Bad Habit

Sora spun around and found a new hooded figure behind him. This one sounded young and not particularly threatening. If anything, his tone was one of concern and anxiety.

"Who are you?" Sora demanded.

The figure removed his hood. Dark blond hair stood off his head and trailed onto his back. The face was young, the expression still seeming concerned and nervous. He held out a hand, pointing at the Keyhole. "Don't you know what'll happen if you mess with that?" The blond gave a nervous laugh. "I don't think we wanna be here if you do something…"

"I won't be messing with it," Sora replied. "I'll be fixing it."

"Yeah but… fixing it really wouldn't be good, you know?"

"I don't really care what you think."

"Ooh, no need to be so mean! I'm trying to help you."

"No, you're not."

"Sure I am! I'm trying to save you from a big mistake! Well," the man's previously nervous expression took on a sly smirk. "I want to help stop you from making another big mistake."

Sora crouched down, ready to fight. "You and your friends from have done nothing to help me yet."

"We will, I promise!" The man's tone was lighter but the darkness hadn't quite vanished from his face. "After all, we've got something of yours."

Sora didn't care. "Tell me who you are!"

"Oh fine!" The man peered closely at Sora as if appraising him. "Hmph, they didn't say you'd be so pushy…"

Sora cleared his throat loudly.

He rolled his eyes. "My name is Demyx and you should know, I'm very unhappy with what you did to this world. It's special to me."

"It was a mistake," Sora said. "I know this is all wrong. I'm here to fix it."

"But…!"

Sora shook his head. "I won't believe anything you say." He sounded like a stubborn child. He was about one step away from holding his hands over his ears and chanting 'la la la I can't hear you la la la!'

"I'm just not gonna get through to you, am I?" Demyx let out a sigh. "Well, they can't tell me I didn't try."

"Get through to me?" Sora lowered the Keyblade, frustration seeping through him. "You're telling me I shouldn't mess with the Keyhole and then you're telling me you're angry with me for what I did to this world. Make up your mind!"

"Aw, don't look so angry! A-and don't attack me!" Demyx held up his hands. "I don't wanna fight. I'm not so good at that. Besides," he patted the wall with a gloved hand, "not much room here, is there?"

"Fine. Leave."

Demyx gave a sigh and a smoky portal appeared behind him. "I tried to warn you. Remember that." He stepped back. "I guess maybe I'll only see you again if you're lucky. If you die, you better not get me in trouble!"

And then Demyx was gone, leaving Sora to face the Keyhole alone.


She paced one way across the library, stopped with a mutter unintelligible to all but her, spun on her heel and paced back the other way.

"Kairi, it's okay," Zidane said, not knowing why he spoke because his words hadn't calmed her down all the other times he'd tried. "We know where he's gone and it's being sorted."

"I'm gonna punch him."

"O-oh that's a threat. A woman saying she's gonna punch and not slap?" Zidane couldn't help his quiet laugh. "Sora's in serious trouble."

Kairi shot a look at him and Zidane gave an audible gulp. "Looks like I'm in trouble too…"

"Can I punch him too?" Yuna piped up. She was surprisingly wide-awake for such an early hour of the morning. Then again, no one had slept through the noise of a ship blasting into space. The little girl took up a fighter's stance similar to Tifa's. "I'm angry too!" And she waved her fists.

"Aw, sure you can," Zidane said, ruffling the child's hair. "When Sora gets back, we can have a 'let's show him how we feel when he runs off' party."

Yuna cheered but Kairi was far from appeased. "Did he think a note would just make me calm down? Did he think I wouldn't mind because of this?" She waved the letter in the air. It was scrunched in her good hand and a little tear-stained. "I can help him now. Why does he have to be so… so…"

"Stubborn?" Zidane provided.

"Pig-headed!" Yuna giggled.

"Frustrating!" Kairi concluded. She sat down on a nearby table, her face livid but her eyes shining with tears.

"It's stupid boy logic," Yuna said. "Sora's always doing stuff like this."

"I know," Kairi said, her voice pained. "I want to make him stop. I don't want him to get hurt."

"And you don't like how it hurts when you're worried," Zidane surmised, his assessment spot on. "So, until our runaway is found and returned, how about I teach you the art of throwing a good punch?"

