“Three keys created to save the light
One for the gun king,
One for the silent guitarist,
The last for the ultimate warrior,

Keys passed to one bearer,
Will he succeed?
Or will he fall into darkness that now shrouds his world?”

I am what I am… I once had a real name but I threw it into the dark to never be said again. Never again sense that day that this nightmare I live began… And so I begin again with the story I lived as the bearer of the three keys in this world… This universe called Kingdom Spades…


Darkness…. Complete darkness. How did I get here? Where am I going? What is this!?!  I thought as I continued to fall into the never-ending void that I had found myself in. With a loud thud I landed, strangely on my feet on a hard surface, though I could not see what it was.

“Don’t be afraid of the darkness.” A voice boomed from overhead as the floor illuminated with a great white light. “I’m not afraid of the darkness!” I roared back, thinking that someone was pulling my leg but gained no reply.

Suddenly a small, dark creature with glowing yellow eyes appeared before me seeming to grow from the ground and began to slowly come near. “Stay away from me.” I growled, drawing back and hitting the creature as hard as I could.

The creature flew back a great distance, but seemed un-phased as it grew up from the ground and took its stand and began to draw closer once again. It was I that had taken the most damage.

I held my right hand which now had turned completely black as darkness continued to emit from my hand. I concentrated hard trying to think of what to do.

“You won’t win by using brute force.” The voice once again boomed, seeming amused by my pain. I growled but did not reply, that was when I realized that my hand had returned to the way it had been.

“To defeat the heartless you need the right weapon.” The voice announced. It was at that moment that a flare of light appeared before me and from it appeared two handles like a sword appeared. At first I thought that these were swords, which were my specialty, but I was wrong.

“Giant keys?” I asked myself, looking at the two keys in my hands. Once again there was no answer. I sighed heavily and looked back at the creature that the voice had called a heartless and realized that there were more.

“Use the keys.” the voice ordered. I sighed again seeing no other way and did what the voice had ordered. I bore down on the first heartless and watched as it disappeared into a black cloud. The other creatures began to back away and wandered out of my sight.

I smiled, thinking that I had won. “The fight will be hard.” The voice suddenly announced catching me off guard. That was when I saw that the white floor that had been around me had shrunk into one small circle around me and an army of yellow eyes now surrounded me.

“But be strong. Don’t give in.” the voice encouraged as the heartless came closer until there was no light left. I could feel the heartless on me, I could feel their darkness on my skin. “Just remember. Where there is darkness. There is always light.” The voice whispered before I slipped back into the darkness…

“Be strong John… Only you can save us now…”

*Beep! Beep! Beep!* the alarm clock blared at me from my dresser. I woke up in a sweat like I had been running a hundred miles. “That dream again…” I mumbled looking down at my shirtless self.

I shook the thought from my head, got up, and walked into the bathroom connected to my room. I was a bit confused seeing that my jeans were still on but then remembered that I had gotten in late from work last night.

“I need a better job.” I mumbled, starting up the water for my shower. Almost simultaneous to me turning on the water the phone rang in the other room. I sighed tiredly and walked into the other room leaving the water on and picked up the phone.

“You have reached the Love residence. John Love speaking.” I greeted as I normally did when my family wasn’t around. “What? Is this a telemarketer?” the voice on the phone asked. “Oh. Hey Will. What’s happening?” I replied, recognizing the voice.

“Not much. Van’s in town and was wondering if we could all get together.”  Will’s voice replied. “Sound’s good. Where do we want to meet?” I asked. There was a pause of silence before Will’s reply, “Don’t you have work today?” I sighed thinking over it, he was right I did have work.

Finally I came to my decision as I replied, “Bought time I found another job anyways. Let’s all meet at the park.” “Alright. See ya there around three or so?” Will asked. “That’ll work.” I replied with a smile saying a quick goodbye and set the phone back down, returning to my shower.

It had been a couple of months sense I had seen my friends, all of them living fairly far away, so I was excited about the get together.

Almost two years had passed sense the dojo we trained in had been shut down where we had all met, trained, and fought together, but we still continued to carry on the name of the dojo. We even kept using the same fighting techniques, although it was usually on each other.

“The good old days…” I mumbled as I began to reminisce, continuing my nice warm shower. I glared back down to the floor, watching the water flow down the drain as I continued, “To think… It’s also been two years sense sensei passed away…”
We had all known that sensei was old but we never dreamed that something would take him so quickly. One fatal sickness and he was gone forever. I sighed, slowly turning off the water and got out.

I dried off and got some clean clothes on and put on my shoes. This was going to be a fun day, no work, no worry, just me and my good friends doing what we normally did.

I looked about my room a moment and spotted a few things to bring with me, my ball bearing necklace with a cross on it, my wooden sword as well as two of my regular swords, my wallet, my hat, and my cell phone.

With that I walked out into the warm summer air and began to make my way to the park. My car didn’t exactly work, though it never had so I was forced to walk with the three swords strapped to my back.

The people around here knew me quite well. They always talked about how good a singer I was and how well I could play my guitar, always thinking I would become a rock star with such talent.

I myself would much rather have been an art teacher. Wasn’t the best thing I could do but it didn’t draw much attention to me. I wasn’t exactly a big shot when it came to being noticed, personally I could have cared less, but that was life for me.

I continued on, crossing a bridge and through a big open lot before I finally made it to the park where we were going to meet. Looking about I noticed that neither Will nor Van had shone up yet.

I shrugged and continued into the park toward a big oak tree. “Guess they’re planning to jump me or something. Normally they would beat me here.” I whispered to myself, setting down my swords and leaned up against the tree.

It was actually quite pleasant sitting there alone with the distant screams of small children chasing each other on the playground. Though, as usual, it didn’t last long.

“Heads up!” a voice yelled as something came flying my way. I reached over and grabbed the handle of one of my swords and blocked, just in time as a chained sickle nailed the sword then retracted.

