Hey guys,
So this is just the beginning chapter, but i hope you enjoy it :]
and there are a lot of love triangles, squares in this story, but its mainly focused on KairixSoraxNamine NaminexRoxasxOlette and HaynerxOlettexPence, but there are alot more than that. But those are a surprise ;] hope you enjoy.
and please R&R :]
** Chapter 1: Welcome to Twilight Town
Twilight town bore a subtle, red sky when Sora, Donald and Goofy landed within the quiet, serene world. Immediately, as Sora stepped off the gummy ship, he knew where to go; the usual spot. Sora raced down the cobblestoned streets as he made his way to the alleyway and then saw the metal fencing of 'the usual spot', Donald and Goofy weren't far behind him. Sora pushed away the soft curtain, which acted like a door and beckoned himself inside.
Inside, were Hayner, Pence and Olette. Hayner was the tall blonde boy with his messy hair all put up. He was sitting on a weird contraption they kept in the place, Pence was standing nearby and Olette was sitting on the couch, the three friends were engaged in a conversation. Pence was a little rounder and chubbier, he had black hair that almost fell into his eyes and wore a red headband on his head. Olette had chestnut brown hair, which passed her shoulders and fell onto her chest. Oddly enough all the three children were dressed up in warm clothing and this was odd only because in twilight it rarely got cold enough for sweaters, yet alone scarves and hats and jackets. The three of them smiled when they saw who was at the door.
"Sora!" Hayner yelled.
"Hey!" Olette greeted.
"Long time, no see," Pence exclaimed.
Sora grinned, "Hey guys," he said.
Donlad and Goofy smiled at their friends as well.
"What are you doing here?" Olette asked the three foreigners.
"Official business," Sora said rather proudly.
Donald raised an eyebrow to Sora's cockiness.
Olette grinned.
"Tell 'em Sora," Goofy exclaimed.
Sora gazed around the usual spot and looked at the three friends, a stubly confused smile came upon on his face, "Guess whose moving in?!" he yelled out.
The three Twilight Town friends looked confused.
Hayner dropped his jaw.
"Wait...your moving to Twilight Town?" Pence asked, he was as confused as his two friends.
Sora put his hands behind his head as he looked down at Donald.
"A wizard named Merlin just got a letter from King Mickey," Donald explained.
Hayner, Pence and Olette listened closely.
"The king gave Merlin this letter," Donald said as he held out a yellow-ish piece of paper.
The crew huddle around to look at the piece of paper.
"It says:
Dear Merlin,
It has come to my attention that a new kind of trouble has come up. I know it sounds rather awkward at such times, but somethings causin' all the heartless to act very unusual. Somehow, I'm not sure how, but this links back to heart of the worlds. Could ya tell Sora, Donald, Goofy and Leon to look into the problems occurring within the worlds with the heartless. While I look further into the problem. I've seen some of the strange things that have been happening at the castle and at some of the other worlds. Me and the others are on it, we'll try and take care of the problems deep within the worlds and figure out what's wrong. Just tell Sora, Donald & Goofy to be careful.
Signed,
King Mickey " Donald read out loud.
"Sounds like trouble," Olette said as she peered into Sora's eyes.
Sora nodded.
"But what's this gotta do with you saying 'Moving in'" Hayner questioned.
"Well you gotta think of this as undercover bussy-ness" Goofy said.
"Yeah, undercover business," Sora answered, "Kinda like...SPIES!"
Hayner, Pence and Olette all raised an eyebrow.
"We gotta find out what causing all the trouble here, each of us got sent to a place to see if anything unusual or out of the ordinary happens, cause in King Mickey's letter he spoke of danger and somehow it being connected to all the worlds. So Leon decided to split the group-"
"What group?" Hayner asked.
"The Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee," Goofy answered.
Hayner nodded and turned his attention back to Sora.
"Me, Donald and Goofy were sent to Twilight Town, and Tifa, Leon and Cid were sent to another world, while Cloud, Aerith and Merlin stayed in Hollow Bastion," Sora explained.
"Hmm...So now you gotta stay here and figure out what's wrong?" Olette said.
Donald nodded.
"So we gotta live here in Twilight Town, until the missions done!" Sora announced.
Pence grinned.
"Either way you came at a bad time," Pence stated.
Sora, Donald and Goofy looked confused.
"What d'ya mean?" Sora asked.
"School starts in two days," Pence said.
Olette and Hayner sighed and looked at Sora, Donald and Goofy.
Sora looked back at the kids and sighed too, "UGH! school..."
"That's the least of our problems, Sora," Goofy said.
Sora nodded, "That's true."
"I haven't seen much trouble lately with the heartless, though," Hayner said.
Sora looked at Hayner, "Really?" he asked confused.
"Yeah, no heartless here much, no nobodies either," he responded.
"But we gotta check this place out either way," Sora said.
"Its better to be safe than sorry!" Donald exclaimed.
The twilight town trio agreed.
"Where are you guys gonna stay?" asked Pence.
"We already got that covered," said Sora with a grin, as he reached down into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper and a shiny gold key.
"King Mickey and Merlin already got us covered, Ahyuck!" Goofy elaborated.
Hayner looked surprised, and he walked over to get a peep at the slip of paper in Sora's hand.
" 78 Crown Doors Hotel," Hayner read out loud.
"Oh! I know where that is!" Olette exclaimed.
"Yeah, it's in the residential district," Pence stated, "Follow us!"
Pence and Olette raced out of the usual spot, with the rest of the crew following behind them. Sora gazed at all the buildings around Twilight Town, each had its own special nostalgic feature. He tried to pay attention to where Pence and Olette were leading him, but the atmosphere of the town was all too hypnotizing. Hayner walked in front and Donald and Goofy trailed behind, all capturing the beauty of the town.
