Authors Note: I'm baaaaaack! Did you miss me? So, get ready 'cause this is the LAST story in The Key's Keeper Trilogy. There will be action, adventure, romance, and pure unadulterated randomness. First off, I'd like to thank my lovely reviewers: Deadly Papegoja, soraroxas365, ultima-owner, SpringBorn, Wormo the Green Lantern, D M Ash, 1st class Soldier Girl13, and CatchingForRain for reviewing the last chapter of TBOMH. You are all awesome. I'd also like to thank Nightmare Mazter and 1st class Soldier Girl13 for adding me and/or my stories to their favorite stories and favorite authors list. You are also awesome. And as per usual, thanks to all of you who read but don't take the time to review. I'd really love it if you'd share your opinions with me, since despite popular belief, I DO care what you think. Alrighty, we're picking up right where KH2 picks up. Hope you guys like it!
Disclaimer: As much as I'd like to, I do not own anything related to Kingdom Hearts. I only own Katy, My wonderful OC :)
Recap
The island was dark and the shadows casted were threatening. A tall man in a black cloak lounged lazily on a log, looking up as a shorter boy, also in a black cloak appeared from a dark corridor.
"You have arrived. I've been to see him...He looks a lot like you." The taller man stated.
"Who are you?" The shorter boy asked
"I'm all that's left...Or maybe I am all there ever was."
"I meant your name."
"My name is of no importance. What about you? Do you remember your true name?" The taller man inquired.
"My true name is..." But he had no answer. Then everything went black.
Sora woke up on the beach on Destiny Islands after a nightmare. Lying down to try and sleep once more his eyes met a pair of equally blue ones and he jumped up, startled before laughing;
"Gimme a break Kai-"
"Giving up already?" Riku taunted as he and Sora raced down the beach
Watching the sunset the night of the raft launch, Riku inquired;
"If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one?"
Scribbling on the wall of the secret place, a deep, unknown voice spoke to Sora;
"This world has been connected."
"Wh-Whose there?"
"Tied to the darkness..."
Sitting on the pier with at sunset, Kairi turned to Sora;
"Sora, don't ever change."
With Riku the night the Heartless attacked;
"The door has opened." Just before the silver-haired boy sunk into the darkness
Fighting the large nightmare shadow;
"You understand nothing."
With Kairi in the secret place just before she vanished;
"So..ra.."
Roxas woke with a groan and sat up slowly.
"Another dream about him..." He muttered to himself, before opening the window and looking out at the Twilight Town skyline.
He met Hayner, Pence, and Olette at the Usual Spot, zoning in and out of the conversation.
"Man, doesn't it tick you off?" Hayner asked.
"Yeah, that's just wrong." Pence agreed.
"Seifer's gone too far this time." Olette sighed.
The three looked over at Roxas who was still in his own world. He looked up, feeling their gazes and nodded. Hayner stood from his spot on a pile of crates and began to pace.
"I mean, it's true that stuff's been stolen around town. And we've got a score to settle with Seifer and everything. So if he wants to think we did it, I can't really blame him. See...that's not what really bugs me. What REALLY bugs me is that he's goin' around tellin' everybody we're the thieves! Now the whole town and their mothers are treating us like the Klepto Club! Have you ever been this ticked off before in your life? 'Cause I haven't. Nuh-uh, NEVER! Now...what to do."
Hayner turned to Olette and Pence and both were at a loss. He looked over at Roxas, expectantly and the teen shrugged;
"Uh...well...We could find the real thieves. That would set the record straight."
"Hey, that sounds fun." Pence agreed
"What about Seifer?" Hayner demanded
"First, we gotta clear out names. Once we find the real culprit, everyone will get off our backs." Roxas reasoned.
"Well-" Hayner began but was cut off by Pence.
"Oh, no! They're gone! Our _ are gone!" he exclaimed. He clutched at his throat, alarmed that he couldn't say the word.
"All our _, gone?" Hayner asked, also unable to speak the word.
"You can't say _? Why not?" Olette cried, gasping when she realized she couldn't either.