“Sheesh, Van. Think you gave me enough warning?” I asked, seeing a fairly scruffy brown haired guy catch the sickle. “What? Expecting me to tie a sign to the thing?” Van laughed as he and Will walked up weapons in hand.

“Good grief. You haven’t changed a bit. Still average height and buff. Guess your work isn’t helping you with the height eh?” I joked. “Very funny. Just because you and Will are taller and thinner, though I got to hand it too you. You’ve been keeping yourself, in fact looks like you’ve lost some weight John.” Van complimented.

I laughed, “That’s what happens when you spend more time working than eating.” “We gonna just sit here and talk all day or are we gonna get down to business?” Will finally spoke up, pulling up his katana still in its scabbard.

“Oh boy. No training weapons?” I asked, a small smile across my face. “Yeah, you’re gonna wish you brought your machetes’ with you.” Will pointed out. I sighed a moment before I burst into laughter.

“Sheesh… I guess we’ll never change.” I said smiling at my friends. ”Course not. If we ever changed that would be the end of the world.” Van replied. “Alright. I’ve had enough talking.” Will announced suddenly removing his katana and swung it at Van and I.

“Always Will to start things.” Van laughed, swinging the chain of his sickle as I pulled my other sword and got ready.

We started out very simple, running through a few basic maneuvers. I could tell that we didn't have the same sort of edge we once had while we were training, but we still had the techniques down.

After a few warm-ups we were finally ready to start up with the real deal. "We ready?" Van asked, the ball and chain of his sickle dangling from his right hand. "I know I am." Will replied looking at me with a sly look he always gave when he was going to do something to you.

Before I could say anything my cell phone rang. I had specific ring tones for certain people on my cell phone, for my family and friends, and this one was not the one I wanted to hear. "Well get ready. I think I might start yelling in a sec." I said with a sigh as I pulled out my cell phone and clicked the talk button.

"Hello?" I asked. "JOHN! Where the heck are you! Your late and we have twenty deliveries up and waiting for you! GET YOUR SCRAGGLY-!" my boss's voice yelled to where the other's could hear every articulated word. "Sorry. You caught me at a very bad time. I'm out here with some friends of mine that I haven't seen in a while." I replied trying to keep my calm.

This seemed to make the male voice of my boss even angrier, "I DON'T CARE IF YOU’RE WITH THE FRIENDS OF THE KING OF ENGLAND! GET YOUR ASS UP HERE NOW!!!" That did it. I could not hold it back anymore.

"Listen," I began a dark look clouded about my face, "I have been working for you for almost three years now. In all those three years I have dealt with your crap. You've kept me from my friends and family. You've worked me to the bone. And now, I'm gonna say it. I quit."

There was silence between me and the phone for a moment until my boss said one last thing, "If your father were around he would have-" Before he could finish the sentence I stopped the call tossed the phone into the air and with one swift swing I sliced the phone in two.

"How dare he talk about my dad!" I growled stomping down on the phone. "Dude. Take it easy. You've quit. You’re done with that guy." Will said, trying to calm me. I knew he was right, but just the mention of my dad just caused me even more anger.

After a moment I calmed down and looked back at Will and Van who stared at me with a little bit of concern. I sighed and looked down at my now broken phone then scoffed.

“Well. Guess I won’t be getting any more calls today.” I said with a smile. “Guess so.” Van replied.

I looked around, seeing that I had drawn the attention of quite a few people. I laughed a little looking back at Will and Van as I said, “Well we have the crowd. How about we give them a show?”

“Great, now we’re sideshow freaks?” Will asked sarcastically. “Na. We’re just showcasing.” Van laughed, launching the bladed end of his sickle in my way.

I blocked the blade with my sword and the fight was on. We all three went at each other head on like we had done so many times. This was how our friendship began and had staid strong until this very day. We were fighters and in our society we were rebels, though we kept to ourselves. We weren’t afraid of anything and we looked out for each other like brothers.

We fought long and hard giving each other playful nicks and scratches as we fought on with grace and power. That was when the fun began. With a wink from the other’s we knocked each other’s weapons from our hands and caught the other’s weapon. I caught Van’s sickle while he caught Will’s katana and Will caught my weapon and we began again.

We had trained long and hard in various types of weapons fighting so it was common for us to switch with each other and spice things up for each other. I enjoyed using a sickle to which made this more enjoyable.

“Alright. Double time!” Van announced wiping a little sweat from his brow as he dodged Will’s attack. We all knew what it meant quite well. It meant that it was time to get to the end of this and fight as fast as possible.

Blades clashed and chains flew as we fought each other, smiles on our faces. Now it was just a matter of endurance to see who would drop their weapon first. Van was the first to drop. He wasn’t very good when it came to swords so Will took that to his advantage and knocked it out to his hands.

Now it was just me and Will left now. We fought long and hard slashing the air violently as he tried to knock out each others weapons. Finally after so many dodges I wrapped the chain of Van’s sickle around the hilt of the sword and pulled hard ripping the sword from Will’s hand’s and caught the sword.

“I win.” I announced, getting a cheer from the crowd that was around us. “You cheap shootin’ nut.” Van laughed as he rolled about on the ground.

“Tellin me! That hurt!” Will growled as he rubbed his hands. “Sorry, but you do what you have to.” I replied with a laugh as I helped Van to his feet.

The crowd applauded dropping change into a paper cup which happened to be there, then dispersed leaving us to ourselves again. I picked up the cup and poured the change into my hand, counting out five dollars and seventy-eight cents.

"Alright. We'll let you keep the winnings sense you beat us." Van chuckled as he came up, slapping me on the back.

I laughed a little placing the money in my pocket before replying, "Yeah, but I'll probably be using it on something to eat for the three of us."

"You got a point." Will sighed, sheathing his katana.

I sighed a bit, turning back to my friends. “That was a good workout. How about we head back to my place?” I suggested wiping a little sweat off my face.

“I’m guessing your car is still broke?” Van asked, seeing that my vehicle was not here. I nodded my head. “Alright. Everyone pile in mine.” Will announced as he headed toward his vehicle.