"It's not like Destiny Islands," Sora mumbled under his breath softly. Images raced back through his mind, the ocean, the sand, the green leafy palm trees, the mist from the ocean as one would stand on the warm sand, and of course the beautiful sunsets, which he and his friends would watch.
Donald and Goofy looked at their friend.
"Neither is it like the castle," said Goofy.
"Or the Gummi ship!" quacked Donald.
The Gummi ship had become kind of like a second home for the trinity team, most of the time they would spend their time at the gummi ship, when travelling to and from worlds. They would live, sleep and eat there, and since most of their time was spent travelling; most of their time was spent in the gummi ship along with their tiny furry friends Chip and Dale. There wasn't a dull moment with those two around either.
The crew made their way to train station, which wasn't far. The station was quite large with railway tracks and some trains already here. The trains were golden while some of them had been painted with designs in colours from purple to royal blues. A bench was situated along the wall on the platform and Sora made his way there to sit and wait for the train, the others followed him. While waiting Sora posed a question, "What about you guys, where do you guys live?" he asked.
"We live in the residential district too," Olette answered.
"Me and Hayner live really close to each other," Pence explained.
"Don't worry we'll be close by," Olette reassured Sora.
"Yeah," Hayner said.
"I live really close to Roxas," Olette said with a smile.
"Roxas..." Sora said as he remembered the unusual nobody.
All of Sora's friends from Twilight Town were invading his memory.
"Namine?" he asked.
"She lives somewhere else," Hayner responded.
"Huh?" Donald quacked.
"She lives in the old mansion," said Pence.
"All alone?" Sora asked.
"No she lives with her uncle or something?" Hayner answered.
"Uncle..." Sora thought out loud, he had to see who this 'uncle' person was.
"Alright guys, the train's gonna be here soon," Olette said as she got up from the bench and went to wait at the edge of the platform. Hayner and Pence followed and so did Sora, Donald and Goofy.
As soon as the train arrived the crew went onboard. Donald, Goofy and Sora all sat on the train's soft leather seats. Olette, Pence and Hayner all sat opposite to them. They heard the train let out steam and then the slow churning noise of the train starting. The train started moving and they were on their way. The train made a rackety noise as it moved on the train tracks. Sora took the chance to look outside the window and take in the breathtaking view of Twilight Town and all its glory. He thought about moving here, it was just another mission, that's what he had to tell himself. He'd already started to miss home; Destiny Islands, his friends; Riku and Kairi. But it wasn't if he was trapped here, he could use the gummi ship to wrap back anytime for a visit.
"We're almost there!" Olette cried with excitement.
The trinity team all grinned a hollow smile.
Once the train had finally slowed to a stop, the passengers got up and began to exit the train. Sora, Donald and Goofy stepped outside on station; there was a sign that said: SUNSET STATION. It was a large platform, which was made up of cobble stones. This time Hayner led the way as he raced out of the station and on the steps of wonder and led the way into the residential district.
The new area they entered was labelled Sunset Terrace and soon houses came into view, most of them were the same size, but there were some that were bigger than the others and some that was amazingly tiny. There was another train here, it was quite smaller than the one they had just used but it ran through the district.
"That's a fun way to get around," said Sora.
Goofy and Donald nodded in agreement.
Sora read the street signs as they walked around the district.
"That my street!" Olette cried as he pointed out to a street labelled Orangeglow.
Sora looked down the street and nodded.
With enough walking, Hayner finally pointed to a small two storey building. "That's your place," he said.
Sora, Donald and Goofy all started at the building that stood before them. It was a small building, the sign above the glass doors read: Crown Doors. The building had large windows facing the front and some on the side. Sora peered at it for a while and then read the slip, Merlin had given them.
It read: 78 Crown Doors Ht
"We're here," Sora said with little enthusiasm.
"Come on," Donald said as he walked in through the doors.
"Thanks for your help guys," Sora said.
"No problem," Pence replied.
"Anything for you guys," Olette answered with a sincere smile.
Sora smiled back.
"Come on Goofy," he called, as he walked on in with his friend, leaving the twilight town dwellers behind the glass doors.
A fresh scent and nice cool air greeted them as they came inside the building, which had a red carpet on the floor. A waiting area with velvet couches, an exotic plant in a pot was used to decorate a corner of the waiting room and another plant was situated near the golden elevators that stood before them. There was someone near the elevators they were bent over, they seemed like a mechanic and were trying to fix something.
"Where's our place?" Goofy asked.
Sora looked confused, "Lets ask that person," he mumbled.
Sora walked to the mechanic and spoke, "Excuse me," he said.
The person turned around, and looked at the trinity team with their green eyes. The person had blonde hair and it was tied into a pony tail, they wore a funny goggles on their head. And the person was dressed in a orange coloured shirt and green coloured shorts, and they had on a tool belt. The person smiled when they saw the trio. Immediately the person reminded Sora of someone he knew.
"Hi, can I help?" she asked.
"Uhh-" Sora was speechless for a second, "We need some help."
The person giggled, "yes, alright."
"We're actually new, and we don't know where our place is," Sora explained.
The girl got up from her initial position and stood up, she was a bit taller than Sora and almost the same height as Goofy. She looked at the three of them and then looked down at her tool belt and pulled out a rolled piece of paper and opened it up.
"Alright, what are your names?" she asked.
"Sora, Donald and Goofy," Sora said out loud.
The girl nodded and then looked at her huge paper, "Hmm..." she pondered out loud.
