Greetings, prospective readers! Welcome to my latest Kingdom Hearts creation! Admittedly, I'd somewhat lost interest in writing for the franchise after trading up to a PS4 and learning that the HD remix had a bug with its saving. But, after learning that said bug was fixed in The Story So Far, I immediately jumped at the chance to get back in the game. And thus, the idea for this little project was born! Well, enough babbling, let us begin!
Chapter I
Twilight Town-The Old Mansion
"Sora!"
"Sora, wake up!"
Donald Duck and Goofy looked on nervously, thinking that there was something wrong when the pod containing one of their dearest friends did not do anything in response to their calls, when suddenly, they heard machinery coming to life. Seconds later, the pod flashed for an instant, and then opened up like a flower setting into bloom, until it revealed a drowsy young man wearing a much too small red, blue, and white outfit with large yellow shoes rubbing the last fringes of sleep from his eyes before stretching with a yawn. When his eyes came to rest on some of the people in front of him, he immediately jumped out of the pod, stumbling into Donald and Goofy's arms when he landed, clearly not quite used to movement after sleeping for so long, and smiled brightly as he hugged the two who caught him. "Donald! Goofy," Sora cheered happily once he was upright again.
The three then danced about in a circle, all happy to see each other again, until a long yawn brought the celebration to a pause so they could all look to Sora's shoulder just in time to see none other than Jiminy Cricket climbing out of the hood on Sora's jacket. "That was some nap," the chronicler commented as he jumped down onto the floor.
"You mean, we were asleep," Sora questioned, clearly not remembering too well.
"I guess we musta been, or I don't think we'd be so drowsy," Jiminy reasoned with a shrug.
"When do ya think we went to sleep," Goofy asked, but he was only answered with silence from the three recently awakened sleepyheads.
"Uhh…" Donald replied as he and Sora crossed their arms in thought.
"Let's see…" Sora muttered, recounting said things aloud. "We found Kairi… defeated Ansem… restored peace to the worlds… oh yeah! And then we went to look for Riku and the king. I think that's right so far… and then…"
The four were silent once again, each of them trying to remember but drawing up nothing but a blank, until Goofy looked to the one person who was most likely able to give them a few clues that would jog their memories. "What does your journal say, Jiminy?"
Eager to remember as well, the cricket immediately reached into his pocket so that he could retrieve the written text, and opened up to the last page he had been writing on, only to gasp in shock at what he found. "Gee, there's only one sentence…" he revealed. "But I don't understand how that could be. I'm always so careful with the journals."
"What does it say?" asked Donald.
"'Thank Naminé,'" Jiminy read aloud. "Huh. I wonder who that is."
"Some journal that is!" Donald grumbled in annoyance.
Jiminy ignored the jab and put the nearly blank journal back into his pocket. "Well, what do ya say we find out where we are?" he suggested.
"Sounds like a plan to me," said Sora as Jiminy crawled back into Sora's hood. Suddenly, something inside Sora surged painfully, bringing the hero to his knees and causing Goofy, Donald, and Jiminy to cast concerned looks at him.
"Sora, uh, are you okay?" asked Goofy, concern evident in his voice.
"I… I'm fine!" Sora grunted in pain, when in truth he felt as though he was anything but fine. It almost felt as though his very heart, his very being was being forcefully ripped in two. As Sora's pain reached its peak, a glowing silhouette of what seemed to be another person began to separate from him. Finally, when the pain became almost unbearable and the glowing silhouette was almost completely separated, Sora blacked out and knew no more once again, just as the glowing silhouette became a completely separate person with short blonde hair wearing a white jacket with a black hoodie underneath, khaki pants, and black and white sneakers, much to Jiminy, Donald and Goofy's shock and awe.
"Uh… what just happened?" Goofy asked Donald.
"Either Sora just had a son, or there's something screwy goin' on here. I think it's the latter," warbled Donald.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's not that works. At least, that's not how I remember Maxie being born. Then again, it coulda been. I been hit in the head a lot."
Donald raised an eyebrow at his companion. "Who's Maxie?"