It was interesting to say the least to get into the small black sports car, but we managed to get Van into the back and myself into the passenger’s side seat.

“I guess when your as skinny as a pencil you don’t need much room.” I announced as I got my seatbelt on and shut the door which squeezed me into the seat.

“Just to torture you.” Will laughed as he turned the corner down my road.
It’s silent for a moment until we pulled into my driveway and made our way out of the vehicle. “So what’s new John? Haven’t heard much from you till today.” Van asked as I unlocked my door. “Not much. Just work and keeping up with this house.” I replied.

I  opened the door and we made our way threw the kitchen and upstairs to my old room. “So. Where is your mom anyways?” Will asked looking around at the other open doors in the halls.

“Mom and the two midgets moved out a few month’s ago. Mom left me here to take care of the house so that’s what I’ve been doing.” I explained, placing my swords on their racks.

“Sweet so you’re here in this house all alone?” Van asked as he placed his weapon on my desk. “Pretty much. That doesn’t mean that you can trash the place though. I have to keep it clean.” I replied.

“Alright alright.” They both said in unison taking a seat on the couch. It was about that time that I made it to the answering machine. To my displeasure I had quite a few messages.

“Oh boy.” I said to myself as I pressed the button and it went through it’s lines that it normally would. “What’s up?” Will asked.

“Looks like my boss found my home phone number. Get ready. This will be loud.” I warned as the first message began.

“YOU DIRTY LITTLE NO GOOD SON OF A-!” the message began before I cut it off deleting it. Pretty much the rest of the messages began like that and were soon deleted.

“Man. Fourteen messages and he still was pissed? Your boss is a psycho.” Van pointed out as I walked over and sat on the couch. “I agree. Man… I don’t even know why I started working for that nut.” I replied rubbing my temples softly.

It’s quiet once again before something popped into my head. “Oh. Hey guys. I made a new weapon and have mastered it.” I announced.

“New weapon? Okay. This I have to see.” Will replied as I stood up and walked to the closet.

A moment later the rattle of chains could be heard as I drug out the new weapon. “You combined a chain to your machete’s?” Van asked.

I nodded slipping my hands through the large rings of each one and grabbed the handles. “Sweet stuff. How long did it take?” Will asked curiously.

“About three hour’s all together, man. It took lots of long hard training to master it but I believe I got it down.” I replied with a smile.

Suddenly a ring came to my ear from the phone. At first I left it alone, thinking it was my boss again but then I looked at the caller ID, seeing who it was. I quickly picked up the phone before the machine could get to it.

“Hey mom.” I greeted with a sigh. “Hey hon. Just thought I’d call and check on you. How’s it going?” the feminine voice asked.

I looked at Will and Van motioning for them to quiet down as I continued my conversation with my mother. “It’s alright I guess just the same old stuff like usual.”

“Just as long as your staying out of trouble.” She said cheerfully. “Right. To think I can get into so much trouble sitting in this house all by myself.” I replied sarcastically, getting a silent snicker from the others.

“So how have things been with work?” I asked, trying to have a little of a conversation with her. “Oh just the same old same old. Always dealing with medications and that sort of thing.” she replied. I smiled softly, enjoying the sound of her voice, before asking, “So how are the midgets doing?”

Mom was silent for a moment before replying, “I really wish you wouldn’t refer to your little sisters as midgets. You keep that up they’ll be taller than you.” “I know I know. So how are Catharine and Rachel doing?” I asked, trying not to laugh at her. “They’re fine too. They just miss you a lot. Have any plans on coming back up here John?” she replied with a slight sigh.

“I bet I can manage it. Now that I don’t have a job.” I replied with a proud smile. Mom paused, seeming shocked by what I had said, before asking, “So you finally quit that job? That’s wonderful John! I thought that Roger was going to work you to death!” “Yeah,” I began, looking back at Will and Van who were raising their hands in the air and mouthing the word ‘Hallelujah’, before I continued, “He made me a little angry today. He promised me a day off a couple of days ago and he never gave it to me so I straight up quit. He’s been leaving me nasty messages sense then.”

“Well if you want to you can tell that man to call me and I’ll straighten him out. You shouldn’t have to deal with his crud because you finally chose to quit.” she said sternly, sounding angry at my old boss now.

“I will.” I replied, before looking at the clock and said, “Well I think it’s about time I go get some lunch. I’m supposed to meet Will and Van at a restaurant in about twenty minutes.” “Oh, okay. Well have fun with that. I need to get back to work anyways. Got to finish lining up today’s medication.” she replied cheerfully, sounding like she had gotten up from a seat.

“Alright. Talk to you tomorrow then.” I said. “Alright. Talk to you later sweetie! I love you!” she replied. “Love ya too.” I whispered before hanging up the phone and putting it back on it’s stand.

“My food senses are tingling.” Van joked. “Hhhmmm. However would you have guessed I was going to mention anything about food.” I laughed as I took out my wallet and saw how much I had, “So where shall we go? I got plenty to cover all of us and possible a whole third-world country.”

“We could go to that Chinese restaurant.” Will suggested. “Na. I heard they actually use rats and other random critters for their delicacies.” I replied, remembering my trip to the kitchen of that place with a delivery.

“There’s always that new restaurant that me and Will spotted on our way in.” Van announced. “Never been there. I heard they have some pretty good burgers.” I said, already knowing the restaurant that he was talking about. “Well let’s go there then.” Will said sort of impatiently as usual.

“Alright alright. Hold your horses Will. I still gotta do something before I leave.” I replied as I sifted through some stuff. “Really. And that would be?” Will asked.

A second later I pulled out my work shirt and a lighter, saying, “I think I can dispose of this thing now.”

We made a quick dash to the back yard which was the best place to do that sort of thing sense every inch was surrounded with a tall fence, making it impossible to see in. I set the shirt on the grill and though about it for a moment.

“I think we can do better than just burn this thing.” Van pointed out as he looked toward a can of gasoline. I caught on quickly and grabbed the can, drenching the shirt with it’s contents before lighting up the lighter.

