Warned
"So," Tara began, "what are you going to do now, Link? With Princess Zelda missing and all…" She asked him. The Hero of Time bit his lip.
"I don't know." He confessed with a shrug. "I've got to find her before all of Hyrule falls into disarray, but I don't even know where to start."
The group of four was sitting on the dry area surrounding the inside of the throne room area Roxas had woken up on, just chatting back and forth.
Sora looked over at Roxas, who had his eyes closed, looking almost entirely peaceful. Sora tilted his head.
"Roxas, what's up?"
"Can't you feel it, Sora?" Roxas asked in return. "The high levels of Twilight in the area… even more so than at the World that Never Was, or in Twilight Town."
Sora looked over at Link, who frowned harshly. "That's not a good thing. Last time Twilight engulfed Hyrule Zant and Ganondorf tried taking over."
"That wasn't completely neutral Twilight, I suspect." Tara commented. "And Ganondorf is nowhere near Twilight. He is as bad as, if not worse than, Xehanort himself."
Sora shuddered visibly, and Roxas cringed. Neither could imagine something worse than Xehanort.
"Actually, if I'm not mistaken, it's because of Ganon that Hyrule becomes the Great Sea…" Tara frowned. Link looked over at her questioningly. "Don't worry; you'll be long dead by then." She assured him. Link nodded slowly.
"Riiight…"
"Actually… does that even happen in this timeline… or is it the other one? Oh I don't know! It's one of them. Wait…" She stood up. "Is this the adult timeline or the child timeline?" She gripped onto her hair. "SHIT! I DUNNO!"
Sora and Roxas both smacked their foreheads.
"I'm not going to ask." Link muttered.
Sora and Roxas jumped as static suddenly started hissing over their radios; Sora's was stored in his pendant, Roxas's in his wristband, all via magic.
"How are you two?"
Sora's radio materialized in his hand. He knew that voice. It sounded weak, or maybe coarse, but whatever it was, it didn't sound normal.
"Riku?" Sora called over the radio. "Riku, where are you?"
"The Palace of Twilight, or at least, that's what the locals call it."
"In the Twilight Realm." Tara rolled her eyes.
"Word coming through is that you guys aren't actually far, just in the other realm. Look, Sora, something's gone wrong in the Spirit World. I don't know what, Fate's not telling me anything. Apparently some of the spirits are escaping, too. She did mention a couple Organization XIII members, though."
Sora groaned. "I really don't want to fight them again…"
"Hey, it's only a few so far, she said. Look, just keep an eye out. Don't want ignorance being the death of you."
"Thanks, Riku."
The static stopped, and Sora's radio vanished.
"What was that thing?" Link asked.
"Just some magic from my home," Sora answered him. "Not Hyrule native stuff." Link nodded and decided not to question it anymore.
"Ah, Keyblade Master, there you are."
Sora looked up, and Tara screamed, darting behind Link.
"Oh shit." Roxas swore.
"And Roxas too! Hey, kid, I still think you shouldn't have left us."
"Oh go fuck off, Xigbar." Roxas growled, getting to his feet. Sora and Link had already done so.
"That's strong language for such a youngster." Xigbar looked at Sora, then at Roxas. "Why are you two years younger than him?"
"You've been dead two years." Roxas answered.
"Ah, really? Such a shame."
"If I remember correctly, I beat you once before." Sora growled.
"I had an epic fail… ten times in a row…" Tara commented.
"Hey, I'm not going to kill you yet. But watch out, next time, you may not be so lucky, kid." Xigbar turned and began to leave through a portal.
"Wait!" Roxas called. Xigbar looked over his shoulder. "Who all is free?"
"If I was just any old dude, I'd tell yah, but because I'm not, you've gotta go find out on your own."
And with that, Xigbar was gone.
Roxas kicked a rock into the wall. It rebounded off with a loud CLACK and hit the water, skipping twice before sinking.
"Well, Axel being Reno, no doubt Axel's gotten free, too…"
"I wonder if Rachael's free." Sora wondered out loud. "I know Riku would be glad if she was…"
"Time will tell." Tara answered with a shrug. Suddenly, she grabbed the slingshot and pebble from her pocket and loaded the weapon. Sora looked at her, trying to figure out why she was aiming at him. Suddenly, she let the pebble fly, hitting a Shadow behind Sora. The Keyblade Master jumped, nearly falling into the water as he did so.
"Okay… Heartless in Hyrule… the dead are waking… I reckon we've got a bit of a problem on our hands…"
Riku stared up at the black sky. This place seemed to suit him much more than the islands… it was all Twilight, which would make it easy living for both a Princess of Heart and the person with the blackest heart in all the worlds. The Twilis were human-like, but they had skin much like Midna's; a pitch black and a deathly white. They also had green patterns somewhere on their bodies, like Midna had on her arms.
"Come inside, it's going to get cold, and I don't want to be here when the remnants of Ganondorf's forces start coming out." Midna said in an almost teasing tone.
"I'll be fine." Riku answered tonelessly. Midna frowned. All he ever did was stand out here alone. "Besides," he added, "if Heartless show up for me, I'm not going to lead them into your home. You've seen enough Darkness."
"What are Heartless?"
"Monsters of the Dark that eat hearts."
"Why would they come for you?"
"I once lost myself to the Darkness, and during that time, I commanded them. They hunger for strong-willed hearts, and only those with strong hearts can wield weapons like my own." Riku explained.
"The past is past, Hero of Darkness."
