The Night Within My Eyes
Description: A sequel to Kingdom Hearts II. When a Gummi Ship crashes into Disney Castle, King Mickey calls on Sora and Riku to help a previously unknown world rid itself of some very familiar Heartless. Eventual pairing: RikuxOC, plus some SoraxKairi because they're cute. Rated T because I can't see myself ever writing K.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its characters are the property of Square-Enix. But you knew that already.
A/N: Some warnings: lots of angst, character death, and tons of spoilers for KH, COM, and KH2. You are officially warned.
One
The little Gummi Ship shuddered violently as it rolled and spun in a loose spiral. Five of the half-dozen laser blasts that had followed it passed by harmlessly, but the last one grazed the left wing, sending a shock throughout its frame.
"That's it," the pilot grumbled through clenched teeth. He shook blond curls out of his eyes and growled, "No one scratches my girl and gets away with it." Unfortunately, it was an empty threat, and he knew it. Five or six enemy ships he could have handled with ease; even ten would not have been too much trouble. But thirty was too many, even for him.
Behind him, his passenger chuckled slightly. He winced at the sound. How could she be so calm when only his superior piloting skills kept them from death? His mind flooded with the rumors that he had heard about her before leaving home. Whether or not he believed them, he had to agree that she had changed and not just outwardly.
"They're still firing on us, Sydney," she commented.
"I'm aware of that, thank you," he snapped.
"All right," came the unperturbed reply. "I was just wondering because you don't seem to be firing back."
"I'm a bit busy at the moment."
"Well, I'm not doing anything except sitting here. Would you like me to take over the guns?"
Sydney flinched. If his hands hadn't been wrapped around the steering levers, keeping the ship away from the incessant blasts from their pursuers, he would have smacked himself in the head. She had set him up, and he had walked right into it.
"That's okay," he tried to convince her. "I'm doing fine by myself."
He heard her sigh. "You know, I would hate for our mission to fail just because a certain flyboy wanted to show off and impress me."
At that moment, another stray shot clipped the right side of the ship's nose, sending another tremor through her cockpit. "All right!' Sydney conceded. "You can help, but I'm not leveling out so you can get up here. You'll have to do that on your own."
"Fair enough."
A heartbeat later, in spite of the little ship's gravity-defying dance through the space lanes, she appeared in the seat next to him and strapped her body to the chair. She eagerly gripped the firing controls and quickly reduced the number of their pursuers from thirty to fewer than fifteen. The remaining ships backed off a bit although they continued firing.
Sydney smiled in spite of himself. "Not bad, gorgeous. When this is all over, maybe I'll consider making you my co-pilot. We'd make a great team."
She turned her dark eyes to him briefly. "Just steer, flyboy," she answered without emotion.
"When are you going to stop calling me 'flyboy'?"
"When you stop calling me 'gorgeous'."
"Touché," he muttered, returning his attention to the starry space in front of him. His eyes scanned the horizon even as he continued his spins and loops, evading the blasts that continued to threaten them. It was much easier now, especially since his impromptu "co-pilot" would every so often shoot down another ship that had gotten too close.
Where in the name of blitz was this place? He was certain they would have reached it by now. Could Headquarters have given him the wrong coordinates? No, they would have double-checked it, triple-checked it even, to make sure they had given him every detail correctly. That's how important this mission was, important enough to take her away from the front lines.
This King Mickey person was the only hope they had.
Sydney prided himself on his eagle-eye vision. After all, when you were a Gummi pilot, you had to be able to see in all directions at once or you risked ramming into something. Lanes tended to be naturally crowded even without the addition of enemy ships. Yet, in spite of his experience and famous eyesight, she spotted the castle first.
"Sydney! Look!" Her finger pointed out the front window at a large asteroid sporting a few specks of blue. As they continued to approach, the blue evolved into the rooftops of white turrets, rising high above the rock that was clearly now a small planet.
"Yes," Sydney breathed. "Finally." He patted the console in front of him and said gently, "Just a bit more, girl. Hang on, okay?" Lifting his head, he grinned broadly at the young woman next to him. "See, Yuko? I told you I'd get you there okay."
Yuko smiled back at him, a sight that pleased him greatly. That was the girl he remembered from their school days. Back before their worlds had descended into Hell.
A large explosion off the port side of the ship shocked both their gazes back to the front. At least two dozen ships had suddenly materialized between them and the planet that offered them safety.
"An ambush?" Yuko gasped.
"Blast!" Sydney yelled, executing a quick dive that saved them from the wall of fire that rolled overhead. His senses roared into overdrive, sending the ship through flips and turns that other pilots would have deemed impossible. Next to him, Yuko unleashed the full potential of the small craft's weapons, launching arrows of death in every direction. Unfortunately, due to Sydney's need to maneuver constantly, she had difficulty locking on to the targets, and most of her shots missed.
A glimpse of white and blue flashed through Sydney's line of sight. The castle was getting ever closer, but it was still not close enough. "Just a little more …" he whispered, almost as a prayer.
A shot from behind crashed into the rear of the ship, sending it hurtling off-course in a mad spin. Beside him, the weapons' console erupted into flames, and Yuko screamed in pain and surprise. With a wild cry of determination, Sydney forced the ship to obey him again.
"Yuko!" he called to her. She had slumped over in her seat, a thin line of blood beginning to appear from above her temple. She moaned slightly at his cry but did not regain consciousness.
More shots rammed into the small ship, and a blaze of warning signals sprang to life before Sydney's eyes. Slowly, he drew in a steeling breath, knowing what he had to do. He lovingly reached out a hand and caressed the control panel. "I'm sorry, girl," he said softly. "I really am. But I promised to get her there safely, and I'm going to keep that promise. I know you understand."
His fingers typed in a string of commands and finally hovered over the button that would confirm his orders. His other hand gripped the steering levers tightly, and a fierce expression of determination settled onto his face.
"All right, you heart-sucking monsters," he growled, "eat this!"
He pushed the button.
All the ship's remaining fuel poured into the engine at once, causing the back end to explode into a giant, roaring fireball. The few ships that were unfortunate enough to be tailing the little craft burst into flame and spiraled out of control. Several hit other enemy ships, creating a chain reaction of destruction. The Gummi Ship itself rocketed forward at incredible speed, following a crash course to the planet and its welcoming sanctuary.
A/N: Yes, the pilot's name is Syd. Yes, that was intentional, although the existence of FFVII's Cid in the KH universe caused the spelling change. So, yeah, the first chapter was all OCs, but the second chapter has people you'll recognize. And hey, look, it's up already! Okay, that was intentional, too.