“We are here to see the burning of the shirt of the hieratic. Any last words for it?” I asked jokingly. “May its poor business it represents rest in peace.” Will added. We nodded to each other and I placed the lighter to the edge of the shirt and with a quick snap it was completely lit.

“And by the powers invested in me I pronounce you dead to society.” I announced as I watched it burn. It’s silent for a moment until Van had to make his crack at it, “For a moment I really was expecting you to marry the fire off to the shirt.”

“Say what?” I asked, sort of dumbfounded by what he had said. “Never mind that. Let’s go eat already.” Will replied as he took the gate out to his car. Van and I shrugged to one another before we followed Will out and crammed ourselves in his car again.

It was a short drive to the restaurant and before we knew it we had ordered and were eating delicious hamburgers and talking about the past. This was the life I preferred to live. One where I could sit with friends and remember things of the past with. A simple life to ourselves was all I could ever ask for. But it was just all too good…

“Wow. That was actually pretty good.” I announced as we left the restaurant. “I second that. Glad Van mentioned it.” Will added.

It was about this time that we noticed something peculiar about the sky. “Was there thunderstorms in the forecast or something? The sky is pretty dark for two o’clock.” Van pointed out, a curious look on his face as he stared into the black sky.

We suddenly heard a commotion from behind us, bringing our attention back to the restaurant we had just left. It looked like something heavy had been dropped on it and now laid in ruins before us. “Holy crap!” Van exclaimed seeing it.

Now things were starting to feel familiar to me. The feeling of darkness was surrounding me like it did in my dreams. “Guys. We need to get out of here.” I announced. Will looked at me seeing the half scared look on my face. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“I don’t know, but we have to get out of here as fast as we can! I got a bad feeling about this.” I replied as I turned and made a run for Will’s car. That was when I saw them again.

A yellow eyed, black creature once again stood in my path. “A heartless.” I muttered as it seemed to look around as it rose from a shadow on the ground. It was then that I heard Van yell from behind me. I turned to see that another heartless had popped up before Van and Will.

“It’s those things from my dream… Here?” I asked myself before I quickly ran forward, making a kick at the heartless which quickly plopped back into it’s shadow and made it to Will’s car.

“Will! I need your keys! I’m getting your weapons out!” I exclaimed to Will getting his attention. Will quickly pulled himself out of his shock and threw his key’s to me.

I fumbled with them for only a moment before I had the trunk open and tossed the other’s their weapons. Thankfully Will had brought an extra sword with him so I took it, turning toward the heartless and drawing it.

I slashed at the Heartless and sent it flying but it had no effect. “Dangit. Guys! We’re going to have to get through these guys and our weapons don’t work on them!” I announced to the others.

“Are you serious!?!” Van exclaimed as he launched his sickle at a heartless, knocking it back into it’s shadow. “We’re just going to have to deal with it! We can hit them away from us at least! But I don’t think we want to touch them either!” I explained.

“Why is this?” Will asked, slashing down a heartless that had made a jump at him. “Just trust me! We need to get out of here!” I replied slashing at another and sent it into a telephone pole.

I took the lead and the other’s followed close behind slashing and bashing at the heartless that followed. “There’s hundreds of them! Where are they coming from!?!” Will exclaimed from behind me.

“Maybe their coming from that thing!” Van shouted drawing our attention toward him. We had made it to a hill where we could see most of the town. Van pointed toward the center of town where we saw the giant black being.

“What is that!?!” Will exclaimed in fear as the giant thing smashed a fist into the ground, causing the ground to shake a little.

It was black with a giant heart-like hole in it’s chest and had yellow eyes like the small heartless that followed us, but something made it worse, made it more evil. “I don’t know. But I don’t think it’ll be wise for us to go toward it!” I finally replied as a hit three more heartless away from us.

We fought on for a long time and traveled almost to the edge of town, but we just could not seem to get away from the heartless that followed us. That was where the nightmare began.

“Ah! Get it off!” Van exclaimed as he began to thrash about. I turned to see a heartless had jumped on his back. “Van! Hang on!” I exclaimed, running toward him ready to strike.

I never got the chance to help him. The heartless drew one of it’s small claw-like hands and thrust it into Van’s back sinking into his skin. Van’s eye’s widened in a mix of shock and pain and before our very eye’s he faded away as a heart floated up out of his chest and disappeared.

“VAN!” I roared bashing through the groups of heartless before me. “What the heck just happened to him!?!” Will exclaimed in shock. That was when everything finally sunk into my mind. “The heartless… Steal hearts…” I muttered stopping for a moment.

“Say what!?! You mean these thing’s just stole Van’s heart!?!” Will asked, almost in tears over what had just happened. I nodded grimly in the same boat as Will before I turned to see a wall of heartless form behind Will.

“WILL! Run!” I exclaimed running toward him.

It was already to late though. The wall of heartless came down on Will like a wall of bricks. He dug himself halfway out of the wall a tense look on his face as he stretched out his hand to me.

I dropped my sword and jumped for Will’s hand trying to pull him out. His face suddenly shown in pain for a moment and like Van, he faded away and his heart disappeared into the sky.

I was alone. Darkness all around me and I was without a weapon. I looked back to where I dropped my sword  to see it was covered in heartless now.
I didn’t hold back anymore. The tears flooded my eyes as I looked down at my feet. “Why…?” I muttered as I continued to stand and sob before the heartless that were all around me.

“Don’t cry John.” a voice said, seeming almost unreal for a moment.

I looked about in shock hearing the voice. “You have to fight now… But you will need a suitable weapon…” the voice continued.

I growled looking up at the sky,  yelling, “It was you! You’re the one that is causing this!”

Once again, as in my dream, I gained no reply from the voice only three flashes of light that seemed to drive the heartless away. “Don’t lose sight of the light… Only light can fight darkness and you’re the only light left…” another voice announced as the two key’s and the one extra took form before me.

I growled a little more as I took a hold of the two keys I had used before, but this time something else happened. At the end of each of the hilts chains grew and latched on to my wrists. The third key also did the same, but somehow sunk itself into my chest.

