Welcome back!... That is, if anyone is here... *Depressed sigh...*... I have no readers... Why do all the crack and gay fics get the readers? Stupid fangirls... You're the reason games like FF VIII and FF X exist...
STOP! THIS IS A SEQUEL TO ANOTHER FIC! For anyone who's stumbled upon this fic I advise you to go back and read my first work, 'Bliss of Heart'. I assure you, the crappy writing from the first... well, a lot of the fic goes away eventually. Really, just read the first chapter and then skip to one of the later ones! You'll see what I mean!... I need to shut up now.
Okay, disclaimer. I don't own Kingdom Hearts, or any other Square Enix/Disney licensed characters/locations and such that appear as we progress. All disclaimers and claimers from the last fic won't be covered here, so if there's a lawyer reading, make sure that you go back and look at the last one before you file suit!
Anyway, on with the show!
Kingdom Hearts: Fate of Heart
Chapter 1: Routine
Hoth
Outer Rim
6: 58 PM
Planetary Location: Unknown
Six months after Edge
Saying that the landscape of this world was bleak was an understatement. The sky was white, the ground was white, and the mountains were white. The temperature on this world varied from cold, to very cold, to deadly cold. If one didn't have money for a freezer, or if perhaps their current freezer was full, this world would make a very good substitute. Just about anything that wasn't native to this world (or one that was colder) couldn't survive on it's own, and that was why a human being in the distance was covered with thick, warm clothing, and riding atop a trained mount that was furry enough that it wouldn't keel over after three minutes of waging war against the elements.
The man pulled on the reins, bringing the alien to a stop. He removed his goggles and lifted a pair of futuristic looking binoculars to his eyes, and followed a meteor as it hurtled down towards the world's surface. It impacted, throwing up ice and snow that probably wouldn't have ever moved otherwise. The man urged the beast a bit closer to the cliff, and took a better look down at the smoking crater. He reached for a communicator, and spoke into it.
"Echo-3 to Echo-7. Do you read me, Han?"
"Loud and clear, kid," the smuggler replied. "What's up?"
"Well, I've finished my circle," the former farmer answered. "And I don't pick up any life readings."
"Luke, there isn't enough life on this ice cube to fill a space cruiser. Sensors are placed, I'm going back."
"I'll see you shortly," Luke replied. "A meteor hit the ground near here, and I want to check it out. It shouldn't take long."
Luke Skywalker cut off the connection just as his mount reared up violently.
"Whoa!" Luke said, fighting it a bit. "What's the matter girl? You smell something?"
Suddenly, two giant paws slashed out of no where. One drove it's claws into the beast's chest, killing it, and the other slashed across Luke's face, leaving deep gouges and hurling him to the ground several feet away, where he didn't move.
Elsewhere...
Another snowy beast trotted up across a huge open stretch of snow towards the barely visible mouth of a cave. Surrounding it, and even several miles in front of it, were trenches and turrets, all poised to defend the cave from any kind of ground assault. However, no one was on hand to man these weapons. The man atop the alien rode past them fearlessly towards the cave, cursing the cold under his breath as he always did. As he got near to the mouth of the cave, men in white uniforms and helmets were manning weapons or observing the landscape as they always were when he came through. Some of the men acknowledged him with either waves or salutes, but most were far to absorbed in their duties to notice his presence. If they did, they simply ignored him, as the return of a routine patrol never brought anything of surprise. Always the same news: Still white, still cold, still hell.
The man rode into the cave, which had gone through a bit of renovation. It was now a massive hanger, filled with high-tech do-dads and assorted space and land crafts. The man road into a sort of stable for his monster and dismounted, leaving the three men that ran up to deal with his mount. Removing his helmet and goggles, he walked off into the hanger towards a large, disk shaped ship that, relative to the other crafts before him, looked like a peace of shit.
Atop the ship was a large furry creature with what might have been an ammo chain wrapped around it's torso. It was holding goggles to it's eyes with one hand, and a welding device of some sort with the other, working on something inside the ship through an open panel.
"Chewy!" the man yelled up the the creature. It didn't hear him, which prompted another bark of "Chewy!" The creature looked down at him, turning the device off and lowering it's goggles. "How's it coming?"
The creature replied with a series of incomprehensible grunts and roars, which were accompanied by a little fist shaking.
"Alright, calm down," the man said, holding up his hands defensively. "I'll see if I can't get a replacement part. But I want this bucket of bolts up and running soon, okay?"