Sora, Donald and Goofy all awaited her reply.
"Got it!" she responded with a smirk, "You guys are in suite...two!"
"Oh-" Sora replied.
"Suite two...that's it?" Donald posed.
"Yeah!" The girl giggled again, "This hotels only got four suites! Its a rather small hotel, but I like it that way, right?"
Donald nodded.
"Thanks fer your help," Goofy replied.
"No problem! If you guys run into any trouble come back to ask me, alright?!" she cried outloud with a big smile.
The trio smiled back at her and then Sora reached out and pressed the button for the elevator. The girl went back to doing her work. In a moment there was a 'DING' and the elevator door popped open, and just as Sora, Donald and Goofy were gonna step inside, the girl spoke.
"My names Rikku," she said.
"Thanks Rikku," Sora replied and with that he entered the elevator.
The elevator was plastered in gold and there was a little panel with the buttons. Sora looked at them, there were only two floors. He pressed the button for the second floor and in no time the trio arrived at the second floor. The elevator door opened with another Ding and the three friends beckoned themselves on the second floor and made their way to their suite. The second floor was again covered in red carpet and three doors were visible. The doors were coloured a dark chestnut type colour and each of the doors had a peep hole and a little golden box with the suite number on it. Sora looked for the one that had the number two on it.
"There it is!" Donald quacked with excitement.
"Come on guys!" Sora spoke and reached into his pocket and pulled out a shiny gold key.
He looked at the wooden door and then at the golden handle and the tiny slot for the key. Sora peered at it for a while and then popped the key into the lock and turned it until it heard a slight click. Donald and Goofy both widened their eyes. Sora sighed a sigh of relaxation and then opened the door.
The trio stepped inside to their new home. The floor was hard-wooded a nice deep chestnut colour to match the door. Inside was a small kitchen, a bathroom and three rooms. Right opposite to the door was a large window, that lead out to a balcony.
"Impressive," Sora admitted with a smile.
Donald raced inside and checked out all the furniture that had been laid down already, a TV, sofas, a dining table, a fridge. It had everything.
"It's all fully loaded for us too!" Sora cried with excitement.
Sora and Donald looked at each other and then raced to the rooms. Each bedroom had a bed and closet, and pretty side tables that matched with their bed set. Plush red curtains covered the windows in the room and there was a elegant lamp on the bedside table.
"Not bad, huh," Goofy stated with a chuckle.
"YEAH!" Donald screamed.
"I get the biggest room!" Sora announced.
"Hey! Why should you get the biggest room?!" Donald quacked loudly.
"It's only fair," Sora nagged, "I do all of the hard work."
"What?!" Donald barked back, "Like carrying around a key is hard work!"
"Well there's a reason the Keyblade chose me!" Sora argued back.
Goofy shook his head, "How's bout this fella's. You guys can rock, paper, scissors to see who gets the biggest room."
Sora shot a look at Donald and then nodded in agreement, "Fine," he yelled.
"Alright," Goofy said patiently, "Go!"
"ROCK, PAPER, SISSCORS!" Sora and Donald both chanted.
In the end Sora got paper and Donald had rock, so the little feathered friend lost. He let out a quack of exasperation. Sora jumped in triumph.
"Yeah! I won!" he cried out loud.
"Alright, it's settled Sora gets the big room!" Goofy announced.
Donald gave Sora an evil look.
"I was just joking Donald, you can have the biggest room if you want," Sora responded.
Donald suddenly smiled, "Really?" he asked.
"NOPE!" Sora joked.
Donald jumped on Sora and the two got into a quarrel. Goofy stood aside for a moment and then jumped in to get them both separated. "Alright guys, come on!" Goofy said.
Sora was pulled out of Donald's reach and then he stood up and straightened himself out. After their quarrel Sora made his way to look at all the rooms, and to his misery they were all the same size. He sighed as he realized him and his friend had fought for nothing. Donald made his way into a room with blue curtains instead of red. Sora chose the room with the red curtains and Goofy chose the one with the green ones. After the three of them had settled in their bedrooms, Sora peeped outside to see it was getting dark. He stretched out his hands and jumped into his bed to fall asleep. The soft mattress and comforter snuggled in with his body and he was soon fast asleep.
Sora woke up to the noise of Donald quacking. He groaned as he lifted himself from his comfy bed. He put on his slippers and made his way to the bathroom. After he had entered into the living area and kitchen he went to see what all the commotion was about. The kitchen was a well kept, the stainless steel sink had no dishes in it. The counter was creamy colour and was made up of marble and was sparkling as it had just been waxed. There was fridge situated in the kitchen and it matched the sink and there was a microwave in the other corner. Sora glared at Donald who was out in the balcony. He went out the kitchen, through the dining room and made his way to the balcony, where he saw Donald looking upset.
"What happened?" Sora asked as he rubbed his eyes to get the sand out.
"That bird stole my breakfast!" Donald screamed at the top of his lungs.
Goofy was out on the balcony too, but he was red from laughing.
Sora burst out laughing as well.
Donald crossed his arms and stared at two friends laughing.
"Which bird?" Sora struggled to say since he was laughing so much.
"It flew away, it was black and scary!" Donald explained.
Sora and Goofy couldn't pay attention to his answer because they were practically on the floor laughing. Donald snorted and then walked himself inside.
After the trio had enjoyed themselves a nice breakfast they went outside to find their other friends. Soon Sora was greeted with Hayner, Pence and Olette and now Roxas stood with them; the blonde haired boy with blue piercing eyes.
"Hey Sora, Donald, Goofy!" he exclaimed.
"Hey Roxas!" Donald quacked.
