Sora took the small paper star out of his pocket. Unconsciously, he twirled it around on his finger. He'd become rather used to doing that. Whenever he thought about Kairi, his hand went to the charm. Once he realized what he was doing, he shoved it back into his pocket.
Damn!
And he still hadn't given it back!
The glass he was holding in his hand shattered apart as he slammed it down onto the table. Donald and Goofy jumped with a start. It was a rather out of character thing for him to do.
Blood fell from a cut on Sora's hand. He ignored it. He was far too angry to care about it.
His friends had noticed that Sora had been rather moody lately. Whenever they fought the Heartless, he always seemed to enjoy the fighting. When he wasn't fighting, he tended to sit down somewhere and look depressed. "Sora, is something wrong?" asked Donald.
Sora slowly walked from his chair. "Sorry about that guys, I'm okay," he turned and walked toward the door. "I'm going out for awhile...I'll be back in a second."
"Okay, see you!" Goofy waved.
Sora stepped out and slammed the door behind him. He looked down at the blood on his hand with a rather unfeeling glance. He had to admit, he really had changed. His clothes were different, his style was different, his behavior was different, and his speech was different.
And he still hadn't found Kairi. After looking through a dozen worlds. She still wasn't with him.
He turned to punch the wall, but stopped himself in mid-swing. He saw something...
A girl. With red hair.
In a flash, Sora was running at her. She increased her speed and ran away. "Kairi!" he shouted. She only ran faster. But no matter how quick, she wouldn't leave Sora in the dust. Sora raced forward after her. Rain pelted and splattered across his clothes, but he didn't care, nor did his victim. She continued running.
Finally, he managed to grab the back of her coat. She stopped right where she was and went limp in his arms. "Kairi!" he grabbed her hood and folded it across her face.
Before he even had the chance to see her face, something heavy slammed into his back and rocketed him forward. With a loud clang, he smashed against the opposite wall. He tried to get up, but the girl he was chasing earlier flew forward and landed on top of him.
Well that sure knocked the wind out of Sora. He stumbled upwards gasping for breath.
Glowing yellow eyes appeared in front of him. Heartless. They stretched and pulled themselves from the ground. Sora held up his right hand, then snapped it downwards. With a tremendous flash, the Keyblade appeared in his hands.
Finally, the girl below him spoke. "You...really are...Sora..."
It was Kairi. It had to be. Before he could reply, the Heartless dived at him. He swung himself around and backhanded it across the alley. Another leaped through the air. With a diving slash, he cleaved it in two. By that time they were coming from all directions.
Sora raised the Keyblade and smashed it down in front of him. A wave of power coursed outwards and knocked the Heartless backwards. He turned and grabbed the girl, then ran away. The Heartless picked themselves up and began to pursue.
Sora raced forward with the girl in his arms, heedless of the rain splashing around him. "Who are you!" he shouted as he ran. The girl in his arms was still silent. She merely clung to his arm as he continued running.
After about 5 minutes of constant sprinting, Sora stopped and lay her down, then he sank to his knees and panted heavily. The girl in his arms sat down and patiently waited for him to catch his breath. Sora leaned down towards her. "Who are you?"
He grabbed her hood and unwrapped it from her face.
It was Kairi. Or was it?
It wasn't the Kairi Sora remembered. This Kairi had lost her baby face. Her hair had gone down to her shoulders in some places, and her eyes no longer held the innocent look that they had before. Kairi had obviously been somewhere bad. "You've changed..." he muttered to himself.
"Not as much as you have," she returned. "I saw you back there..you liked it! You liked that fighting!"
Sora's eyes widened. Before he could reply, a dark shape flew forward and caught him in the back of his head. He tumbled over Kairi and landed in the gutter on the side of the street.
Furious at being caught unaware, he sprinted back and whirled the Keyblade forward, slicing the Heartless in two. Two of them ran underneath him and grabbed his legs out from under him. He rolled back onto his feet, then slammed the Keyblade down onto one. It burst apart. The other one jumped onto his face, blinding him. He grabbed the Heartless and tore it off, but then two more leaped onto him. Slowly, he sank down into the pile of squirming creatures.
