Takeo: A Fractured Heart (Wattys 2019)

Chapter 3: The Keyblade

               Takeo stiffened with fear. Was that voice talking to him? The hairs on the back of his neck and his arms stood up, and a chill ran down his spine. Why would someone be yelling at him? He has done nothing wrong.

               Takeo slowly turned around to see who the man was talking to. Before he could make it halfway around, the man spoke again. "Kid, you need to come with me." the man said, walking towards Takeo.

               With what confidence Takeo had left in him after everything that had already transpired, he mustered a few words for the stranger. "W-why should I?"

               "Because you have no idea what you're doing." said the stranger. He finally made it to Takeo, and Takeo was finally able to see who it was he was talking to. The man was taller than Takeo, with longer brown hair that went to his shoulders. He wore a jacket that went to about the center of his torso before cutting off, and the collar was lined with white fur. He wore a white undershirt, and had three belts on his pants, two bring red. Strange, who needs three belts? He also wore three bands on his left arm, which were there seemingly for looks rather than a practical use. "Just come with me, and I'll explain everything." The man held out his hand towards Takeo.

               "No way am I trusting a stranger." Takeo said as he slapped the mans hand away. He dashed away, ducking into a nearby alleyway. Who was this guy, and what does he want with Takeo? He heard footsteps nearing the alleyway, so Takeo scuffled up the wall and onto the roof of the building. He began running across it when he heard a thud behind him. He looked behind him and saw that the man had managed to make it up to the roof in one clean jump! "What is up with this guy?" Takeo thought to himself.

               While Takeo was holding his attention elsewhere, he failed to realize that he was running out of rooftops. "Look out!" the man shouted, pointing in front of Takeo. He turned his head and let out a gasp before falling off of the roof and flipping through the air before hitting the ground.

               "Well, that could have been worse." Takeo said, groaning while sitting up. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a dark black mist form and disappear, leaving behind three medium sized black blobs.

               They were the shadow creatures that he saw in his dream! They weren't armored or giant like the other ones, but they were the ones that almost resembled bugs! "No... they are real..." Takeo said while slowly scooting backwards.

               All at once, the shadow creatures jumped at him, and Takeo knew what was coming next. He shouted, but felt nothing but a rush of wind, then a strange sound. He uncovered his face and saw nothing but a black mist where the shadow creatures had once been in the air. To the left, the man that had been chasing him had out a rather large sword, and was panting. He gathered himself, stood up straight, and his sword vanished out of his hands. He turned and looked at Takeo, who was frozen by what he had just witnessed.

               "Are you okay kid?" asked the man, brushing the hair out of his eyes. Takeo jumped up and started to shout.

               "What were those things? Where did they come from? Who are You? Why is your sword so oversized? Why am I yelling so loudly?" Takeo finally ran out of breath, and collapsed back to a sitting position.

               "His name is Leon. He's the one who just saved you from them there shadows." said a voice from behind Takeo. Both Leon and Takeo looked back and saw that Cid had made his way to them.

               "Cid? I thought you had your shop to worry about right now." said Leon.

               Cid shook his head, "Well, I did, but then I looked outta my window and saw you take off after Tak here, so I left those dang Moogles in charge while I came here to make sure you two didn't try to kill each other."