"Hayner told me, you guys are gonna be staying here for a while," he posed.
"Yeah," Sora grinned.
"Try not to get into too much trouble!" Roxas joked.
Goofy laughed.
Sora looked confused, but tried to smile.
"Alright, so you guys live at the new hotel down the street, many people come to stay there!" Roxas explained.
Sora nodded, but he remembered how there were only four suites and on the second floor there was only three.
"Its a pretty nice place though," Sora responded.
"Well I guess you already, pretty much know what's here in Twilight Town, since you've been here already," Roxas said.
"Yeah, all those trips here," Olette said.
The trinity trio nodded.
"Too bad, school's starting soon," said Roxas as he placed his hands behind his head.
Hayner sighed, "Yeah, we could of really had fun but summer's almost over!"
"It's okay, we'll have lots of fun in school too!" Olette said reassuringly.
Sora tried to smile.
"Aw, come on Sora, school's not that bad," Goofy explained.
"Okay, come on, lets make this the best days before school starts!" Olette cried out.
The whole group jumped with excitement.
"Let's go-" Olette paused as she thought, "For a picnic!"
Roxas, Hayner and Pence all laughed.
"What?" Olette asked.
"Nothing! It's a great idea!" Pence replied.
"You, up for it Sora?" Roxas asked.
Sora looked at his new friends here at twilight town and saw the tiny glimmer of hope in his friends eyes.
"Sure!" Sora said with a smile.
"Come on!" Olette yelled with amazement.
The kids were soon off, with Sora and the gang following the Twilight Town friends as they led the way.
"How about Namine?" asked Roxas
The group all stared at each other.
"Yeah, she would probably love to come!" Olette said.
"Someone should go get her," Pence suggested.
"I-" Roxas began.
"We'll get her, besides we haven't met her yet," Sora stated, "And we know where she is, the Old Mansion, right?"
Olette nodded.
"We'll be at Park, okay" Olette explained.
"Ask anyone where it is, if your not sure," Hayner suggested.
"Yeah, we'll get it all set up for you guys," Pence said.
"Alright, we'll meet you there," Sora beamed and with that, Donald and Goofy trailed behind their friend as they headed towards the train.
While on the train, the trio discussed that nothing unusual had been seen while their stay at Twilight Town.
"Nothing out of the ordinary and no heartless," Sora explained.
"Sora! that is unusual!" Donald explained.
"Yeah...usually this place is crowded with nobodies!" Sora responded.
"The underground-" Goofy started.
"Right, that place is filled with them, maybe we should check it out," Sora explained.
Goofy and Donald agreed.
As the trio arrived at the shopping district, Sora took the lead and led them through the underground passage way. The floor here was built of cobble stones as well and the walls were made of stone and painted over. There were lights down there, some were out. Sora cautisouly walked down the slight ramp that led that downstairs into the passageway. Donald and Goofy close behind. Sora peered into the passageway and proceeded. Nothing yet. He had his keyblade out, and ready. It was quiet in the underground tunnel and not a peep was heard. Then suddenly, Sora saw a fire shot that just brushed his arm and went forward and disappeared. He quickly spun around ready and then he saw Donald on the floor, his wand out of his hand.
"Sorry, I slipped," he answered embarrassed.
Sora sighed.
"I guess it's all clear, here," Goofy responded.
"Yeah, now that's unusual!" Sora cried out and they all left the tunnel in the nearest exit. The exit led them to the Market place. The place was busy with people buying stuff and the train marching through the streets. Sora walked down the street, with his friends trailing behind him. And they made their way to the end of the street, they passed buildings and many stores, they even passed a warehouse and an old junkyard. But they made it to the end of the street and proceeded through to the woods. It was awfully quiet in the woods as well. The grass was lush, green and quiet overgrown. There were many trees as well. The trees was tall, that the tops could barely be seen and most of the trees blocked out the sun so it extremely shady and dark even when the sun was up. Sora made his way through the woods when he saw something move in the corner of his eye. He turn around and looked cautiously.
"What's the matter, Sora?" asked Goofy.
"I think something is here," Sora responded.
The trio was completely quiet and they're eyes searched the area for any sign of nobodies or heartless. Then Sora saw something move behind a tree. He quickly made his way there and saw that it was Vivi. The small wizard wore a brown wizard's hat, which quite larger than him, and you could just barely see his eyes glowing from behind. He also had on a dark cape he looked up the boys.
"Its only vivi," Sora sighed.
"Heya Vivi!" Goofy said with a smile.
With that the three friends left for the old mansion. Soon they approached the mansion, its black iron metal gates and the cement wall. Inside he could see the mansion and the broken pillars that were outside of it. Sora bit his lip before he took another step.
"Hayner said that Namine lives with her uncle?" he said softly, "who did he mean?"
Donald looked ahead to the mansion but didnt answer.
Sora thought for a moment but then continued towards the gates, and pushed them open and walked to the front door of the mansion. It was brown and wooden and quite large. He looked for the bell on the side and pressed it. He heard the soft echoing of the bell. And he waited at the porch steps. Soon there was click and door was unlocked. Sora waited for a while but nothing else happened. He slowly reached out for the door and pushed it open. He walked through the door, with Donald and Goofy near him. He entered into the house and saw a table in the centre of the room and the two staircases that led to the second level of the house. Just opposite to the door were the large glass doors that lead to the backyard and garden. Sora had an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He tried to ignore it and look further in the house.
"Hello?" he said out loud.
But there was no response.
"Is anybody there?" he asked again, but was answered with silence, "Namine?!"
Donald and Goofy sighed.
"Sora's there's no one here," Donald said.
"Come on, lets go," Goofy said.
