The next morning, in Radiant Garden, a gummy ship docked on a small platform extending from a balcony on the massive castle in the center of town.
From the glowing blue boarding beam, a figure dressed in white dress shirt under a black business suit with matching tie, dress pants and freshly shined black dress shoes emerged.
As the figure approached the end of a ramp, a red spiky haired man in a similar uniform approached from the hallway, except his tie had a noticeable flame design on it.
"Well, well, well, I never thought that I'd see you again." The man said with a smile.
"Axel?! Is it really you?!" the figure asked.
"Yep, I see you still…'Got it memorized." Axel said with a grin as he tapped his forehead twice.
The figure smiled and then started looking around.
"If you're here…then does that mean that…he…is here too?" the figure asked hopefully as Axel shook his head.
"No but I do know he's alive and well, and has two parents that care for him now." Axel replied as the figure lowered its head.
"I understand…" it said, "…but at least he's happy."
"Right…so are ya returning to duty?" Axel asked as the figure nodded.
"Great, then you're gonna need to see Tseng. He's the new head honcho for security around here and he's who you need to talk with to get reactivated." Axel explained as the figure nodded and walked towards the hallway.
"By the way…what's your name again?" Axel asked sheepishly as the feminine figure turned her orange haired head towards the ex-nobody turned Turk and replied with a smile…
"I'm Cissnei."
Meanwhile, back on the Destiny Islands.
Blurred images, fuzzy silhouettes, and indistinguishable voices filled Roxas's mind as he allowed Namine to enter his memories.
"AUGH!!" he screamed as the rush of memories quickly gave him a migraine that subsided instantly as Namine stopped.
"Sorry." She apologized caringly as Roxas caught his breath.
"You don't have to apologize, Namine." Roxas replied.
"I don't recall her powers being painful." Riku said from the sideways tree.
"I don't understand it…" Namine said as she absently started drawing on her drawing pad, "…my powers never did any physical harm on anyone before."
"Perhaps it's a negative side effect from when I erased his mind." Riku replied as Namine shrugged.
"It's possible." Namine said as an idea entered Kairi's mind.
"Maybe if he saw what it was he forgot…perhaps it could repair the damage." Kairi suggested.
"Therapy." Fuu added.
"Oh yeah, like having familiar objects surrounding amnesia patients is believed to help them remember more easily." Sora said as the others nodded.
"Say…" Olette said as she noticed Namine's drawing, "…what are you drawing there Namine?"
"Huh?" Namine asked as she looked down and saw that she had drawn what appeared to be a strange, four pointed star-like object.
"It looks sort of like the weapon that Yuffie uses." Sora said as he looked at the drawing, as Namine silently realized that it wasn't what Roxas had forgotten…but who.
"Oh my…" she whispered, "…so that's what it is."
"What was that?" Riku asked.
"Nothing." Namine said with a smile as they heard a strange whirring noise, in the distance.
"Zack?!" Hayner asked as they saw Zack riding towards the island on a motor boat. He looked worried.
As the boat got close to the bridge, he killed the motor as it slowly drifted to a slow stop.
"Zack! What's up!?" Riku asked as with one leap Zack was on the island.
"How did you do that?!" Sora asked surprised.
"No time to explain!" Zack said quickly, "We have to get packing and quick!"
"Huh why?!" Namine asked.
"I got a call from Fixer less than thirty minutes ago, the world known as Rocket Town vanished off the maps last night." Zack reported, "Then this morning, the world known as Costa Del Sol vanished too."
The heroes hearts all sank at the news.
"The heartless?!" Sora asked as Zack shrugged.
"The reports from what few survivors recall men in gray suits with glowing light blue lines all over their suits going after heavily populated worlds and capturing as many people as possible…why I don't know." Zack explained.
Later…
Everyone had been packing like crazy, and still was as Roxas turned to Sora.
