Kingdom Hearts fic: Potentials - Chapter 2

[mistressofmuses]

In chapter 2: Radiance and Keyblade head out on a patrol.

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Confidential: For Defenders of the Light internal circulation only

Keyblade

Age: 23

Age of power manifestation: presumed 12

Civilian identity: UNKNOWN

Hero type: Magical artifact

Power set: Has a unique weapon, the “keyblade”, which he can manifest and dismiss at will. The keyblade is a gold key that functions similarly to a sword, though it is not sharp. It is made of an unknown material, and nothing seems capable of doing any lasting damage to the manifested weapon. He described the appearance of the keyblade as it having “chosen” him. While he can allow others to hold the weapon, and even use it for limited periods of time, he does so very rarely. Attempts to disarm him are generally unsuccessful, as he can merely remanifest the weapon back in his hand.

Profile: Keyblade presented himself to the Defenders of the Light at age 13, alongside Corridor, requesting to be made a Hero. The manifestation of his power had not been under Defenders of the Light surveillance. After testing his abilities, he was accepted as a team member. Because his powers had already fully manifested, and the Defenders of the Light did not need to cultivate them further, giving his identity was a voluntary action that he did not choose to take. Due to legal restrictions, no attempts should be made to discover his identity. Has close friendship and prefers to team up with fellow Heroes Corridor and Radiance.

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“I have to say, I don’t think my powers are the ideal set right now,” Radiance muttered.

Keyblade snorted, the wordless response still coming clear over the official radio.

Their mission for the night was a stakeout... Sort of. The frustrating kind that didn’t even have a guaranteed altercation at the end. Not that Radiance was spoiling for a fight, but it was hard to get viewership when all you did was sit there in the dark, waiting to see if a bad guy was going to show up or not.

Her powers being light-based made things like this particularly challenging. She’d had years of Defenders of the Light Hero training getting every spark and flare under control, but it was still an intrinsic part of her. It took serious effort to keep some stray glint of it from giving her position away. Even in her regular civilian life she didn’t have to dampen it down to this degree; ordinarily, a little flicker was easily brushed off as a reflection off of jewelry, or a trick of the eye.

She shifted, leaning against the wall under the bridge where she was currently hidden, and grimaced as she felt water soak through the back of her costume. Gross.

“Have you seen anything?” she asked. Keyblade would have told her if he had, but she was getting desperate. He was on the side of the park that at least saw more use.

“Six ducks, four geese, and two people walking some really cute dogs,” he deadpanned back.

“Valuable intelligence, Hero.”

“Best I’ve got.”

“I don’t even have that much.” She groaned. “Should we find a new spot to keep watch? It’s been close to an hour, and we haven’t seen anything. I’m all for protecting the park, but we’ve already passed the point where we have many civilians around to protect.”

There was a beat of silence, as if he was thinking it over, before he replied, “Wait! I think I see something.”

“Oh?” She stood up a little straighter, ready to rush to his position.

“This person has an extra fluffy dog.”

Radiance relaxed. “Jerk.” She laughed fondly. Her laughter almost disguised the sudden fuzz on the radio. It certainly meant she wasn’t expecting the bridge to collapse.

She saw a brief flash of white, but couldn’t even focus on what it was before the cement and stone of the bridge came down around her, knocking her flat.

Enough practice and training made curling in on herself an immediate instinct, trying to present the smallest and most protected target possible, even as everything collapsed. Heavy slabs of material struck her back, and she didn’t need anything catching a limb and breaking a bone.

“Kai- Radiance?” Keyblade’s voice was panicked through the radio, barely audible through the thick static, hopefully distorted enough to disguise the near non-codename slip.

“I’m fine,” she choked out before actually doing an inventory of potential injuries. Fortunately, she hadn’t just lied; nothing felt broken or cut. She tried to get up, but didn’t get far. “I think my leg is stuck, though,” she was forced to amend.

The static had faded from the radio, and she looked around, trying to catch sight of what had caused the bridge collapse. She didn’t hear any cries or screams, and she breathed a sigh of relief at the deserted state of the park, despite having just been cursing it.

After determining she wasn’t in immediate danger, she reassessed her leg. Definitely not broken, but trapped under enough rubble it was going to be difficult to move. Keyblade could probably use his namesake as leverage to help her get free.

“Where are you?” his voice came over the radio.

“Right here,” she answered, sending up a multicolored flare of light.

It would have been easiest if Corridor were with them, since he could have been next to her in an instant. Keyblade still made it over to her as quickly as possible, considering super-speed and teleportation weren’t part of his power set.

