First of all, I can't believe I am actually writing this. It has been so long since I actually sat down and wrote fanfiction. You can blame my friend Izzy for this fic entirely. In fact, I am uploading this on her birthday. So tell her happy birthday if you review :D Even though by the time she reads this it won't be her birthday. Stupid time difference.
I promise I'll try and finish this- I'm more of an oneshot/drabble writer, but I feel… really compelled to write this. And yes… I am doing this a little… differently, so to speak. Think FFX. Hehe.
BBS and Coded/Recoded spoilers abound- actually, the more you know the secret ending and the ending of Coded, the better, because I'm not rewriting those scenes. –lazy-
-x-
Aqua stretched as she sat up in bed, yawning a bit as she rubbed the tiredness from her eyes. She had fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow last night, and she couldn't recall how long she had been sleeping. Although she usually prided herself on being an early riser, she found it really didn't matter to her, considering the hell she had just been rescued from. She peered out the window of the gummi ship with her bright blue eyes, and tilted her head as all she saw was stars. Well, they had warned her it would be a long trip to Radiant Garden, but the Keyblade Master was now beginning to wonder if she had really slept much at all.
She walked out of her small room and navigated her way to the common room of the rather spacious ship, and much to her surprise found Sora, Riku, and Kairi to be awake, laughing at some joke, but their laughter died quickly and quietly when Aqua poked her head into the room. She immediately regretted doing so- what was she doing, bothering them. They had rescued her, yes, and she guessed she could consider them to be friends, but she felt like a bit of an intruder, an outsider.
"Aqua?" Kairi was the one to finally speak up, breaking the awkward silence. Aqua smiled slightly as she noted the grin on the young girl's face was still the same from long ago. "Are you okay? Did you sleep well?"
"Yes and yes…" Aqua replied slowly, stepping through the doorway to stand there. She wondered if she would ever get used to the fact that she didn't age in the dark realm. The young children she had remembered meeting were all grown up now, only a few years younger than herself, at least in appearance. She guessed she could still technically say she was ten years older than them, having been around that long. The blue-haired young woman figured she might as well come out and say what had been on her mind. After saving her, the young trio along with Mickey, Donald and Goofy had bombarded her with a series of questions, and she ended up telling her entire story… yet… She never got around to asking her own. Although she was patient, she needed to know a few details… To get back into the loop, and most importantly to her, find her own friends. "If it's alright with you, I, ah, have a few questions." Aqua said, sitting down as Riku motioned for her to sit next to him on the couch.
"Okay." Sora said brightly, displaying his usual cheesy grin. "Shoot!"
"Well," Aqua mused over which question to ask, and decided to get the one with the longest answer out of the way first, "however did you find me, exactly?"
"It's a bit of a long story." Sora said, putting his hands behind his head in his trademark pose, looking from Riku to Kairi to see if they were up to telling about their adventure with him. The two nodded eagerly, and Sora looked over at Aqua with a wide smile. "It all began when…"
-x-
"So… wait… I don't have to defeat anyone this time? Just find some people?" Sora said, scratching his head as he held the message in the bottle the king had sent him in his other hand, thinking over what Mickey just told him. Really, all he had known for the past few years was slaying Heartless and Nobodies… and sleeping, for one year of course. Well, no, he did find Kairi and Riku! …Completely by accident though. Not that he was willing to admit that.
Mickey paused for a second before replying. "Well, ya might." The mouse king hesitated before continuing, "Ya see Sora, I don't know exactly what happened to Aqua or Ven, there may be someone to defeat to save 'em, but like I said, I don't know for sure." He sighed, "And as for their friend Terra, Aqua only mentioned him before she and Ven disappeared. I can only guess what happened to him." Mickey looked up at the Keyblade Master, though, a hopeful smile on his face. "I'm not just sendin' you out to find my friends, but they are the key to reconnectin' all the others that have been lost. Besides, I'll be out lookin' for 'em too."
"Others?" Sora asked, now looking extremely confused as he set the bottle down on the dashboard of the gummi ship. "What others?"
"You'll find out soon enough." Mickey said and Sora crossed his arms and pouted a bit, not amused by the fact he was being left in the dark.
"Aw, c'mon Sora, we don't know much either." Goofy said from the pilot seat of the gummi ship (Donald wanted to drive this time, but none of them were dumb enough to let him), "In fact, we only remembered about the other keybladers when we made a difigalized-"
"-digitalized." Donald corrected, wagging a finger at Goofy.
Goofy nodded in agreement. "That's it! A digitalized form of Jiminy's Journal and Namine told us that you'd have to reconnect everybody."
Sora sighed, this was all just so confusing and it was somewhat hard to believe that the King would just up and forget some friends like that. But… he was pretty busy, so it was understandable. There was also a memory that was too fuzzy to remember yet distinct enough that it could have been false, but Sora recollected some people, mainly a man and woman, who appeared on the islands for a short while and were never seen again. Could they possibly be the keybladers Mickey was talking about? After all, up until his adventures years ago, no one left Destiny Islands. Ever. Yet here he was, leaving for a second time, so it wasn't entirely impossible. The Keyblade Master winced at the thought of leaving Riku and Kairi back on the islands, but Mickey had stated this was a mission for Sora alone, despite addressing his letter to the three of them. However, Sora put on his usual optimistic grin and looked over at his friends. "So, where are we headed first?"
Mickey pointed out the window to a large world that was looming closer and closer. "Radiant Garden, of course! It was in its prime around the time Aqua, Ven and Terra went missin', so I'm wonderin' if there are any clues there."
"Makes sense." Sora said, putting his hands behind his head in his usual pose.
After an argument about Donald telling Goofy he was landing the ship wrong only to have Chip and Dale come over the intercom and assure Goofy that he was doing just fine and Donald needed to shut his beak (to which Donald replied furiously that it was a bill), they landed safely in the gummi ship yard of Radiant Garden. Even since his last visit, the world looked considerably less destroyed and… gloomy. Sora smiled at this as he walked out of the ship with Donald and Goofy.
"Now where are we looking first, Your Majes… huh?" Sora asked, but blinked in surprise as Mickey had already disappeared from the group. He looked around- the King was there just a moment ago and it couldn't be too hard to lose an oversized mouse in a crowd.
Donald shook his head. "He probably came to follow some secret lead."
"We'll probably catch up with him later." Goofy said optimistically. "Say, why don't we go pay a visit to Merlin, Leon and the others? Maybe they know somethin' about the other keybladers!"
"Sounds like a good idea." Donald agreed, looking up at Sora, who was still searching around for Mickey. "Aw, we'll find the King later. Let's go!"
Sora, Donald and Goofy proceeded to walk through the Bailey, and they were all quite surprised at how lively and inhabited Radiant Garden was in such a short amount of time. Granted, the world was on its way to its former glory before they left to defeat Xemnas… but this was something else. It made Sora feel a little proud that he had a hand in helping the world get back on its feet so to speak.
He was brought out of his reminiscing, though, when he saw someone that he'd never forget, not to mention see again, since… he was supposed to be dead.
"What are you doing here? What…" Sora said, shocked and surprised, as Donald and Goofy assumed defensive positions.
"Why are you so surprised, Sora? Unless no one told you that if a Heartless is defeated before their Nobody, that the person becomes whole once more… But now that you do know… I'd memorize that, if I were you."