And all through the fight, he hadn't seen what Kairi was doing.
Her cloak was blowing out around her as though a strong wind was going through the alley. A light appeared in her hands, and she closed her eyes and concentrated.
With a ferocious bang, the alley flashed alight as a million strings of fire shot through it. The Heartless on Sora were instantly vaporized as it touched them. The strings flew around, burning Heartless until they were all gone. Kairi held her hands up, and the strings flew into her palm and disappeared.
Slowly, Sora sat up. "How...how did you do that?"
"You think," Kairi put her hands behind her back. "You're the only one who can fight?"
Well, at least one part of Kairi had remained. Sora sat up, waiting for a moment as Kairi sat next to him. "Where have you been all this time?"
"Looking for you," she replied. "For all these years. After awhile I thought you didn't want to be found."
"Are you kidding?" he stood up from his spot. "I've been looking for you forever!"
Sora and Kairi both wrapped each other in a hug. "This is the first time you ever hugged me..." whispered Kairi. Sora savored the moment. He barely felt the rain touching him, just her soft touch. He opened his eyes and saw an odd sight.
A man in a black cloak stood about 10 feet from him. He merely stood where he was, watching them, but Sora had a bad feeling about him. "Kairi...let's get away from here..."
"What's wrong?" she whispered back.
"Someone's watching us...and...he looks bad," Sora muttered.
"Okay," she whispered. Sora put his arm around her and began to walk back toward the hotel from earlier.
With a sound that can only be described as a dark wind, the man in the black cloak suddenly appeared in front of him. "Hey are you looking for a problem?" Sora challenged.
As soon as he finished that, the man in the black cloak suddenly swept back his sleeves and unveiled two viscous looking swords. They were very long and wide, almost like Keyblades. He readied them in his hands, then twirled them around and rocketed them apart as a swirl of energy gathered inside them. Sora took him arm from Kairi and the Keyblade appeared.
"Who are you?" he said.
"Your enemy," the man replied. He had a heavy male voice, almost as deep as Ansem's.
In a flash he attacked Sora. This man was an excellent fencer. He wielded the two swords like they were part of his hands.
Sora could barely defend against the ferocious assault, let alone attack. The man seemed like an agile ball, practically predicting what he was doing before he even thought of it. He whirled around and brought his swords down toward Sora. Quickly, Sora launched his own Keyblade up and smacked them away, then charged forward and slammed his shoulder into the man. Like a thrown rock, he crashed against the wall and tumbled to the bottom.
He was up again in a flash, charging toward Sora. Sora leaped forward and swung his own Keyblade down at the same time the other man brought his forward.
With an incredible bang, a ball of iridescent light flashed outwards. Both Sora and the man in black were suddenly blown several feet backwards. Kairi was knocked to the ground by the blast.
Sora's head was swimming. Everything was blurry and doubled, and his ears felt like someone was repeatedly popping them. He tried to stand, but all he could do was miserably tumble forward onto his face.
The man in black slowly stood up, then whirled the Keyblade in his hands and dove for Sora.
Kairi released the orange glow from her hands and shot it forward. It slammed into the man and tossed him through the air. He screamed a vibrating, deep shout as the flames seared at him. The fireball rocketed him out of sight.
Kairi picked up Sora and helped him to his feet. "Is...is Riku here with you?" he muttered, his vision swimming.
"Yeah," she replied, helping him over to where the black clothed man lay. "Let's see if we can get some answers from this guy."
___
"Riku, how you doing man?" asked Sora, slapping him a high five. Riku slapped one back. "Hey man, how you been?"
"I been looking for you guys for so long now," he muttered, sitting down in a chair. They had dragged the man in the black cloak in and dropped him on the floor. "Kairi said it's your job to get some answers out of him."
Riku nodded. "Both of you guys better get out of here when he wakes up."
"Are you gonna be alright?"
"Yeah," he replied, pulling out his sword as the man in black began to stir. He shoved Kairi and Sora out the door, then slammed it behind them. The man in black raised up, then dived at Riku.
"What is he doing in there?" asked Kairi.