The creature answered with a loud roar before it turned back to it's work. The man walked off through the hanger towards the rear, where a door was placed in the icy wall. It opened automatically as he approached it, and he brushed past a man who might have been a mechanic on his way through. He walked through the cramped halls to his room, where he dumped his helmet and goggles, and took off his eskimo coat, revealing a still heavy, but relatively lighter outfit for the heated base. He exited the room and walked again until he came to what appeared to be a command center of sorts.
"Ah! Commander Solo!" said an important looking man who had just been going over some sort of reading with a woman operating a computer. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, I just wanted to inform you that I'm almost finished making repairs to my ship, and I'll be leaving as soon as I can," Han Solo said.
"We sure wish you wouldn't go and leave us, Han," the man said. Neither of them noticed that they had attracted the attention of a woman who also looked rather important. She had been looking at a computer with another man who looked rather important, with long black hair and glasses. That man noticed that she had been distracted by something, and looked over at the two men.
"Well, Jabba's got such a big price on my head just about every bounty hunter is looking for me," Han replied. "Any longer and it's gonna be so high you guys might turn me in."
"I understand what it's like to have I price on your head, Solo," the man said, holding out a hand. "You're a good man." Han shook it, nodded, and walked out.
The other two who had been observing looked at each other, the man nodded to her, and she took off after him.
Jacob stood from his chair at the computer, checked to make sure that his gun was still in it's holster as he always did out of paranoid habit, and then departed out another door. He moved quickly, and no one made eye contact with him, and the reason wasn't because it was hard, since his hair fell over his right and the left lens of his glasses was cracked slightly.
No, the reason was because everyone in the base knew that there was nothing to see in his eyes, and that looking into his eyes might gain his attention, and you didn't want his attention. Even a twenty-year old could mean trouble for some of the more formidable veterans of the Rebel Alliance.
Jacob reached up and unzipped his black jacket a little, because he was suddenly feeling a bit hot. He was getting deeper into the base, after all, and one usually does feel that way. He approached his office and let the door open for him, then stepped inside to find a young woman of somewhere between sixteen or seventeen nodding off at his desk.
The door closed quietly enough that it didn't disturb her, and Jacob was almost afraid to break the serenity of the moment and stop her from falling onto his desk, fast asleep. However, he decided that he didn't want to have to clean up any drool later, so he tapped Terra on the shoulder. She jumped a bit, and looked up at him. "J-Jacob, I was j-just finishing the paperwork you were having me-"
"Take a nap," Jacob said, gesturing towards his cot. She glanced from the cot, to him, and back to the cot, and then to him again.
"Is that alright?"
"Would I have offered if it wasn't?"
Terra rose, nodded in what might have been a thankful fashion, and walked over to the cot, yawning a bit as she removed her boots and her heavy white uniform.
Jacob sat down in his chair and pulled himself a bit closer to the desk to find that Terra had gone through about half of the files that lay before him. "Good job," Jacob said over his shoulder as Terra slid under his covers and let out what might have been a 'thanks' concealed in a yawn.
Jacob shoved one pile off to the side and started with the next one, pulling the top few sheets down. He looked them over before he decided that paperwork was as boring as watching a ten-hour documentary on the history of ice, and instead pulled what might have been a miniature laptop out of his desk.
He opened it and began to type something rather feverishly, while simultaneously tapping buttons on a machine under his desk with his boot.
"Who're you writin' to?" Terra slurred, gazing at him absently, almost gone.
"No one you know," Jacob replied as he always did.
"... I don't know many peoples..."
"That's true," Jacob said, looking back over at the girl as her eyes closed.
"... I can..."
But Jacob never found out what Terra could, because she fell asleep.
Elsewhere...
Stitch was a bit like that annoying thing that everyone has in their life that they know they can't get rid of because it's become a part of who they are, and someday, it might be useful, no matter how much they want to watch it die slowly and painfully at the moment.
Right now, just about everyone in Echo Base wished that the little blue abomination didn't exist. The only few people who could seem to control or even simply calm Stitch, and yet no one had yet put in a complaint asking for him to be thrown out into the cold icy elements.
No one that was, accept for those in charge of rationing out food, because the cute (and fluffy) ball of death seemed to think that he was entitled to a double helping of anything that he wanted at any given time.
Zidane wasn't quite as bad, but only because he knew that since he was bigger, he would be more likely to get caught. Also, even though he was, at Heart, a thief and a joker, he knew that this was a military operation, and that he needed to show some restraint.