Goofy flushed a bright shade of crimson. "Well, uh… seems I got some 'splain' to do…" he said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well, whatever the case may be, let's see if we can't get these two up and see what's going on," suggested Jiminy.
Donald nodded and pulled out his magician's stave, before realizing it was his standard-issue stave, which definitely wasn't the last stave he'd remembered using. "Wah! Where's Save the Queen?!"
Goofy checked his pack and realized that his most powerful shield, Save the King, was missing as well. "Well, golly gee willikers, what happened to our weapons?!" cried Goofy.
"I think it's best we save that for another time, fellas. Right now, we need to wake these two up!" said Jiminy.
"Right," said Donald with a nod before casting his healing spell, causing the two boys on the ground to begin to stir.
…
As consciousness slowly returned to him, Roxas began to feel… different somehow. A loud thumping reached his ears from somewhere… inside him.
The Nobody gasped, his eyes flying open when he realized what the thumping actually was: a heartbeat. Somehow, in some way, by rejoining himself with Sora, he had managed to acquire his very own, beating heart. Which meant…
Naminé was right… I didn't disappear… I'm whole… which means… I exist. I finally, truly, completely, exist… thought Roxas as tears began to well up in his eyes.
Speaking of eyes, he felt four sets of them upon him. Looking in the direction he sensed the eyes coming from, he saw four figures he immediately recognized gazing down upon him.
"Why are you crying?" asked Goofy, concern evident in his voice.
"I'm not, I'm fine." Roxas said, wiping his eyes as he spoke before pulling himself into a sitting position.
"You got a name?" asked Donald.
"Yeah. Roxas. Roxas Seiiki."
"Donald Duck," Donald introduced himself.
"Name's Goofy!" Goofy declared proudly.
"Cricket's the name. Jiminy Cricket at your service!" said Jiminy.
"I'm Sora Hikari, but something tells me you know that already," said Sora, rubbing the back of his head as he spoke. "So… any particular reason you separated yourself from my body, Roxas?"
Roxas chuckled. "Right. Seems I have some explaining to do… but first, let's get out of this place," said Roxas as he pulled himself up off the ground and started headed towards the exit to the room.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy all cast glances at each other, clearly unsure what to make of this stranger who had inexplicably spawned from the chosen wielder of the keyblade.
"Well, he certainly seems eager to get out of here," said Sora.
"Do you guys think we can trust him?" asked Donald.
"All I know is I don't wanna fall asleep again, so I say we follow him," said Goofy, marching towards the exit.
Seeing no other option at the moment, Sora and Donald followed Goofy and Roxas out of the room and out of the mansion.
…
As Roxas, Sora, Donald, and Goofy made their way into the town proper, the blonde felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him. Everything was exactly the way he remembered it before he had joined himself with Sora in order to become complete and awaken the Keyblade Wielder.
Except, this Twilight Town is the real deal, not some computer simulation, thought Roxas, a small, smile on his face before he was pulled out of his thoughts by Donald shouting.
"Hey, I think there's something back here down this alleyway!"
Turning to see where Donald was indicating, Roxas quickly recognized the alley that the duck was talking about, and had a sneaking suspicion as to who was likely going to be down there right now. With that in mind, the blonde raced forward, taking the lead from Goofy when he did, and it did not seem like he was going to stop until Sora suddenly said something that caught Roxas off guard.
"You know, I think I've been to this town before."
"Really?" Goofy questioned, not noticing the look that their newest friend was wearing.
"What's it called?" asked Donald, raising an eyebrow.
Sora crossed his arms in thought, trying to think of an answer to Donald's question, but ultimately came up with nothing, so he simply shrugged and said, "Guess I must've imagined it."
Roxas was about to say something to explain why Sora might have felt that way, but decided not to, sensing it wasn't the right time to tell them the whole truth just yet. As he and the others entered the Usual Spot, Roxas was delighted and relieved to see that Hayner, Pence, and Olette were all there. It was really good to know that those three were real and not just some fantasy that was made up by DiZ or something, but at the same time, he was quickly reminded of another fact of reality when the three turned towards them with confusion, while Hayner's gaze was a bit more suspicious.