He wedged the keyblade under the slab of concrete holding the rest in place, and leaned heavily into it. Radiance felt the rubble around her leg shift as the giant key scraped against it. Despite the keyblade’s relative thinness, it would come through unscathed; they’d yet to find anything mundane that could even scratch it, and they’d tried titanium, diamonds…

Finally there was enough space for her to pull free, and she scrambled to her feet with a helping hand from Keyblade.

“What happened?” he asked, doing a quick visual confirmation that she hadn’t been severely injured.

“The bridge collapsed. It was so sudden, I don’t know what caused it.” Radiance spared a thought for Riku, possibly glued to their radio signal as closely as she had been, just as petrified, waiting to hear of something happening when he couldn’t be there to see. “I’m fine, just bruises and a scrape or two.”

“No one else was under or on the bridge when it fell,” Keyblade said. “So that’s a relief. Headquarters knows now, of course, so I’m sure they’ve called it in. But there was no warning?”

She shook her head, but as she thought back, her whole back went cold. “Actually, I thought I saw something. Just a flash of white, and the radio went a little fuzzy.”

“Well, shi-,” Keyblade bit the curse off before straying into reprimand territory. Headquarters didn’t like having to censor the footage they put out, since it drew attention to the fact it had been edited. “You know what that sounds like, right?”

Radiance nodded. Unverified reports of mysterious creatures. “It could have been intentional, if something was targeting me. But if anyone else had been there, it could have hurt them.”

“It could easily have hurt you.”

Radiance stretched, pulling herself up onto her toes and rolling her shoulders. It was a good stretch, flattering to her silhouette for the cameras she was certain were getting footage of her right now, while also letting her make sure nothing was stiff or not moving the way it should.

She flashed a smile at Keyblade, hoping the cameras would catch that, too. “Well, then we should go hunting.”

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It didn’t take long to find the… things. The description she’d gotten from Riku and Sora after their encounter was accurate: vaguely humanoid white figures that could drift along weightlessly, then attack with surprising force.

Something in the way they moved reminded Radiance of the Heartless, motions that were just a little too inhuman, just slightly off from the motion of a normal person or animal, approaching that uncanny valley that made her skin crawl.

There were three of the creatures here, deeper in the trees along the deserted jogging path. Keyblade immediately engaged one, and drew it away. With him out of her immediate range, Radiance flung her hand out and let a bright arc of blinding light whip toward the second of them. The light didn’t even slow it down. It drifted lazily, but against the breeze, directly toward her.

“Well, crap,” she said as she danced backward, only to be blindsided by the third of the monsters crashing into her.

She scrabbled at the loose leaf litter, trying to regain her feet, as the one that had ignored her light flare reoriented toward her, an arm growing too long and sharp.

She rolled to avoid the stab, and managed not to get run through, but the sharp pain blooming along her ribcage proved she’d still been too slow.

At least she was back on her feet, though she overbalanced on the unsteady ground. She turned the awkward overbalance into a forward somersault, which also saved her from another strike that just missed the back of her head.

The creatures made no sound, again like the Heartless, adding both to their eeriness and the danger they presented. And apparently her powers were useless against the damn things. Not that she should have been surprised her light didn’t affect them; the monsters didn’t even appear to have eyes.

“Keyblade, how are you doing over there?” Radiance called, ducking between two trees, trying to get some obstacles between her and these things. Their ability to float, not even bound by air currents, gave them a completely unfair advantage.

“Never better!” he answered lightly. That meant not great, but they always had to project unconcerned and upbeat appearances. Lighthearted quips and seemingly effortless maneuvers sold far more ad space than frustration or mere practicality.

“Want to help me with these two, then?”

“Bring ‘em this way!”

She cut to the side, heading toward Keyblade’s voice. She heard a grunt of effort from him and then a sound of triumph. Finally able to risk taking her eyes off her direct path, she saw him brandishing the keyblade, the remains of the creature he’d been facing off against fading away to nothing.

He turned when he heard her footsteps, and she ducked down into another somersault, this one pushing her up into a handspring that let her land just behind and to his side, a stance that let them guard each other’s backs.

“Show-off.” His voice was mild, but she could still hear the suppressed smile.

“Maybe,” she answered, and then there was little opportunity for banter, as the other two creatures closed the distance between them.

---

It was close to one in the morning by the time Keyblade and Radiance stumbled back to Defenders of the Light Headquarters, the mysterious creatures finally defeated. Radiance was the worst off of the two of them: that strike that had landed along her side had left a long, fortunately shallow, wound. Keyblade had a couple new scrapes and bruises, but nothing that wouldn’t heal in a day or two.