Why had he signed on again? He had walked onto the Shera and decided to impress everyone with his impeccable timing while simultaneously making them think that he was selfless and decent?
Man alive, had this plan backfired so far.
Six months since he had left Radiant Garden... several of which he had spent on this icy hell. Granted, things were never boring with Stitch around; but then again, boring had become a relative term, since life was based around routine here. What was exciting here would have been boring on Radiant Garden, but hey, take what you can get.
He wasn't sure how easy it would be to desert since he couldn't fly, but he was quite convinced that, if push came to shove, he and Stitch could take a pilot and force him to fly them away from this giant excuse for a world.
And yet, for some reason, he hadn't ever more than thought about the possibility and laughed. He hadn't really hatched any ideas, or even considered hatching any. He wanted to be here, even though he couldn't put his finger on why. Perhaps it was because he had the hots for women that carry fire arms, and there were plenty of those here. Or perhaps it was because... he was a decent guy?
... Nah!
Somewhere else in the base...
Kairi adjusted her hat so that it sat a bit less crooked, though it was far to big for her and fell to the side again almost instantly. Then, she found herself questioning just why she even cared what Sora thought of her appearance.
She stepped through the door into Sora's room, and was met with no one.
Kairi sighed. When was Sora ever in his room? When he slept there, and that was only sometimes. But, the question was, where was he now?
He could be out in the mid-day snow, which was not quite as cold as it was during most of the day. Perhaps he was staying in practice with his magic. Or, he could be wandering aimlessly about the halls as he often did, occasionally gaining looks and whispers from grown men. Perhaps he was risking his rank by running about with Zidane and Stitch, trying to break the mundanity of this routine-run life which he obviously hadn't been expecting when he signed on.
Kairi kinda wished that Sora would invite her to come with them some time.
Seemed like, ever since Riku died, and perhaps a bit earlier, Sora had stopped treating her like a friend. More like a co-worker, or something along those lines. He treated her like a woman, and were they still friends she supposed she might have liked that, but right now she would do anything for Sora to treat her like the tomboy she still kinda was.
Again, she found herself questioning exactly why she cared about any of this. She had other friends here!
Oh wait... no she didn't...
Terra would barely speak to her, but then again, she wouldn't speak to anyone, save Jacob. Zidane was always a sexist when he was around her, or at least flirted shamelessly. She liked Stitch, and Stitch liked her, but other than that, there wasn't anyone else.
"He's got to be here somewhere..." she muttered to herself. She stepped away from the door and it closed as she walked away down the hall looking for a certain spiky-haired Keybearer.
Outside...
She wouldn't find Sora in the base, however. She would be much more prudent to trek out through the snow to the crater where the larger ships were concealed, including the Shera. Sora was aboard it, though it was much colder there than it was in the base. However, he was hiding away somewhere he used quite often to escape from all the crap life had thrown at him and the others recently, and had gone inside of Pooh's story book.
Sora had worked for a long time to clear a communication to Radiant Garden so that he could ask Merlin to poof the book to the base. Of course, he lied about his reasons to everyone else. When Merlin agreed to send the book to the deck of the Shera, Cid had come upon it before Sora reached it, since he spent almost all his time on his ship. After Cid went in, however, he found that it was impossible to swear in that world, something which he very much wanted to do because of the numerous annoying residents of the woods.
Sora pulled him out, and Cid said that he never wanted to go back in.
Sora had told Kairi and Zidane about it, and he had taken in with him on several occasions. After Kairi's day in the woods with Marline, Denzel, and Rinoa several months earlier, she enjoyed seeing Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and the works again. Zidane promptly attempted to steal from everyone living in the woods, but found that it was impossible, and he always got busted in the most comedic way possible. Rather than giving up, though, he took it as a new challenge, and continued to attempt thievery, and inadvertently became friends with everyone in the book.
Kairi had suggested that they invite Terra to join them at one point, but Sora had answered with a simple 'no'.
"Why not?" Kairi had asked as she batted away Zidane's tail, which had a habit of resting near Kairi's rear end.
"Because, she's not like us," Sora answered, placing his glass of lemonade on Rabbit's table as said creature, Pooh and Piglet looked up from their drinks to listen.
"What do you mean she's not like us?" Kairi demanded.
"I mean that... well..." Sora seemed a bit lost for words.
"Who are you talking about?" Piglet asked in his patented intimidated voice.
"Terra," Kairi replied shortly as she again bated away Zidane's tail.
"That quiet young girl in red?" Rabbit recalled. "She seemed rather sensible."
