Title: When You Were Young
Pairing: Sora, Oc
Author: TheSadMachine
Type: Multi chapter
Genre: Romance, Agnst
Summary: Don't forget. Please don't forget, Sora. Then like water in your hands, the memories begin to slip one by one. "Who are you?"
Threaded with the story, I'm only human. SoraxRen
Game: Chain of memories.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my oc. Please remember that.
Comments: Welcome! I know you traveled far and I worked hard for this! So I can only wish that you enjoy it!
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File no.1
.-.
Initializing Data Collection!
Do Not Remove Memory Card.
Ren closes her eyes and as she reaches a hand out, cracks emerge in the center of her palm. They increase in fissure, no longer whole. No longer complete.
Error! Data File Corrupted!
.-.
The sky was cluttered with bright stars and coated with the cloak of night. The grass and trees would sway gently from the wind but still Sora found it hard to close his eyes. Donald and Goofy were deep in sleep from chasing a good portion of the day after Pluto. Then again, no matter how hard they ran, Pluto always seemed to be just at the end of the horizon with a note from the king clamped between its lips.
He sat up with the bright moonlight soaking him from behind. Sora decided to take a brief walk and soon found himself walking along an empty path.
"Along the road lies something you need." The voice came from behind him and when he spun around he didn't see anyone. He gritted his teeth in irritation then the voice came again and this time he turned in time. Standing a good distance from him was a man in a dark coat. "However- In order to claim it. You must lose something that is dear to you."
He drifted away and faded into the unknown. Now that the path was open he could see a familiar figure running along the path going farther and farther away.
"Ren, wait up!"
A small silver cage slightly creaked back and forth, trapped within it was a small blonde plush doll. Of course this did not distract the only girl sitting in the room who was intently sketching into her drawing pad. Her colored pencil would teeter across the drawing pad and her eyes would dart across it, occasionally brushing away unneeded texture off of her work.
Now that she was content with the image, she set it down on her table to overlook it. The image was of a remarkably strange castle highlighted with pinks, purples and blues mixed into it.
Now Sora found himself standing before the same castle from the drawing only this time it was in greens and pale brown colors. Lightning swirled behind it and the clouds clustered around it giving it an ominous presence.
"Are you sure you saw her?" Goofy asked him. He approached beside him and in response Sora's eyes remained focused on the castle.
"The King could be here too!" Donald added. Then Goofy and Donald began to weigh the pros and cons of what this castle must mean.
"She's here. I know she is" He answered.
Once Sora creaked a bit of the door open he decided to just push it further to step inside. They wandered inside and found an empty room with white walls and a staircase that lead to yet another door.
"Hey, ya think Its okay to barge in?" Goofy asked.
"But we gotta do it if we're gonna find the King and Ren." Donald told him.
"The king?" Goofy asked, jolting upright "King Mickey's here?"
"Something told me he'd be here okay?" Donald replied with arms crossed across his chest.
"Really? Cuz now that you mention it, I was kind of thinking the same thing." Goofy told him.
"Seriously? Me too! One look at this castle and I knew:" he said placing a hand on his chest "That our very best friends- they're here."
"Guess great minds think alike." Goofy said with a happy voice.
"Wait, hey hold on!" Jiminy Cricket cried, hopping on top of Sora's shoulder. "It can't be just a coincidence!"
"Oh no Jiminy, you don't mean that-"Donald gasped.
"Yep I had it too mm-hm! I had the exact same feeling!" he declared.
"Gawrsh maybe it's contagious!"Goofy yelped.
"No, no. Something's screwy. We gotta go take a look." Donald demanded.
"Alright" Sora said, rubbing the back of his head. He turned to walk for the door but Donald's cry hand halted his actions and he looked back at him.
"Wak! Where are you going?!" Donald yelped.
"That way" Sora said pointing ahead to the door "To the door, are ya scared?"
When he said it he grinned back at Donald in a teasing manner, calling him chicken in a way.
