AN: Ok! Finally I've gotten this up! That took forever! Anyways, I have come to warn you. The chapters I write are VERY long, and this story itself is going to very long, I just need to type it all out. So, beware, if you want to read this, don't complain that it's taking up too much of your preciouse time because YOU HAVE BEEN WARED! Yup, so, enjoy reading if your going to continue!
Disclaimers: Sadly, I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Disney including everything in them. But I DO own something *evil laugh* *cough* ahem I'm ok, but you'll know what they are when you read about them ^-^
New Introductions
Sora, Donald and Goofy ran over yet another hill to try and catch up with Pluto. The dog seemed to run on endlessly ahead of them.
"Oh! Ah, slow down Pluto ol' boy!" called Goofy. His name pretty well fit his description; he had the appearance of a lanky, skinning black dog that walked on two legs. He was the head sergeant for King Mickey, a human sized black and white mouse that ruled the Disney Kingdom.
"Does he really know where King Mickey is or does he just want to play and be chased?" panted 14-year-old Sora. His brown spiky hair bounced up and down with every step the excited youth took.
"I'm pretty sure he DOES know where the king is, why else would he have that letter?" replied Donald the Duck, head mage to King Mickey. As you could guess, Donald was a short little duck with, what some would call, a big loud and sometimes annoying mouth, "so don't loose sight of him!"
Sora groaned and looked up again. Pluto had stopped at the top of another hill that seemed bigger than the rest.
Sora had been traveling with Donald and Goofy ever since his island was taken over by the heartless, beings without hearts, and the three had gone on a quest to seal the door to darkness, Kingdom Hearts. They had visited many worlds in order to dispel the darkness and Sora had made many new friends while he searched for his island friends Riku and Kairi. Now, with Kingdom Hearts sealed and Mickey and Riku supposedly being sealed inside, Sora couldn't wait to get his hands on that letter that boar the seal of King Mickey himself.
Finally, Sora and the rest reached the top and stopped to catch his breath. He then took the letter the yellow dog was carrying and read it aloud:
"Dear Sora, Donald and Goofy,
I just want you to know that I'm ok. I managed to find a portal to get out of Kingdom Hearts. Don't worry, nothing with more evil then good in it could pass through so no heartless followed me. I'll be waiting for you guys in a small town across the fields. Pluto will lead you there. See you soon!"
The letter was then sighed with the crest of King Mickey, a head of a mouse with two big circular ears. After finishing the letter all four of them, including Pluto, looked down toward the bottom of the hill. Sure enough, there was a small town sitting at the hills base. Sora smiled, Riku! he thought to himself, We'll finally all be together again!
Sora was referring to his best friend, the boy named Riku a year older than Sora who had lived with him on their home of Destiny Islands. The two had been separated during the invasion of the heartless and Sora hoped that King Mickey had brought back his friend from the world of the heartless known as Kingdom Hearts.
Without warning, Sora bounded down the hillside so fast that his spiky brown hair blew in the wind.
"Sora!" yelled Donald, "Wait!"
Sora didn't hear and kept running.
"A, guess we should follow him," said Goofy to Donald. Donald nodded and they both ran after Sora who had almost reached the town.
Sora walked through the streets of the town taking in as much as he could. With his baby blue eyes wide, he stopped to look at things in shop windows. There were many different shops and lots to see in each. The town wasn't as big as Traverse Town but is sure was busier. People crowded the streets and there were still many people in every shop. There were different kinds of people too. People from far away that Sora had never seen before whit exotic pets on their shoulders. It seem that there were mostly farmers inhabiting the town though.
"Sora!"
Sora turned, "Oh, Donald, Goofy, check out this place!"
"Sora, have you found the king?!" asked Donald.
"Oh! Um..." Sora scratched his head, "Well..."
"Someone looking for me?"
They turned to see King Mickey standing behind them.
"Your Highness," said Donald and Goofy together and bowed.
"Come on inside," said Mickey pointing to an inn, "We'll talk and freshen' you guys up. You must be tired, I didn't expect you to get here until tomorrow."
They all walked inside the modest, well-kept inn and Mickey led the way to the room. Refreshments were waiting on the small, circular table by a lit fire. The room was a good, comfortable size with a double bed in one of the corners. There was another door that led to another room with two beds and a couch. There was no fireplace in this room but there was a small balcony, which overlooked the hills and fields.
Mickey gestured to sit down and they did. Sora grabbed a glass and drank down the delicious lemonade.