"She just stands around all day and stares at you and tilts her head to the side like she doesn't understand what you're talking about," Sora said.
"Pooh Bear does that a lot," Piglet pointed out.
"Well, I am a bear of very little brain."
"She's just too... flat," Sora tired to find words, glancing back at Kairi. "She never shows any emotion of any kind."
Kairi gave him a slightly dirty look and then stood up. "I can't believe you. I'm gone; you can enjoy your stupid little escapism without me."
Kairi walked out the door, leaving Sora in a pretty shocked state. Zidane tapped him on the shoulder and spoke up for the first time. "I'm gonna leave too. I've tried stealing enough to hold me over for a while. Plus, this place doesn't have any bo-"
He couldn't speak. The word was cut off as though he was being censored.
"... No ti-"
Again.
"... No cute butts." He smiled. "Ha ha! I outsmarted the book!" And with that, he stood, gave a little bow towards the rather confused animals, and then departed.
Which brought Sora back to the present. He was feeling kinda guilty about going back to the book for the second time since Kairi and Zidane had bailed on him. Everyone living in the woods was always happy to have him come, but since they all knew that he had a fight of sorts with his other two friends, everything just felt awkward.
After spending only twelve hours (about seven or eight hours in the outside world) inside the book, he felt far to off about things and decided to jump out. He left the book and instantly regretted it as he appeared back in the Shera, which was very cold, even though it was far, far warmer than the outside.
"I'm gonna go and find Kairi," he found himself thinking, though he wasn't sure what he would say when he found her.
He went down to the ramp, bundled up, and walked out into the cold, for very short walk back to the entrance of Echo Base, though it felt much longer.
Somewhere else in the galaxy...
A large table sat in a room shrouded in Darkness. A group of villains chattered amongst themselves as they awaited Maleficent's arrival in the Hall of Empty Melodies.
Recently, she had been able to gain back their faith with a perfectly ingenious plan that would require all of their participation, and everyone would get a personal payoff.
All at once, the click of Maleficent's heels could be heard as she made her classic 'dramatic entrance'. She had done it at every other meeting, and at the others she had burst in with a giant ball of green and black flame. She had failed to impress anyone even the first few times around, so it was a loss to them why she continued her ritual.
The witch stepped up onto the table and looked around at the assembled, and said simply, "Everything is in order."
A brief cheer went up at this.
"We've placed our agents, and you all have made preparations on your own worlds. As soon as Sora and his friends leave Hoth, we will put our plans in motion. They will most likely head to either Disney Castle or Radiant Garden first, so we will have monitors at both locations so we can pick up on where they are headed after that. And, if necessary, we will influence their movements."
"Uh, yeah, about that," said Hades, with the sarcastic voice he always possessed. "They're with a military group, genius. They don't decide where they want to go. The could be on that world for years for all you know!"
"I've already anticipated this," Maleficent replied, with sting in her voice that was meant to put Hades back in line, but had no effect. "If they do not move from the world soon, we will send the Empire details on their location. This is a risky move, as we need to remain anonymous throughout this whole ordeal. However, if push comes to shove, we shall do it. Also, as to how we will get them away from the Rebellion: We've send a team to plant the idea that Sora and his group should leave the bulk of the Rebellion for their own safety."
She gestured to the shadows, where a man in a beige suit emerged and stepped up onto the table as well. His light brown hair was slicked back, and a subtle beard circled his mouth and went up his jaw.
"This is Mr. Cobb," Maleficent said. "He and his team will be infiltrating the base and planting the idea inside of Princess Leia."
"This pipsqueak?" Captain Hook asked suspiciously, swiping his claw at Cobb dismissively. "You'd trust something this important to-"
Suddenly, Hook found that the barrel of a silenced hand gun was shoved in his mouth.
"Please be quiet," Cobb requested. "I'm not interested in killing you."
Hook, wide eyed, nodded slowly, and Cobb removed the gun (to the disappointed sighs of a few other villains who really wanted to see the annoyance blown to hell). He hid it back inside of his jacket, where he must have drawn it from, but no one was sure, because it had been too quick. He glanced at Maleficent and said, "Our deal still stands?"
"But of course."
Cobb nodded, looked around at the other people in the room with an expression that suggested he really didn't want to be doing this, and then got down from the table and walked out, pulling what looked like a spinning top out of his pocket as he went into the Darkness.
Back on Hoth...
