Prologue
"And you call yourself a Keyblade Master? Don't make me laugh. You're weak. You don't even deserve to wield a Keyblade."
Sora struggled to get onto his hands and knees. "I'm not weak. . . And I'm not a coward either." He shook his head. "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why are you doing this?! Because of you, Kiari's evil! If you ask me. . . You're the ones who don't deserve to wield a Keyblade!" he screamed.
"Big words for such a little brat," Kira laughed. She stepped away from him and held her Keyblade up into the air. "Come Joshua. To my Kavern." She smiled. "And see you soon, Sota."
He nodded and then held his Keyblade into the air as she did. A light shimmered around them and Then, in an instant, the both of them vanished into golden sparkles which melted away in the air.
"Where. . . Where'd they go?" Sora asked his father, wide-eyed.
"They went back to the real world," he answered. Then hesitantly, he added, "To declare the Keyblade War on the worlds."
Day 22
Joining Together
On the couch, the two brothers sat. They looked back and forth at each other and exchanged glances until they both realized that they were crying.
Their other brother in front of them sighed and then told them, "Can you stop crying already? I said that it's going to be all right. There's no need to continue weeping about what happened. Ryan proudly gave his life to protect all of us so the least you can do is try to act tough and proud of him."
"We don't care if he died in pride or in shame!" the boy with the ebony hair yelled.
The younger brother sitting next to him joined in. "We just want our brother back!"
"Stop fighting!" All three of the boys turned to see Emily staring at them. "That's enough. . . Just. . . Just stop. You should be trying to support each other. . . Not fighting. . . Amiamon please. . . I've seen enough fighting for today. . ."
The green-haired boy sighed. "Okay. I'm sorry," Amiamon apologized. "But still, Zack, Taylor, you have to be strong now. Ryan's gone, so what are you going to do now?"
Zack brushed some of his black hair out of his eyes. He shrugged. "I'm not sure. . ." He glanced at Taylor who was still sitting next to him. "We were wondering if maybe we could just stick with you. . . I mean, you still are our brother. . . Aren't you?"
Amiamon sighed. "You're already here anyway. Fine. I don't care if you stay with me." He smiled. "Brothers help each other." He turned to Emily. "Do you care if they stay here with us?"
Emily shook her head. "No. My father would have happily taken you in."
"Thank you," Zack said sincerely to the little girl. "I'm sorry about your father though. . ."
"It's okay. . ."
Taylor elbowed Zack in the ribs for mentioning the little girl's deceased father. "So um. . . Do we get our own rooms?"
"Sure. I'll show you you're room." Emily took Taylor's hand and led him away. Zack stood up from the couch and then paced over to Amiamon who was staring out the window.
"Do you think that Lamont and the others will come back for us?"
"They might. One of us will have to keep watch each night just in case. We can't fight them if they come, so we'll just have to keep moving if they try to track us down," Amiamon answered.
"They killed Ryan. . . And even Sanji and Savannah. They killed Sam too."
"I know that. . . Don't mention them around Emily. Her father's death troubled her enough. She doesn't need to be reminded about her cousins."
"Yeah. Poor kid. . ." Zack sighed. "Do you want me to take the first watch? You've been up all day and all night. You deserve the rest."
Amiamon nodded. "Yeah. . . Okay. . ." As he trailed into the house, Zack took Amiamon's place at keeping watch. He often found himself staring up into the sky. All he could think about was his older brother.