Chapter 4: Music and Memories

When the nine friends landed in Atlantica, it was similar to the 'Pride Lands incident'.

Sora and Kairi had both turned into mer-people along with Roxas and Riku who were both relieved to see that they hadn't turned out like the other five in their group.

Cloud ended up as something resembling a giant goldfish carrying his giant sword with his fin. Leon was a brown dolphin. Demyx was a 'furry' swordfish (wouldn't that be interesting). Zexion was a shark with sparkling silver skin on his back and black on his stomach. Axel was a bright red jellyfish.

Once again, hysterical laughter broke out from the four mer-people.

The other five reacted the same way, by giving the four death glares that could kill someone, if they didn't notice what the death glares were coming from that is.

Sora and Kairi helped them learn to swim which was also quite a sight to be seen. Then, another mermaid came up, and Sora and Kairi greeted her as Ariel. The young mermaid asked them to participate in a musical.

Six of the other seven gave the three death glares, but it didn't stop Sora and Kairi from accepting the offer for them. They really regretted joining the two at that moment.

"I am not dancing."

"There's no way in hell we're going to be in the musical."

"Hn."

"Count me out."

"…" (death glare)

"Oh, I love musicals!" (Guess who that is.)

"Whatever."

Kairi looked around. "That's three 'no's, one silent, two 'indecisive's, and three 'yes's. Therefore… we're going to be in the musical."

Sora cheered along with Demyx. Kairi smirked. Zexion laughed at Demyx and the death glares the other five were sending. So, technically, the 'no's should have won, but Kairi had taken the silent and indecisives as 'yes's (on purpose of course).

"Why are we even here if there aren't any heartless?"
"There are never heartless here, so we might as well take a break while we can."

Kairi obviously just wanted to laugh at them singing and dancing in the musical. Riku briefly compared her to Larxene, but then decided to never think about that again. He didn't need another Larxene haunting his dreams.

After rehearsal, everyone except Kairi, Sora, and Demyx looked like they wanted to kill someone (guess who). Riku then remembered that he never did find out anything about his new friends' pasts. He decided to ask them later, or at least ask Sora. He knew he wouldn't be able to get anything out of Kairi until she decided to tell him, so Sora was his best shot.

So, that night, Riku went into Sora's temporary room to talk to him. Sora recognized him immediately and turned to face him.

"What's up, Riku?"

"I was just wondering what happened to you and Kairi before you met us, and before your world was destroyed."

Sora stared in silence for a long time before… "When I was a kid, I grew up on a small island where kids would always come to play. My parents were in charge of the island, so I really had no choice in the matter."

"What about Kairi?"

"She lived on the main island, so I didn't meet her until she came to the island with her friends to visit when we were fourteen."

"What happened to her on the main island?"

"You'd have to ask her that. If I tell you, she'll take it out on me."

"Oh, then what happened after you met?"

"I happened to recognize one of her friends from when he had visited a few years ago. His name was Tidus. He could be strange at times, but I wasn't bothered by it. I befriended her through him. She was anti-social when I first met her, but she got better. She still only really opened up to two people, Tidus and me. I didn't find out why until a few months later."

"Let me guess, I'd have to ask her myself?"

"Yeah, sorry. Anyway, when we were fifteen, we started to get into sword fighting. Kairi was really talented with double swords. The ones we used back then were wood though, since real ones were too dangerous. One day, the two of us were fighting, her with double swords and me with one, when they transformed. They became the weapons we have today."

"So she discovered hers on accident as well?"

"Yeah. It happened to work that way for all of us. It's like destiny."

"I suppose so."

"How else would you explain how I just happened to save two keyblade wielders out of an entire world of people?"

"True. Anyway, back to the story."

"Well, the next day, the heartless attacked. Kairi and I hid in a cave after we began to have trouble fighting them off. We hadn't trained much with our new weapons. We happened to find a back door and ended up in Traverse Town. It is a place where people who lost their worlds go, so we were welcomed. While we were there, we self trained for a year before we decided that we had been given those weapons for a reason, especially since we had heard rumors about the keyblade's history. That's when we asked our friend Cid for a gummi ship. He was good with things like that. We managed to get one, and then we traveled through all the worlds, some more than once, and eventually found your world. You know what happened after that."