Terra was still asleep on Jacob's bed when Kairi came into his room to find him performing a head stand near his wall, facing away from the door. His glasses were laying next to him, and his hair was in a giant lump on the ground.
"Hey Kairi," he said casually as though he wasn't doing anything that would attract odd looks. She didn't find it at all odd that he knew who she was without looking at her. "What's up?"
"Your feet."
"Ah ha. Funny."
"Why are you-?"
"I don't have a damn clue."
He dropped, picked up his glasses, and jumped to his feet, shaking his head so that it looked just as shaggy as ever, and still fell over his right eye. He put his glasses in and turned, and suddenly Kairi was struck with a thought: She had never seen Jacob's eyes properly.
"Now," Jacob said. "I'll ask a bit differently: Why are you here?"
"Sora's gone again."
"He seems to be gone quite a bit, doesn't he?"
"Do you know where he is?"
"Seems to me like you'd be more of an expert on your best friend's location that I would be," Jacob pointed out.
"... Well... we're, uh-"
"Not doing so great in the 'relationship department'. I follow. You know what, though? You guys are both dealing with Riku's death differently. Plus, you can't really blame him for not wanting Terra along."
"How did you know about that?" Kairi demanded.
"Zidane told me."
"You've been having that womanizing little jerk spy on us?"
"No. He just told me."
"... Oh."
"That's a good idea, though."
Kairi gave a little growl before she turned on her heel and left the room in a huff, the door shutting behind her.
Jacob rolled his eyes at her stiff humorlessness, and then walked back to one of the many closet/drawers that were in the wall of the icy room. He slid one open and revealed what looked like a miniature brewing machine, and next to it was a heater.
He opened a hatch for the brewer and looked at the two tiny little vials that were being filled with a bright pink, murky looking liquid. Six months of brewing in the making.
He had told Rinoa that he was brewing love potion seven months ago, and he had meant it. However, he had since thought of a better idea than straight-up synthetically generated love: He had concocted his own custom serum that would enhance whatever feelings one has for the first person of the opposite sex they came into close contact with. Were they to see someone that they simply like, they would think more of them, perhaps a mild crush. Someone that they already love, however, and the feeling would skyrocket. If he could inject Sora and Kairi with the serum and have them both in the same room, then his problems with the Darkness assaulting Kairi would be over.
That reminded him. Jacob went to his desk and grabbed the small computer he had been using from earlier and opened it to see that his readout was downloading.
The second that Kairi had stepped into Jacob's room, a scanner had begun to work on her body. In just a moment, he'd have diagnostics of her Heart, and the Darkness surrounding it. Ever since Riku had died and Sora had started treating Kairi differently, the levels of Darkness around her Heart had almost doubled. If he wasn't so worried for her well being, he would have been fascinated by the fact that she couldn't feel it's presence weighing down on her. He was sure that it had a grip on her mind and feelings by now, and if it broke through and destroyed her status as Princess of Heart, it would only get worse.
The reading came through, and Jacob was disappointed to find that it had gotten even worse since her last visit to his room, which had been shortly before she stopped going to the Hundred Acer Wood. However, he wasn't all that surprised. At this point, keeping Kairi a Princess of Heart would be next to impossible, even if he were to dose Sora and Kairi within the week. The Darkness would still get through, it was so strong now. The only thing left to do at this point was to try and stop her from changing too much once she lost her status. The Darkness would spread throughout her if it was left unchecked, and even someone with as strong a Heart as her would fall for sure.
Damn it, they were going to fall in love with each other, or else!
Somewhere else in the base...
Han Solo really was a bitch.
Princess Leia was fully aware of this when she pursued him out of the command center and demanded that he stay. He flirted shamelessly for a few moments, taunted her, and then proceeded to abandon her like the bitch he was.
Bitch.
... Why couldn't she stop thinking about him?
Why did she even care if he was leaving? She didn't like him anyway. Just one pilot lost to their cause wouldn't be a big deal.
Then again, perhaps it would be. Even though his ship was crap, he really was a fabulous pilot, and she was sure that Luke and others who would have flown beside him would miss his presence.
That didn't merit her personal feelings of hate and betrayal at his departure! She hated the man!
Maybe Luke could talk him out of leaving. He was on better terms with the smuggler than she was, anyway.
Yeah, she'd go track down Luke. He'd be able to help.
In the halls...
Sora was trying to get back to his room while attracting as little attention as he could, but he seemed to fail at this rather badly.
"Sora!"
He groaned and turned to see Kairi coming up to him from behind. He had only been three halls away from his quarters, too...