"But you do understand what I'm saying, right? Our _ are gone!" Pence repeated
"Stolen..." Roxas muttered "And not just the _. The word _! They stole it, too!"
"What kinda thief is that?" Hayner scoffed, crossing his arms. "Seifer could never have pulled that off."
"Yeah." Roxas agreed
"All right, time for some recon." Hayner said grimly gesturing for the others to follow him.
Roxas began to run after his friends, but was suddenly plagued by dizziness. He fell to his knees and blacked out.
"His heart is returning. Doubtless he'll awaken very soon."
Roxas groaned and opened his eyes slowly, wincing and quickly shutting them against the sunlight and the pain in his head. From somewhere above him a voice was speaking to him.
"C'mon, kid. You're okay. Get up."
Roxas opened his eyes and found himself staring into a pair of sea-foam green ones. The eyes belonged to a girl of about 16 with long lavender colored hair who currently had a smirk on her pretty face.
"Looks like you got into a fight with the floor...and it won." The girl snickered, holding out a hand to help him up.
Roxas accepted the help, staring at her intently.
"Have we met before?"
"Nope." She answered cheerfully, resting her hands on her hips as he dusted himself off.
"Are you sure? You look very familiar."
"I'm absolutely sure I've never met you. My names Katy."
"Roxas."
"It's nice to meet you Roxas." Katy said over her shoulder as she walked out of the Usual Spot and around the corner."
"Wait!" Roxas protested, running after her, only to crash into Olette.
He apologized, helping her up and following her into town where Hayner and Pence were waiting by the armor shop.
He kept an eye out for Katy, but it was as though she'd vanished into thin air.
"Let's get this investigation underway." Pence said, ready to find the thief responsible for framing them.
"Yo, Roxas. Never thought you would do such a rotten thing..." The shop owner said, shaking his head at them.
"We didn't steal anything, all right?" Roxas snapped, getting annoyed with the constant accusations.
"I'd like to believe you, but...Who else would steal that stuff?"
"What stuff?" Roxas demanded
"As if you didn't know. Hey, I'm not gonna tell you. Go ask at the accessory shop." The owner said, clearly not buying their story.
"Go on Roxas—ask her." Hayner said, referring to the woman who owned the accessory shop.
So Roxas made his way to the shop across the plaza and was greeted by the young woman.
"Oh, it's you, Roxas...Please don't let me down. You used to be one of my favorite customers."
"I'm not a thief!" Roxas exclaimed, agitated.
"Okay..." The woman replied, still wary.
"It's no fun having everyone suspecting me ya know."
"Then you've got to find a way to clear your name. The woman at the candy shop is pretty disappointed, too."
Roxas and the others made their way to the candy shop, although they were pretty sure it this point that convincing everyone of their innocence wasn't going to work.
"Roxas?" The old woman at the candy store called as he walked up.
"Did they steal something from you, too?" Roxas asked, already anticipating the answer.
"Oh, my, yes. Something important." The woman replied
"Just so you know, we didn't do it."
"I believe you." The woman smiled, causing the teens to sigh in relief.
"Thanks for that, ma'am. So what did they take from you?"
"My _" The woman answered, also unable to say the word. "My precious _."
"Looks like the culprit is going around stealing _." Hayner figured
"And not just _, but the word _, too." Roxas added.
"This isn't your average thief." Pence agreed.
"I wonder if Seifer would know anything about this." Olette wondered aloud.
"We gotta talk to him. C'mon, to the sandlot!" Roxas said, taking off towards the Seifer's usual hangout.
When the four teens reached the sandlot, Seifer's cronies, Fuu, Vivi, and Rai were already present.
"Thieves." Fuu accused, pointing at them.
"That was low, y'know?" Rai agreed
Vivi pulled his hat down over his eyes and shook his head.
"Oh yeah?" Hayner retorted
"Nice comeback there, blondie." Seifer said with an eye roll as he entered the sandlot.
"What did you say?" Hayner demanded, taking a fighting stance.
"You can give us back the _ now." Seifer ordered, ignoring Hayner completely.
"Yeah, you're the only ones who would take it, y'know!" Rai added.