Sora paused for a second and then turned around to walk through the door which his friends were already headed to.
"Leaving so soon?"said a familiar voice behind them.
Sora spun around and so did Donald and Goofy.
In front of them, was a girl standing, with soft fair skin, blue piercing eyes and blonde hair that came a further than her shoulders. She wore a white dress with white sandals and she smiled.
"Sora, Donald, Goofy," she said.
"Namine," the trio responded.
Namine smiled.
"Hey, Namine," Sora said.
"What are you guys doing here?" she asked.
Sora tried to smile and looked at Donald and Goofy, "The usual."
Namine giggled and approached the boys.
"We're gonna be staying here for a while," Sora responded.
"Oh," Namine said with a surprised look.
Donald nodded.
"Yeah, we're at the hotel," Sora responded and he took a gaze around the house. It wasn't the brightest of interior, its decorations were bland, and usually not wanting attention. There was a tiny welcome mat near the door. Sora removed his gaze from the house decorations back to Namine. "Do you live here all alone?"
Namine's eyes widened as she looked at the three friends. She thought for a little bit before answering, "Well...kind of," she said with a little hint of confusion in her voice.
Sora shot her a look, "Kind of?"
Donald tapped his feet.
Namine put her hands behind her back and looked up at the stairs, "Diz lives here as well."
"Diz? You-" Donald started.
"Ansem the wise?," Goofy and Sora both posed.
Namine just nodded sincerely.
"But I thought-" Sora started.
"Yeah, after the whole kingdom hearts thing...but I found him later and he was hurt really badly so Riku helped me take him here so I could take care of him, he's like a father to me," Namine explained.
"Riku," Sora said to himself as he nodded.
"Can we meet him?" Donald asked.
"Well he's asleep right now, he needs his rest," Namine stated honestly.
Goofy looked at Donald, as Donald sighed.
"Well we're going for a picnic, and everyone wants you to come!," Sora explained.
Namine's face suddenly flashed with a smile as she looked at her three friends. "That'd be wonderful," she responded.
"Come on," Sora waved at her to follow them.
And the friends made their way out of the castle and towards the woods. Namine walked behind Sora, Donald and Goofy. Sora was walking the fastest, it wasn't quite hot, but the temperature was just right, even for Sora and his black shirt and shorts. The whole way through the dark woods, Namine didn't say a word. But when the group made their way to the marketplace she eventually spoke and asked a question.
"How's everyone back home? Riku...Kairi?" she asked.
Sora stopped in his tracks for a moment and looked back at her, "They're good, I saw both of them before I left for Hollow Baston-" Sora said.
"Radiant Garden!" Donald corrected.
Sora pretended to ignore Donlad and continue his story, "And then I came straight here, I didn't get time for a trip back home."
Namine nodded, "It's alright Sora, I'm sure this place will eventually grow on you," she spoke with euphoria.
Sora found kind of hard to believe but shot her a smile. Namine raced past Donald, Goofy and Sora as she stood in front of them and smiled.
"I'll make sure of it, I promise, I'll make sure you guys don't get homesick," she proclaimed.
The trinity trio all put a smile on their face, but you couldn't tell if they were really smiling from the inside, or whether they were trying to not hurt Namine's enthusiasm. The rest of the way Namine walked in front and soon enough they were at the train station awaiting the next train to take them to the park. Sora hadn't been to the park in twilight town before, but Namine insisted she knew the way, so the trio had no choice but her follow her lead. As Sora examined the train station, his eyes landed on a rather short girl with light coloured hair, beside the girl was a boy with a strong and built physique and tan skin, his hair was black and he had on a chain around his neck. The last boy was tall, he wore a hat on his head so only tuffs of his blonde hair showed, he had on a blue shirt. Sora knew who the kids were; Fuu, Rai and Seifer. Sora groaned as he noticed Seifer had seen him.
"Don't be intimidated by them," Donald said.
"I know..."Sora responded dully.
Seifer had a smug smile on his face, "Sora, Donald and Goofy, what brings you losers here to the peaceful world of Twilight Town?"
"Peaceful...before you came," snickered the girl with a blue coloured shirt on and her eyes glowing a fiesty red.
Sora tried to ignore them but couldn't help but to talk back, "Anything is peaceful before you guys show up."
Seifer squinted his eyes, and ignored the comment, "I know why you came."
Sora looked at him with hatred and awaited his reply knowing it must be a taunt.
"You came-" Seifer lifted his eyebrows, "to see your girlfriend," and he looked at Namine.
Namine immediately turned red. Sora turned red too.
"She's not my girlfriend!" Sora yelled out.
"Yeah!" quacked Donald, "he already has Kairi!"
Sora looked back at Donald who had spoken behind him and groaned because he knew the feathered friend had only made things worse.
"Kairi?" Seifer snorted.
"I always knew he was that type," Fuu joked.
Rai and Seifer burst out in laughs.
Sora shot all three of them distressful looks, Sora wanted to just pounce on Seifer. His hands turned into a fist and the keyblade shot into his hand. Seifer stopped laughing and gasped as he looked at Sora.
"Look guys he's angry!" he teased.
"Sora! Don't...just let 'em be," Goofy explained to him softly, "you know how they are."
Sora tried to calm himself, Goofy was right, he held the Keyblade more softly in his hands and looked away from Seifer and his gang and looked for the train to pop up. Namine was quiet she was still red and she was looking down at the floor. Just at that moment, they heard the whistle of the train and it came into the station. Sora looked at Seifer, Fuu and Rai.
"You know what guys," Sora started as he looked at them with a cool temper.
Seifer, Fuu and Rai all looked at Sora .