"Where were you?" Kairi asked, storming up to him, apparently not caring at all for the odd looks and snickers that were coming from the others in the hall.
"Kairi, do you think we could take this-?"
Though Sora never got to suggest where they should take it, because Kairi had slapped him across the face. At this, the several people who had paused to observe the exchange either decided to leave, or to watch and laugh at the teenage angst.
"If you're embarrassed, then you're just going to have to live with that!" Kairi just about yelled. "Now where were you?" "Inside the book," Sora answered honestly.
"And you didn't even invite me?"
"Okay Kairi, I think we need to calm down a bit," Sora said, putting an arm behind her and leading her down the hall, a few of the men they left behind cheering, and shouting 'encore!'.
"You get your hand off of me!" Kairi yelled a turn or two later, and she jumped away from him. They were just outside of Sora's room, but the hall was deserted, much to Sora's relief. "I'm not even mad because of Terra! But you're running off with Zidane and Stitch and having fun all the time, and where am I? It's like he's suddenly just ten times the friend I've ever been? Are you trying to replace Riku or something?"
"What?" Sora asked. "No, of course not! Zidane is nothing like Riku!"
"But what about me?" Kairi yelled, what might have been tears glistening on the bottom rims of her eyes. "Aren't I still your friend? Even when we go into the Hundred Acer Wood you act like I'm... I'm..."
"I don't know what you're talking about-"
"You treat me like I'm a girl!"
Sora looked only a little confused. "... Uh-"
"And, I mean, I know that you kinda treated me like one ever since I lost my Heart, but we were still friends! What happened? I'm just like... I'm just some person you know now! It's like you don't even like me!"
"K-Kairi," Sora stammered out, completely bewildered by Kairi's sudden outburst. "Of course I-!"
"Then act like it! You've been treating me like this ever since Riku died! What is your problem?"
"Kairi, calm down!" Sora insisted, grabbing her hand. "Calm down!"
Suddenly, Kairi froze. She glanced from their hands, to Sora's face, to their hands, and Sora's face.
"... I... I... feel..." she mumbled.
"He's holding my hand..." something in her mind said.
"So what?" another part jumped in. "He's done it before!"
"... He's... holding my hand... and he... he's paying attention to me..."
"Get a hold of yourself!"
Suddenly, Kairi fainted forward into Sora's chest, nearly knocking him over. He grabbed at her and got his arms under hers, stopping her from hitting the ground. He got to his knees and shouted her name once, sounding rather concerned.
She looked up at him, her head lifting slowly as though she was feeling weak, and her eyes looking as though they were about to roll into the back of her head. "S-Sora... I... I lo-"
Her head dropped, and she didn't breathe.
"Kairi? Kairi!"
Sora turned her onto her back and lay her on the cold for of the base, and felt her forehead. She was burning hot. He carried her into the privacy of their room and removed her heavy uniform, tossing it to the side. Now dressed in only the lighter garments she wore underneath, Kairi gave a slight twitch, though she still didn't breathe. Sora thought to perform CPR, but her mouth was clamped shut, and would not open. She twitched more violently, and began to sweat. Sora turned down the heat in the room as much as he could, and then began to cast the more perfected Blizzard spells he had been experimenting with, creating small clouds above her that rained down freezing snow.
"Come on, Kairi..." Sora muttered, taking off more of her clothes, leaving her laying on his bed in nothing more than her plain white camisole.
"He... he's taking my... clothes off..."
Still, her temperature did not lower, and she was thrashing about almost as though she was having a seizure. Sora was at a total loss at that point, so he ran to the door and stepped out into the hall, praying that someone would be there.
As luck would have it, Zidane just happened to be sauntering down the hall that that very moment, with Stitch low on the ground behind the thief, attempting to pounce on his monkey tail.
"Hey Sora. What's up with-?"
"Zidane! I need you to run to the medical center and tell them that we have an emergency!"
Zidane yelped in pain as Stitch clawed his tail, though didn't notice it for long, as he caught sight of Kairi in Sora's room, jerking around on the bed. "Stitch!" he yelled at his blue companion, who let go of his tail with a malevolent giggle. "We're doing something important. Now stop acting like an idiot and come on!"
With that, the two sprinted off down the hall, with Stitch wondering just what was going on, having not seen the red-head.
Sora turned back to Kairi, and ran inside to check her again. He managed to hold her still long enough to check her head, which was as hot as ever. He lifted her up, which was much easier than he had thought it would be, as she stopped twitching almost half as bad after he had his arms under her. He turned, left the room, and moved as fast as he could down the halls after Zidane, knowing that if the droids were ready for his arrival, that could make all the difference.
