Yes, I do write other than Jak and Dax fics. It's just more rare, that's all. ;) This is a continuance of the Kingdom Hearts game series, a sort of alternate future taking place some years after KH2. I first made the idea as a sketched comic of about 10 pages, then realised I wanted to write it down in text. So, here it is, my first try at a KH fanfic!
Another step.
It was supposed to be easy.
Just another step forward.
But Sora just couldn't move.
He tried though.
But sheer willpower couldn't lift his feet any longer.
It had simply been too long a walk, and he was dead tired since days back.
He knew he had to move on though.
It wasn't like there was anything else he could do, but he also had to do it.
Because if he didn't push forward, if he stopped, he was doomed.
His shoes were filled with sand.
But it didn't bother him anymore as he tried to lift his foot off the soft, giving material he'd walked on for such a long time now.
He had sand everywhere.
On him, in him and around him.
Sand.
Heavy cream caramel shaded or hot white dunes, miles upon miles of them in a landscape that never seemed to end.
And the heat.
It made his head spin and his throat dry up, tongue plastered to the roof of his mouth.
Sticky drops of salty sweat was slowly running with the gravitational pull all along his face and body, evaporating in the heat before it even got close to falling off his skin.
Suddenly he stumbled over a rock sticking up from the sand beneath him and fell forwards without reacting, crashing down on the hot ground, tiny grains of glittering sand digging its way into his skin and thrusting up into the air with the soundless thud he made as he landed on his face.
What was the point in trying to move on anyway?
Part of him didn't want to give up just yet. He was still alive, right?
Barely, but still.
The other part told him to give it a rest. There was no reason to keep moving through this dead land.
He was alone.
As he closed his eyes, giving in to the sleep his body so desperately craved, the thoughts started wandering and the memory came back to haunt him in flashes of dark light and crude colours.
He couldn't stop it from happening, even though he wanted to.
He wanted to forget it had ever happened, wanted the memory gone so badly he could have cut his own eyes out if it would've helped.
But it was still there and now that he wasn't occupied in focusing his every last bit of strength on moving, his mind was set free on repeating whatever scenery it felt suited.
-----------------------
"Now don't you guys go away missing on me again, you hear?"
The words Kairi had said echoed in his mind.
She'd been standing on the shore of Destiny Island, showing off a stern face telling them she was serious.
Kairi.
Her hair had sparkled like rubies in the sunshine that day and the clear blue sky above had lulled them all into a feeling of safety. What could possibly go wrong?
Sora had backed off a couple of steps and protectively held his hands up in front of him.
"Hey, it's just a visit, no fighting, no dangers at all! Honestly, Kairi, I think we'll manage to get back before you know it," he had said, trying not to laugh at the silliness of her worries.
"I know that, I'm just…worried. I can't help having this really bad feeling about this, like I'll never see you again," she'd answered him and turned her eyes downwards, as if ashamed for not trusting him to be able take care of himself.
A short laughter from behind him had made Sora look over his shoulder, but not fast enough for him to be able to dodge the firm hand grabbing at his hair and rustling it about as a strong arm had been laid over his shoulders, shaking him for a bit in a friendly way of saying he was still the younger one.
"Don't worry so much, Kairi! I'll keep him in one piece for you," Riku had said, laughter still in his voice. "I'll see to that he comes back here, even if I have to drag him by his hair to do it!"
"Hey! Who ever said I can't take care of myself?" Sora had protested and snuck out of the grip he'd been caught in.
Riku had then laughed, a gentle smile on his lips and a knowing look in his eyes, telling Sora he knew very well what he was capable of.
Kairi had joined in on the laughter and seeing his words had proven true to their purpose, Riku had turned towards Sora, the smile still on his lips.
"Well, you just did that yourself, dummie! All I said was that I'd see you home."
-----------------
As the memory of that fateful day faded away, Sora tried to get himself up on his feet again.
But as he couldn't even manage to move one of his fingers, even less so a leg, he laid still where he was.