Sora headed to the train as the door opened and the passengers popped out. Donald, Goofy and Namine had already made their way inside and Seifer, Rai and Fuu were on their way inside, but paused when Sora had spoken.
"You guys just need to cool off!" Sora blurted and then a cool breeze shot out of his keyblade and after the snowy breeze had disappeared, Seifer and the group looked down at their feet to notice that they had been frozen to the floor. Stuck, Seifer struggled to move his feet as did Fuu and Rai and they began to panick.
"HEY!" Seifer yelled.
"That's not right, y'know!" Rai exclaimed.
Sora burst out into laughter and shot them a smile before boarding the train, "See you later guys!"
Seifer was red with anger, "Come back here!"
"Get us out of this!" exclaimed Fuu .
But Sora had already boarded the train and the doors shut tight and the group was on their way to the park. The train slowed down to a stop to indicate that they had arrived. Donald and Goofy were the first ones to walk out, Namine followed and then Sora last. Namine led the trio onward towards the park. The station where they had arrived was completely small, it was made out wood and was only a platform and a small place on the side to buy tickets. The rest was all greenery and forest. There was small trail leading away from the station and Namine took to that path. Near the trail Sora noticed a well there; it was made out of bricks and just stood on the side of the trail. Sora and the rest followed. The trail led them to a little area. The wooden sign read: picnic area. There Sora could see Olette, Hayner and everyone else. He smiled softly and then made his way towards them. They had already set up the picnic; there was check sheet that laid on the grass and a small woven basket. There were plates out and spoons and napkins. There was also a big bottle of pop and a tower of cups was neatly arranged around that.
"Looks great!" Goofy cried out.
"You guys made it!" Olette cheered, "I hoped you didn't have trouble getting here."
Sora smirked and shook his head, "Not at all, Namine led the way."
Namine stepped up to meet the others.
"Hey Namine," Hayner, Roxas and Pence all chanted.
Namine smiled, "Hey everyone."
Sora hadn't noticed it before, but there was a certain approval and appreciation that was carried along with Namine's voice and her smile, something that kind of made the person feel warm once they took time to notice it. It seemed like the smile had been through a million miles to make here to her face, like it brought along enjoyment. It kind of reminded him of someone else's smile. Someone who smiled just like her and the smile made him feel warm inside. Sora picked up a plastic plate and sat next to Namine.
"Come on guys! There's lots of food!" Olette announced, "There's sandwiches, potato salad, coleslaw and I packed pudding too."
Roxas laughed and he grabbed a plastic plate and placed a sandwich on it and some coleslaw and sat down next to Namine. Donald, Goofy and Hayner soon made their way to grab their snacks. Sora came back for seconds. Olette and Pence were the last to grab plates and sit down to eat. Olette opened the bottle of pop and handed it to everyone. Sora smiled, he liked his friends here. In fact, back at Destiny Islands, he'd have had a picnic before. Soon all the food was completely wiped out and the bottle of pop wiped dry. All the friends' stomach were full. Sora stretched out his hands and almost fell on his back.
"Hey! Let's explore this place!" Donald cried out.
"Yeah!" Sora said bursting with enthusiasm.
"You guys go ahead without me, I got to clean up," said Olettte.
Sora bounced on his feet and made his way to the top of the next hill he saw. The rest of the group chased after him, except for Olette. Sora looked at the horizon from the top of the hill. The sky was red and sun could be half seen. Sora smiled as he basked in the warmth of the sun, the others followed his lead. Everyone closed their eyes and took in the sensual feeling of the sun and the scenery before them. Sora peeped his eyes open and got a mischievous idea he stood behind Hayner and pushed his back, and did so with Donald and Goofy, the three of them went tumbling down the hill.
"SORRRAAAA!!!" they all yelled as they rolled down the hill.
The rest of the kids on top of the hill popped their eyes open but it was too late Sora had come to shove them off; he pushed Pence, Roxas, and Namine. But Roxas and Namine weren't going to go down alone, Roxas grabbed one of Sora's hands and Namine grabbed the other just as the two of them were going to tumble down the grass covered hill. Just as they tumbled, Sora was flown across the top of the hill and skidded down the hill like the rest of them. Roxas tumbled into Pence and then tumbled into Goofy and then Donald and finally he rolled out to the side of the hill where he couldn't be seen. Laughter and screams could be heard as the whole crew tumbled down the hill. Sora tumbled down the hill as well and just as they made it to the end he bumped into Namine, who still had his wrist tight in her clutches. The momentum of the whole ride down the hill knocked him over Namine and almost ended up on top of her. His hands flat on the ground, his arms were flexed so he wouldn't squish her. He looked down at her, and Namine was smiling. The same smile he had seen before. Her hair was a mess and her white dress was now stained green. Sora turned red and then moved his hands away and slowly lifted himself. He held out his hand and helped Namine up as well. Hayner almost pounced on Sora.
"Sora!" he yelled.
Sora grinned.
"SORA!" someone yelled out loud unsoundly.
Sora almost cringed when he heard it and turned around to see Roxas. He wasn't only covered in green grass stains but he was covered in mud. Sora burst out laughing. Roxas was fuming with anger he chased Sora. The whole crew burst out laughing. Roxas bumped into Hayner and got him all muddy as well. Hayner was as angry as well, and chased after Roxas who chased after Sora. After the whole commotion Olette joined them only to see the boys had gotten into a big fight and were now cleaning up by the well. Namine helped Olette carry all the stuff and they made their way to join all of the boys.
"Its so funny, having Sora here is fun," Namine said with a smile.
"Yeah it sure is different, but it's fun, your right," Olette agreed.