A sudden crash came from inside the room. Then he heard several muffled voices. "Getting some answers," replied Sora.
1 hour later...
"So Ansem sent him?" asked Kairi.
"Took me about a half hour to get that out of him," replied Riku, massaging his wrists. Obviously he had done a lot of fighting earlier. "Apparently, more are going to come. He said that if he didn't report back after an hour, Ansem was going to send armies here."
Sora pondered for am oment. "He's lying for sure," he announced. "But odds are that something will come for us. We have to leave as soon as we can," Sora sat up and walked back toward the room.
With a splintering of wood, he jumped backwards as a bullet flew forward and smashed into the door. Reacting instantly, Riku grabbed both of their arms and dived into the room. "Ow! Son of a...!" Riku had been hit! Blood was pouring from his ankle. "I'm okay. Figure out a way to get us out of here!"
Sora's mind was racing. Another bullet flew forward and smashed into the chair next to him. It was a man clad entirely in a grey robe outside. He had two pistols in each hand, aiming them at the door. Sora quickly realized that there was no way out of the room. "We have to fight," he said as the Keyblade appeared in his hand.
Riku was about to protest, but Kairi silenced him. "He's right."
Holding steady next to the door, Sora gathered his courage and leaped outside. Instantly a hundred bullet holes appeared where he had been a moment ago. He spun the Keyblade in his hand and raced forward.
The man in grey held up his guns and fired. Sora dodged to the left and they tore off a sleeve of his shirt. The man fired again, making Sora roll forward. The back of his shirt instantly ripped apart as a thousand bullets cascaded through it.
Sora jumped up to find a gun pointed at his face, just four feet away. "Soon, the Keyblade will be no more," he said, pulling the trigger. By instinct, Sora raised the Keyblade up to his face to protect himself.
With a zinging sound, the bullet bounced off the Keyblade and smashed back into the man's chin. He flew backwards like a thrown rock, resting against the wall with blood pooling from his mouth. "It's okay, you can come out now!"
Kairi helped Riku out of the room. They all sat up next to the man in grey. Kairi looked away. "So...if an assassin came this soon after that one..."
"We are getting out of here," replied Sora.
"What about Donald and Goofy?" asked Kairi.
Sora stopped. He had completely forgotten about them. He thought long and hard for a moment. No. He had brought his buddies enough trouble already. "We can't take them along."
"Dude...they're your friends..." argued Riku.
"I don't want them in danger," replied Sora. "You guys shouldn't even come with me."
"Don't even think about stopping us," replied Kairi.
__________
Riku couldn't sleep.
It felt like there was something inside of him, holding him back from sleeping. He knew he should, but the sleep just wouldn't come. Sora and Kairi were sound asleep in their beds. He could hear soft breathing.
He sat up in bed, twisting his head around. A dreadful pain had occurred above his forehead. He shook his head some more, then realizing that it wouldn't take care of the pain, he put on a shirt and walked out of the room. He needed something, some air maybe.
Stopping by the fountain, he leaned his head forward and doused it in. That only made it worse. Sweating profusely and with water draining down his face, he stumbled against the wall and lay still.
And then a face appeared in front of him. One he thought he would never have to see again.
Ansem stepped coldly out of the shadows. A dark mist seemed to follow in his footsteops. But he had changed.
He was dressed in what seemed to be a large red bandage. It covered nearly his entire body except his chest. Sorry that he hadn't brought his sword with him, Riku leaned upward and raised his fists. Instantly the pain in his head intensified to an unimaginable amount. With a scream, he fell over backwards, writhing in pain.
Ansem bent down next to him. "I cannot believe I am part of such a pathetic being," he muttered, crossing his arms.
Riku glared at Ansem. "I...am not...part of you," he forced out.
Ansem looked at him for a moment as though he was retarded. Then he burst out laughing, almost hysterical. "When you were used, a part of you was taken. Just as a part of I was taken..."
"What...the hell...does that mean...?!" Riku choked out. He clutched his head and rolled around in pain.
"I am you," Ansem cooly replied. "To defend one is to defender the other. Just as..." he raised his finger and tilted it back and forth. "To kill one is to kill the other."