“These key’s are yours and yours only… They can never leave your side…” the voice continued as I looked at the new attachments I had.

I growled a bit more seeing a heartless and throwing one of the key blades at it. The heartless, as in my dream, disappeared into a black cloud and a heart like I had seen from Will and Van rose to the sky.

“Now… I will make them pay…” I muttered, pulling the key back and began my fight angrily, but with nothing left to lose.

“Don’t cast your heart into hatred… The Heartless feed on that as well…”

Meanwhile close to John’s world, a ship had made its appearance and now came closer to the world. Two men were aboard the ship both seeming to be on a mission.

“Do you really think that this guy with the key’s is here on this world, Wolfwood?” the pointy blond haired man asked, his green eyes hopeful.

The other man remained silent, smoking a cigarette as he piloted the ship. The black haired man which the blond had called Wolfwood seemed very serious about what was ahead of him. “You got me needle-noggin. We are going off of some stranger’s tip anyways.” he finally replied, puffing out a long stream of smoke from his mouth as he spoke, “On top of that it looks like we have a problem.”

The blond looked out of the view point and saw a sight he had not wished to see. “The heartless are already here. Just like the man had said.” he whispered. “Well Vash. Do you still believe that guy?” Wolfwood asked, a grim look on his face.

Vash nodded as he continued to watch the black clouded planet. “I believe him. Give it a bit more time.” Vash replied, almost as grimly but with still a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

Right… All we got left is time. Wolfwood scoffed at himself as he hovered the ship closer to the world. We just have nothing left…


I was now on a rampage against the heartless, bashing one after another as I made my way to where we had seen the giant heartless. Everything was now being sucked into the darkness and was disappearing as I ran.

The tears just wouldn’t cease as I fought on in half-blind fury. I had nothing left here but these key’s and my will for revenge. Nothing would stand in the way of it, not even these creatures that had taken my friends and possibly my family from me.

“DIE!” I roared, swinging at another ground of heartless, then began to target after the remainder from a distance.

It seemed like I had been destined to make those weapons, just so I could use this new weapon. I hated it, wanted it too all disappear, but I knew what I had too do. To avenge my friends I had to take out the source.

I wanted to fade away but not until I had completed this final deed as the voices from before still whispered to me in my mind. They sounded concerned, but I paid no attention to them.

After what seemed like hours of running I made it to the spot where we had spotted the massive thing and there it stood, its hands seeming buried under the ground as more heartless formed around it. It seemed to be looking for something as it scanned the land with it’s yellow eyes.

“You…” I growled at it as I began to walk toward it. “You took Will and Van from me… I’ll make you pay…”

It seemed not to notice me as it seemed to have found what it had been looking for. It paused a moment and seemed to grip hold of something in the ground.

That was when the screeching inside my head began. I held my ears, just trying to muffle the sound but I could not. It was horrible, almost as though something was dieing in agony.

It was loud at first, but just as sudden as it had started it ceased and there was silence. I looked about in shock as everything around me seemed to turn to dust.

I heaved one final sigh as I looked up at the creature and our eyes finally met. The eye’s of the heartless seemed to look at me in shock and fear as I stood before it and as I lifted the key in my right hand and pointed it toward it.

“You’ve made a serious mistake in ignoring me. You’ve just made me angrier!” I roared as I ran at it.

I had found that the keys chains could extend beyond that of what they already were so I threw the two key’s in my hands at the heartless and wrapped the chain around it’s neck.

The third key was still floating over my head before I grabbed it and pulled myself toward the heartless’ face. The chains retracted into the key’s, giving me more momentum as I got closer to it’s face.

In an instant I slashed at the thing’s face with a mighty blow, at the same time unwrapping the chains and making a hard landing on the dissolving ground. I looked back seeing that it had not moved at all from my blow but had turned to look at me.

It seemed like his right eye had bestowed it’s glowing to where I had cut into him as he now looked at me. For a moment I could sense something about it as we glared at each other but before I knew what to do next it jumped into the air and disappeared into the void that had suddenly appeared above me.

I looked about again and realized that I had been surrounded once again by the small heartless that I had been fighting all along. I looked down and saw that a dimming light had appeared where I stood.

“Just like my dream…” I whispered to myself, seeing my doom before me.

“You cannot give up now. You are the last hope…” I heard a voice say. I scoffed at it spreading my arms out and smiling at the enemy before me. “I’m not going down yet. Not without taking a few million of you little buggers with me!” I exclaimed as I began to launch my key’s in all directions, taking out the heartless around me.

I could feel myself tiring but I still went faster and faster, seeming inhuman as I reached my limit and went beyond protecting the place where I stood.

As I fought the light shown brighter and brighter, almost blinding me as I fought. It felt warm and comforting, as though it were there to cheer me on as I battled the heartless, giving me massive strength.


“Wolfwood! Look at that!” Vash suddenly exclaimed pointing at a spot on the world.

Wolfwood looked half-heartedly at where he pointed before his eye’s widened at what he saw. “Is that light coming from the world?” he asked in shock as he began to move the ship toward it.

“It just keeps getting brighter and brighter just like that man said! It must be him! The guy we’ve been looking for!” Vash exclaimed as he hoped up and pulled his gun.

Wolfwood put out his cigarette  and positioned himself over the spot of light. “Alright! I can’t believe I’m doing this but I’m opening the hatch!” Wolfwood exclaimed as he pressed a button.

Vash nodded to him as he aimed toward the floor. The floor split in two, letting in a mighty gust of wind.

“I can’t believe anything could still be alive down there!” Vash exclaimed as he scanned the lower side of the ship for heartless.

“I still can’t believe we’re still believing that old man!” Wolfwood replied as he kept his ship in position with the circle of light from the world.


I fought and fought seeming like I had an unlimited supply of energy, but all good things come to an end.

I could feel my heart pounding hard as I began to lose energy. The light began to dim below me as I did the best I could to keep the heartless away from me. My hatred still boiled  bashing each one.