Kairi had to laugh. How could she turn down an offer like that?


Sora held Oathkeeper up. Keyhole and Keyblade shone together. The ice gave a menacing groan, throwing a few shards over Sora's shoulders. He brushed them off. For a moment, Sora hesitated. This really wasn't one of his wisest ideas. And yet, what choice did he have? The world couldn't stay frozen. Besides, he had no way out. The ice was too smooth to climb.

He gazed at the Keyhole firmly. It really was his only option.

The whispering started up, the words quietly issuing out from the Keyhole Sora had to defrost. He frowned. What were they saying? He stepped closer to the Keyhole, the breathy words still passing over him in an unintelligible blur of noise. Sora had to push his body up against the ice in order to properly hear the voice. He winced at the chill on contact but ignored it as best he could. Sora asked, "Who are you?"

"This is our world." The voice rang clear in his head. "But we don't know where we are. There is stillness and there is darkness. Release us."

Sora gave a nod. "I will, I promise. I just need to figure out how to do it without…"

"Shield yourself. Let the darkness take you. We will return you to the light."

Light. Sora felt strangeness unfurling in his heart. That old feeling. Guilt. Words made their way out of him, a confessional question he'd never meant to ask aloud. "Do I… do I really belong in the light?" Because when he'd been dealing with the Fallen, he'd done some very bad things.

"Everyone falters. You wouldn't be normal if you didn't. You can afford to be human."

A ghost of a smile passed his lips. "I falter and this happens." His hands patted the ice.

There was no response.

"I created so many monsters."

"Not everything that came from you is a monster."

Sora shook his head. "How do you know all this?"

"Light."

"Light?"

"It connects you to us, opening your heart and mind to us. Separate we know nothing but together we are a great power. Hearts and light, power to see into those like us. You are like us and we see your past. The Fallen and the In-Between Universe were a hard trial for you. Confusion surrounded you until the end. Your enemies were a special kind of Heartless but they also had faces of friends and loved ones. Your mistake hurt us, a pain beyond reckoning. But your death would have been worse for all worlds and the three Universes. Now, we want you to help us."

Quiet for a moment, because Sora assumed the voice's unspoken command was 'stop moping', he eventually asked, "Any more advice you want to dispense?"

"No."

"All right, I'll help you." He pushed back. "I'm sorry this ever had to happen."

First, Sora enclosed himself within Aeroga's protective winds. Then, he held out the Keyblade. Oathkeeper glowed and light delved into the Keyhole. Sora felt a frown weigh down his brow. He heard something lock and something else open all in one beat. What was that?

He had no more time to wonder. It happened in an instant. There was no slow change, only a sudden rush. The ice was water and it closed over him, the weight of an ocean held off only by magic. Sora sank nonetheless, his air supply cut off. There was no ice. There were no caverns. The darkness took Sora, and he could only hope someone would return him to the light.


Deep water. Deep, blue water. Hazy eyes watch it grow darker. If he tried to breathe in, he would choke. He had never felt so alone. He went down, down, down but slowly, calmly. It was almost relaxing, if the pressing knowledge of a need to breathe wasn't distracting him. He held out his arms, smiling a little as they bobbed drunkenly ahead of him. He was sort of lying down, his legs slightly bent as they stuck out ahead of him. His eyes were turned up to the surface, where a lighter shade of blue indicated the surface. He gave a few token strokes but try as he might, he couldn't fight back against the water. So he gave up and went down, knowing that what he saw around him would be the last sight he'd ever…

"S…"

"…as!"

His face twitched into a frown. How could someone call to him through water?

"Can…"

"…hear…?"

A pain in his chest, coming from far away. Was that pain even his? It felt like someone had thrust something hot into his chest, the pain and heat expanding to hold him ever tighter. It hurt. Stop! He reached out with blind hands, trying to push the weight away.

"Roxas!"

He awoke with a gasp worthy of a drowning man, choked, rasping and desperate. Startled blue eyes flew open and landed squarely on the person who had shaken him awake. Panting for air, a small part of his mind realising he must've been holding his breath in his sleep, Roxas turned to his friend. "Wh-what was that?"