With that, he disappeared. The pain stopped immediately. Riku sat on the ground, gasping. Was that true?
9 years ago
Sora sat on the ground, moving his hand in the water.
"Hey," he heard a voice call out behind him.
Sora jumped, expecting someone to attack him. Curling up into a protective ball, he sat there, shivering and waiting for the attack.
"You okay?" asked the voice. "I saw them whoop you pretty badly."
A boy with grey hair reached down his hand. Sora grabbed it and was hauled to his feet. "They got me pretty bad too. In real life though, those guys are just wusses. They can't do a thing on their own, and because of that, they pick on the younger guys."
Sora nodded thoughtfully. "Do they pick on you too?"
They used to. Although after the boxing incident, most of them tended to keep their distance. "Only the stupid ones," replied Riku. "You know what? I'm gonna teach you how to fight."
Sora looked troubled at the prospect. If there was one thing he hated, it was fighting. "Make a fist," ordered Riku. Sora obediently did so.
"Now punch me." said Riku.
Stopping as soon as he heard that, he replied. "I can't punch you!"
"Sure you can," replied Riku. "Now punch me!"
Sora shook his head. "No!"
"Punch me!"
"NO!"
"PUNCH ME!"
"NO!"
"PUNCH ME! PUNCH ME! PUNCH ME!" Riku grabbed Sora's shoulders and began shaking them.
______________
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Sora and Riku both instantly sat up in bed. "You heard that?" asked Riku. "Yeah," replied Sora.
They both got off their respective beds and walked toward the door. "Uh...you go first..." murmured Riku.
Sora turned and glared at him. "Me? I'm the one who saved your crippled butt last time. You go first!" he argued.
"Come on dude, I'm injured! And we don't want to wake Kairi up, because it might just be a cat or something."
"You go!"
"YOU!"
Sora whacked Riku in the back of the head with his hand, causing him to stumble forward toward the door. "YOU GO!"
At this point, neither one of them had to go first because the door suddenly shattered apart into a thousand splinters. Both of them were blasted backwards from the shockwave. Sora sat up and groggily looked around. "What the...hell was that?" he muttered, clutching at his side. Blood was pouring from a wound on his hand. Riku was sitting on the other side of him, unmoving. Where Kairi was, he wasn't sure.
He held out his hand, and the Keyblade appeared in front of him. A man dressed in black stepped through the doorway, a gun in one hand and a sword in the other. "You must be the Keyblade Master." inducted the man.
Sora nodded. "Did Ansem send you?"
The man held up his gun and aimed it at Sora. "You'll just have to ask him yourself."
In a flash, Sora whirled his Keyblade around and rocketed the gun away from the man's hand. He cried out in shock, then scrambled upward and stabbed his sword at Sora. Sora smacked the sword away, then jumped upwards and brought his Keyblade down. The man was too fast. With almost a breezing sound, he whirled out of the way and brought his sword at Sora.
Riku lunged upward and tackled the man in black to the ground. He was kicked off easily, but Sora now had an easy shot. He aimed downward and slammed the Keyblade down into him. With a cry of pain, the man stopped moving.
"You okay?" asked Sora, looking at Riku. Riku didn't answer, only nodded gingerly.
Silence. The only movement in the room was a long, dark shape that suddenly rose up behind Sora. Riku cried out to signal, but it was too late.
The man's sword flew forward and implanted straight through Sora's stomach, ejecting blood out the other side. Sora screamed in pain, grabbing uselessly at his Keyblade.
With a gigantic flare, a sudden fireball rocketed out of nowhere and bashed the man away. He was hurled against the wall, and landed as a scorched carcass. Kairi raised her hands above herself, and a green light appeared above Sora's wound. His skin began to clear up some of the blood and his wound closed halfway. Luckily the bleeding has stopped, but it was still open.
Too late. Ten dark shapes appeared in the room, all of them dressed the same as the man in black. All in synchronized motion, they held out their guns and aimed at Sora. "Come with us," commanded one, cocking his pistol.
None of them saw Sora slowly slide the dead man's gun into his shirt pocket.