And the memories kept moving like living pictures on the back of his eyelids.
----------------
They had been so surprised and filled with expectations when they'd seen the gummiship come in for a landing at the seashore of the island.
Seeing Donald and Goofy again had brought back so many memories and it had been quite a teary reunion with a lot of amazed questionings thrown among them about how things were, how they'd changed and in Sora's and his friends' case, how they'd grown.
As the commotion had faltered though, they'd come to know about the reason for those far off friends to visit them again.
King Mickey had sent for Sora.
There were still things he needed to learn about the keyblade, and talking with Sora about it was as close to gathering serious facts as anything, seeing that he was the one chosen by the magical weapon of legend.
Sora had wanted to go off alone, as it had been requested, but Riku had demanded he should tag along and Kairi had supported the idea as soon as he had told her it was so that he could keep an eye on Sora.
Ever since they'd gotten back on the island after that last overwhelming fight, Riku had never left Sora's side.
It had been a little odd to begin with, but figuring it was something Riku felt he had to do to be at ease, Sora hadn't said anything about it and just let it be.
"I'll never leave you again, Sora. I did all those things to hurt you, even though I didn't want it, and I'll never forgive myself if that ever happened again, so I'm sticking with you this time."
It had sounded almost childish, but the serious expression in his friend's face as he'd said it had stopped Sora from simply waving it off calling it silly.
"Yeah, alright. I guess I could live with that, Riku," he had answered, never believing his friend would actually have to go through any trouble keeping this promise.
The world was back to normal, wasn't it?
He had managed to lock up the hearts of the worlds endangered by the hunger of the heartless.
He had sealed away all the paths between the worlds, defeated the powers that had awakened the darkness causing the door to Kingdom Hearts to open.
Alongside Riku, he'd even managed to defeat Xemnas, who'd proved to be Xehonort.
All was as it had been before it all started.
---------------------
Sora wrinkled his face at the memory of his ignorance back then.
He hadn't known about the never ending quest of the chosen one.
The curse of the key bearer; to never rest, never be able to just be himself – the person apart from the hero and the fighter.
He had actually thought that he could just go back to being the one he'd been before it all happened.
He had tried and his friends had done so as well.
But it had all been in vain.
You don't just forget the never leaving feeling of fear for your own and your friends' lives, the fights with lethal endings, or sleeping lightly, in fear you might get attacked while closing your eyes for too long a period of time.
Just like he couldn't forget what had happened once they'd gotten to Disney Castle that day.
----------------
It had all started out fine.
Chip and Dale had greeted them all with eager chattering at the entrance hall and king Mickey himself had met them halfway to the throne room.
"It's so great to see you boys again!" he had laughed, his entire person telling anyone who could see him that he was honest in what he'd said. "And you've grown, I see. Hah! You'll be in need of a new outfit the next time, won't you, Sora?"
Sora had started at the words "next time".
"Well, I guess… What do you mean, the 'next time'? I thought the door was closed… Have you heard of something I should know about?" he'd asked and suddenly the king's happy face had faded for a moment.
"Hmm, one might say that," he'd sighed, but in the next moment he'd forced the smile back onto his lips and started leading them towards the library.
"These corridors are a lousy place to speak in, too much echoing. Let's gather at a place more comfortable, shall we?" he'd said and Sora, Riku, Donald and Goofy had all followed the king in silence, looking at each other for a sign that told them not to worry.
Once inside the library, King Mickey had rushed up to his studying table in the back of the room and started rummaging about in the piles of papers and books surrounding it.
It had been Riku who'd broken the silence, taking a step forward from the others.
"Your majesty, what's wrong?"
The king had instantly looked up with a troubled look in his eyes.
"I wish I could tell you, my friends, but I honestly don't know it myself," he'd answered and sat down upon a low stack of books, putting his head in his hands.
"There seems to have been a breach between the worlds of light and darkness."