"Sora and Roxas may look the same but they're both so different," Namine said.
Olette thought about what Namine has said. They were completely different in most ways.
"Roxas is- well Sora is-" Namine began, but got lost in how to explain it, "you know what I mean."
Olette didn't know what Namine was indicating but nodded her head in agreement anyways, "yeah," she responded.
The two girls didn't talk much until they reached the boys. It had already gotten quite a bit dark. Olette giggled as she saw their faces were covered in mud streaks and there were dirt on their faces. Olette saw Roxas face it had a little dust of dirt on the side of his cheek, out of habit Olette licked the sleeve of her dark blue jacket and wiped the dirt off of Roxas's cheek. She only realized what she had done when he looked at Roxas's face; he was awestricken and was frozen. Olette wanted to hit herself on the head; she tried to pull off a smile and hoped no one else saw that. But she was lucky they didn't everyone else was busy in getting themselves clean. Olette looked down to the floor and slowly moved away from Roxas.
After a while of trying to get them clean, the group made their way to the train station. Luckily the train arrived in a few minutes and they were on their way back. Sora sat on the seat in the train, he was tried. It had been a long day. He closed his eyes for a while on the ride and suddenly he Kairi flowed through his thoughts.
Sora was sitting on the dock looking out to the sea, when Kairi came up behind him and took a seat next to him. The ocean before them was fresh and slow, it was a warm day, but still there was a cool breeze flowing in from the ocean. Kairi looked at Sora with her sapphire blue eyes.
"Sora," she said softly, "Don't ever change."
Sora looked back at her, his eyes gazed at her light skin, long thick black eyelashes that brought out her blue eyes, her pink lips, and her crimson hair. Kairi had a sincere look on her face, but behind that sincerity was always a little mischievous and high-spirited girl. Sora would lose himself in her eyes. Kairi's smile changed a little and turned a little more tease-full.
"Sora?!," she said out loud, "EARTH TO SORA!"
"Sora!" he heard the name pierce through his thoughts and shook him slightly, Sora jolted and his eyes popped open as he woke up to see his friends staring at him.
"Sora!" Hayner barked again, "Come on! It's our stop."
Sora immediately got up and shook his head as he stepped out of the train and onto the station. They were at Sunset Station and it was completely dark, there were a few stars that shined in the sky. Everyone looked tired.
"Time to go home," Hayner said with a yawn.
"Yeah, I'd better get going," Namine said.
"Me too, I've got to go work tomorrow in the morning," Olette explained.
"You work?" Sora asked.
"Yeah," Olette answered blandly, "The Twilight Icecream Parlour, drop by tomorrow," she finished with a wink.
Sora blushed and smiled, "Sure."
"Wait, you girls are gonna go home alone this late?" Donald asked.
Namine froze and so did Olette.
"No-" Olette began, "Roxas is coming with me, right?"
Roxas looked at Olette and then at Namine.
"Yeah, he lives really close to Olette," Hayner explained.
"But Namine-" Roxas began.
"What about Namine?" asked Sora.
"Since you asked, you can escort her home!" Hayner suggested with a chuckle.
Pence and Donald agreed.
Roxas shot Sora a blank look.
"What?!" Sora blurted, "I-huh?-I-"
"You know where she lives," Hayner said as he stretched his arms, "Good night guys!"
"Night!" Olette chimed as she walked home with Roxas trailing behind.
Donald and Goofy made their way home as well.
Soon Sora was left with Namine. Sora sighed. He looked at Namine.
"I know a shortcut-" he said.
Namine looked surprised, "Let's go."
Sora led Namine to the nearest tunnel way. The two entered into the tunnel way and walked down the small halls and passageways. Namine followed Sora as he took the turns and soon enough he took one last turn and came to an exit. When they popped out, they were at the Market Place. Namine was surprised.
"Wow! It is a shortcut!" she said.
Sora smiled. And the two walked all the way to the old mansion and they passed the dense woods on the way there. Sora walked Namine all the way to the door. Namine stopped and smiled.
"Thanks Sora, this means a lot," she said.
"No problem, what are friends for," Sora responded truthfully.
Sora saw Namine's eyes light up. Again somewhere in Sora's head something lit up as well, he had seen all this before. He ignored the voice in his head and looked at her. With a soft "Bye" she waved goodbye and entered into her house.
On his way back to the hotel, thoughts raced through his head about twilight town, about destiny islands, about Kairi. Mainly about Kairi, from growing up with her, he had made a huge attachment to her ever since he was a kid. He would remember getting jealous of Riku, when he proved to be better at almost everything, especially impressing Kairi. Sora shook his head bluntly; he gazed up at the stars of the night sky. Why I can not stop thinking of her, he thought. She's just a friend...a friend I care about a lot, a friend who I miss terribly, and a friend I can't live without. When Sora thought about all that, he wondered if he ever thought of Kairi as more than a friend. He deeply exhaled as he took a stop in the middle of street. Suddenly, there was a sound of a quick scurry behind him. Sora spun around as quickly as a fox, as he peered along the tail of his travel, gazing into the darkness. Immediately the keyblade flashed into his hands. Sora held it tightly next to him, the heat from the freshly beckoned keyblade close to his body.
"Who's there?!" he yelled out loud.
There was no reply.
Sora squinted his eyes, in an attempt to see better, but it was useless. The street was completely dark, with only the light from the stars to light the way home. Then again, the scurry was heard for the second time. As Sora followed the vexing noise, he looked straight ahead to see the noise disappear into an alley. Without thinking, Sora raced after it, keyblade in hand. He entered into the even darker alleyway, straining to see the creature within all the blackness that surrounded him.