_______
It was clearly Ansem, but he had changed. He was wrapped all in red and a silk turban. Sora and Riku were brought forth and laid in front of him. Kairi was taken somewhere else.
"Leave us," requested Ansem. He signaled his hand, and the men in black left the room.
"Why do you want to kill us?" wheezed Riku, holding his side.
Ansem looked down at him thoughtfully. "Your group poses a rather valid threat to my plans," replied Ansem. "The thought of you beating me is preposterous enough, though. It's mainly the Keyblade I want destroyed, not you."
"You think...you think we can't win?" raged Sora, trying to keep his anger down.
Glaring down at him, Ansem sneered "Worthless bug! You could never hope to beat me!" he grabbed Sora's neck and lifted him off the ground as though he were a feather. Sora struggled, acting for a bit, then pulled out the gun in his shirt. Ansem still just kept grinning, joking Sora even harder. Sora aimed the gun at Ansem's forehead and pulled the trigger.
With a loud cry, Ansem flew backwards. A veil of smoke slithered from his head as he just kept grining. Sora dropped to the ground, trying to get his breath back.
Moaning coldly, Ansem grabbed at the floor and pulled himself back to his feet. "What you do to me, matters not. What you do to him!" he gestured to Riku. "Matters all!"
"We beat you once, we'll beat you again," Sora brandished the Keyblade in front of him, then rested it in his hands, as though he was getting ready to smash something with it.
Ansem looked at him thoughtfully. "We'll beat you?" he questioned. "Whoever said you would both fight me?"
Sora stopped, trying to figure out what he meant by this. He raised his Keyblade and dove toward Ansem.
With an incredible smash, something flew into Sora unexpectedly from the side. He was busted right out of the air and sent rolling across the ground. Pausing to a stop, he sat on the floor, trying to catch his breath and looking for his would-be attacker.
He was shocked to find Riku standing over him. "I am him," he meekly said. Then he raised his sword upward.
Sora dodged out of the way. A hail of blue sparks flew outwards as Riku's sword clattered off of the ground. With a ferocious clash, both of them raced forward and slammed their swords against each other. Riku, the stronger of the two, sent Sora reeling backwards. As he tumbled away, Sora realized that Riku would probably win this fight.
He had no idea why Riku was attacking him, but he really needed to defend himself form the constant assault. Riku continued striking as though he was a fighting dog possessed. Sora finally blocked one final blow, then was nailed across the chin by the flat of the blade. He stumbled over backwards and landed in a sitting position, looking upwards.
Riku was on his knees, his teeth grinding together. He looked as though he was fighting something in his head.
Ansem finally completed his concentration and shot a huge ball of fire forward. It tore straight into Sora and catapulted him upwards into the ionosphere. Sora landed on the ground and bounced off his feet onto his stomach. Panting and wheezing, all he could do was sit there and wait for his death.
Riku was still on the ground fighting. Sweat pooled off of his face as he gnashed his teeth together.
Ansem stood up and loomed over him. "We both knew you couldn't be saved," he muttered. "He was wrong."
With a fighting groan, Riku tore his eyes up at Ansem.
"I burn within your heart. We are one, Riku. I will forever be as you!" he raised his hands toward the sky and two bolts of fire appeared in his palms. He turned towards Sora and held his hands forward.
A sudden, fire rage burned with Riku.
With a howling roar, Riku lunged upwards and leaped through the air, flipping forward with such speed that Ansem had no time to react. With a loud smashing sound, Riku's sword implanted itself right inside Ansem, protruding out between his shoulder blades.
Crying with pain, Ansem stumbled backwards. A white light enveloped him as he screamed, until it swallowed him up. Nothing but a bright white sphere...then it faded. Ansem was no more.
Riku collapsed to the ground. His breath was Ansem's.
Sora stumbled towards Riku, staggering under the weight of his own arms. Riku's eyes were unfocused and glazed, and he was in great pain. Sora sat down next to him and grabbed his shoulder.
Riku's hand shot up and snapped onto his shoulder, so quickly that Sora almost jumped backward. "Sora...please, man...don't tell Kairi," and with that he plunged back to the ground, no longer breathing.