darkness and slowly coming closer. He held Guardian up with both hands now, trying to keep the weapon steady. If he faltered, then he would be dead, and so would Rin.
“Do you think we can run?”
“Can you move?”
Rin shook her head, her shivers becoming more noticeable. Kaoru was shivering himself, both out of cold and out of fear. The seven shadows came closer and Kaoru could finally make out what they were. The wolves were circling them, looking for an opening, looking for a moment to strike. Their lips were pulled back to reveal sharp fangs and their eyes glinted in the moonlight, almost glowing with the desire for the fresh meat the two teenagers represented. Rin whimpered softly as she saw the wolves slowly coming closer, but she was too tired to cast a spell let alone fight. Kaoru shifted to try and put himself between the wolves and Rinally, to try and protect her. The wolves growled almost as one and stopped circling. Their ears were pricked forward, their tails raised, and then Kaoru saw a massive black beast out of the corner of his eye suddenly charge toward him.
The boy turned faster than he’d expected himself to and slashed with Guardian through the open air between him and the wolf. The weapon connected with the wolf’s jaw and smashed the beast to the side, driving it into the snow chased by its own pained howl and a few teeth. The rest of the pack hesitated. Kaoru hated putting his back to danger, but the black wolf was gaining its feet. Blood spattered the otherwise white snow as the wolf pulled its lips back and let its maw drop open slightly to reveal a bloodstained tongue. It lunged at Kaoru again, nimbly dodging Guardian this time. It danced around behind him, forcing Kaoru to turn to keep the animal in sight and ready for an attack.
Rin shrieked as two other wolves charged suddenly, almost racing each other for the kill. Kaoru whirled and threw Guardian as hard as he could toward the wolves. The Keyblade cracked into one wolf’s side, rebounded into the legs of the other, and both wolves tumbled into the snow with howls of pain. Then pain blossomed from Kaoru’s left leg as the black wolf slammed into him, teeth piercing cloth and flesh alike. Kaoru screamed as the wolf bore him down into the snow, dragging him away from Rinally. Even when Guardian came back into his hand, Kaoru fought hard to get the wolf to let go of him. When the wolf finally did so, Kaoru used his unarmed hand to pull himself backwards as best he could. His leg refused to work and he could see a dark stain in the snow as he pulled himself back to Rin.
She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him close, her eyes wide and filled with terror. The wolves continued to circle, drawing closer and closer. Even the black wolf eyed Kaoru with a mix of predatory glee and satisfaction as it came closer.
Come on, light. Kaoru thought, trying to hold Guardian up as best he could. Where are you? You protected me once, why aren’t you protecting us now?
But the light - and his armor - remained inert.
The black wolf prepared to leap.
A deep, savage roar filled the clearing just as the black wolf launched itself into the air. A massive shape surged out of the darkness, racing toward the black wolf. To Kaoru, it seemed that time slowed as the wolf and the creature came toward him. Then the creature slammed into the wolf with bone-breaking force, sending the animal flying into a tree hard enough that a crack was audible. Since the wolf didn’t get back up, Kaoru assumed the crack had come from the animal’s bones rather than the tree. His eyes turned to the creature then, but in the darkness, he couldn’t make sense of what it was. The rest of the wolves forgot the two teenagers and focused on the creature, but they didn’t seem to be a match for the creature. Giant claws tore through the soft fur and flesh of the wolves as they leaped onto the creature’s back to try and tear away pieces of flesh. Their teeth couldn’t get through the creature’s tough hide, though each bite definitely hurt, because the creature roared each time a wolf’s teeth found its arm or shoulder. Kaoru watched with dizzy apathy as the creature grasped wolves around their middles and threw them into trees or into the air, flinging them away as if they were ragdolls and not living creatures.
Then Rinally’s arms were around his chest, pulling him close and tight, even as her shaking hand reached toward his wounded, ruined leg. A green glow, weak and pale, surrounded her hand as she tried to heal his wounds. Her face was close to his, pale and blue-lipped, but she still was trying to heal him even when she didn’t have much left for herself. “Stay with me, Kaoru,” Rinally whispered in his ear. “Stay with me.”
Kaoru let out a shaky breath and nodded. The wolves squealed in defeat and bolted into the safety of the woods. The creature roared after them, then snorted. Rinally and Kaoru lifted their gazes as the snow crunched under the creature’s feet. The Beast stared down at the two of them, his bullish furred head angled to stare down at them. The last thing Kaoru could remember seeing was the giant, clawed hand coming toward him and Rinally.
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Kingdom Hearts: Dark Dawn