Chapter 1: Nobody in Griffonstone
***Chapter 1
Nobody in Griffonstone***
Griffonstone, homeland of the Griffons, as well as over ninety percent of the jerkwads and scumbags of the entire planet. Well, that’s what Gilda thought at least. In fact, the only reason why the Griffon was there was because of the rumored Lost Treasure of Griffonstone. Something like that would provide her with enough bits to get her out of this stupid place, that was for sure. She couldn’t go one more day with having to watch her back all the time because of the likelihood that someone would approach her from behind and attempt to rob her of what little she did have. But she was torn between keeping it for herself and giving the treasure to the people who needed it most. Not the ones who were too stuck up or selfish, but the ones who can only survive on a day to day basis from the scraps that they were able to scavenge.
Just as these thoughts were in her mind, the Griffon had finally approached the front of the shack that she called home. Only to open the door and find a huge hole in the roof that was above the living room. Something had fallen through the supports on the roof and had crash landed into her room. But after a while, she soon realized that the something was actually someone. “...... Don’t remember inviting you.”
“Ugh...did anyone get the number of that truck…” Gilda raised an eyebrow as soon as the dust in the room cleared up. It appeared that a bipedal figure with a black cloak was on her living room floor and she honestly had no idea what the hell it was talking about.
“Care to explain why you decided to tear a huge hole in my shack?” The griffon asked, Looking to see that the figure’s hood was over it’s head. “And who are you anyways?”
“What the hell are you talking...a...bout!?” Gilda noticed that the figure was startled by something…but what that something was? That was something that she did not know. Until the same individual spoke again. “B-Back away from me weird bird lady thing.”
Who are you calling weird? If anyone is weird it would be you” She asked the cloak figure. “Matter of fact, why do you still have your hood on at this point?”
“I’m not telling nothing. How do I know you’re not going to eat me or something?”
“One you are inside my house. wo, the general assumption of griffons eating other species is false. Three, why in the world of Equestria would do that with someone who just crashed into my living room?” Gilda questioned, before starting a different approach. “Look, I’m not going to hurt you alright? How about we introduce ourselves? My name is Gilda, what’s yours?”
“...Roxana...Roxana Scarlet” The hooded figure said as she removed her hood from over her head.
“Whoa, what the hay are you? You look like an ape that lost parts of it hair...well...in the facial area, but I don’t know about anywhere else.”
“I am not an ape, I’m a human. And I would prefer that you don’t call me an-.”Just as she tried to pull herself up from the floor of the living room, a sharp surge of pain shot through her left arm when she used the table next to her as support to help her up. Seeing this, Gilda soon was a bit worried that she had broken her arm from the fall and rushed to help her onto the nearby couch.
“Easy there, let me find the first aid kit.” Gilda told her as she went into the kitchen real fast to grab the medical supplies and went to bandaging her arm… once she rolled up the sleeve of course. After a while, she then had a question once the bandage was in place. “You feeling any pain now?”
“Well, it still hurt, but it’s not as bad as how it was earlier. Thanks for bandaging my arm.” Roxana said as she moved her fingers around. “Though, I’m pretty sure I won’t be using this arm for a while.”
“Give it some rest and it should be okay. It doesn’t look broken, but it’s better to be safe than sorry out here in Griffonstone.” Gilda told her as she went to go put the first aid box away.
“Griffonstone?”
That had Gilda surprised for a moment. “Where we are right now. What you never heard of Griffonstone before?”
“No because I don’t know where I am to begin with.”
“Then why don’t you start by telling me where you come from? I mean you gotta come from someplace like neighpon or something right.”
“Never heard of a place like that. If you must know where I’m from, I‘m from the USA.”
“USA?”
“United States of America. You never heard of it before?”
“Never heard of it. Is it some kind of country that’s nearby or something?”
“....Do you have a map of where I am?”
“Sadly I don’t, sorry.”
“Great,” Roxana said as she leaned back against the couch she was on. “I’m in a weird place, full of weird creatures, and I’m in a house of its inhabitants. Some day this turned out to be for me.”
“You’re saying like it’s a bad thing or something?”
“Hey, you try being in my shoes lady. One minute I’m a sleep in my room after finishing up my homework for class tomorrow, and the next thing I know I wake to find myself falling into a house like this.”
“I...can see what you mean, but there’s no point in complaining about it now. Whether you are stuck in this place or not I do not know, but you might as well make the most of it until you can find a way back to your home.”
“....Dammit...guess you do have a point there...so...this place is called Griffonstone huh?” Roxana said as she looked at the beat up runned down town through the somewhat broken window. “No to sound like rude or anything, but this place is a dump.”