"Well," said Mickey, "It's good to finally meet the Key bearer in a more formal way than at the doors of Kingdom Hearts."
"You too," said Sora with a smile.
"So, how exactly did you get out of Kingdom Hearts?" asked Goofy.
"Well," started Mickey, "Riku and I had thought together on ways to get out, without setting the heartless loose, for a long while."
Sora's heart lifted at the mention of his friends name but he didn't want to interrupt so he kept quiet.
"After lots of hard thinking and a few experiments," continued Mickey, "we found out that portals could be opened that connected Kingdom Hearts to an outside world. It seemed that these portals had been around for a while and we started to wonder, 'If portals have been connecting Kingdom Hearts to other worlds why don't the heartless use them?' We experimented a little and found out why the heartless didn't just jump through a portal to a different world. It's because they are pure darkness. Only beings with more or even equal light in their hearts than darkness may pass, and the heartless are pure darkness. The heartless could of course still jump though a portal, but it would only lead back to Kingdom Hearts. But a portal could only be used once and by one person only. After it's served its purpose, it disappears. And, there were only a limited number of portals in Kingdom Hearts."
"But wouldn't all the portals still be there since the heartless can't use them?" blurted out Sora.
"No, you see," replied Mickey, "Even though they would only get transported back to Kingdom Hearts, it still uses the portal up. So, once the heartless found out our plan, they started searching for every last portal and used them all up. It took us forever but we finally found the last portal. We did have to fight the heartless to get it but in the end, we got through."
"Great!" exclaimed Sora, "So, where's Riku?"
Mickey's face grew gray.
"Well, where is he?" Sora asked again.
"I told him not to do it but he wouldn't listen," said Mickey softly, looking down at his feet.
"What?" asked Sora though he knew the answer wasn't going to be good.
Mickey paused, shut his eye's then said:
"He held off the heartless so I could go through the portal. It was the last one and could only transport one person. I-I'm sorry..."
"But he's not stuck forever right? Isn't there another way out?" said Sora looking up with some hope that his friend was not lost for good.
Mickey shook his head slowly.
Sora's hopes fell, then were crushed by overwhelming grief. He hung his head and stared at the ground. Then, he ran into the other room and Mickey closed the door.
Sora blinked back tears. His best friend was gone forever. And to think that the last time they saw each other, it was as enemies and them for a second in a desperate leap to seal Kingdom Hearts. I should have been a better friend, he thought to himself, now unable to hold the tears back, That's how this all started, because I ignored him when we finally found each other in Traverse Town. He punched a pillow.
"Guess there's nothing to do now but to go home, back to my island," he said aloud to himself, wiping away his tears. I'm sorry for the news I bring you Kairi.
Then he fell into a dreamless sleep.
~*~
Riku jumped back. He had almost been eaten by a bunch of heartless that had combined to form Cerberus, the giant three-headed dog of the underworld. He watched, broken hearted, as Mickey jumped through the final portal then disappeared. His only chance to escape was gone. He felt as if the life had been sucked out of him as the portal and his last chance to leave Kingdom Hearts slowly dissolved.
Riku was a very adventurous 15-year-old who would never back down from a challenge. He had fairly long silvery hair that took the appearance of downward pointed spikes and his sea green eye were usually flashing with confidence, but not today.
Riku looked at the giant, black dog of heartless and lowered his head and weapon.
"What's the point of living if it's going to be forever in the dark?" he said to himself and stood perfectly still, waiting for the heartless to swallow him whole.
The heartless Cerberus reared then boar down over Riku.
"Hey! Watch out!"
A blurry figure sliced through Cerberus and all the heartless in it disappeared.
"What were you thinking!? You could've been killed! And what are you doing here anyway?"
Riku looked up at a girl with brown hair that had streaks of blonde and was tied into a ponytail. She was wearing a dark but slightly faded green tank top. She had dark navy blue kapris that almost seemed too long for her already long legs and had tattered pair running shoes on her feet. She looked at him with questioning brown eyes through the strands of hair that wouldn't stay tied back, causing them to fall to the sides of her fair skinned face.
In her right hand was a sword with a beautifully carved design that connected the blade to the handle. The design was a star shape in a circular backing. In between the stars five points on the circle back was lines that formed rectangles and triangles to fit in the space.
Riku stared at the design for a moment; he'd thought he'd seen it before.
"Well?" said the girl putting her sword into it's star studded sheath.
Riku looked at her face then quickly turned away.
"You should've let it have me," he said.
"Oh, so you do talk," she replied sarcastically. Riku scowled at her.