At these words they'd all gasped for breath, not knowing whether or not they could believe it.
The king had continued with a sad face.
"There have been sightings and reports of acts telling me that there is still a way through which the heartless can escape their world. A shadow is growing once again to cover the skies. I still haven't found any true proof of it, but I'm feeling it. The cornerstone of light is fading!"
"What? But that's not possible, is it?" Sora had burst out, remembering the powerful magic protecting the castle and the stone, not to mention the immense powers within the stone itself.
But King Mickey had only sighed and shaken his head slowly, as if he'd started to lose faith in the powers himself.
"I don't know, Sora. I used to think of the stone as being as good as indestructible, but I just don't know anymore. And the worst part is that I can't find the reason for it! That's why I need your help, Sora, yours and the keyblade's."
"But, what can I do?"
"Protect what light is left while searching for and when finding it, destroy what darkness there is to damage it!"
Sora had thought for a moment, worried by what it all meant if darkness still had a way to get into the worlds.
He'd known what he had to do, but the mere thought of having to take up the fight again had made him hesitate, if only for a second.
At the time he'd still been having nightmares of the horrors he'd been forced to face before.
He'd been dreaming of Twilight Town and a life he knew he'd never had, but at the same time knowing he'd lived it.
Fighting his other self, meeting the different sides of the boy called Roxas, still made him feel uneasy with himself, feeling a deep sadness in his heart whenever he thought of what life there could have been for Roxas, had he never discovered his connection with Sora.
Then there was the memory of Axel; a nobody giving up his exsistence in order to save the boy he'd once known as Roxas.
Sora's heart had been on the brink of breaking as he'd seen the man's face fade away without being able to do anything to stop what was happening.
Now, as he was facing another mission that could shatter his already confused mind even more, Sora had admitted to himself he was scared.
But he had to do it, he'd known that all along.
The warm feeling creating the pull in his chest had told him it was something he was meant to do.
The keyblade's will had been telling him to go forward, and so he'd done.
"Alright, your majesty. I don't know how, but I'll do it and I'll give it my best."
The king had showed him a weak smile of gratitude and an apology for having had to beg him do this one more time.
Mickey knew himself what it meant to listen to the will of the blade.
And he also understood that the calling Sora listened to was far stronger than the call he'd followed himself, because Sora was the chosen one.
The one wielding the true blade, chosen by the weapon itself.
And he was still only a boy.
--------------------
Sora woke up from the haze of daydreaming as he realised he'd been falling to sleep.
He had to get up!
The sand gave way as he tried to push himself up and he ended up still lying on his chest, only a few centimetres in front of the old spot.
He had no energy left in his tired muscles and his head was spinning even worse than before, screaming for shade and water.
Slowly, he once more was taken over by the memories.
------------------------
The attack had been unexpected and quick.
Sora and Riku had barely made it out of the room where the fairies had given Sora new magical armour (again), before it hit.
Darkness had covered the hall within an instant, a growling thunder unleashing a shockwave that made the walls quake.
The keyblade was materialised in his hands before Sora had even thought about needing it.
It had been the first time since the fight against Xheonort that Sora had held the blade in his hands.
The familiar weight and the surge of power flowing through him as he gripped the weapon was enough to convince him that the threat was real.
Even Riku had managed to call out his dark wingblade, a black mist evaporating slowly as the weapon of old took its form in his hands.
They'd both waited in the hallway as they'd tried to define which way the danger was coming from, when they heard the sounds of battle starting.
Without a word, they'd both started running as one towards the sound, hoping they wouldn't be too late.
Heartless had been swarming the throne room.
All sorts of the shadow-spawned creatures had been crawling on the walls, the pillars and even upside down at the ceiling, jumping around or walking on the floor.
The light hall was turned dark with their masses and Sora had hesitated to go in for a glimpse of a second, but had done so anyway, urged on by his will to aid his friends and by the blade in his hand commanding him to rid of the evil it was sensing all around them.