"He... he's holding me... I want him to touch me... to kiss me... to take everything off..."
The medical ward, several hours later...
Kairi had been loaded into a huge tube filled with a liquid known as bacta. It had some sort of healing something in it, yata-yata-ya that Sora didn't understand. Kairi was still unconscious, with a mask over her face to let her breathe (which she had started doing shortly after Sora picked her up), and there were other things covering her... places.
Lots of tubes and what-not were stuck into her here and there, and the medical droids were running scan after scan of her body. Sora had remained in the observation room since she had been brought in, and had watched everything as it happened, even though he didn't understand about seventy-five percent of the process. Zidane and Stitch had stayed for a while, but had buggered out eventually and only popped in every now and them. Sora had been informed that, during a bathroom break, Jacob had come in, though Sora did not regret missing the man's visit.
It was nearing midnight when one of the droids finally reported to Sora, "Medically, she is in perfect health."
Sora expected the droid to say something else, but nothing came. "What do you mean?"
"We could find no problems with her respiratory or nervous systems," the droid replied. "We thought for a short time that she may have been drugged, or infected in some way, but we found nothing conclusive. Our best guess is that... she made it happen."
Sora waited, but again, the droid said nothing. "She... made that happen to herself?"
"She triggered the symptoms at her own will, yes," the droid replied. "Mentally, that is to say. Perhaps she has undergone some sort of major emotional trauma recently?"
"Well... well, kinda, but nothing this bad!" Sora said.
"We've no better answer for you, Mr. Sora," the droid concluded. "We will run a few more tests, and then she will be taken out of bacta treatment. She will still most likely need time to recuperate, however."
Sora glanced at Kairi for a moment. "I see..." he muttered. He looked back to the droid. "Thank you very much. I'll be back in a bit."
"Just doing my job, sir," the droid said as it turned and left the observation room, heading back inside. Sora left through the other door, back into the base.
The hanger...
Han and Chewbacca were working on the Millennium Falcon, feverishly trying to get the ship repaired and fight-worthy so that they could make their hasty exit. Of course, these things are never that simple.
"What do you mean it's broken?" Han yelled up to his first mate. Chewy looked over the side of the ship at Han, who was working on the bottom. Chewy gave a grunt and a roar, to which Han replied with a "Then fix it, fuzz brain!"
Suddenly, a voice that Han had learned to hate very quickly rang out in the air.
"Captain Solo! Captain Solo, wait!"
Han ran off several words of indecency in his mind as he turned to face a large, robotic man covered in golden plating. At his side was a small, domed robot with legs of sorts at either side, wheels on the bottom.
"3-PO," Han said, the shortened name they often used to refer to the droid more properly known as C-3PO, "I'm not going anywhere, any time soon."
"Ah, well, that's just as well, sir," said the droid, his british accent reminding Han of just how much he hated the golden man. "You see, Princess Leia has a message for you. She's been trying to get to you on your communicator-"
"I switched it off. I don't want to talk to her."
"I see. Anyway, the message: Master Luke hasn't returned yet, and she was wondering if you knew where he was."
R2-D2, the droid at his side, beeped and blooped in his odd language a few times, sounding a bit sad.
"You sure he isn't back yet?" Han asked after a few moments of silence.
"Well I don't know sir, I'm just a messenger."
Han muttered something about recycling metal as he walked towards the rear of the hanger. C-3PO shuffled along behind him, and R2 shifted into drive position, following.
"Deck officer!" Han yelled as he approached a congregation of uniformed men at the rear of the area. "Deck officer! Hey, buddy!" he yelled, spotting the man. He ran over and took no notice of the fact that he was stepping into a conversation that might have been important. "Do you know where Commander Skywalker is?"
"I haven't seen him, sir," he replied, not at all put off by Solo's interruption. Apparently this was a usual thing. "It's possible that he came in through the south entrance."
"It's possible? Then why don't you go find out. It's getting dark out."
"Yes sir," said the man, turning to the other he had been talking to, jerked his head, and the two walked off.
"Excuse me sir," C-3PO said to Han. "But might I inquire just what is going on?"
"Why not?" Han asked, throwing an angry glance at the metal man before walking off.
"Hrm. Impossible man," C-3PO said, looking down at R2. "Come along now, we must go back and find Princess Leia. And, between you and I, I think master Luke is in considerable danger..."