Axel raised an eyebrow but the thoughts keeping it aloft were not the ones he spoke aloud. "All I know is, you just keeled over in front of me and stayed out for a few minutes. You weren't breathing either and…" Axel fell silent, face uncharacteristically anxious.

Roxas waved a hand. "And?"

Axel tapped a foot on the ground. Roxas was confused to hear a splash. "Huh?"

"You kinda look like you went for a swim… without any water." Axel grabbed Roxas' arm and heaved him to his feet. "Demyx will be jealous if you develop water-based abilities."

Roxas looked down and saw a puddle of water spreading over the white floor. Confusion crept over him, especially when he noticed that his body was soaked as well.

"That is weird. Weird beyond weird." Roxas held a shaking hand to his face, swallowing hard and forcing his body to tense up. He shook his head to clear out the last flutters of faintness. "Was someone… calling?"

"Uh, yeah, me."

Roxas ignored him and sighed, an almost hopeful sound. "Maybe it was a flashback."

"What, you, Mister Amnesia?"

"It could've been!"

"Look, whatever it was, it's over. We need to get to the Chamber XIII before the Superior sends a contingent of Dusks to find us. We'll worry about it later…" There was an unspoken 'if we have to' in Axel's tone.

Roxas didn't argue for once, too shaken up to question the redhead's decision. "Yeah, okay." And he walked on ahead, unaware of the look Axel shot at his back.


It all hit him in a rush. At first he suddenly recalled he was underwater, possibly had been for quite a while, and he needed to get out. The pain in his chest hurt badly, the desperate need to breathe had kicked in and then there was a blast of noise that made absolutely no sense whatsoever to Sora's befuddled mind. He opened his eyes just as the water became sky and his lungs reacted instantly, choking down great gasps of air.

For a while he could hear nothing but his lungs and the splashing of water against his body. But then, someone expanded his senses.

"That wasn't a very clever thing you just did… whatever it was…"

Finally breathing in deep enough to focus his attention elsewhere, Sora realised two thin, pale arms were wrapped around his chest. "U-um…"

"Sora, don't you remember me?"

He looked over his shoulder. The long red hair gave her away. "Ariel?"

Ariel swam around, always keeping a hand on him, so they could talk face to face. "Humans aren't really supposed to be this far out in the ocean alone you know. You're lucky we spotted you."

"W-we?"

"Ariel!" A new, unfamiliar voice called from above. Above? "Are you both all right?"

Sora looked up and saw a large ship. He let out a quiet "whoa…", wondering how he'd managed to not notice the vessel that rode the sea right behind him

Ariel was calling out to someone. "Yes Eric. We're fine."

Sora wasn't so sure about that. He was developing an alarming habit of near-drowning.

"I'll throw a ladder over! We'll have you back on board soon!"

Everything was so different. Sora quietly asked, "This… this is still Atlantica, right?"

"Sure it is. We're just on the surface for a change."

Then another bit of confusion tapped on Sora's shoulder. "But… how are you gonna climb up a ladder?"

Ariel giggled. "It looks like you're not the only person who has legs now." And she raised a dainty foot out the sea.

Ariel didn't stop laughing as Sora began to splutter. "B-but… you just… and this is… and… um… huh?"

The sound of the ladder splashing the sea and smacking the side of the boat distracted Sora's thought gathering and Ariel stepped in. "I'll explain when we're onboard, okay?"

Sora managed a laugh. "That would be good."

Ariel gave him a bright smile. "Are you okay to swim to the ladder?"

"Yeah." And Sora freed himself from Ariel's grip and swam the few strokes to the ship. He reached up and hauled himself out the water and up the ladder.

Ariel followed once he was safely onboard. Sora, who had dropped tiredly to the deck, couldn't help but stare as Ariel, clothed in a simple blue dress, walked forward on legs. A man, whom Sora assumed was Eric, stepped forward and wrapped her in his arms. They shared a kiss and Sora looked away, blushing as his imagination kicked into overtime. No way was he ready to make a step like that with Kairi and…

"So, you're the Sora Ariel has spoken of so much. Seems like you were in a bit of trouble. You're lucky she's such a great swimmer."