"Aw don't be ridiculous!" Donald cried walking forward. "Come on! Let's go Goofy!"
"Hey, fellas, shouldn't we shut the door behind us before we go?" Goofy asked referring to the door. He turned in shock of finding the door shutting closed and a man standing inside with a dark coat.
"Who are you?!" Sora yelled at him, conjuring his keyblade and getting into fighting stance.
The man walked forward and in reaction Donald jumped.
"Wak! Heartless! Oh yeah? I'll try some magic!" Donald claimed. He swished his staff and stabbed it forward crying a thunder spell but nothing came.
"Come on…Blizzard? Fire!" He cried freaking out.
The man halted before them.
"Why isn't it working?" Donald asked; dropping his shoulders in defeat.
"I should think it's obvious" the man answered. "The moment you set foot in this castle, you forgot every spell and every ability you ever knew."
They stopped to look at each other in confusion.
"In this place to lose is to find and to find is to lose. That is the way in castle Oblivion." He explained.
"Castle Oblivion?" Sora asked.
Then in a flurry of a dark pool he disappeared and reappeared behind them.
"Here you will meet people that you have known in the past. And you will meet people you miss."
"I miss? Ren and Riku! You mean they're here?" He asked.
"If what you want is to find them…" he thrust a palm forward sending a strong gust of wind tainted with bright rose petals at him. While Sora tried to stand his ground the man lunged forward and ghosted right through him.
Sora then spun about and leapt high in the air to strike him with the keyblade only for him to fade once more in a flurry of rose petals. When he reappeared he stood atop the staircase.
"What'd you do?" Sora demanded, getting back in stance.
The man reached out a careless gesture.
"I merely sampled your memories. And from them I made this." With a quick motion with his wrist he took out a card that held the image of traverse town.
"To reunite you with those you hold dear-"he threw it at Sora, his aim precise and Sora caught it with much ease.
"What's this, a card?" Sora asked staring at it.
"It's a promise for the reunion you seek. Hold the card to open the door and beyond it, a new world." He gestured to the door behind him. "Proceed: Sora. To lose and claim anew or claim anew only to lose…"
He disappeared before they could say anything. Sora took one last glance at the card in his hand and finally decided.
"C'mon let's go" Sora told them and they trailed behind him.
A gray haze encircled and twisted around a silver haired boy who drifted unconsciously. He shifted his head, startled, and opened his emerald eyes.
"Where am I…?" he questioned tiredly.
"Stay Asleep."
The new voice caused his eyes to widen.
"Who's there?" He yelled, but the voice he called to simply continued.
"You should remain asleep. Here between light and dark."
He looked around and found no sight of the person communicating with him. His eyes trailed down below and still came up with nothing.
"Between what?" he asked. Then he gasped, recalling something. "The King! Where's the King? Together we closed the door to darkness after that-"
"You came drifting here by yourself. You did not have the strength to overcome the darkness. Or maybe you were close to it"
"Hmph. As if I'm some kind of demon" Riku replied.
The voice scoffed in reply.
"Turn from the light. Shut your eyes. Here blanketed by the darkness, sleep is safety. Sleep is eternal but…"
A blinding light formed before him and he shut his eyes and turned his head away from it until it stopped blinding and now hovering before him was a pale blue type of card.
"What's this?" he asked as it circled around him, slowly rotating.
"It is a door to the truth. Take it and your sleep ends, as you take the first step toward the truth will bring you pain. Will you still go?"
The card then stopped circling him to remain in front of him, promising truth in exchange for pain.
"There is no return to the security of sleep."
He closed his eyes as a sign of hesitation before coming to his decision. He opened his eyes and reached for it. Once he took hold of it, the twinkling lights that kept it suspended had disappeared. Within the card it held the image of hallow bastion with a crown shape trapped in a white circle. The circle itself was wedged into the bottom right hand corner of the image.