"What do you want?" Hayner demanded, not sounding the least bit friendly.
"Uh, nothing. Just wondering what was back here," Sora quickly reassured him.
"Now you know. This is our spot," Hayner curtly informed them, but did not say much more when Pence suddenly stood up and gave the four an odd, confused look.
"You're… new around here, right," the heavy-weight boy finally asked.
"More or less," Roxas replied on the group's behalf, his smile not quite reaching his face all the way. He was glad to see his old friends, but it was still a hurtful reminder that to these three, they had never met before now. Still, it was comforting to know that they were pretty similar to the way they were in the virtual town.
"Cool. I'm Pence, by the way," the heavy-weight boy introduced.
"Hayner. Nice to meet you," the gang's leader greeted. He then paused for a minute as he looked at Roxas before he said, "You know, you look kinda familiar. Have I seen you around before?"
"I don't think so," Roxas said with a shrug.
Hayner shrugged at this and then turned to leave as he said, "Well, whatever. We've got stuff to do right now, so catch ya later."
The lone girl of the group gave Hayner a disapproving look for his attitude towards the newcomers before she directed a smile at the six and said, "Sorry about him. Hayner's really not a bad guy, but he does take some time to really warm up to people."
"Don't worry about it. I used to know someone who was just like that," Roxas reassured her.
She nodded in reply to that before she introduced herself to them, and figured she should move on to another topic to better break the ice. "My name's Olette. Hey, did you finish up the summer homework yet? Independent studies are the worst, huh?"
"Tell me about it," Roxas agreed, while Sora, Donald, and Goofy just exchanged confused looks in an attempt to figure out what Olette and Roxas were talking about.
"So, what're your names," Pence asked.
"I'm Roxas," the blonde of the four man group replied. "And these are my friends, Sora, Donald, and Goofy."
"Hey there," Sora waved, while Donald and Goofy silently nodded with a smile.
Olette and Pence suddenly exchanged a surprised look at that information. "You know, we just met someone who was looking for the three of you," Pence said, gesturing towards Sora, Donald, and Goofy.
"For us?" Sora inquired.
"Yeah, and he sure seemed in a hurry," Pence confirmed. "He had a black coat on so I couldn't see his face, but he had these big round ears."
Hearing that the person looking for them wore a black coat that hid his face had automatically made Roxas think of the Organization, but he quickly calmed down at the mention of the mystery person having big round ears. Even if his memories of that time were vague and hazy at best, he knew for a fact that no one in the group had any distinctive features like that. And yet, it left the Nobody wondering as to who else it could have been. That is, until Donald thought of the one person it could have most likely been. "The king!" the duck sorcerer exclaimed.
"Yep! It's gotta be him!" Goofy agreed.
"Where'd you see him?" Sora quickly asked.
"At the station," Pence replied.
"Got it. Thanks," said Sora.
The two locals nodded in return before saying that they were going to get back to their assignment and moving to leave. Just before they were out of sight though, Roxas called out, "You know, I've heard a few people around town talking about something called the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town. Maybe you could try investigating them for your assignment."
Pence and Olette both paused for a minute to think about that before they grinned in excitement as Pence cheered, "Hey, that's a great idea! Thanks a bunch, Roxas."
The blonde nodded in response to the two and then watched as they took off to find Hayner so they could tell him about their new subject, leaving the other six free to discuss any matter that they wished. Not that they were really too picky on what they should talk about right now. "Oh boy," Donald cheered once again. "The king's trying to find us!"
"Yeah, so let's get to the station!" Sora suggested as he took the lead, Roxas, Donald, and Goofy following close behind.
…
As it turned out, the Usual Spot wasn't too far from the train station. When they arrived, however, they found that the Station Heights was completely deserted, which struck Roxas as something being very wrong. And sure enough, appearing as though from thin air were several white creatures, moving about like one of those inflatable people you'd see at car dealerships.
"Wah! What are these things?! Some new kinda Heartless?" cried Donald as he pulled out his stave.
"They sure don't look like any kinda Heartless I've ever seen," said Goofy as he pulled out his shield, ready for a fight.