"Just mind your own business," he said and started to walk away.
"Well the least you could do is thank me or saving you life!" she yelled at him.
Riku turned and looked at her. She hid it well, but Riku could see hurt deep within her eyes. He sighed.
"I'm sorry, and thank you for saving me but you -" He stopped short of his sentence. "Hey! How'd you get here!?" he said now a little alarmed. Other people shouldn't be in the world of the heartless.
"Me? I've been here practically forever. I don't remember how I got here, I just am," she replied, "What about you?"
"I got separated from my -" he paused, thinking if Sora and Kairi would still consider him as a friend. Some friend I've been, he thought.
"I got separated from my home, I'm lost."
"Oh, I'm sorry," said the girl.
"Listen," started Riku, "I don't think we got off on the right start."
The girl smiled.
"Mariha," she said, holding out her hand.
"Riku," he replied and they shook hands.
Riku looked into Marihas soft brown eyes. There was something familiar about them. He got the same feeling, like he'd met her before, as he did when he saw the design on her sword.
"So," said Riku, "Where were you from before you ended up here?"
"You'll probably think I'm crazy but," Mariha started, "One day I just woke-up and was here, with absolutely no memory of who I was or where I came from."
"So how'd you know your name?" asked Riku.
"I didn't. As soon as I figured out that no humans lived here, I didn't bother with naming myself. The heartless named me."
Riku looked at Mariha in surprise. "How'd THEY name YOU? They don't speak do they?" he asked.
"I dunno, but I sure could hear them once in a while. They started calling me something that sounded like 'Mariha' after my sword transformed and it sort of stuck with me," she replied.
"Transformed? What do you mean?"
"Well," started Mariha, "When I woke-up here, the heartless were all around me. I admit that I was a little scared but I was only six years old and had no memory at that time. Anyway, they prepared to attack but before a blow was thrown, my necklace burst into light and turned into this sword."
Mariha pulled out the sword and gave it to Riku to look at.
"Amazingly, when I took it up in my hand I could wield it easily," continued Mariha, "And most of the heartless never attacked me again, but every time they'd see me, they'd whisper something like 'Mariha' then run away."
Riku looked at the design on the sword.
"What does this mean?" he asked pointing to it.
"I don't exactly know what it means, maybe 'Mariha' in the heartless language. But that's the design that made up the pendant on my necklace."
"I see," said Riku, "But how do you know your age and not your name?"
"My birthday date and year was engraved on the back of my necklace."
Riku handed Mariha her sword back. Now he was positive he'd seen the design before. Mariha proved it. He'd seen it as someone's necklace.
~*~
Sora walked out of the room where Donald, Goofy and Mickey were talking quietly. They all looked over at Sora with concern.
"Sora..." started Goofy.
"I'm ok," said Sora. I don't want them to think it's their fault, he thought.
"Sora." It was King Mickey, "What are you going to do now?"
"I thought about it, and it's probably best for me to go home to my island," replied Sora.
Mickey nodded. "Donald, Goofy, would you be so kind as to accompany Sora home?"
"That's ok -"
"Of course you majesty," Donald said, interrupting Sora.
"You can count on use," added Goofy.
"Really, you don't have to if -"
But Donald and Goofy interrupted him again.
"There's no way we're just going to leave our buddy!" said Goofy.
"That's right! And it'd be faster with our gummi ship to take you there," Donald added.
Sora smiled. "Guys, thanks a lot!"
Sora, Donald and Goofy put their hands in the middle of their formed circle.
"One for all and all for one!" they cheered and threw their arms up.
"Sora," started Mickey. Sora turned and faced him, "Don't give up on Riku yet."
Sora felt sadness come over him again but Mickey was right. Sora was the Key bearer and if anyone could help Riku, it was him. Sora nodded.
Sora, Donald and Goofy walked out of the inn.
"Hey Sora," said Goofy, "When you were sleeping, King Mickey, Donald and I talked and thought that the door to Kingdom Hearts might be in other worlds we haven't been to yet."
Sora's hopes lifted.
"Alright," he said, "Then lets go visit some new worlds!"
"What about you going home?" asked Donald.
Sora thought for a moment. "Well, I guess Kairi's gonna have to wait because I'm not going home until we find Riku!"
"Ok, it's settled!" said Goofy, "Off to new worlds!"
"Yeah!" Sora nodded and all three of them headed toward the gummi ship.
~*~
"Wake-up sleepy head!"
"Huh?" Riku opened his eyes and Mariha was standing over him.