"This seemed like a boring place to nap anyway" He smiled.
"That was very well said, Riku"
Again lights sprouted from the card enveloping everything in white hot light. Riku found it best to peel his eyes open after the light subsisted and when he did he found himself in a white hallway. It was complete with pillar and a staircase. The flooring was decorated with pale blues and white shapes. The only thing not close to the blinding white of the room; happened to be the beige colored doors that were placed just above the staircase.
Riku glanced at the door then at the card within his possession.
"A door to the truth, huh…"
Once he stepped through those doors, he did in fact find the familiar structure of Bastion. He looked up to see the neon blue lights that worked the steel cages that worked as elevators.
"This is Hallow Bastion!" he thought aloud, resting his elbow on his palm and touched his chin while pondering the thought.
"What you see is not real. It's the world of your memory."
He looked around to find the source of the voice but found none.
"My memory?" he asked.
"The things you remember from your time at Maleficents castle became a card, and that card made this world. You've seen everything here before, haven't you?"
"Yeah: so what now? Am I going to learn something? Maybe meet someone?" he asked.
"You would meet the people in your memories, ordinarily."
"What does that mean?"
Silence grew in and Riku was not satisfied with that answer.
"Hey! I'm asking you a question! Fine, but it had better be you I run across next, voice!" he snapped, and with that he ran to open the doors to the castle. After much searching he found himself within a room with a bookcase, desk and plain bed.
"Everything is just how I remember it. Even this room…" he thought aloud.
"It must be nice being back in your old bedroom. Think of all the memories…"
"You again…Sorry but these memories I could do without. Maleficent gave me this room."
"So she did and you lived here, tempted by the darkness she offered. You cast away your home."
He remembered destiny islands, the belting sunlight and its crashing waves.
"Your friends, everything…"
Sora and Ren flickered across his mind, and Kairi.
"But at least they gave you a nice room."
"Stop talking!" He hollered angrily and ran out of the room.
His feet carried him through more battles with the heartless but in the end he found himself atop the second level, atop a staircase. The place where he battled both Sora and Ren, he shook his head free of the thoughts.
"No one here either…There's nothing but heartless in this castle." He said, hopping down, not bothering to take the stairs. He attempted to call for the voice once more, hoping for some sort of explanation.
"I know you're watching-So explain this! Where are the people from my memories?"
"Do you want to see them?"
"Of course I do."
"But you cast them aside"
"What?"
"You dreamt of the outside world, and you passed through the door to darkness. Behind you, you left family, friends, home- everything -all in the pursuit of darkness."
"But I cast that aside too!" he yelled back.
"And what do you have to show for it? First your home, then the dark. Your heart only knows how to cast away. It's empty- like that room. Like your memories. That's why you don't meet anyone. Your heart is hollow- except for the residual darkness."
"You're wrong! I rejected the darkness!"
"Ha, ha ha…did you really, now?"
The sound of the doors being pulled open had stirred some shock within him. This was familiar to him and a moment was replaying a memory he'd had of his friend.
"Well will you look at that. Perhaps you did have something."
He remained unmoved as Ren stood there, a great distance from him, and she turned to watch the doors shut behind her. When she turned to look at him there was something in her eyes that caught him off guard.
Maybe if he hadn't been so blinded by the darkness before he would have noticed the look of worry in her eyes. He'd been angry at her for something she had no control over. Still she welcomed him with open arms…his friend, Ren.
"Ren. Wait."
What she did next surprised him, this wasn't like before. Maybe it was because before he snapped at her, not giving her a chance. This time she got on her hands and knees and stared at the ground, he'd never seen her beg. It was unlike her and he could tell, her arms were trembling, afraid.
"Please come back home, Riku. I don't know what I did to make you so mad but whatever it is. I'm so sorry; I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you. You're my best friend, you always were and hopefully still will be. We miss you. Sora, Kairi, and I miss you."
