That night, Kinno was unable to sleep, her eyes wide open as she laid her head against her star plush pillow. The memories she had of Arick and the words of the young boy stabbed at her concience merclessly, bringing on pains of guilt which lead her to sink further into a depression that had been slowly building inside her for the past several weeks.
She slowly sat up, curling her knees to her chest as she looked down, eyes dull and unfocused as her thoughts travled back to the words of the young boy who wished for Aricks death. In truth, she didn't want him to die at all. No matter how evil he had become, no matter how much Arick had embraced the darkness, he was still thier freind. And yet at the same time, she felt it was meant to be. It was something compeltely unavoidable, and even if they didn't mention it, the others knew the same thing, that though his demise would take her life as well, Arick's destiny was an early death.
"i can end this now..." she realized, looking sadly over at Riku and Sora who were both sound asleep in thier own sleeping bags, dreaming away in the only bliss they had. Carbuncle, the green cat-rabbit like summon was outside keeping watch in case their was another heartless attack, and if was going to do this, she would have to sneak past him. But thats easy, she thought to herself, going through the magic in her mind to isolate herself from his keen senses as she stepped outside and headed through the trees away from the clearing.
As she wandered away quietly into the deep forest, only one person noticed her leave, and decided to follow her, knowing that Kinno's midnight wandering could not be a good sign.
Lost in thought of guilt and depression, Kinno ambled deeper and deeper into the forest, bursting into tears every now and then, her emotions taking over her logic and blinding her to the one who followed her. Kinno's legs seemed to drive themselves, guiding her feet through torrents of brambles and hidden traps beneath the leaves. Twice she cursed herself when a root would sneak out and stub her toe, but other then that, her blind wanderings left her unharmed.
After what seemed to be hours, Kinno finally stopped herself, staring at the edge of the forest where nothing but empty space was ahead of her. Blinking a few times, she realized she was at the edge of a tall cliff overlooking the ongoing landscape, the stars and moon shining brightly in the sky, providing the small source of light that reflected across the dancing blades of grass in the distant meadow below.
Her eyes burned with tears as she gazed at the full moon, the light glistening off of her face. She shivered to the slight breeze, hugging herself as she looked to the bottom of the cliff where a circle of spikey rocks seemed to await her. Was this a sign? Was this cliff telling her to take her life?
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME??" she suddenly screamed, thrusting out her arms in frustration, crying to the sky in her sadness.
"Your fate..." a simple answer came to her in her mind, not in solid words, but almost as if it were only feelings that were talking to her. But she knew the voice. It had spoken to her so long ago, back when she was only a child. It had been years since she heard it, but its tone and essence were still familiar.
"is this it?" she cried, exasperated and confused. "throw myself away so the world can be at peace with out him?"
"No child..not at all..." the voice replied gently. "Your time will come when you will know what to do...but this...this isn't the way."
"What is then?" she screamed, her emotions shifting from sadness to anger. "What great destiny do you have for me? What epic way is their for me to die, huh? Am i just a toy to you!? I don't want to be some damn martyr!!"
She broke into sobs, falling to her knees and dangerously close to the cliffs edge. Her hands covered her face as she tried to hide her shame, her body trembling.
"You'll understand..." The voice whispered, fading away when a hand genlty clutched Kinno's shoulder in comfort, making her glance up with her eyes flooded to see the face of her freind Aurora, worried and concerned
"Aurora.." she sniffled before suddenly burying her face into her best freinds stomach, letting out all the pain and frustration she felt in a water fall of crying.
"Ssshhhh..." Aurora said after a while, stroking her hair calmly until Kinno's weeping dwindled into small sniffles. She tilted her head up, eyes blood shot with lines of dried tears beneath them. Aurora smiled a little, taking a seat with her arms resting on Kinno's shoulders. "Now. talk to me."
Kinno poured her heart out to her, telling her everything from the guilt she felt to the words the mysterious voice had told her. Aurora listened intently, patting her back gently when it seemed Kinno would burst out into tears again.