"That was undeniable proof that we totally owned you lamers. So what did you do? Burn it? Ha, not that we need some _ to prove that you're losers."
"Replay." Fuu suggested
Seifer laughed
"Now you're talking!" He agreed, him and his "Disciplinary Committee" taking fighting stances to match Hayner's.
"I guess if you get on your knees and beg, MAYBE I'll let it slide."
As though he was going to comply, Roxas stepped forward in front of Seifer and kneeled, causing him and his cronies to laugh.
"Roxas!" Hayner protested loudly
Roxas ignored him, his attention focused on the three struggle weapons in front of him. He grabbed one and swung at Seifer who dodged and grabbed one for himself.
"Roxas, focus!" Pence called out
Roxas nodded and proceeded to struggle with Seifer, attacking when he had an opening and dodging when he didn't. Finally, it was over, Roxas emerging victorious. Fuu and Rai immediately jumped in front of their leader to protect him...and his ego...from being damaged any further.
"Uh, Seifer's not feeling so hot, y'know?" Rai lied
"Tournament decides." Fuu agreed.
Pence snickered and snapped a picture, flashing Roxas a thumbs up.
That was around the time then the mysterious, silver, thing rushed past, stealing his camera.
"What was that?" Hayner demanded
"The thief!" Olette figured, running after it, the others following.
Separating from his friends, Roxas followed the thief to the woods and tracked it through the trees until he reached The Old Mansion. Then a voice that seemed to come from the thing itself spoke into Roxas's head:
"We have come for you, my liege."
"Huh?" Roxas murmured, confused and wondering if he imagined it.
A zipper, which was in place of the creature's mouth, unzipped and it lunged at him. Roxas tried to damage the thing with his struggle club, but no avail.
He was just about to give up when a soft ping, followed by what looked like computer code surrounded his weapon, turning it into a key-shaped sword. Which immediately began to pull him in the direction of the creature as though it had a mind of it's own.
"What is this thing?" He asked aloud
He didn't expect to get an answer.
"Don't question it, just kill the dusk!" Katy called out to him as she dropped behind the creature, which he guessed was the dusk, and drew her own short swords, which were also shaped like keys.
Together, the two of them defeated the dusk quickly and it exploded, leaving the stolen pictures in its wake.
"That was a close call. Thank-" Roxas began to thank Katy, only to find that the elusive girl had once again vanished.
The key-shaped sword also disappeared, leaving Roxas with nothing to do but pick up the stolen pictures and return to the Usual Spot to meet his friends.
"What's this?" Hayner asked, looking at a picture of Roxas and the Armor shop owner.
"I was his first customer after he took over the shop. So we took a picture together." Roxas explained.
"It's a really nice photo." Olette said.
She gasped realizing exactly what she said.
"Hey! You just said "photo"!" Pence exclaimed
"So what about the picture thief?" Hayner asked Roxas
"Not much to say. The pictures were just laying there." he lied, not wanting to tell them about the dusk...or the strange girl that helped him.
"Then how do we prove we weren't the ones who took 'em?" Hayner groaned, looking at a picture of Roxas and the woman from the accessory shop.
"It's a GIRL" Hayner snickered
"You look happy, Roxas." Olette teased
"Do not." Roxas protested feebly as they laughed
"So, like, does anyone notice that all the stolen pictures are of Roxas?" Pence asked
"Oh! So that's why everyone thought it was us." Olette realized
"You mean Seifer didn't go around accusing us after all?" Hayner asked.
He was ignored
"So they're really all of me?" Roxas asked Pence
"Yep. See?" He replied, showing Roxas the rest of the pictures. "Wouldn't it be weird it the thief wanted to steal the real Roxas or something?"
"C'mon, get serious. Why would anyone wanna steal a bonehead like Roxas?" Hayner joked
"Oh, thanks!" Roxas laughed, the others joining in.
They all paused as the clock struck six and the four teens all left for home. All too soon Roxas was falling asleep, already anticipating another dream.
He wasn't disappointed.
"Where...am I?" A voice called into the dark.
"Whose there? Who are you?" Roxas called back.
He got no answer.
Restoration at 12%
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