And in the midst of all this darkness, a slim, tall figure had been standing calmly, watching the destruction as it went on.
Sora had been the first one to notice the person and had tried his hardest to get closer to him, figuring he was the one responsible for all of it, the one calling for the heartless, just like Maleficent had been doing the first time Sora had been called out to fight as the key bearer.
But this had not been Maleficent.
Sora had managed to break through the wall of heartless surrounding the one in the black hood and just as Sora had called out to his enemy, the man had turned around to face him.
"So this is the famous hero of the light, hm?"
The voice had been raspy and crisp, but filled with such a hate that Sora had not faced before.
Maleficent had not hated him, only what he stood for, and not even the false Ansem, later on known to be the heartless of Xeanhort, had managed to in his state of heartlessness be able to produce such a hatred against him as this man.
"I am, and my name is Sora." Sora had replied, the keyblade held high in a fight-ready position.
"I know you, Sora. I know about all that you've done, what the keyblade have made you do through time. I even know more about you than you know yourself," the man had said and he'd smiled when Sora's face showed the expression of doubt and uncertainty he had been feeling as he'd heard the words.
"Oh yeah? Prove it! I know myself better than anyone!"
"Really? Now tell me then, what happened during those two years that you can't remember?" the man had said calmly with a smirk.
Those few lines had completely brought Sora out of his certainty of what he'd said.
This man was dangerous, and Sora had known it as he'd looked at him, but he hadn't been able to keep his guard up as those words had been thrown at him like weapons.
"I know it all, Sora. I know what you chose to forget when given the chance to keep it with you, I know of the treason you committed against your most trusting friends and I know of all that you did in the shape of a lost boy named Roxas."
As he'd been talking, the man had drawn closer to Sora, who'd been unable to move, shocked and paralyzed by what he'd heard.
The strike had come without a warning, and Sora had been thrown forcefully up in the air and across the room, the keyblade falling out of his grip and making a loud clattering noise as it had hit the floor about the same time as he'd landed with a crash a bit away from it.
Somewhere on his left, Sora had heard Riku cry out for him, but he'd not been able to answer the call, pain travelling fast through his every limb as the magic was doing its effect on him.
"Now look at where you are," the man had said while slowly and without any visible effort walking towards him once more, until he stopped about one stride away and crouched down to look him in the eyes.
"Alone, surrounded by the army of darkness you've so valiantly fought against, obeying the curse of the weapon chained to your destiny." He'd straightened himself up again before he'd continued.
"Don't you see? You're nothing but a puppet for the blade, someone to control and make use of, until you're not able to move anymore. I know. I've seen what it does to those chosen by it, what it does to the innocent lives connected to that person."
Sora had forced himself up back up on his feet, and tried to call for the blade through the bond as always, but hadn't been able to find the strength needed for the concentration it demanded of him.
Again, the man in the black hood had smiled at him, a glimmer of icy blue eyes showing underneath the deep hood putting his face in shadow.
"I. Don't. Believe. You. I, I can't trust…" Sora had breathed out, trying to gather his lost breath and ignoring the pain soaring through him from the hit of the magic the man had thrown at him.
This time the man had laughed, sounding more or less like a madman, a deranged clown.
"Most amusing, boy, but not convincing enough. The ones before you were older, stronger and trained by their precursors, but they still fell as victims of the cause of the blade, of the light. And so will you."
He'd taken another step towards Sora, and sent him crashing into the pillar a couple of meters behind him with a new blow, not as strong as the first one, but still painful.
As he'd fallen down onto his hands and knees, Sora had heard Riku's voice once more from the masses of heartless surrounding him.
It had made him push the pain away and force himself back onto his feet before the man in the black hood had managed to get that close to him again.
With a surge of power called forth from whatever reserves he'd had, Sora had called for the blade once more, and this time it had been successfully summoned into his hands, but he'd been too worn out to do anything more than holding the blade up in front of himself.