"What time is it?" he said as he slowly and sleepily got up.
"Time to get up!" replied Mariha.
"That's not helpful!" Riku looked around him. It was still dark.
"Why'd you wake me up?" he groaned, "It's in the middle of the night."
Mariha giggled.
"No it's not!" she said, "Don't you know that in the land of darkness, it's always dark? There's no night or day in Kingdom Hearts."
"What!?" Oh yeah, he thought, I must have been so caught up in escaping with Mickey that I didn't even notice!
Riku looked at Mariha then looked at the ground, "So, you're saying that you've never EVER seen the light of day or remember it?" He looked at her again.
She sighed and nodded. "That's right."
Riku looked away from her. He felt so bad. There he was, about to kill himself just because he thought there'd be no way out of Kingdom Hearts, while Mariha had been stuck here for years, had no memory of who she was and had never even seen the light of day.
"I'm sorry," he said to her, "I didn't mean to..." He couldn't finish his sentence.
"Hey, don't worry about it," she said, "I know we'll get out of here someday!"
There was so much confidence in her voice.
She doesn't give up easily either, he thought and smiled at himself. Suddenly, a picture of Sora flashed through his mind. He was a bit startled and started feeling sorry for himself again but stopped and smiled again. Yeah, he though, just like Sora never gives up.
"Sides," said Mariha and Riku looked at her, snapping out of his little trance, "You're not going anywhere until you tell me everything about the outside worlds," she said pointing at him and smiling.
Riku smiled back. "Well, you'd better sit down because I've got lots to tell." He motioned for her to sit beside him.
Mariha's face lit up and she sat down beside him. Riku had never seen so much happiness in someone before.
"Ok, so I guess I'll start with my home, Destiny Islands."
~*~
"Hey Donald," said Sora as the three friends flew through space, "If we closed the door to Kingdom Hearts only yesterday, how'd Mickey and Riku have so much time to figure out how to come back?"
"I think there must have been a time shift there," replied Donald, "Yeah, I think every minute here is a day there or something like that."
"Oh," said Sora as he looked out the window of their ship.
"There it is!" said Goofy pointing to a world with a big rock formation on it.
"Prepare for landing!" yelled Donald.
~*~
"Wow," said Mariha in amazement as Riku finished telling her about his home. He however, didn't tell her about when he left the island then about all the trouble he had caused though Sora had fixed it, mostly anyways. The joy on her face, he didn't want to ruin it, and at the same time risk keeping her friendship. What would she thing of him if she knew he was a backstabbing traitor, and they had only just met! No, he'd tell her one-day, but not now.
Mariha got up and twirled around in a circle. Then, she came up to Riku and knelt in front of him, her face dangerously close to Rikus. Riku blushed and watched her watching orb-like eyes stare him down, he all of a sudden felt uncomfortable under their gaze, so close to him...
"Thank you so much for telling me all that," she said smiling. Riku blushed even deeper when she smiled at him, why was he feeling like this?
For a second, Riku thought that she had leaned closer so their noses almost touched, but she didn't, instead, she backed away a bit so she could fold her hands together and hold them up a bit.
"Would you help me get our of here?" she asked, "I'd really love to see your island if it's ok with you."
Riku almost sighed with relief that she wasn't going to, kiss him or anything, and smiled coolly. "Of course it's ok! And I want to get our of here too you know."
"Friends then?" said Mariha, holding out one of her hands.
"Friends," replied Riku, raising his hand as well and joined Mariha's to clap it into a handshake.
~*~
Sora hopped out of the gummi ship. He looked up at the giant rock formation. Simba, a beast who Sora could summon if he needed help, seemed to call to Sora as he stared at the rock, so he raised his Keyblade. He called froth Simba, and the great loin appeared as it always did Sora summoned him, only instead of fighting, he stood and spoke to all of them.
"Thank you Sora," he said with a roaring voice, "Welcome to my home, welcome to the Pride Lands."
"I get it!" Sora exclaimed after nodding to Simba, "After Kingdom Hearts was sealed, all the lost worlds re-appeared!"
"That's right," said Simba, "And since I enjoyed your company after you set my spirit free and returned me home, it's only fair that I show you around."
Simba then turned and led them up a path heading straight for the rock formation, Pride Rock.
AN: Hee hee! First chappy done! Have you guessed what's mine yet? *fans shake their heads* o.O Mariha sillies! *fans sigh* ahh, never mind... and if you care her name's pronounced "Ma-rye-a" yea I know I spelt it weird but I'm special! *cheesy grin* *fans attempt to kill me* hey! Then who's going to finish the ficcy? *fans: we don't care about the ficcy!* ;_; Fine then! Just R&R....