His eyes down cast, then he made his way to her before kneeling down to her level. He reached a hand out to her.
"You didn't do anything wrong Ren. Get up."
When she looked up to meet his glance he could see her eyes were red rimmed from tears, probably from something else. She tried to take his hand but her hand ghosted past his and both their eyes widened.
"The once fabled Ultimate Keyblade. Now shattered into countless fragments, countless memories, what will you do Riku?"
Riku decided to ignore the voice for a moment and turned to Ren. He tried to explain to her that she was a memory and that this entire place was a memory.
"You're telling me I'm a memory? Now you want me to follow you into that dark creepy castle just infested with heartless? That might possibly be a trap?"
"Yeah"
Her face switched from overly confused to one to a more careless expression.
"Alright" She said shrugging her shoulders.
The answer she gave him made him laugh, typical Ren.
"Were you crying?" He asked her and her jaw dropped.
"What! No! Shut up!" she cried indignantly. Then attempted to sock him in the rib only for her to fly right through him and hit the ground.
"Ouch…" she groaned. "I really gotta remember the 'keep your hands to yourself rule'."
"I'm glad, that you're here." He said with a smile, earning him a confused stare from her.
"Did you hit your head or something?" She asked with a quirked eyebrow then decided to shrug it off. "Let's go check out the rest of this memory castle."
Riku walked ahead because surely if Ren was allowed to lead they'd be lost in less than 5 minutes.
"I knew you would return, Riku." Maleficent said turning to face him and Ren.
Ren attempted to run for her but Riku put an arm out before her, halting her actions. Though she could run right through it, she figured Riku wanted to talk to her first.
"Maleficent! You're alive?" he asked.
"You haven't been paying attention. I am but a figment of your memory." Maleficent explained.
"Of all the people I run into, it had to be you." He replied bitterly.
"But of course after all your heart is steeped in darkness- You can only see those who exist in that same darkness…"
"No…"
"Be grateful you have someone to keep you company. Your heart is empty."
"Yeah well, I'm here and that means he's not alone." Ren spoke up now standing out in the open. Maleficent in reaction narrowed her eyes. "I stand here as proof that it isn't empty."
"You dare bring that thing here? After I told you what it was?" Maleficent asked. "Well no matter, if it were not for the darkness your heart contains. This thing and I would not be here. You would be completely alone."
"If it were just you, then yeah it would sound pretty good right about now." Riku told her.
"Come, now. You once turned to me to state your hunger for darkness. You want me here. Who but I can grant you the darkness you long for?" Maleficent asked with a tinge of mockery in her voice.
"There was a time I did want you around. I surrendered my heart to the dark. But never again, you and your darkness have nothing to offer. All I did was lose myself…empty myself! I'm finished with all that. If I'm stuck seeing people like you, people of the dark…I'll take you out one by one!" Riku yelled.
Ren gasped and pointed to herself in question but Riku shook his head.
"No, not you Ren"
"Okay" she smiled.
Maleficent walked with her back turned to them.
"Then you musn't forget to destroy yourself last. For like me, you are the one of the dark." Maleficent told him.
"That's fine with me. I turned to darkness because my heart was weak. I hate that weakness. It's like I'm my own enemy. And seeing people like you embrace the darkness just makes it worse! Enough talk Maleficent!" he told her, taking out his weapon and getting into stance. Ren did the same with her guns and in reaction Maleficent only scoffed.
"So you hate the darkness enough to fight it. Oh the agony! Then let me end your pain, Riku- end it forever…with the wondrous power of darkness!" she cried, turning and sprouting the sickly green flames of ghosts past.
"This can't be good" Ren commented watching Maleficent's figure expand and morph into a dragon right before their eyes.
The dragon snapped at them and Ren was able to hurl herself out of the way while shooting some arrows into its neck but Riku flipped himself forward catching a ride on its head, he then fitted his blade in between its jaws as it arched its neck.