"Well, whatever these things are, they don't look like they're here to make friends," said Sora as he summoned his Keyblade, known as the Kingdom Key, into his hand. "And in that case, they picked the wrong crew to mess with!"
"You said it!" said Roxas, summoning forth his twin Keyblades, Oathkeeper and Oblivion, giving both weapons a twirl for effect, a feat that did not go unnoticed by Sora.
"You can use two Keyblades?! Why can't I use two Keyblades?" said Sora before he tried summoning a second Keyblade, but to no avail, just before one of the strange white creatures lunged at him, forcing him to block the attack.
"Fight now, compare abilities later!" said Roxas as he struck down two of the strange creatures, one with each Keyblade.
The group of four heroes valiantly fought back against their attackers, but due to the somewhat sorry shape they were in, Roxas due to having just been separated from Sora, Sora not only having just been through and extremely painful separation process, but had woken up from a long slumber much like Donald and Goofy. Although the four warriors had managed to take down as many of the strange enemies as they could, it wasn't long before they were on their last legs. Roxas collapsed onto one knee, using one of his Keyblades as a crutch to hold himself up as sweat poured off him like a waterfall. Donald and Goofy, meanwhile, passed out and fell onto their rumps as Sora did the same, although unlike the other two, he was still somewhat conscious.
The strange white creatures before the defeated heroes stood wriggling back and forth for a few moments before one of them lunged at Sora, who raised his Keyblade to defend himself. However, before the attack could make contact, a small figure in black dropped down from above, and made quick work of each of the strange creatures. It was difficult to really keep track of this figure's movements, even if some of the group had kept their eyes open so that they could watch, but it was still easy to see when he jumped and spun around the creatures before ending them with each strike of his blade. The last two creatures fell when the mystery figure jumped up into the air, and struck them both down before somersaulting around and landing on his feet again, with his back facing the group and his arms spread out like he was ready for another fight. Since their rescuer had finally stopped moving, and there did not seem to be any more enemies coming to attack them, the four warriors finally managed to get a good look at said individual, and even though he was mostly obscured by the black coat he was wearing, they were still able to figure out who he was when they took notice of his more apparent features. The first was the fact that he was shorter than all of them, and the second was his rather large, round ears. While the second one would normally have been enough for most of them, it was the third and final thing they noticed that helped them to confirm who this was. This was the fact that he was wielding a Keyblade that looked almost exactly like the Kingdom Key, expect with a golden blade and a silver grip.
"Your Majesty?" Donald exclaimed as he and Goofy jumped on top of Sora in their haste to get a better look at the king of Disney Town.
The figure raised a hand to signal for quiet. "Shh! You gotta board the train and leave town. The train knows the way." He then jumped a little closer to the group, not once turning around so they could see his face, and held something out to Goofy. "Here, take this," the figure said.
Everyone looked down at the item the figure handed them. Roxas immediately recognized it as the pouch that pickpocket in the black coat had looted from him a couple of days ago back in the virtual Twilight Town.
"Where'd you get-?" Roxas started to say, until he and the others all turned to see Mickey running off towards the town. Donald was about to chase after him, but the king was already too far away for any of them to have caught up.
"The King…Was that really him?" Sora asked.
"Yep, I know it was," Goofy confidently cheered.
"Now we know he's okay!" Donald smiled widely, while Sora crossed his arms in thought, earning him a look from Roxas.
"Is something wrong, Sora?" Roxas asked "You look like you've suddenly gotten a load of questions on your mind."
"Well I wouldn't say that. It's just that…," Sora reassured Roxas before he turned to face Donald and Goofy. "The King was locked in the Realm of Darkness with Riku, right?"
"Uh-huh," Goofy confirmed.
"But we just saw him..." Sora continued. "And if the King is here, that means Riku's here!"
"Yeah, he's gotta be!" Donald agreed.
After a few moments of silence passed, Roxas decided to speak up. "So, what are we going to do now?"
"Well, I'm gonna go look for Riku. Then he and I can go back to the islands together. Kairi's there waiting for us," Sora said.