"Come out!" Sora yelled intensely.
Then Sora heard a scuffle and the creature making the noise, flew up and raced out of the alley, Sora watched it leave, a black bird. It flew into the starlit sky. Sora stared at it until it became out of sight, he left the alleyway and proceeded home. As he entered into the suite, his two friends were deep into sleep. Sora stretched his arms of fatigue and then fell into his bed, the soft pillows and mattress welcomed him into slumber.
The weather was much cooler, Sora pulled on a jacket before he went to meet his friends at the Ice cream Parlour. It wasn't hard finding and exploring the city, many of places he already knew, it was just a fact of finding the new sights, and that wasn't a problem with his tour guide friend's with him. This time Pence had led the trio from their hotel to the ice cream parlour. The small shop in the market place, welcomed them inside. Within the store, he saw Roxas and Hayner occupying a small table. Pence, along with the rest of them approached the table and took a seat. The store was completely empty, it wasn't quite big either, just a few small tables and huge counter up front where one could place their order.
"Isn't it a little too cold for ice cream?" Sora asked briskly.
Roxas flashed him a smile, "finally taking notice of the cold weather eh."
Sora nodded sincerely, but still seeked for an answer to his question.
"Olette works here," Hayner spoke, "thought we would drop by."
Sora then realized, that Olette had told them she would be working today, and he nodded.
Soon enough, a brown hair girl could be seen, coming from behind the counter and approaching the boys at the table.
"Hey, you guys came!" She cried happily.
"It was mostly Hayner that forced us to do this," Roxas blurted out, which caused Hayner to elbow his friend Roxas. Roxas groaned in pain, as Hayner shot Olette a shy smile.
Pence giggled softly to himself.
"School's tomorrow, better get all your fun in today," Olette said with a smile.
"Hey!" Hayner's eyes lit up, "I know just what we can do today!"
The rest of the crew listened to him carefully.
"You know that train, the one that comes once every month or so," he paused for a second, "Lets take a ride on that train, and see where it goes, take it all the way to the end!"
Roxas looked at Hayner eyes as they widened, "There's no point, remember we asked people about where it goes, they said it goes to the twilight lighthouse,"
"Wait-" Sora interrupted, "There's a twilight lighthouse?"
"Yeah, twilight town has a beach," Hayner said.
"Quite a nice one too," Pence added in.
"We just haven't visited it quite often, 'cause it's really far away, there's a ocean and everything, and like every ocean you need a good lighthouse to keep track of boats. The lighthouse it further down from the beach though," Olette explained.
Sora looked at Donald and Goofy, "Looks like an undiscovered place, think we should go pay it a visit?"
Donald looked at Goofy for an answer.
Goofy nodded in agreement.
"Alright, I say we pay this lighthouse a visit then!" Sora exclaimed as he stood up from his seat.
The twilight town trio stared in awe at Sora's enthusiasm.
"It's settled then," Hayner said with determination in his voice, "let's go to the lighthouse!"
Roxas felt butterflies in his stomach, somehow this idea didn't seem as great to him, but he couldn't leave his friends to go on an adventure without him. The boys all got up from their seats, waved bye to Olette as they left the Ice cream Parlour, Roxas was one of the last ones to get up. As he slowly put on his jacket and headed towards the door. He stopped in his tracks, when Olette called his name, "Roxas!"
He turned to look back at his friend. Olette walked up to him slowly, she gazed into his sapphire blue eyes, and then she looked down and grabbed his hand. The warmth of her hand seeped through his icy cold fingers, a warm tingly feeling ran across his entire body. He gazed at her carefully, her soft pale skin and brown tousled hair. She paused for a second, and then pulled something out of her pocket, it was a little blue pebble, but this one was unusually shaped. The shape kind of resembled a star, it gleamed when the light caught the minerals within the rock, and Roxas stared at it as Olette put it in his hands.
"Can you do me a favour?" She said softly.
Roxas felt himself, leaving the conscious world, he felt dreamy as she talked to him, but he tried to focus on what she was saying.
"Hold on to this for me, I took it once from the beach before, but I've always felt a strong connection to it," she spoke with sincerity in her voice, and with that she let go of his hand.
Roxas held the pebble tight in his hands, "yeah…always," he said in his trance. He put the pebble in his pocket and then walked out the door; into the chilly serene weather outside. He saw the rest of the group just a little ways ahead of him, and he raced to catch up to them.
"Something about this, doesn't feel so great," he whispered to Hayner.
Hayner looked at Roxas, "Come on man, where's your sense of adventure?! This is going to be fun; I've always wanted to go to that lighthouse, just take the train as far as it goes."
Roxas noticed all the excitement pouring out Hayner as he spoke and forced a smile on his face, "Alright, you know I've always got your back man."
Hayner smiled at his friend, they'd been best friends since they were kids, if anyone could understand him, it was Roxas. From the marketplace they approached the train station and waited for this so-called mysterious train. Outside, the sky began to darken with grey clouds; Sora watched them hover over twilight town from the window within the station. There was a distant whistle; a train was pulling into the station. As Sora saw it come it, shivers ran down his back, the train was black, with silver and gold lining, it didn't look as new as some of the other trains, but it still gleamed through its black coat. It churned to a stop, as smoke emitted from its chimney. Sora looked at his friends, they all seemed eager as him to get on that train, Roxas however showed a hint of anguished feeling. Sora got up, followed by the others as they made their way to the train. The black doors of the train opened, welcoming them inside.
Sora slowly took a step into the train, as so did Donald, Goofy, Hayner, Pence and Roxas, all walking into the train, expecting the unknown.
**end of chapter 1