Riku looked over his shoulder. An entity of light, although wearing a black, medieval cloak, stood there. He hadn't seen her before, but her presence in the Realm of Twilight stood out like a sore thumb. Midna looked shocked.
"Princess Zelda? What… how are you here?"
"I do not know, Midna." Zelda, as Midna had dubbed her, spoke. Her tone was calm and sage-like, holding an immense amount of wisdom, although she was no older than Riku himself. "But I do know that Darkness is once again tainting the land of Hyrule, which has not been pure for centuries, ever since the last time the Picori race was called upon."
"Has Link noticed?"
"I do not know, but I'd assume that, by this point, he would've found out if the evil has reached Ordon once again."
"With all due respect, good and evil are only matters of perspective, Princess." Riku spoke up. "The Darkness looks at you and names you as evil. You look at the Darkness and name it as evil."
"You would know, would you?" Midna teased. Riku glared at her. He didn't care if she was a princess. He did not want problems with his past here.
"Midna," Zelda turned to her Twili counterpart, "let the past be the past. Just because someone was a certain way years ago does not mean they still are. You of all people would know that. After all, I seem to remember a certain imp treating the Blue-Eyed Beast as a servant."
Midna didn't answer. Riku couldn't help but smile.
"Midna, my sister,"
The group of three looked behind them.
"Leera, this is a surprise," Midna smiled as she turned to face the newcomer.
"Unfortunately this isn't under good circumstances. The Goddess Din has been defeated."
Both the Hylian princesses practically became solid blocks of ice.
"How do you know this?" Zelda questioned.
"The Light Spirit, Eldin, has fallen ill without the strength of the Goddess of Fire. The Demon of Destiny, Death, has taken her hostage. Nayru and Farore have found shelter with their sisters, the Decider and the Sage of Destiny for the time being."
"The Eldin Province is then…"
"Shrouded in Twilight." Leera nodded. "Not even the Hero of Time will be able to fix this by returning to the area." She then looked at Riku. "Thought you might come here, it's not a surprise, really." Leera's tone had changed from the calm, sage-like tone it had been to her normal tone. "I'd be careful if I were you. The mark Death left on you is spreading quickly."
"What about Sora?" Riku asked, remembering the mark left on his heart by Death.
"He might fall at any given time. But, if what Fate said is true, then he'll end up here before then. If you're lucky you'll get to say goodbye."
Riku laughed. "This is rich!" He exclaimed. Leera crossed her arms, not impressed. Riku began to pace as he, almost insanely, began to explain why it was, as he put it 'rich'. "First, you tell me that you're my daughter from the future. Then you tell me that your mother is Kairi, who is practically my younger brother's girlfriend. Then you tell me that I kill Kairi in front of you and your brother. Then you say that, ten years later, I transport you, your brother and your cousins into the past, and now you're saying that my brother is going to die within the next few days. This is just," he shook his head, "rich."
"If you want proof for the first part, ask Namine," Leera glared at him. "Okay, if you two," she motioned to Midna and Zelda, "want to talk to me about impending doom, then I'll be off in my room in the palace. I'm sick and tired of his sorry ass, excuse my language." She turned and walked off.
"I think she hates you." Midna commented.
"Nah, you think?" Riku rolled his eyes. He then sighed, and slumped to the ground. "Sora cannot die…" he lowered his head. "I can't let him die… he never let me die. I died twice… and he saved me twice." He felt a gentle hand place itself on his shoulder. He looked up into the calm face of Princess Zelda.
"You won't let your brother die, Prince of Darkness." She assured him. Riku stared up at her. Had she called him 'Prince' of Darkness? He was no prince. Not by a long shot. But he didn't correct her, out of respect if nothing else. "Your heart is strong. Don't let the demon inside taint it." Did she just refer to Xehanort? He stared at her in amazement. How did she know? He had never met her in his life! Without another word, the Hylian princess turned and walked into the palace. Riku stood up.
"I'll come inside in a moment." He told Midna, who nodded and walked inside. Riku's radio materialized in his hand, and he raised it to his mouth. "Sora, find your way to the area where the connection between Light and Twilight is strongest."
"What do you think he meant by that?" Roxas looked at Sora, who shook his head. Tara bit her lip.
"I got it! The coliseum!"
"Where?" Sora and Roxas asked.
"The Desert Coliseum." Link answered. "Before it was destroyed, there was a mirror that linked this world to the Twilight Realm. It was the only known portal between the two realms, but the Twilight Princess shattered it when she returned to her realm. You said your brother was in that realm, Sora," he nodded to the Keyblader, "so there is no way he can leave it."
"I wouldn't be so sure." Sora answered. He felt a pang in his chest, but ignored it. It wasn't hurting majorly, so he wasn't concerned about it right now. He stood up. "Where's the Desert Coliseum?"
"In the Gerudo Desert." Tara answered, "To the east, not that far south from Snowpeak…"she paused, "Hylian geography makes no sense!" She frowned.
"Well, then," Sora stood, "I guess we're going to the Gerudo Desert."
"You lot are insane." Link shook his head. "But, maybe I'll find some leads as to where Zelda went. I guess I'll tag along, although I think your friend here knows more than Shad does." He glanced at Tara, who smiled.
"Sometimes I think she knows more about me than I know about myself." Sora told Link.
"Actually, I do." Tara answered.
"…I'm not going to ask."
"Two words; Castle, Oblivion."
"Like I said, I'm not going to ask."