Jacob's room...
Jacob had not moved from his room since he had come in to find Terra falling asleep, other than when he was informed of Kairi's sudden illness and had departed to check on her. He had returned to his room shortly after, his face a straight as one's face could get, though as soon as he actually closed the door to his room, checked to see that Terra was still asleep, he looked mortified.
He had been able to talk about it so 'matter-of-factly' earlier, and now, what? He was terrified... more terrified than he had been in five years...
No, he could make this right. In fact, this may actually work to their benefit. Er... in the big scheme of things. On a personal level, this wasn't going to help them at all. Who knew what kind of changes Kairi would start going through... complete personality overhaul, probably. As long as she didn't know how to control the Darkness, she wouldn't be herself. If they could stop it from spreading, and expel as much of it as they could from her body, she wouldn't even change that much. But that was a tall order indeed... even a confession of love to Sora wouldn't fix her now...
The door to his room opened. He turned to see Sora, giving him one of the nastiest glares Sora had ever given.
"You had me at hello."
Sora gave what might have been a growl at Jacob's sarcasm before he demanded "What happened to Kairi!"
"That's the million dollar question?"
"Answer me!"
"I think I'll wait until the Lightning Round."
"... What?"
"Nothing. You were saying?"
"... You got me off topic!"
"I have a knack for that."
"What. Happened. To Kairi!"
"Well, are you talking in a spiritual sense or a physical one?"
"WHY DID SHE DROP DOWN AND HAVE A SEIZURE!"
"Well, my best guess is that she lost her status as Princess of Heart."
Sora looked like he might kill someone.
"WHAT?"
Jacob glanced out the corner of his eye at Terra, who had woken up upon Sora's arrival, and had since taken to hiding under the covers like a child.
"I answered your question very well, Sora," Jacob said. "She has lost her status as Princess of Heart."
"HOW?"
"My, aren't we inquisitive today?" Sora lifted his hand as though he was going to summon his Keyblade, but Jacob continued talking. "To be completely honest, I don't know," Jacob answered. "All I can tell you is that Darkness has entered her Heart."
There was a long pause. "... But... how... why... what does it mean?"
But Sora didn't find out exactly what it meant, because at that exact second, the door opened again, and Han Solo walked in.
"Ah, Sora," he said. "I went to the medical ward, cause I figured you'd be with your girlfriend-"
"She's NOT my girlfriend!"
"Touchy! But listen, Luke never checked back in earlier today."
"What?" Sora and Jacob asked in unison, with Terra peaking out from under her covers ever so slightly.
"I don't know. But the speeders won't be ready until tomorrow, and Luke'll be dead by then. We're going out on tauntaun, and having someone who can shoot balls of fire should help."
Sora looked back at Jacob, his face clearly saying 'we're not done yet', and then he turned and followed Han out the door.
Jacob stood there staring at the door for several minutes before Terra managed to find it in her to ask "Uh... what's going on?"
Elsewhere in the galaxy...
Agent Texas stepped into a large hanger, where a small squadron of Stormtroopers was awaiting her.
"Good, Tex," Sienex said, something like venom in his voice. "We've... missed you."
"I'm glad you thought I was important enough to delay your briefing," Tex droned shamelessly, falling into line.
"Only because I hate repeating myself," Sienex growled. "We are here," he started, pacing up and down in front of the line. "As most of you know, to carry out the most dangerous, important missions that important figures like the Emperor can possibly commission. We're dispatching today for our first mission: We're to locate a certain world. One unknown to most but a select few across the galaxy."
There was a silence that Sienex might have used for dramatic effect before he said, "The Temple of the Princesses of Heart."
So, obviously, we're starting this one during 'The Empire Strikes Back'. Hey, wasn't the anniversary for the film just a bit ago? It's fate... or rather, FATE OF HEART!
No, I'm not insane. Rather, I'm not any more insane than I was last time around.
Disclaimers? Well, most of it was covered last time, but I don't own Hoth or those snow monster things or the tauntauns. I guess. I want to own one of those tauntaun sleeping bags, but I digress... Oh, and Cobb! Inception, baby! I guess Christopher Nolan owns him.
And for those of you who are concerned, no, this isn't going to be an all 'Star Wars based' fic. Really, only this bit, the ending, and some little chunks here and there will be Star Wars related. You'll just have to wait and see what that means.
Oh, that's right. I own the Temple of the Princesses of Heart. What is it, you ask? My answer:
NO SPOILERS!