"Impressive. But useless," the man had said, lifting his hand to summon his magic for a last blow. "This time you're alone boy, and this time, you will die!"
It had all happened very fast.
An explosion of dark light had come slashing out towards Sora like the blade of a sharp sword, and in the last minute something had been blocking the full force of the spell, but it had still thrown him backwards several meters as something fiercely slashed across his face, making the world turn dark and stained with blood.
Waking up from the short moment of unconsciousness had been a horror.
His right eye was unseeing, no matter how much he blinked he couldn't see anything with it.
And it was hurting, stinging with a pain that came pounding at the back of the eye from inside his skull.
His head had felt like it had been split, face burning with a stinging sensation concentrated at an open scar across his nose bone and left cheek.
Darkness had entered through the wound.
He'd felt it as soon as he'd woken up.
Now it was filling him up entirely in a feeling, close to that he had felt when he'd turned into a heartless, and the feeling he'd had later on as he'd been overtaken by the dark drive, when his attempt to fight in a stronger form had backfired at him.
But something else had been wrong.
He'd felt it as a pain in the heart, something that was missing.
And then he'd seen it.
Only an arms length away, Riku had been lying on his stomach, head bent to the side with blood dripping from his mouth and deep wounds littered his wide spread arms.
Struck with horror at the sight, Sora had scrambled over to his friend and turned him over on his back, trying hard not to think of what it all meant.
He'd been crying out his name in a try to wake him up, but it had been useless.
There had been a scar, deep and wide, covering Riku's chest, coloring the blue and yellow clothing with a deeply red stain.
And there had been no pulse as Sora had touched the side of his neck to confirm if there still was any life left to save.
Riku had been the one blocking the blow, the one taking all the dark power upon himself, in order to save Sora from being killed.
As the realisation hit him, Sora felt tears filling his eyes as a heating fury started to fill up the empty void inside of him, created by the loss of his best friend.
Even before he'd known he'd called for it, the blade was back in his hands and in the instant he turned around towards the cloaked man's laughter, the blade had started to change.
It had taken a sharper form, turning black with rage, stained red with fury and glowing faintly of the darkness that had entered Sora's soul and mind with the magic sent to kill him.
The magic that had killed Riku.
Suddenly the world had turned a lot darker to his vision, and Sora had known that the dark drive was taking him over, using what power he had left in him to make him stronger, no matter what it did to his body.
But he hadn't fought the change.
Instead he'd welcomed it, urged it on.
And as he'd gotten up on his feet, standing with the demonic version of the keyblade ready to strike out on anyone moving against him, Sora knew what he'd have to do. What the blade called him to do.
The enemy, the mysterious man controlling the heartless flooding the castle, had realised the danger and had started to retreat, surprised at what had happened, surprised that the boy so pure of heart that the legendary blade had chosen him for its own wielder, had been able to summon such strength from the darkness.
The beast Sora had become had thrown itself upon the enemy and in one powerful strike hurled him through the air.
The heartless had scattered in an instant, fleeing a force even they'd feared.
The one who'd summoned them, the man in the hood, had managed to escape through a portal of darkness that had closed itself before Sora had had a chance to get through it as well.
Growling with anger and disappointment with the promise of a bloody revenge being lost, Sora had turned around, looking for something else for his claws to sever, and his eyes had met those of his remaining friends.
Sora had turned back into his ordinary self within a breath, falling to his knees as the strength keeping him upright had left him.
The black keyblade had fallen out of his hands and turned into the kingdom key as it hit the floor, to finally disappear into the void of light where it would wait for Sora to summon it once more.
Donald had been the first one to reach him, catching him as he fell.
Goofy had been next, pulling him up in his embrace, making sure he was alive and trying not to cry as Sora started to shiver with the hick-ups of hopeless tears that stained the friend's clothes together with the blood that still had been pouring from the wound in his face.
Then Mickey had joined them, sadness clouding his otherwise so cheerful features as he'd looked up at Sora.