Since even Radiance’s injury had closed, they went straight to debrief, rather than stopping for medical attention first.

This time of night, it was one of the many interchangeable lab assistants who took their report.

“The creatures were the same as the ones that attacked Corridor and me yesterday,” Keyblade explained.

“Can you describe them?” The man said, not even looking up from the tablet he was keying their report into.

“I did. Yesterday.”

“Can you describe them again, please?”

Keyblade sighed, and dutifully described the creatures.

“Any casualties?” the man said, flicking at the screen to bring up a new form.

“Property damage, mostly,” Radiance said. “The bridge in Overland Park collapsed. I’m fairly certain it was the creatures that caused that. I assume the collapse was reported, though I don’t know if anyone has taken a look yet.”

“The Defenders of the Light alerted the authorities to the damaged bridge. Anything else? Injuries?”

Radiance stood up and lifted her arm, so the assistant could see the long tear in her costume top and the mostly-dried blood below it across her ribcage.

It took a moment before he looked up, but when he did, he frowned. “I will alert both Medical and Supply that you’ll be stopping by. You need to be certain that doesn’t get infected, and you’ll clearly need a costume repair. Actually…” he paused, tapping at the screen. “Supply has a note that you’re both due to see them.”

“Can it wait until tomorrow?” Radiance deliberately glanced toward the clock on the wall. It was edging toward one-thirty.

“Supply is staffed now,” the assistant said, unconcerned, moving to stand. “You’re both dismissed. Radiance, you will be expected at Medical within the next ten minutes. Keyblade, you may head directly to Supply if you don’t require Medical. We appreciate your service Defending the Light, and keeping our city a safer place.”

In the deserted, fluorescent-lit hallway, Radiance let her shoulders slump. “I just want to go home, boil myself in a hot shower, and sleep for three days.”

Keyblade caught up to her and took her hand, squeezing it gently. “I know the feeling. I’ll come with you to Medical.”

She thought about pulling away from the daring contact—keeping up appearances—but she was grateful for the touch, and she decided to risk it.

There were no other Heroes in Medical, since Radiance and Keyblade had been the only two on late patrol. A dispassionate nurse swabbed out the cut with something that stung. She pronounced that it didn’t need stitches, but that Radiance “should be more careful in the future” and directed her to keep it covered and cushioned for the next several days.

Before the nurse let them leave, she reminded Radiance that she was overdue for a regular medical appointment, and extracted a promise that Radiance would make that appointment soon.

Once they were back in the halls, Keyblade asked, “Didn’t you just have a medical appointment? Why do they need to see you again?”

She shrugged. “Seems like we’re all in and out of appointments practically constantly.”

“I guess,” he said, though he didn’t sound completely convinced.

But all of the Heroes were expected to keep up with regular medical checkups. Radiance wasn’t sure she was subjected to any more than the rest of them.

By the time the pair even made it to Supply, Radiance was ready to fall asleep on her feet. Keyblade was whisked away into one room, while Radiance was taken into another.

A tired-looking woman had Radiance stand on a low stool while she used a measuring tape to take measurements of every dimension conceivable. Radiance complied with directions to raise and lower her arms, to shift her weight, to turn and bend, even as she stifled yawns. If it went much longer she was afraid she might topple off the stool and just fall asleep right on the floor.

The woman wrote the last of the measurements down on her clipboard. “Before your next mission, we’ll have a replacement costume for you, which will be delivered to your agreed-upon drop location. We wouldn’t want a Hero out on the street looking anything less than presentable. You should be more careful in the future.”

Radiance nodded through another yawn at the repeated advice, and took her opportunity to escape.

Keyblade was waiting outside the door, stifling a yawn of his own.

“What did they need you for?” Radiance asked. His costume had been fine, aside from a bit of dirt, which he was perfectly capable of taking care of.

“Remeasuring apparently. Not sure why they needed to do that now.”

Radiance felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. “They remeasured me, too. That shouldn’t have been necessary for just a cut in the fabric. They have the measurements for my costume.” She hadn’t really thought about it, just focusing on getting through it so she could get home and sleep. But now she was putting an uncomfortable two and two together.

Keyblade groaned as the same thought apparently occurred to him. “Do you think it’s…” he trailed off. “You know.”

She did know what he was reluctant to mention while they were here in the Headquarters building. It was a common joke that it was built out of more cameras and mics than wood or drywall. “I’m betting so.”

“New costumes?” Neutral enough phrasing.

She nodded. One more tick in the “definitely an Event starting up” column.

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