Disclaimers: Sadly, I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Disney including everything in them. But I DO own something *evil laugh* *cough* ahem I'm ok, but you'll know what they are when you read about them ^-^
New Introductions
Sora, Donald and Goofy ran over yet another hill to try and catch up with Pluto. The dog seemed to run on endlessly ahead of them.
"Oh! Ah, slow down Pluto ol' boy!" called Goofy. His name pretty well fit his description; he had the appearance of a lanky, skinning black dog that walked on two legs. He was the head sergeant for King Mickey, a human sized black and white mouse that ruled the Disney Kingdom.
"Does he really know where King Mickey is or does he just want to play and be chased?" panted 14-year-old Sora. His brown spiky hair bounced up and down with every step the excited youth took.
"I'm pretty sure he DOES know where the king is, why else would he have that letter?" replied Donald the Duck, head mage to King Mickey. As you could guess, Donald was a short little duck with, what some would call, a big loud and sometimes annoying mouth, "so don't loose sight of him!"
Sora groaned and looked up again. Pluto had stopped at the top of another hill that seemed bigger than the rest.
Sora had been traveling with Donald and Goofy ever since his island was taken over by the heartless, beings without hearts, and the three had gone on a quest to seal the door to darkness, Kingdom Hearts. They had visited many worlds in order to dispel the darkness and Sora had made many new friends while he searched for his island friends Riku and Kairi. Now, with Kingdom Hearts sealed and Mickey and Riku supposedly being sealed inside, Sora couldn't wait to get his hands on that letter that boar the seal of King Mickey himself.
Finally, Sora and the rest reached the top and stopped to catch his breath. He then took the letter the yellow dog was carrying and read it aloud:
"Dear Sora, Donald and Goofy,
I just want you to know that I'm ok. I managed to find a portal to get out of Kingdom Hearts. Don't worry, nothing with more evil then good in it could pass through so no heartless followed me. I'll be waiting for you guys in a small town across the fields. Pluto will lead you there. See you soon!"
The letter was then sighed with the crest of King Mickey, a head of a mouse with two big circular ears. After finishing the letter all four of them, including Pluto, looked down toward the bottom of the hill. Sure enough, there was a small town sitting at the hills base. Sora smiled, Riku! he thought to himself, We'll finally all be together again!
Sora was referring to his best friend, the boy named Riku a year older than Sora who had lived with him on their home of Destiny Islands. The two had been separated during the invasion of the heartless and Sora hoped that King Mickey had brought back his friend from the world of the heartless known as Kingdom Hearts.
Without warning, Sora bounded down the hillside so fast that his spiky brown hair blew in the wind.
"Sora!" yelled Donald, "Wait!"
Sora didn't hear and kept running.
"A, guess we should follow him," said Goofy to Donald. Donald nodded and they both ran after Sora who had almost reached the town.
Sora walked through the streets of the town taking in as much as he could. With his baby blue eyes wide, he stopped to look at things in shop windows. There were many different shops and lots to see in each. The town wasn't as big as Traverse Town but is sure was busier. People crowded the streets and there were still many people in every shop. There were different kinds of people too. People from far away that Sora had never seen before whit exotic pets on their shoulders. It seem that there were mostly farmers inhabiting the town though.
"Sora!"
Sora turned, "Oh, Donald, Goofy, check out this place!"
"Sora, have you found the king?!" asked Donald.
"Oh! Um..." Sora scratched his head, "Well..."
"Someone looking for me?"
They turned to see King Mickey standing behind them.
"Your Highness," said Donald and Goofy together and bowed.
"Come on inside," said Mickey pointing to an inn, "We'll talk and freshen' you guys up. You must be tired, I didn't expect you to get here until tomorrow."
They all walked inside the modest, well-kept inn and Mickey led the way to the room. Refreshments were waiting on the small, circular table by a lit fire. The room was a good, comfortable size with a double bed in one of the corners. There was another door that led to another room with two beds and a couch. There was no fireplace in this room but there was a small balcony, which overlooked the hills and fields.
Mickey gestured to sit down and they did. Sora grabbed a glass and drank down the delicious lemonade.
"Well," said Mickey, "It's good to finally meet the Key bearer in a more formal way than at the doors of Kingdom Hearts."
"You too," said Sora with a smile.
"So, how exactly did you get out of Kingdom Hearts?" asked Goofy.