"Hey Sora…" he said as he put a skate board with the number XIII on the bottom into a big cardboard box, "…aren't the islands generally unknown to the rest of the worlds?"
"Yep." Sora replied as he put a few of his old Keyblade key chains into an old tackle box.
"And this world is probably the most well protected with us Keybearers living here right?" Roxas asked.
"Right." Sora replied.
"So why the sudden urge to run…why are we running and not fighting?" Roxas asked.
"Because something has Zack and Ms. Aqua spooked that's why." Riku said as he entered the doorway.
"Like what?" Sora asked.
"Beats me, he keeps muttering something about Meteor and Midgar, and he keeps looking up at the sky at random moments saying and I quote, 'Where are you when I need you?" Riku explained as Sora and Roxas looked at each other with concerned looks on their faces.
"Midgar…wait wasn't that the place where Cloud battled Sephiroth and finally defeated him?" Roxas asked as he recalled his first adventure as an independent being.
"Yeah…the same place where Fuu got her eye slashed too." Riku replied as he rubbed his chest. Sora and Roxas both noticed this.
"What…ever happened to Xiruk?" Sora asked as Riku sighed.
"I still hear his voice echoing inside my head at times, but he has no control over me." Riku said as Roxas and Sora looked at each other, and both remembered their encounters with Riku's nobody, Xiruk – the Guardian of Darkness.
"I just hope we don't see him again." Sora said as Riku nodded.
"Me too." Riku replied as he walked away.
Meanwhile…
Aqua was packing what she had into a suitcase in her bedroom as Olette walked up with a hand full of old photos.
"Where do you want these?" she asked as she showed Aqua the photos. They were of a much younger Aqua and a man with red hair like Kairi's. Aqua paused and sighed at the photos.
"I'll take them." She said as she took the photos and stuffed them in a pocket on the top of the suitcase. As Olette walked out the door, Aqua turned towards the window that overlooked a small garden that Aerith, Olette, Kairi, Namine, Yuna, and Selphie had been keeping up for her.
It was a small yet beautiful garden, filled with a whole variety of flowers. Including a unique red rose with black stem that Yuna called the Auron Rose. But the flowers weren't the reason she had allowed them to maintain it, for it was not just a garden…it was a grave.
In the center of the garden was a single black Keyblade with a curved orange tooth embedded into the ground with a small plaque in front of the Keyblade that read in a language that very few people knew…
"Vun druca fru ryja vymmah, Vun druca fru yna mucd, Vun dra uha so raynd uhla pamuhkat. Nacd eh dra Bayla dryd oui hajan vuiht eh meva."
Which when translated read, "For those who have fallen, For those who are lost, For the one my heart once belonged. Rest in the Peace that you never found in life."
Aqua quietly walked out through the back door to the house and around to the garden. She looked at the Keyblade and after a moment grabbed it and pulled it from the ground.
"No one shall defile your resting place my beloved…I promise." Aqua said quietly as she wrapped the Keyblade in a long white cloth and carried it back inside.
Later…
Ven walked out the front door to his house as Rai and Seifer were loading the last of the cargo.
Seifer still looked the same except he didn't wear his ski-cap anymore, revealing the mullet underneath. Rai was still the same except he had an orange vest over his orange tank top.
"I don't get why we're running ya' know?" Rai asked Seifer who shrugged.
"I have no idea either Rai, but if what Zack said is true…" Ven said as he stopped dead in his tracks as he started shifting his eyes around as if he heard something.
Suddenly he summoned his Keyblade and looked to the skies. The sky turned dark as a massive gummy ship appeared overhead and a swarm of military helicopter like gummy ships with glowing light blue stripes all over them descended from the larger ship.
"Oh no…BATTLE STATIONS!!" Ven yelled as Sora and Roxas burst out the door and paled at the sight.
The Darkness had arrived.
End Chapter 3
The Inscription on the plaque that looked like random button mashing…really isn't button mashing…it's actually Al Bhed from FFX.
Yes there are translator sites.