“It has seen better days and almost every griffon out here except for some that I know are greedy and selfish bastards that think about themselves. Hell, many of them try to find the Lost Treasure that’s rumored to be here, but barely any come back alive.” She explained to them as the griffon took a moment to come back. “Would you like some water or anything to drink?”
“Got any soda?”
“Would Cola work? That’s all I have right now for soda related beverages. Food prices are higher than ever and it’s been hard to get anything lately with this much inflation.” She said as she looked through the fridge to see what was still worth keeping and what needed to be thrown away.
“Yeah that will do.” Roxana said as she started to look around Gilda’s home. “So are there more griffons here in this place?”
“Yeah, but they’re mostly in their own homes, minding their own business or trying to find a way out of here. Griffonstone is not exactly the best place to live in. Especially when they try to have you pay up any bits you have just to give you directions.I’ve been wanting to try and leave this place for a while, but I haven’t been able to do so since I don’t have enough money to support myself right now.”
“Reminds me of back home, only… different. Have you come up with idea’s on how to come up with the money to leave this place?”
“Well, there’s trying to find a job, but there’s barely any with a reasonable pay… and then there’s something that many would consider as suicide.” The griffon told her as she sat down across from Roxana. “Remember that Lost Treasure I mentioned earlier?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“Well, I had been thinking about wanting to find it for a while, but there are a lot of risks involved. Mostly because of the fact that if you go try to find it as a group, it’s really likely that someone will stab you in the back to take the treasure for themselves.” She explained. “Not to mention that if no one has ever come back alive from trying to find it, then there has to be something there that is the reason for it that’s stopping any griffon from trying to take off with it. You understand what I mean?” Gilda asked, wanting to make sure that Roxana was not lost in translation just by her speaking.
“I can see what you mean by that, and I am tempted to say we can try it. But let’s save that as a last resort before we try out some other options.”
“Trust me when I say this. I’ve tried a few option that I can think of and most of them have not been successful. Some shops here don’t even take refunds.” She added onto what she was saying. “I’ve seen that one firsthand.”
“Should I even ask?”
“Well…”
Two days ago...
“Uhh…Sir, can I please have a refund on this?” Gilda overheard an anxious griffon talking to the owner of a weapons store by the name of Marcus. “I don’t think this crossbow seems to work.”
“Hmm…I dunno,” The owner of the store said, before actually aiming the crossbow at the customer’s leg, pulling the trigger and having the crossbow bolt hit the customer in the thigh. As the customer screamed out in pain, the owner of the store smirked evilly as he looked at the customer on the ground. “Looks like it works fine to me…”
“So yeah…that happened.”
“...Okay, I guess looking for a job at the shops are out of the question.”
“Yeah, that’s a bit obvious…Like I said, Griffonstone is not the best place to live.” Gilda sighed. “Most of the keepsakes that were passed on from my parents I had to sell to a pawn shop and I barely even got anything from those jerks. Just enough to pay for a loaf of bread and some fruit. Not enough food to last even a week out here.”
“Have you ever thought of selling baked goods?”
“I have, but I barely even have the ingredients to make a simple batch.” Gilda sighed. “Plus, the price for eggs here are more expensive than back in Equestria. But that’s like a day long flight. If I tried coming back, they might spoil. Or even worse, there's the chance that the eggs can be dropped.”
“Hm, what do you have in the fridge that can be used for cooking?”
“Not a lot. Some of the food that is in there are close to the expiration date, and I need to throw out.”
“Man talk about being limited on food supply.”
“You have no idea…” Gilda sighed, looking back at her. “I’m going to fly around town for a bit. Maybe when I come back I might be able to think of something.”
“Well while you’re doing that. I’m gonna take a nap until you return.” Roxana said as she tried to get herself comfortable while trying not to move her injured arm.
“Okay.” Gilda said, blowing out the candle that illuminated the living room as she let Roxana begin to rest. For Roxana though, closing her eyes and letting herself fall asleep was only the beginning of what was in store for her.
Chapter 2: Dream of a Nobody
***Chapter 2
Dream for a Nobody***
“So much to do, so little time.”
Roxana’s eyes shot open upon hearing those words. In doing so, she finds herself standing at the edge of a giant pedestal in the middle of a dark but illuminated place. “W-Where am I?”
“Take your time, don’t be afraid.” The mysterious voice said, causing Roxana to franticly around to find out where the voice is coming. “The door is still shut.”
“Who’s there? Show yourself or else I’ll..I’ll...okay I don’t know what I’ll do, but I’ll do something about is.”
“Now step forward. Can you do it?” The voice asked as a ray of light shined near the center of the giant pedestal she was on. Hesitant at first, Roxana slow but carefully walked towards the center of the pedestal. Upon making her way there, three orbs of light appeared around her for a second before revealing to be a shield, a sword, and a staff. “Power sleeps within you. If you give it form, it will give you strength. Choose well.”