"Well, I've got nowhere else to go now that I'm separated from you, so how about I tag along with you?" said Roxas.
"Works for me. The more the merrier," said Sora before returning his attention to Donald and Goofy. "What about you guys? What are you two gonna do?"
Donald and Goofy's both groaned a little in response, before Goofy asked, "Gawrsh, Sora. Do ya have to ask?"
Normally, either Roxas or Sora would have given a rather obvious answer or even just a joke in response, but at the moment, the only response that either of the Keyblade wielders could give was to uncontrollably laugh at the two. "Hey! What's so funny," Donald squawked, jumping up and down in anger a little.
"Sorry, it… it's just… your faces," Sora said while clutching his chest in an attempt to control his chuckles.
"That's gotta be one of the silliest things I've ever seen," Roxas added as he too kept laughing.
That prompted Donald and Goofy to turn to look at each other, and while they did see that their expressions were meant to look a little indignant, they came out looking rather ridiculous, and like that, they were both joining the other two in laughing at the silly expressions. Eventually, the laughter did have to die down so they could make their next move.
"Well guys, looks like we're sticking together for one more journey," Sora observed, looking at the assembled quartet as a whole. "And this time with a new friend… so…where are we going again?"
"We hafta board the train," Goofy reminded him.
"The King just told us not even two seconds ago," Roxas added on.
"Oh yeah," Sora remembered with a smile that did not seem the least bit sheepish, drawing a tired sigh from Donald while Roxas could not help but roll his eyes a little before the four of them entered the train station.
The minute the group walked inside, Roxas instantly caught sight of the ghost train from yesterday waiting at the platform, and somehow knew that it was waiting for the four of them.
"I'll get us our tickets," said Sora as Goofy handed the money pouch over to him. Just as Sora was about to speak the teller, the four warriors heard someone shouting for them to wait, and they turned to see Hayner, Pence, and Olette rushing to catch up with them.
"What're you guys doing here?" Sora asked.
"We came to see you off," Pence told them, surprising the group of four a little. "It just seemed like something we oughta do."
"Oh…really? Thanks," Roxas smiled in response, glad to see that the three had gone as far as to do that even though they had all only just officially met a few minutes ago. It actually reminded her of just how good a group of people these guys were to him while he was in the virtual Twilight Town, and it seemed like they were just as good here in reality as well. That did not distract him from the odd look Hayner was giving him.
"Hey, Roxas…" Hayner started to say, only find himself unable to finish for whatever reason.
"What's up," Roxas asked when Hayner did not say anything more after a few minutes.
Hayner did not say anything for a few more minutes, but eventually, he did answer by simply saying, "Nothing. Forget about it."
"If you're sure," Roxas shrugged in reply, knowing that whatever it was that Hayner had on his mind would come out eventually.
The sound of a boarding alarm coming from the platforms drew them out of their moment of contemplation, and reminded them that they needed to hurry if they wanted to get on the train in time. The ghost train may not have been one of the normal lines, but that did not mean it was going to wait around forever for them. At least, they did not think it would, but they were still a little unsure about that. Whatever the case, it did not change the fact that they had to hurry, and Olette pointed that out when she said, "You all should hurry and get your tickets."
Sora nodded and returned his attention to the teller and made to buy their tickets, but when she saw the pouch in Sora's hand, Olette let out a confused gasp, pulling everyone's attention over to her as she pulled out her own pouch, as if to make sure that it was still there. She was relieved to find that it was, but that did not help her confusion, nor did Goofy's comment when he saw Olette's bag. "They're the same..." the knight said.
"Yeah," Olette confirmed. "But I made this one myself, so that shouldn't be possible."
"Maybe…whoever made that one…had a similar artistic vision," Roxas feebly offered up, not sure if anyone would believe him if he said that it came from a virtual world.
Sora merely shrugged it off and told the teller "Four tickets please."
"To?" replied the teller with a smile.
As Sora and the teller bartered, Roxas looked up at the platform and quickly became overcome with a sense of foreboding. It seemed as though Sora shared that same feeling, as he seemed to be just worried as he was and a bit sad about it as well, and when he explained why he was feeling that way, Roxas had to admit that it was the very same reason that he was.