Keeping count was no longer important, now I was just staying alive, but with each blow I felt the darkness grow closer and as it grew closer the light below me became darker.

I guess it’s my time… I got nothing left… I thought, finally stopping my arms and the keys.

As soon as the key’s hit the ground the Heartless were on me, clawing at every inch of my body.

Everything went black almost instantly as I felt myself slipping away. My eye’s were closed strangely, I didn’t remember closing them. I slowly opened them and looked in front of me. A shadowy figure stood before me now. It appeared to be a heartless but something was different about it. It’s eye’s were normal, in fact, they were the same emerald green as mine were.

Am I looking at myself? I thought to myself. “Who are you?” I heard my own voice ask me.

I was slightly shocked hearing my voice in my head. It wasn’t my own. It was this figure’s in front of me.

“Who are you?” I heard it ask again. I’m John. I replied mentally, thinking it may hear.

It drew back a little, seeming shocked in what it had heard. “That’s impossible! I’m John!"; it barked in dismay.

I thought a moment looking down at my hands as I replied, But we can’t both be the same person can we?

Suddenly I was pulled away from my other self like something had grabbed a hold of me and jerked me away. “Wait!" my voice echoed before I lost sight of him.

“You have places to be John…” another voice whispered in my mind as I continued to feel pulled away.


“The light went out!” Vash exclaimed sadly, seeing the circle of light disappear into the blackness of the world.

Wolfwood sighed angrily as he pulled out another cigarette and lit it with a match. “I knew this was all for nothing…” he mumbled as he reached for the button to shut the hatch.

“Wait a sec!” Vash shouted, stopping Wolfwood in his tracks. “What? Can’t you just except that we have been gypped?” Wolfwood replied.

“There was one last thing the man told me!” Vash announced, thinking back. Wolfwood’s eyebrow raised before he asked, “What are you talking about needle noggin?”

“Well,” Vash began as he looked at his friend, “The old guy said one last thing after we began to leave. He told me that after the light disappeared that I needed to stretch out my arms and grab the first thing that  comes between them.”

“Are you serious?” Wolfwood growled as he scowled at Vash. “Well it’s worth a try!” he replied as he stuck his arms out above the open hatch.

There is silence as Vash looked at his arms hopefully. A minute passes before Wolfwood sighs and looks at. “Like I said we’ve been gypped again. Give up.” “Aw come on Wolfwood!” Vash shouted.

That very moment a giant key popped up between Vash’s outstretched arms so quickly he grabbed a hold of it.

“What the he-!” Wolfwood yelled in shock seeing the sight. Vash was pulled down by the key. “Good grief! Help me!” Vash exclaimed as he struggled to hold up the key.

Wolfwood jumped up and helped Vash pull up the rest of the chain. “Good god this guy is heavy!” Wolfwood growled, pulling as hard as he could.

Finally with one final tug they pulled up what was connected to the key and Wolfwood quickly ran and shut the hatch.

Vash and Wolfwood both pant quickly as they pulled away from the world. Wolfwood opens his eyes just in time to see the world that was once there disappear into a dark void.

“That was close.” Wolfwood sighed, inhaling the smoke of his still lit cigarette and exhaled it into the air.

It’s silent for a moment as their ship drifted deeper into the dark space. Vash pulled himself together and looked at the new passenger before him. He wore a white skin, tight shirt and white pants. He also wore a white trench coat with flames coming up the sleeves. He also wore a ball bearing necklace that had an unfamiliar insignia on it.

“Wow. This guy looks like a kid.” Vash announced, getting Wolfwoods attention. Wolfwood looked back getting a better look at him.

Wolfwood sighed again as he sunk into the captains chair. “Great… We’re babysitting a kid?”

“But he has the key’s! Just like the man said!” Vash exclaimed, defending the unconscious man.

Wolfwood studied the man for a moment and smacked his head, before pointing out, “And the old man also said that he would have three key’s. He only has two.”
Vash’s eye’s lit up as he looked back at the man and counted the key’s before spazzing out. “Oh my god! HE ONLY HAS TWO!!!” he exclaimed as he fell backwards.

Wolfwood sighed again looking up at the ceiling for a moment and taking another drag on his cigarette. But I guess he’s all we got… For now… he thought dishearten at the new situation.


Far away, in the deepest part of the universe three figures gathered around an orb showing an image of John unconscious in Vash and Wolfwood’s ship.

“So he made it out?” a light voice asked the other two. “Yeah… But in two pieces.” another growled, sounding deeper.

“The two I sent still retrieved him.” the third announced quietly, standing taller than the other two.

“That doesn’t matter if he doesn’t have all three keys!” the deeper sounding man barked. “But he can still make himself whole again!” the light voice replied quickly.

The taller man walked closer to the orb and looked closer at it as he said, “They have the Nobody… It will not affect his mission.”

The other’s remained silent  as the orb finally faded into darkness.


I felt so strange now. I couldn’t put my finger on it but I didn’t feel like myself. It was like I was someone else completely different now. My mind continued to fade in and out and for the longest time I felt I was falling.

What’s happened to me? I thought to myself as I continued to fall, Have I died or something? I just keep falling.

After a moment I remembered my battle with the heartless and Will and Van having their heart’s taken.

Wait… The heartless got me. Is this where Will and Van went? I asked myself as I looked around. But I was alone in this odd void that seemed to never end. No… It’s just me here.


“He’s so young. He looks like he’s about eighteen or even younger.”

What am I hearing? I asked myself, hearing this unknown voice coming from elsewhere.

“Peh. They must have been joking if they think I kid can save the worlds.”

I could hear a hum as I seemed to fade into the light. What’s going on!?! I exclaimed inside my head, shutting my eyes for a moment. When I opened them again I was in a new place.

“Ugh…” I groaned, feeling just halfway sick as I tried to regain my bearings.

“Hey! He’s awake!” a voice exclaimed, sounding excited to see me wherever he was. I looked about and spotted a blond man in red clothes sitting almost nose to nose to me.