“A sword, a shield, and a wizard staff...as if being sent to a weird world wasn’t bad enough. Now I’m in a dream where I have to pick something.”Roxana said as she placed a hand to her chin. “Guess I have no choice but to pick one if I’m going to progress any further.” Looking at her choices, Roxana made her way to the wizard staff. As she grabbed onto the staff, the mysterious voice once again made itself known to her.
“The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. Is this the power you seek?” The voice asked as Roxana nodded. As she nodded, the staff that she was holding vanish into thin air. “Your path is set. Now, what will you give up in exchange?”
“Hm, power or friendship.” The nobody said as she look over at the sword first, then at the shield. “Power is good and all, but what good is it if I’m not at full strength. The shield looks good at defending, and I don’t want to give up on protecting others. Damn, talk about making hard decisions.” After a moment of thinking to herself, Roxana nodded as she walked over to the sword and grabbed it.
“The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. You give up this power?” The voice asked, as Roxana nodded in agreement causing the shield to disappear. “You have chosen the power of the mystic. You’ve given up the power of the warrior. Is this the form you chose?”
“Yes, that is my choice.” Roxana said as she felt the sword disappear from her hand, only for it to be replaced by a keyblade. “Whoa, for a dream this almost feels like it’s real.” She said as she swung the keyblade around. “Sounds real as well.”
“You have the power to fight.”
“Power to fight what?” Roxana asked as she heard something coming from the darkness around herself. Looking behind herself three pale white figure appeared walking from the shadows as they surrounded the keyblade wielder. “A dream that involves Dusk nobodies. Talk about having weird dreams-.” Before she could finish her sentence, one of the dusk appeared from behind and attack Roxana causing her to fall forwards from the kick to her back. “Ow! That hurts...wait, that hurts?”
Before Roxana could process what just happen, another dusk appeared in front of her as it tried to hit her again. Only for her to quickly move out of the way by rolling to her left and taking up a fighting stance. “Okay, this isn’t a dream after all.” She said, slowly backing away from the nobodies that were slowly making their way towards her.
“You have the power to fight...use it.”
“Guess I don’t have a choice in the matter.” Roxana said as one of the nobodies flies over to her and tries to attack her with a headbutt. Only for her to dodge and counter from it’s side by swinging her keyblade at it. Upon doing so, the nobody is quickly knocked back as the others try to attack her. Roxana quickly brought her keyblade back up as she took a striking stance and swung at the two nobodies heading towards her. The nobodies were pushed back as they quickly recovered from the blow to their heads.
“They make it look so easy in the game.” Roxana said as she charged at the nobodies. Just as she attacked them though and caused them to disappear, something… else began to shake the platform she was on. “Oh what is it now?”
“...... Me and my damn mouth.” She cursed, staring at the huge nobody she remembered from her home.
Obejctive: Defeat Twilight Thorn
“Okay, it can’t be that hard to be this thing right? I mean the character in the game can do it, so why can’t I?” Shortly after saying that, the Nobody saw her and locked onto her, moving it’s arms and preparing to strike. “Oh hell!”
“Move.”
“What-?” Roxana barely heard before dodging to her fight, missing the nobody as it looked back at her… before realizing that it’s arm was stuck.
“Strike.”
“Oh right, the delay reaction time that nobodies have.” She realized, taking the opportunity to strike the arm several times with her weapon before the giant nobody that was there was able to free it’s arm before disappearing… and causing the platform to fall from underneath her before something clasped onto her ankles and wrists before being suspended in the air.
“Right….this part….” She groaned, just as the nobody instantly materialized in front of her face. She had only one chance to break off and attack this enemy and if she screwed up… well… she would rather not think about what would happen if she screwed up. “Come on dammit, why do they make it look so easy in the game, but not in real life?”
“React.” She heard again the moment that she saw the Nobody try to attack her… and the opportunity she needed in order to strike.
“Take this!” Roxana shouted, breaking free of the restraints placed on her and striking the Twilight Thorn… shortly before it grabbed her. “Oh god.” She tried to struggle, but it was no use. The grip around her became tighter and tighter… until…
“Break free…”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
“React.” She heard again.
“Working...on...it!” She snapped, breaking the tightening grip around her as she attacked once more. When landing on the ground, she soon began to slide backwards as the nobody now tried to throw a massive sphere of void energy at her. “Are you FREAKING KIDDING ME!?!”
“Nope.”
“Shut the hell up!!” She snapped, throwing the keyblade she was holding at the nobody as she struck its head, making it collapsed back onto the singular platform around her as Roxana picked up her blade one last time and hit the nobody with it… making sure that it was destroyed.