They had all tried to comfort him, and even queen Minnie, when she'd arrived to the room, had tried to heal his scarred face and damaged eye with the aid of her light powers.
But nothing they had said or done had made Sora stop hurting.
And without telling them anything, he'd left them as soon as he'd been able to do so.
He'd taken the gummiship and managed to get away in it.
How he'd done it, without any help from Chip and Dale in the control room of the docking area, he didn't know himself, only that he'd been filled with a feeling of urgency to do something.
And as he'd left the Disney Castle behind him, he'd sensed where to find his enemy.
Something inside of him had pulled him in the right direction and he'd followed the calling through the space between the worlds.
Leaving the familiar routes, he'd started to break through to another cluster of realities.
He'd landed on a few places, fought off a beginning invasion of heartless side by side with the heroes of those worlds; small children with powers he'd never thought they'd have, young women stronger than many of the men he'd met and young men like himself, with their hearts filled with the same light he himself knew he'd once had.
But he'd never stayed any longer than necessary, eager to follow the traces of the man with the dark hood.
Sora had left the light behind, driven by the lust for revenge born in the darkness brought forward by the magic still in him, eating away at his remaining light like a virus.
And so he'd been too obsessed with the chase to see the danger that had been heading towards him.
A huge mass of stone had collided with the ship while Sora had been focused on trying to find the man he'd been hunting.
The meteor had been spotted by the defensive system of the ship, but Sora hadn't listened to the alarm in time to avoid the collision.
He'd been sent off his course, and shortly after the hit, he'd crashed in a new world that had been hidden from his eyes by satellite meteors.
And this world had so far proven itself to be an endless desert.
----------------------------------
Drowzily Sora tried to brush some grains of sand away from his face.
The scar had not wanted to heal completely.
Skin had covered the open wound, but it hadn't closed it, hindered by the dark magic that had forged it.
Luckily the eye had been restored by the queen's healing, so at least he could see well.
Not that it mattered now anyway.
The heat was starting to feel cold.
Sora knew that couldn't be a good sign.
He tried to move, tried to get up once more, but nothing happened.
There was simply no strength left in him.
Sora caught himself thinking of Kairi, back home at the Destiny Islands.
Would she know what had happened?
Would she realise that he'd died, just as she'd known who he'd been when turned into a heartless?
Or would she have to wait, unknowing of it all, until the king managed to get a gummiship sent with the message to her?
Sora stopped his line of thoughts and tried to not think about anything.
But he couldn't help feeling he had failed his friends.
Giving in to the desires of the darkness and rushing straight towards his death hadn't helped them at all.
All it had resulted in, was himself being even more miserable than before, lying alone in the middle of a desert, in what seemed to be the one world in this universe he knew of, that was completely deserted.
He was drifting back into unconsciousness again, when he heard a low, humming sound.
Sora strained his ears to pick up from which direction this sound, what ever it could be, was coming from and forced himself to stay awake.
The humming grew louder, or maybe it just got closer.
Either way, it was getting easier to hear it and soon it was something more like the sound of the engine-room in the gummiship during flight.
It was probably some sort of machine for transportation and it was getting closer by the second.
Sora tried to move once more, tried to make whoever it was that was coming to notice him.
But of course, he wasn't able to do much more than breathe and slightly move his hands about in the sand.
Suddenly the sound stopped.
Sora could hear something move towards him over the hot sand.
Something surprisingly small and fast.
Sora only realised his eyes had closed when he could feel a warm patch of leather touching his forehead, accompanied with something feeling like furry fingers.
He pulled his eyes open to see what it was, and found himself staring into a pair of big blue eyes belonging to an orange animal crouched down on all fours.
The animal suddenly stood up on its hind legs and called out to someone waiting in the background.
"Hey, Jak! Looks like we've got a live one here!"
The last thing Sora thought before he finally allowed himself to fall unconscious, was that he was saved and that somehow, he would make it up to those new friends in any way he could, as soon as he was able to do so.