I stared at him for a moment before I rubbed my head a little bit. That was when I noticed the black bracelet on my wrist. It was studded and had two or three chain links hanging from it.

I was confused for a moment, but when I saw the other arm with the same type of bracelet I remembered what they were. “Where are the key’s?” I asked groggily, looking around me.

“They disappeared after we pulled you up.” another voice replied bringing my attention to a chair toward what I could tell was the front of the ship, “If the man that sent us was right, you can summon them when they are needed.”

“Oh…” I replied, scooting myself backward on the floor till I could prop myself up on a wall.

I remained silent for a long time. For some reason I didn’t really care to know who the men were but I finally pushed myself to ask, “Who are you guys?”

“You’re pretty straight-forward aren’t you? Well I’m Nicholas Wolfwood, but call me Wolfwood. My friend here, who’s been sitting by your side sense you got here is Vash.” Wolfwood replied as he put out his cigarette and looked back at him.

“I’m John Love.” I replied blankly, seeming a little out of character for me. I felt odd, sort of hollow I guess you would say which made me think I was still in shock or something.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you!” Vash said with a big smile shaking my hand with a strong grip. “Right…” I replied as I looked around me again.

I could tell I was in some sort of vehicle or something similar telling by the sounds I kept hearing. I wasn’t really pushed to ask where I was which Wolfwood seemed to catch right away.

“Give him some room needle-noggin!” he ordered Vash. “Okay. Sorry. Just got a little excited.” Vash replied cheerfully as he backed up a little, letting go of my hand.

Wolfwood sighed a little as he turned back to me seeming to see the question on my face, as he said, “Your on our ship the ‘Angel’. Right now we’re on our way into the Ancient Quadrant of space.”

“So we’re in a space ship?” I asked, seeming to be the right thing to ask. Wolfwood nods seriously looking at me with a half blank look like I had.

“And my planet?” I added.

Wolfwood sighs heavily before he made his reply, “Your world was swallowed up by the heartless. It disappeared after we pulled you out.”

I nodded, not seeming surprised or even sad for that matter. “You should have just left me there. Not like I can be much help to you.” I announced, standing up and brushing my backend off.

“But you can help us! You have the key’s!” Vash exclaimed pleadingly. “Well, he has two of them anyways.” Wolfwood added.

“So these key’s are really that important?” I asked curiously looking at my wrists.

“Yeah they are! They have the power to shut the keyholes and stop the heartless and revive lost worlds!” Vash replied.

He seemed a bit to overly cheerful for my taste almost to the point of sounding like he got conked in the head a little too hard.

“Whatever. Before I do anything though I want to know what exactly is going on and why you need my help.” I announced.

Wolfwood growled a little, seeming not to like what I had said. “We don’t have time to explain things. We have to take care of this stuff now!”

“Well it’ll be faster if you explain everything to me first so you won’t be in the middle of things.” I replied calmly. That seemed to set him to a boil.

“Wolfwood. He’s probably right. He need’s to know what he’s up against.” Vash chimed in, siding with me. “Fine! I’ll just land on that tiny world over there and we’ll explain everything! If another world disappears though it‘s not on me!” Wolfwood shouted as he violently turned the ship to a small greenish planet.


Elsewhere three spires of darkness appeared throwing three boys out into the pavement of an ally.

“Good god! We’re alive!?!” Will’s voice exclaimed in shock bringing the other two’s attention to each other.

“Will? Van? What the hell!?! I thought you were all gone for good!” John exclaimed in relief. “That’s what I thought too. What happened to us anyways?” Van asked curiously as he looked down at himself realizing he wasn’t wearing the clothes he had before.

“Well. We all fell into the darkness. Maybe it just took us somewhere else?” Will pointed out.

“Right right. Only thing is I don’t remember a few things. What the hell were we fighting?” John asked seeming dumbfounded now.

There is silence amongst the group of friends as they thought about it. “I think you said they were called the Heartless.” Will pointed out, remembering back.

John nodded, “I think your right. Sounds right at least.” “Speaking of which it looks like they followed us!” Van exclaimed getting into a fighting stance.

John and Will turn to see a group of three black figures appear from the shadows, looking at them. John glared at the Heartless not liking the idea of fighting any more of them. Oddly enough the glaring seemed to work.

In their own strange way the three Heartless ran away from them, not seeming interested in them.

“Odd. Just a couple of minutes ago we couldn’t keep them off of us.” John pointed out as he relaxed a bit.

Will and Van agreed with a nod, also confounded by what had just taken place. More silence took place as they studied their surroundings.

“You know this place sort of gives me a bad feeling.” Van suddenly announced, breaking the silence.

John nor Will replied to their friend seeming to be focused on something else. “What are you staring at Will?” John asked, noticing his friends stare.

“The way your standing makes me think of the hunchback of Notre Dame or Igor or something.” Will replied.

John was confused, but soon caught on to what Will meant. He hadn’t even realized that he had been sort of hunched over with his arms dangling below him.

“Odd. I didn’t even notice I was standing like this.” John replied, straightening himself out before saying, “Let’s check this place out. Maybe we can figure out something.”

“Sounds better than staying here.” Van added in agreement.

With that they left, John following up the rear. And without even he knowing he  began to drift down to the posture he had been in earlier.


The landing wasn’t the best in the world but I managed to stay silent until we had touched down in the strangely forested area.

Wolfwood jerked himself up, pressing a button to open the hatch, and quickly walked outside.

Vash realized that I had been following Wolfwood with my eyes seeming to think I might be a little offended by his actions. “Don’t mind him. He’s just been a bit touchy lately.”

I sort of nodded to acknowledge him, but hadn’t really heard what he had said as I made my way outside.

Wolfwood had already lit up another cigarette and was quickly taking drags off of it. “Alright. Now that we’re on an uninhabited world I’ll begin my unneeded explanation.” Wolfwood announced.

“No one’s here?” I asked. “Yeah. If there was there would be Heartless here.” Wolfwood replied.

“How about you start off explaining them.” I sort of demanded.