"Well," started Mickey, "Riku and I had thought together on ways to get out, without setting the heartless loose, for a long while."
Sora's heart lifted at the mention of his friends name but he didn't want to interrupt so he kept quiet.
"After lots of hard thinking and a few experiments," continued Mickey, "we found out that portals could be opened that connected Kingdom Hearts to an outside world. It seemed that these portals had been around for a while and we started to wonder, 'If portals have been connecting Kingdom Hearts to other worlds why don't the heartless use them?' We experimented a little and found out why the heartless didn't just jump through a portal to a different world. It's because they are pure darkness. Only beings with more or even equal light in their hearts than darkness may pass, and the heartless are pure darkness. The heartless could of course still jump though a portal, but it would only lead back to Kingdom Hearts. But a portal could only be used once and by one person only. After it's served its purpose, it disappears. And, there were only a limited number of portals in Kingdom Hearts."
"But wouldn't all the portals still be there since the heartless can't use them?" blurted out Sora.
"No, you see," replied Mickey, "Even though they would only get transported back to Kingdom Hearts, it still uses the portal up. So, once the heartless found out our plan, they started searching for every last portal and used them all up. It took us forever but we finally found the last portal. We did have to fight the heartless to get it but in the end, we got through."
"Great!" exclaimed Sora, "So, where's Riku?"
Mickey's face grew gray.
"Well, where is he?" Sora asked again.
"I told him not to do it but he wouldn't listen," said Mickey softly, looking down at his feet.
"What?" asked Sora though he knew the answer wasn't going to be good.
Mickey paused, shut his eye's then said:
"He held off the heartless so I could go through the portal. It was the last one and could only transport one person. I-I'm sorry..."
"But he's not stuck forever right? Isn't there another way out?" said Sora looking up with some hope that his friend was not lost for good.
Mickey shook his head slowly.
Sora's hopes fell, then were crushed by overwhelming grief. He hung his head and stared at the ground. Then, he ran into the other room and Mickey closed the door.
Sora blinked back tears. His best friend was gone forever. And to think that the last time they saw each other, it was as enemies and them for a second in a desperate leap to seal Kingdom Hearts. I should have been a better friend, he thought to himself, now unable to hold the tears back, That's how this all started, because I ignored him when we finally found each other in Traverse Town. He punched a pillow.
"Guess there's nothing to do now but to go home, back to my island," he said aloud to himself, wiping away his tears. I'm sorry for the news I bring you Kairi.
Then he fell into a dreamless sleep.
~*~
Riku jumped back. He had almost been eaten by a bunch of heartless that had combined to form Cerberus, the giant three-headed dog of the underworld. He watched, broken hearted, as Mickey jumped through the final portal then disappeared. His only chance to escape was gone. He felt as if the life had been sucked out of him as the portal and his last chance to leave Kingdom Hearts slowly dissolved.
Riku was a very adventurous 15-year-old who would never back down from a challenge. He had fairly long silvery hair that took the appearance of downward pointed spikes and his sea green eye were usually flashing with confidence, but not today.
Riku looked at the giant, black dog of heartless and lowered his head and weapon.
"What's the point of living if it's going to be forever in the dark?" he said to himself and stood perfectly still, waiting for the heartless to swallow him whole.
The heartless Cerberus reared then boar down over Riku.
"Hey! Watch out!"
A blurry figure sliced through Cerberus and all the heartless in it disappeared.
"What were you thinking!? You could've been killed! And what are you doing here anyway?"
Riku looked up at a girl with brown hair that had streaks of blonde and was tied into a ponytail. She was wearing a dark but slightly faded green tank top. She had dark navy blue kapris that almost seemed too long for her already long legs and had tattered pair running shoes on her feet. She looked at him with questioning brown eyes through the strands of hair that wouldn't stay tied back, causing them to fall to the sides of her fair skinned face.
In her right hand was a sword with a beautifully carved design that connected the blade to the handle. The design was a star shape in a circular backing. In between the stars five points on the circle back was lines that formed rectangles and triangles to fit in the space.
Riku stared at the design for a moment; he'd thought he'd seen it before.
"Well?" said the girl putting her sword into it's star studded sheath.
Riku looked at her face then quickly turned away.
"You should've let it have me," he said.
"Oh, so you do talk," she replied sarcastically. Riku scowled at her.
"Just mind your own business," he said and started to walk away.
"Well the least you could do is thank me or saving you life!" she yelled at him.