After she let out all the weight off her heart, and Aurora had finaly convinced her that Arick's actions was not her fault at all, the morning sun was starting to peak over the horizon. Kinno blinked a few times, warm rays gracing her face as she fekt surprised that it was already dawn.
"We should go back before our brothers begin to worry..." Aurora suggested, getting to her feet and helping Kinno to hers. Kinno nodded, wiping away the caked tears from her face before they wandered back through the forest.
"Your time will come young one, and the events are in motion," the voice came back to her abrubtly, almost making her jump. "Seek out the seventh princess, she will tell you what to do."
Kinno nodded a little, though unsure if the voice would see it as they continued on to the camp.
When they arrived, everyone was thankfully still asleep, lifting some of the anxiety off of Kinno, and the only person to notice thier return was Carbuncle. The summon whistled and scurried down from his tree when he saw their return, running towards them and jumping into Kinno's arms likcing her face, tiliting its head in question.
"don't worry bout it," she replied simply, shaking her head. Carbuncle whined and pawed at her chest in disappointment, but none the less, disappeared in a burst of green back inside her necklace.
"Come on, lets get breakfast started so they don't suspect anything," Aurora suggested, looking around for the food bag, hopeing they had some kind of eggs she could make. Kinno nodded and skimmed the border of the camp to look for fire wood.
Soon enough, everyone started waking and after breakfast was served and everyone was content to eat in thier own small cliques, Kinno tugged her brother and Sora over to a small circle of thier own so they could talk without prying ears.
"i think we should seek out Kairi," She said instantly when Sora and Riku settled.
All three of them blinked at her in surprise, taken aback by her statement. "What are you insane?" Sora asked her, setting his plate down on the ground. "What good could that do us anyway? And Hollow bastion is CRAWLING with heartless, not to mention Malificent. Going thier is complete suicidal..."
Sora would have continued if not for the hard slap he recived from Aurora and the harsh glare she gave him to shut him up and allow Kinno to continue.
"I know its risky, but.. She's his sister...she might know a weakness to his magic," Kinno replied, taking a mouthful of egg. "And its been months since we've made any move against Arick. We can strike a blow. If he doesn't have all seven princess of heart, the portal will close and his army will start to shrink, and its also possible that closing the portal could weaken their magic."
"that still leaves getting into hollow bastion..." Riku said with a little protest, who somewhat agreed with Sora. "The heartless would surely spot us, and if they find us, their gonna call Malificent, and thats a fight i'd rather avoid at the moment."
"NOT true, young Riku," The high pitched squeak of Cindy Magus piped from Kinno's necklace just before Three small pixe like faries zoomed out from Kinno's necklace, zipping around thier heads with their wings buzzing before they found places to settle.
"We have been listening, yes," piped Mindy after her sister, going for Sora's shoulder and landing perfectly, twitching her wings a bit.
"We have a spell that may help," Squeaked the eldest Sister Sandy, who flew onto Kinnos head.
"Render you completely invisible it will," Cindy told them, sitting her fat squatty body on riku's knee.
"Thats not gonna help..." Riku said, shaking his head in disappointment. His hope had risen for a moment before it was just dashed away. "Heartless sense your heart, not your physical being..."
"Let us finish stubborn boy!" Sandy snapped at him from atop Kinno's head.
"It makes you invisible to the heartless...blinds them from all your emotions that they percieve," Mindy hissed,
"letting you pass by them as if you were never their." Cindy finished.
Riku blinked in surprise to their statement, tilting his head a little. "Why didn't you tell us you could do this before?" he asked.
"Because it was not needed," Sandy answered.
Kinno shook her head slightly with a sigh. "you make no sense sometimes, " she muttered.
"So i guess this means were going to Hollow Bastion then, " Sora sighed, rolling his eyes. He still didn't like the idea of going thier, risking the fact that Arick himself might be their as well.
"No. it means me, you and Kinno are going to Hollow Bastion, "Riku corrected him, finishing his plate up. "some one needs to stay here in case something happens."
"Uh! No fair!" Aurora whined.