Wolfwood snorted angrily as he began to explain, “The Heartless are being’s of darkness forged from the hearts that are taken from people. They strive to cover the worlds in darkness and take the hearts of others to increase their numbers.”

“So they steal other peoples hearts to make more heartless?” I asked blankly. Wolfwood nods as he continues, “That’s not the only thing they do, they also get inside the worlds center, or heart you might say, and corrode it until the world finally gives in to the darkness and disappears from existence.”

“So that’s what happened to my world.” I muttered to myself. “We’re sort of in the same boat too.” Vash added, a sort of depressed look about him, “Me and Wolfwood just barely made it off our world.”

There is silence between us as I continued to think. I felt a strange, it almost felt as though I was just analyzing things then actually taking things in.

“You said someone sent you to find me. Who was it?” I asked. Wolfwood shrugged, taking another drag off his cigarette, “We have no idea. He just sort of appeared out of nowhere, saying he had a job for us to do that would be worth our while.”

“He didn’t show his face or even give us a name, but he said that you could save the worlds and bring our world back.” Vash added cheerfully.

“So I’m just a tool for your goal?” I asked with a blank glare. Both Wolfwood and Vash seemed shocked by what I had said. I wasn’t even sure why the question even came to mind.

“Heck no! Whether we like it or not we’re at your mercy!” Wolfwood barked, almost losing his cigarette. “Despite that we wouldn’t even think of using you as a tool.” Vash added seeming a bit distressed.

I sighed a bit seeing that I had caused a bit of a fuss, so I said, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to sound like that. It’s just I just met you guys. I barely know anything about you.”

“No problem! Don’t worry about it!” Vash replied quickly, seeming to think if he remained silent that something bad was going to happen.

“Am I the last? Livin soul? Am I the last? Livin soul?”

It came out of nowhere echoing in the trees. The voice seemed sad and almost like it were singing to unheard music.

“You sure no one is here?” I asked. “Of course! This place is uninhabited!” Wolfwood growled opening a compartment on the side of the ship to reveal a giant clothe and belt covered cross and latched it to his back.

“I think we should check it out. Maybe someone is stuck here.” Vash announced . “Are you crazy! It might be a trap.” Wolfwood barked back.

“I think he may be right.” I added as I began to walk into the forest, “It doesn’t sound threatening.”

“I know that! But we shouldn’t risk it!” Wolfwood growled, “Besides we have better things to do then this!”

I didn’t listen oddly enough but continued my way through the forest. This of course didn’t seem to set well with Wolfwood, but he seemed unable to argue as he finally followed suit with Vash close behind.

“Man this forest is scary.” Vash whispered to Wolfwood. “And I’m blaming him if we can’t find the ship after this.” Wolfwood gripped, catching up to me.

I ignored them, listening carefully for the voice and following it from tree to tree. The voice was definitely something to be heard. It had a laid back sort of sound to it as the male voice continued to repeat the verse over and over.

After a couple of minutes we came to an interesting sight. What appeared to be a giant rock jutting from the earth came into our view.

“Well… It looks like I’m not the last liven soul here…”

The voice was close though I couldn’t seem to find the source of it. “Up here…” it called bringing my attention to one of the ledges.

A skinny man sat on the ledge looking down at me. His appearance made me think of an average teen, but his face made me think other things. It didn’t appear that he had eyes though he seemed to be looking straight at us. His skin also raised many questions in my mind.

Is he a zombie or something? I asked myself, seeing that he was no danger.

“Who the heck are you?” Wolfwood demanded, his hand gripping the leather strap that came from the cross.

“I’m 2-D… Who are you?” he asked. “I’m John Love, and these are Wolfwood and Vash. What are you doing here?” I replied.

“Not completely sure… Me and the gang were just playin our songs on another world, then ‘poof!’ everything was dark. We woke up inside of a weird stone just a driftin until something hit us and broke the stone.” he replied somberly.

I looked beside him spotting a red shard. “I see. You and your band got turned into a summon gem.” Wolfwood announced.

“A summon gem?” I asked. “It’s what happens to the one’s who’s hearts are too strong for the Heartless to take. Their hearts and bodies turn into a tiny gem. I happen to have one or two myself that we’ve found along the way.” Vash explained.

“Yeah, but it’s lonely here… Would you take me with you?” he asked curiously.

I thought about it a moment before asking, “I don’t know. What can you do?” This seemed to cause 2-D to laugh before he replied, “I can help ya in many ways… I’ve been all over the universe and back… I know about many worlds.”

“Then your definitely useful.” I replied jumping up to the ledge and grabbing the stone.

“For my help I need your help too… If you can find the rest of my gang then I’ll definitely be indebted to ya…” he added as he seemed to disappear into the stone.

“Alright. We’ll see what we can do.” I replied before placing the stone in my pocket and turned back to Wolfwood and Vash. “Now we have a personal guide.” I added.

Vash snickered a little getting Wolfwoods attention, “What’s so funny?” he asked. “And you thought it would be bad for us to stop here.” Vash replied with a cheerful grin.

Wolfwood, seeming to not be in the mood for the remark, quickly knocked Vash in the forehead with the cross he was carrying. “How about you can it!” he growled.

“Ow! Why do you have to hit so hard!” Vash groaned rubbing where he got hit. “Let’s get going.” I announced seeming to stop the squabble instantly.

There were no objections only silence as we returned to the ship and prepared to leave.

“Alright. The closest world from here is the ‘World of the Pharaoh.’” Wolfwood announced as he started the ship and looked at a map.

“Sound’s like it’s interesting and has a lot of sand.” Vash added, an inquisitive look on his face.

“No way man…” 2-D’s voice chimed in from the stone in my pocket, “That world has no sand but a giant city where monster’s exist and serve their masters who hold the cards…”

“’Hold the cards?’” I asked curiously. “Card battles are fun, but these monsters do exist… Lot‘s of shadows as well…”

“Then let’s go. The place already interest me.” I replied forcing up a small smirk which in the end just plain felt fake.