Riku turned and looked at her. She hid it well, but Riku could see hurt deep within her eyes. He sighed.
"I'm sorry, and thank you for saving me but you -" He stopped short of his sentence. "Hey! How'd you get here!?" he said now a little alarmed. Other people shouldn't be in the world of the heartless.
"Me? I've been here practically forever. I don't remember how I got here, I just am," she replied, "What about you?"
"I got separated from my -" he paused, thinking if Sora and Kairi would still consider him as a friend. Some friend I've been, he thought.
"I got separated from my home, I'm lost."
"Oh, I'm sorry," said the girl.
"Listen," started Riku, "I don't think we got off on the right start."
The girl smiled.
"Mariha," she said, holding out her hand.
"Riku," he replied and they shook hands.
Riku looked into Marihas soft brown eyes. There was something familiar about them. He got the same feeling, like he'd met her before, as he did when he saw the design on her sword.
"So," said Riku, "Where were you from before you ended up here?"
"You'll probably think I'm crazy but," Mariha started, "One day I just woke-up and was here, with absolutely no memory of who I was or where I came from."
"So how'd you know your name?" asked Riku.
"I didn't. As soon as I figured out that no humans lived here, I didn't bother with naming myself. The heartless named me."
Riku looked at Mariha in surprise. "How'd THEY name YOU? They don't speak do they?" he asked.
"I dunno, but I sure could hear them once in a while. They started calling me something that sounded like 'Mariha' after my sword transformed and it sort of stuck with me," she replied.
"Transformed? What do you mean?"
"Well," started Mariha, "When I woke-up here, the heartless were all around me. I admit that I was a little scared but I was only six years old and had no memory at that time. Anyway, they prepared to attack but before a blow was thrown, my necklace burst into light and turned into this sword."
Mariha pulled out the sword and gave it to Riku to look at.
"Amazingly, when I took it up in my hand I could wield it easily," continued Mariha, "And most of the heartless never attacked me again, but every time they'd see me, they'd whisper something like 'Mariha' then run away."
Riku looked at the design on the sword.
"What does this mean?" he asked pointing to it.
"I don't exactly know what it means, maybe 'Mariha' in the heartless language. But that's the design that made up the pendant on my necklace."
"I see," said Riku, "But how do you know your age and not your name?"
"My birthday date and year was engraved on the back of my necklace."
Riku handed Mariha her sword back. Now he was positive he'd seen the design before. Mariha proved it. He'd seen it as someone's necklace.
~*~
Sora walked out of the room where Donald, Goofy and Mickey were talking quietly. They all looked over at Sora with concern.
"Sora..." started Goofy.
"I'm ok," said Sora. I don't want them to think it's their fault, he thought.
"Sora." It was King Mickey, "What are you going to do now?"
"I thought about it, and it's probably best for me to go home to my island," replied Sora.
Mickey nodded. "Donald, Goofy, would you be so kind as to accompany Sora home?"
"That's ok -"
"Of course you majesty," Donald said, interrupting Sora.
"You can count on use," added Goofy.
"Really, you don't have to if -"
But Donald and Goofy interrupted him again.
"There's no way we're just going to leave our buddy!" said Goofy.
"That's right! And it'd be faster with our gummi ship to take you there," Donald added.
Sora smiled. "Guys, thanks a lot!"
Sora, Donald and Goofy put their hands in the middle of their formed circle.
"One for all and all for one!" they cheered and threw their arms up.
"Sora," started Mickey. Sora turned and faced him, "Don't give up on Riku yet."
Sora felt sadness come over him again but Mickey was right. Sora was the Key bearer and if anyone could help Riku, it was him. Sora nodded.
Sora, Donald and Goofy walked out of the inn.
"Hey Sora," said Goofy, "When you were sleeping, King Mickey, Donald and I talked and thought that the door to Kingdom Hearts might be in other worlds we haven't been to yet."
Sora's hopes lifted.
"Alright," he said, "Then lets go visit some new worlds!"
"What about you going home?" asked Donald.
Sora thought for a moment. "Well, I guess Kairi's gonna have to wait because I'm not going home until we find Riku!"
"Ok, it's settled!" said Goofy, "Off to new worlds!"
"Yeah!" Sora nodded and all three of them headed toward the gummi ship.
~*~
"Wake-up sleepy head!"
"Huh?" Riku opened his eyes and Mariha was standing over him.
"What time is it?" he said as he slowly and sleepily got up.
"Time to get up!" replied Mariha.
"That's not helpful!" Riku looked around him. It was still dark.