“Well done.” She heard… followed by the sound of clapping. She turned for a moment, only to watch as the shadow that was once projected across the floor began to stand up and form… someone that looked exactly like her… before she decided to dress up. “A very nice job indeed.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“Why that’s rather a rude thing to say… I am you after all… well, only a part of you.” The girl explained. “As for names… well… call me Nara. It should be easier for you that way.”
“Okay then..Nara...care to explain what you are doing in this place? Mainly speaking, my head?”
“Why because you don’t have a heart anymore,” She told her. “Before you blacked out and ended up at your friend Gilda’s place, someone stole your heart… and when a heart is taken, not only is a heartless created, but a nobody. I’m the heartless… you’re the nobody.”
“....You’re joking right?”
“Do I look like I’m joking?” Nara asked, folding her arms. “Why else do you think that you weren’t able to express any emotions when you were talking with Gilda? I’m a part of you, Roxana and I would never joke around about something like this.”
“You expect me to believe what you’re saying now. Especially seeing how I’m in this weird place?”
“Did you honestly expect to even end up there?” Nara returned fire with her own question. “Look, you may not trust me, but there’s a reason why I’m talking to you. Where you are right now? In the world you’re in… there are heartless all over the damn place and there’s the possibility that the more heartless we fight and encounter, the more clues we can find as to who stole your heart.”
“.....Alright...say that I believe you. Why would you be willing to help me then?”
“I can help you learn magic… in addition, I can provide support with other things too.” She replied and with the snap of a finger, a moogle with an Organization XIII cloak appeared. “This moogle can help you with any crafting materials you pick up from heartless to forge items and gear along with purchasing potions and other items and later on I can teach you your Limit Break.”
“Okay…”
“I’m helping you survive… because from what I can tell, you and I aren’t the only people that had this happen to them.”
“Again, I’m finding it hard to believe you on that one.” That’s when Nara sighed, snapping her fingers as over a dozen silhouettes of other people formed around them. Some wearing Organization XIII cloaks while others wore different sets of attire.
“Do you honestly thought that I was just being lazy while I was inside your head? I’ve done my homework and I found out that there are other like us who got thrown into this mess under different circumstances.” Nara replied. “Whether you choose to believe me or not is your choice.”
“Unless I see physical proof, then I’ll believe. That’s how I’ve been for a long time buddy.”
“Then you will find your proof once you acquire one of their tokens. Like with the games you are familiar with, you can only call upon them by summoning them. But it works both ways. You can either summon them or they can summon you depending on the circumstances… But let’s not focus on that right now… Your friend is trying to wake you up right now.”
“Wait what-?”
“Roxana? Roxana, wake up!” The nobody heard Gilda as the griffon shook her a little. When the girl found her opening her eyes, she begun to shake her head a little as she rose from her position on the couch and was trying to get a sense of what was going on.
“Care to explain why you had to yell at me?”
“You were talking in your sleep and you made me worried…” Gilda replied back. “Other then that, you severely overslept. It’s almost noon.” With that, Gilda set down a sandwich for Roxana as the nobody tried to get her senses all straightened out while looking back at her… and hearing all the commotion that was coming from the town.
“What’s with all the commotion going on outside?”
“Apparently, one of the griffons that went on the last expedition to find the lost treasure came back alive… He claims that there was a dark demonic beast that uses the gold as a trap, but a lot of the townsfolk think that he has gone mad.” Gilda replied, brushing it off for a moment. After a few moments though, the griffon seemed a bit… concerned. “You okay, Roxana? You’ve barely eaten anything.”
“Yeah I’m fine. Just thinking about something.”
“What… something?” Gilda then proceeded to ask. “I want to help you Roxana… Are you remembering something?”
“....We’re going to go get the lost treasure of Griffonstone.”
Gilda was caught off guard by that rather immediately. “What made you sound so confident all of a sudden?”
“I had a dream involving fighting. Let’s put it at that.” Roxana said as she raised her hand, causing a keyblade to appear in her hand. “Guess that dream was real after all.”
“What the beak did you just do-!?” Gilda asked, “And how did you just do it if I may add to that?”
“Magic, that’s how.” She said as she made the keyblade disappeared in a flash of light.
“Well… if that’s the case, let me grab some things and then we can get the hell out of here.” Gilda replied, grabbing a bag out of the corner of the room along with grabbing a set of metal claws to place over her talons. “This family heirloom is one that I rather keep. It hasn’t let me down before and it sure as hell won’t let me down now.”
“Yeah you might want to keep those. Something tells me that we might be fighting our way to the treasure. On another note, do you know where it is?”
“Every griffon knows where it is, just follow me.” Gilda smirked, having Roxana follow her as they went off to go towards the treasure. Not exactly knowing what was in store for them.