Realising Eric was addressing him, Sora looked up at the taller man and nodded, deciding to not ask questions like 'how the heck did she see me when I was way down deep in ice caverns?' and 'I don't suppose you've seen a big ship of a space-faring variety laying around?'. "Uh yeah but… um…" He waved a hand, giving himself time to decide against talking of how he and Ariel had met, in case her mermaid origins were a secret. "It was a while ago."

"Yeah… and under the sea."

So he knew. Okay, good. That meant Sora didn't have to stay on his guard. Great. "Yeah, I guess things change." And Sora, unable to hide his inquisitive smile, stood up and turned to Ariel. "Reallychange."

She reached for Eric's hand, taking it in her own and swinging their arms. "That's a long story. Why don't we have something to eat and we can tell you everything?"

"Sounds good. But," Sora grew serious again. He had to ask. "Wasn't this world frozen just now? How are you here? I mean, not that I'm not grateful 'cause I think I'd be in serious trouble if you weren't… but still, this world was just ice a little while ago."

The young couple led Sora below deck. Eric spoke up. "It's true that I feel… different, as though something has happened and I missed it…"

"The world hasn't been frozen Sora," Ariel said, dismissive of Eric's uncertainty. "Eric and I have been sailing and we're just returning to land."

Separate we know nothing…

"You're sure?" Sora murmured.

"Definitely," Ariel answered firmly. She looked over her shoulder at him. "Is everything okay?"

"Oh, yeah, fine, promise!" He forced his face into a smile. "Just thinking of somewhere else I guess."

Ariel seemed to take the comment as truth and didn't comment further. They stopped outside a door with a small porthole. Sora looked inside and saw a tidy parlour, decorated simply but obviously with a woman's taste in mind. Eric made his way off to the galley, promising to return with food. Ariel, after ensuring Sora was safely stowed in a plush leather seat, took off to find herself some dry clothes. She promised to return with a towel. Sora leaned back in the chair and scrubbed his face with his cold, damp hands.

"I bet they're gonna go talk about how crazy you seem." Demyx appeared, seeming to step out the wall that had turned into black smoke. He grinned. "Well, aren't you just the luckiest guy on the world huh? Surviving an ocean falling on top of you. Now," the grin turned to a frown, "I know I'm not the one to fight you. Not my thing, nuh-uh."

Sora was on his feet and holding the Keyblade before Demyx finished. He didn't attack because there wasn't enough room and he didn't want to damage his surroundings. "So what is your thing exactly?"

"Like I'm going to tell you." And there it was again, Demyx's darker tone of voice. The guy changed moods way too fast. Sora couldn't keep up. It was unnerving. "Not that I'm gonna do anything to you right now. Maybe later. After all, you've got a job to do and I don't wanna get in your way."

"A job?"

Demyx threw up his hands. "And they tell me I'm slow!"

"Look, just tell me why you're here. Why are you and your friends popping up everywhere? What do you want from me? You guys can't help me by sneaking around."

"How about I give you a clue then?"

"A clue?"

"Yeah, a clue. Are you paying attention?" Demyx paused but when Sora failed to respond, he simply shrugged and went on. "Starts with a R, X in the middle and S at the end. Can you guess?"

"Sora?" He turned and found Ariel looking at him, towel in hand and eyes wide with curiosity. "Is everything okay?"

He took his eyes off Demyx. "Ariel, you should stay outside. This guy might…"

"What guy?"

Sora turned back. Half his mind expected Demyx to wave and smirk at him. The other half of his mind, the winner, knew that the man had gone, disappeared into darkness once again. Sora let go of a deep breath. "Never mind. It's not important."

"Are you sure?" She stepped closer. "You look tired."

"It's been a long…" He laughed. He didn't have an In-Between time frame anymore. "It was tough."

"What was?"

Sora shrugged. "Stuff. It's complicated." He gave himself a mental shake. "But don't worry about that. I wanna hear about you and Eric… and why you have legs!"

Sora's words repeated themselves in his mind and he broke into sniggers. "That's the weirdest thing I ever said to anyone."

"I could say the same thing to you!"

Many minutes later, Eric and the meal came in to find Sora and Ariel in fits of hysterics, both poking the other with their feet.

Eric, setting the large tray down on the table, didn't know if he should be confused or laughing. "I came at the wrong moment, huh?"