"Why'd you wake me up?" he groaned, "It's in the middle of the night."
Mariha giggled.
"No it's not!" she said, "Don't you know that in the land of darkness, it's always dark? There's no night or day in Kingdom Hearts."
"What!?" Oh yeah, he thought, I must have been so caught up in escaping with Mickey that I didn't even notice!
Riku looked at Mariha then looked at the ground, "So, you're saying that you've never EVER seen the light of day or remember it?" He looked at her again.
She sighed and nodded. "That's right."
Riku looked away from her. He felt so bad. There he was, about to kill himself just because he thought there'd be no way out of Kingdom Hearts, while Mariha had been stuck here for years, had no memory of who she was and had never even seen the light of day.
"I'm sorry," he said to her, "I didn't mean to..." He couldn't finish his sentence.
"Hey, don't worry about it," she said, "I know we'll get out of here someday!"
There was so much confidence in her voice.
She doesn't give up easily either, he thought and smiled at himself. Suddenly, a picture of Sora flashed through his mind. He was a bit startled and started feeling sorry for himself again but stopped and smiled again. Yeah, he though, just like Sora never gives up.
"Sides," said Mariha and Riku looked at her, snapping out of his little trance, "You're not going anywhere until you tell me everything about the outside worlds," she said pointing at him and smiling.
Riku smiled back. "Well, you'd better sit down because I've got lots to tell." He motioned for her to sit beside him.
Mariha's face lit up and she sat down beside him. Riku had never seen so much happiness in someone before.
"Ok, so I guess I'll start with my home, Destiny Islands."
~*~
"Hey Donald," said Sora as the three friends flew through space, "If we closed the door to Kingdom Hearts only yesterday, how'd Mickey and Riku have so much time to figure out how to come back?"
"I think there must have been a time shift there," replied Donald, "Yeah, I think every minute here is a day there or something like that."
"Oh," said Sora as he looked out the window of their ship.
"There it is!" said Goofy pointing to a world with a big rock formation on it.
"Prepare for landing!" yelled Donald.
~*~
"Wow," said Mariha in amazement as Riku finished telling her about his home. He however, didn't tell her about when he left the island then about all the trouble he had caused though Sora had fixed it, mostly anyways. The joy on her face, he didn't want to ruin it, and at the same time risk keeping her friendship. What would she thing of him if she knew he was a backstabbing traitor, and they had only just met! No, he'd tell her one-day, but not now.
Mariha got up and twirled around in a circle. Then, she came up to Riku and knelt in front of him, her face dangerously close to Rikus. Riku blushed and watched her watching orb-like eyes stare him down, he all of a sudden felt uncomfortable under their gaze, so close to him...
"Thank you so much for telling me all that," she said smiling. Riku blushed even deeper when she smiled at him, why was he feeling like this?
For a second, Riku thought that she had leaned closer so their noses almost touched, but she didn't, instead, she backed away a bit so she could fold her hands together and hold them up a bit.
"Would you help me get our of here?" she asked, "I'd really love to see your island if it's ok with you."
Riku almost sighed with relief that she wasn't going to, kiss him or anything, and smiled coolly. "Of course it's ok! And I want to get our of here too you know."
"Friends then?" said Mariha, holding out one of her hands.
"Friends," replied Riku, raising his hand as well and joined Mariha's to clap it into a handshake.
~*~
Sora hopped out of the gummi ship. He looked up at the giant rock formation. Simba, a beast who Sora could summon if he needed help, seemed to call to Sora as he stared at the rock, so he raised his Keyblade. He called froth Simba, and the great loin appeared as it always did Sora summoned him, only instead of fighting, he stood and spoke to all of them.
"Thank you Sora," he said with a roaring voice, "Welcome to my home, welcome to the Pride Lands."
"I get it!" Sora exclaimed after nodding to Simba, "After Kingdom Hearts was sealed, all the lost worlds re-appeared!"
"That's right," said Simba, "And since I enjoyed your company after you set my spirit free and returned me home, it's only fair that I show you around."
Simba then turned and led them up a path heading straight for the rock formation, Pride Rock.
AN: Hee hee! First chappy done! Have you guessed what's mine yet? *fans shake their heads* o.O Mariha sillies! *fans sigh* ahh, never mind... and if you care her name's pronounced "Ma-rye-a" yea I know I spelt it weird but I'm special! *cheesy grin* *fans attempt to kill me* hey! Then who's going to finish the ficcy? *fans: we don't care about the ficcy!* ;_; Fine then! Just R&R....