"Show off" Ren said picking herself up and getting ready to shoot the dragon again. Faint lettering that read 'card break' formed and a symbol of a card circled around its neck.
"Not my fault you can't keep up." Riku smirked.
Maleficent thrashed wildly but Riku held on as the dragon tried to bite down, then noticed it was a horrible idea, it widened its jaws to allow a green flame to begin to form. When Ren's arrows buried deep into its neck it caused the dragon's breath to halt.
Riku then winced, feeling the hot pain from one of Ren's arrows that hit his arm.
"You did that on purpose." He narrowed his eyes at her in amusement.
"Well, maybe if you weren't in my way I wouldn't have to shoot you." Ren replied plainly.
The dragon gasped and gulped for air but one final arrow and slash from Riku's blade caused it to hit the ground. Riku then hopped off and they both watched as the dragon faded away and turn into a twirling card. The face of the dragon now trapped as an image in the small card.
"All of that for a crummy card?" Ren asked, snatching it from the air only for Riku to take it back from her.
"We might need it." He told her. She let out a light laugh and then replied with a carefree tone.
"What's next?"
When he destroyed Maleficent, Riku found himself once again in the white hallway but he didn't hear Ren moving behind him. He turned around but instead of seeing her he saw a small tiny fragment floating in the air.
"Ren, where are you?"
Once he took hold of it the voice stirred once more.
"It returned to its respective form after all a memory can only linger for so long."
When Riku turned he seemed irritated but then replied.
"What do you want?"
"Tell me Riku, why do you shun the darkness?"
"Hmph. Come on, I know you heard me- every word I said to Maleficent." Riku said with a smirk.
"Darkness is your weapon. It is time you learned you must accept it."
"What do you mean?"
"Stop resisting. Accept the darkness. You have no choice…"
A dark portal manifested and swirled a great distance from Riku. In only a matter of seconds, Ansem had popped out of said portal.
"…If you are to serve me again!"
"I thought it was you…Ansem." Riku said.
"Oh. You don't seem surprised." He uncrossed his arms that were on his chest.
"All you have been talking about it the darkness I can only assume you wanna pull me back in…so you can play puppet master" Riku explained.
"Clever boy"
"I knew you'd be the one to most appropriately serve me. Now, hand over that piece to me and." He reached a hand out to him. "…surrender to me again!"
"You're crazy! Not a chance!" he shook his head and in a blur of darkness, his weapon appeared in his hand and he charged for him, leaping high into the air.
Ansem simply shoved an open palm forward, deflecting his attack. Riku flew back from the impact and hit the ground hard.
"Did you really think you could do me harm?" Ansem asked. "A weakling like you couldn't even defeat Sora- and you had darkness on your side."
Riku grunted and pulled himself to sit up.
"Excuse me…for being weak…"
"You are weak. You need darkness, surrender. Bow to me."
"That's not gonna happen!"
"Only the darkness can offer to you all of the strength that you will need."
"That's not true!" a voice interjected for Riku, and it came in the form of a glowing yellow orb. It hovered around him.
"That voice…! Your majesty!"
"That's right! Remember Riku, you're not alone." It minimized and dipped for his chest." Listen close. The light will never give up on you. You will always find it, even in the deepest darkness!"
Riku smiled.
"I got it" then pulled himself up to stand. "I won't lose to darkness. Not today."
"You think that feeble little light can save you from the darkness I command?"
The area changed and now they were in the middle of a white platform trapped inside the eye of a dark tornado.
"You shall feel my powers- in your bones!" Ansem bellowed, as his guardian emerged from behind him.
"Give me all you've got! And I'll give it right back!" Riku yelled back.
The card usage was tricky but it did help Riku withstand most of his attacks. He was actually doing pretty great since his speed and quick thinking was keeping him out of Ansem's reach.
"Not giving up yet? How much can you take I wonder?" Ansem asked in a mocking tone.
"I'm just going along until you give up!" He countered.