"I can't help feeling like we won't see this town again," Sora admitted, frowning.
The Twilight Town kids all looked a bit confused by Sora's statement, but Roxas nodded in agreement. "Yeah… I'm getting the same feeling, too."
Since everyone was in such a rush to get moving, it came as no surprise that they all started boarding the mysterious train the minute they had climbed up to the platform. Donald and Goofy rushed aboard first. Sora and Roxas, meanwhile, were taking a few extra minutes to talk with Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Sora wasn't really sure why exactly, but he felt like he really needed to bid the three local kids farewell as well. They kept things as brief as possible though, each saying something that went along the lines of "see you again soon", or some similar goodbye.
Just before the two Keyblade wielders boarded the train, Hayner called out, "Hey, Roxas… you sure we haven't met before?"
As much as the blonde wanted to say yes, Roxas knew that it was not a good idea to give that answer, or explain the reasons behind it. He just had to hope they were not giving anything away when he told Hayner his small lie. "Pretty sure we haven't," Roxas said. "But if we did… I get the feeling we probably would've been great friends. Why do you ask?"
Hayner seemed like he needed to think about that before he eventually just shrugged with a smile and said, "I dunno."
That seemed like the end of it, until Pence noticed something that left him concerned. "Hey, Sora. Are you okay? You're…"
When Pence pointed to Sora's face, the spiky haired boy immediately raised one hand up and felt a tear that was slowly sliding down his cheek, much to his surprise. "Weird," Sora muttered. "Don't know where that came from. Guess I've just…gotten a bit emotional when it comes to certain moments after all that I've been through."
"Come on. Pull it together," Hayner told him in amusement.
"Yeah. We can't have you getting all mushy before we've even got that far into our journey, now can we?" Roxas teased with a smile.
"Right," Sora smiled back with a nod. He then turned to the Twilight Town trio as he started to board the train, and waved as he said, "Well…we'll see ya."
Roxas spared one last wave to the three friends before boarding the train as well, and they all watched on opposite sides as the door slid closed. With a faint hiss of steam, the train slowly departed from the station, and then began racing off down the tracks, leaving the station behind, along with the three kids who appeared to be very sorry to see their new friends leave so soon. Meanwhile on board the train, Donald and Goofy were watching through the windows as the city passed by, while Sora gazed intently at Roxas.
"You okay?" Sora finally asked after a few minutes of silence. Roxas hadn't said anything on the journey thus far, and was watching the town pass by with an air of sadness to them that Sora could only most closely relate to how he had probably looked when he decided to not go back to his home on the islands before finding Riku a year ago.
Roxas simply said, "Yeah… I guess I'm just nervous about this whole thing. That and… well, this town reminds me of a place I called home for a while, so it feels like I'm leaving behind everything I knew and loved for the first time."
Sora nodded in reply to that, as he said, "Yeah, I get it. I felt the same way when I decided to stick with Donald and Goofy instead of going home myself," Sora said before pausing for a moment, gazing out the window at Twilight Town for a minute before he admitted, "You know…I'm kinda sad to be leaving this place, too."
That got Donald and Goofy's attention, they knew right away that they had to say something in order to cheer the two kids up. "We'll be back," Donald reassured them, taking the lead in said attempts.
"Yeah. We can visit Hayner and those guys again," Goofy added on.
"You're right," said Sora, before returning to his seat and gazing intently at Roxas once more. "But, in the meantime… Roxas, I think you've got some explaining to do. You know, about the whole separating from my body thing."
Roxas chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, what do you wanna know?"
"Well for starters-"
Before Sora could finish his question, however, the train came to a screeching halt as the one of the doors opened.
"Looks like my interrogation will have to wait," joked Roxas, earning himself a smirk from Sora as he followed Donald and Goofy out the door.
And… cut! Well, that took quite a bit of work, but I think we've gotten ourselves off to a pretty decent start on this adventure! If you liked what you saw here, then be sure to fav, follow, and review, and I'll see you guys next time for The Mysterious Tower!