Once again Ansem floated high in the air, and out of his reach. It was when Ansem came back to ground that Riku found it necessary to fight him off with a card duel. Riku's turned out to be successful and with it he was able to get the upper hand and with a flip forward he dug the blade deep. Ansem's guardian took the hit and now they were back in the white hallway.
"What that all you got?" Riku asked him.
"It seems to me that you're intent on resisting the darkness. All right then see it for yourself." He replied taking out a card. "This is a card crafted from your memory. Advance through the world it creates and soon, you will understand…chasing after light is not the way. It will not give you the distance from the darkness. There is no running from the darkness."
"Don't worry, I'm not running. Give it." Riku said holding out his hand. "I'll enter the world and in the end if I haven't given in to the darkness…Then I win."
With a quick flick of his hand, Ansem had thrown it at him and without blinking Riku caught it.
"I have one more gift for you." He made strange gestures with his hand and in effect a dark orb circled within Riku's chest.
He groaned and clutched the area.
"What'd you do?!" Riku yelled.
"I simply tempered the darkness that yet remains in your heart."
"You still think that I'd rely on darkness?"
"To use it or not is your choice. I'll be waiting Riku…for you to sense it and yield to the darkness in your heart!" He said and a dark portal emerged behind him but before he stepped into it he smiled " But before I go, I must thank you for the gift."
"What are you talking about?" Riku asked pressing a closed fist against his chest.
Ansem opened his palm to show the piece he'd stolen from him during battle, a piece of the Ultimate Keyblade.
"Give, that back!" Riku yelled, chasing him down but he didn't reach in time for Ansem was long gone.
Within the castle of Oblivion there was a dim lit room and there stood a man with a dark coat and short silvery hair who pondered in thought. A good portion of his face was hidden behind his locks, his face pensive. He shook his head as another man wearing the same black coat had emerged from a dark portal. This man appeared to be more brooding and with short swirled orange tinged hair.
"Don't I even warrant a hello, Lexaeus?" he asked. Then they both turned towards yet another portal forming to reveal another man with blonde hair and an identical dark coat to theirs.
"What is going on here, Zexion? I want an explanation." He demanded.
"Nice to see you too, Vexen; It's such a shame. The organization used to be the rope that bound us together." Zexion said with a calm tone.
Vexen found this insulting and bellowed angrily.
"You're only number 6! How dare you-" Vexen was then cut off by Lexaeus.
"Let it go vexen" Lexaeus demanded, turning to him. Vexen opened his mouth to defend himself but eventually let his mouth clamp shut.
"Zexion, tell us what did you detect?"
In response to this question Zexion touched the bridge of his nose.
"Visitors, I picked up two scents in the castle's lowest basement. One of them was Maleficent-" then he was cut off by Vexen.
"Don't be absurd. The witch is gone. She cannot return from the realm of darkness of her own volition."
"If you would let me finish…" Zexion replied, getting irritated by the second. "The scent belonged not to the real Maleficent but to a very convincing double. But I truly cannot say much beyond that since the double is no more. Our other visitor saw to that."
"And who is it?" Lexaeus asked.
"I do not know for sure…but the scent was very similar to that of the superior." Zexion explained.
"And yet, not exactly the same, was it?" Vexen asked and Zexion nodded.
"This truly piques my curiosity. Now what to do?" Zexion asked, turning to Lexaeus.
"We wait- see what develops." He answered in response.
.-.
Comments: I'll be doing both sides Riku's and Sora's story so for the next chapter it will be more of Sora and then the chapter following that will be Riku's so yeah…you get the jiff. Since Sora's story is a lot longer than Riku's there might be more chapters for Sora. I'm planning that Ren will make more appearances in the next one. Review if you liked it. Reviews keep my spirits up ., they really do.
Okay now I am off to create the one for Birth by Sleep so in the meantime…
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LOOK A DISTRACTION.
*Escapes out the back door. Starts my car and drives off. :D*