"Yeah. I'm guessing Kairi is the more troubled of you two?"

"Well, yes, and no. She would have been if she hadn't stopped caring about what happened to her and those around her other than her close friends."

"Family?"

"She lost them long before I met her."

"You said you and Tidus were her only close friends."

"Exactly. She learned to not get her hopes up. It would just make her feel worse."

"Sometimes she spaces out, why?"

"My guess would be flashbacks, although I can't always be sure."

"Was that what happened when she fell behind when we first went to Radiant Gardens?"

"…yes."

"What kind of flashbacks?"

"A lot happened in that world. It doesn't matter."

Riku wasn't so sure about the fact that it supposedly "didn't matter", but he knew Kairi would be the only one who could answer the rest of his questions. Maybe one day, if they ever became close friends like her and Sora, she'd tell him. For now though, he'd just wait.

The next day, they went to rehearsals again. The group that was against it gave up resisting. It would just get them into trouble with Kairi. They didn't want to make her angry, so they participated. They weren't happy though.

Kairi kept looking at Sora angrily. "I guess she found out what he told me last night." Riku thought.

Fortunately for Riku, Sora was the one who had attracted her anger instead of him.

The crab in charge of the musical, Sebastian, was yelling at Axel for messing up his lines.

"You're ruining my musical. I want you out. Now!"

"Gladly."

"Oh no you don't!"

Exactly, there was absolutely no way Kairi would let him drop out. She and Sora were actually pretty good. Demyx was also talented in this particular area as well as, surprisingly, Cloud the giant goldfish. Who knew he could sing?

Riku was also surprised by the fact that Leon was a good dancer, even as a dolphin. Roxas also had a decent voice and was a pretty good dancer. Axel would be good too, that is, if he could remember the lines. He himself wasn't a very good dancer, his voice wasn't exactly horrible, and he didn't have a memorization problem like Axel. The only one who was really bad, was Zexion.

He tried, he really did, but he just wasn't good at it. Unlike Demyx, he was not that good with music, his voice sounded like a dying cat, he danced like an elephant, even as a shark, and he also couldn't remember his lines, earning a serious scolding from Sebastian. He was, therefore, given the simple task of using his illusions to make Sebastian's "perfect stage".

Fortunately for everyone except Sora, Kairi, and Demyx, Kairi suddenly sensed a large amount of heartless heading towards a world called Neverland.

They were off the hook for now. Hopefully Neverland wouldn't be as bad as Atlantica.

When they arrived in Neverland, they met with a boy named Peter Pan. He had a fairy which, after a little advice from Sora, Kairi, and Peter, helped them fly.

Riku loved flying. He decided he liked this world the best so far.

His joy was short lived before they began to fight over ten thousand heartless at the top of a clock tower called Big Ben. Why name a clock tower?

They won eventually, but this time, even Sora and Kairi were a little worn out. They still had no injuries though. The rest would have been dead if they didn't have a lot of potions on them and hadn't known some simple magic to cast Cure.

Peter Pan thanked them before flying off. Riku was sad to leave the world, but he had no say in the matter. Kairi said they were going to Traverse Town next.

Upon arrival, the nine were told that everyone in this world had lost their worlds to the heartless. Well, they all fit in great, except for Cloud and Leon.

As they walked through the streets of Traverse Town, much to the surprise of the seven foreigners, everyone ignored them. Usually there was someone who would recognize Sora and Kairi and welcome them to the world. This time, it was like they weren't even there.

"Sora, Kairi, does nobody here know you or…"

"Sora and I are usually greeted wherever we go because we know where to land to find people we know, but we are only friends with one person in this world and Cid tends to be found all over the place. There is no way to be sure where he is, but we know he's in this world."

"Why are we here? There aren't any heartless so far. Is this going to be like Halloween Town?" Axel was going to be very angry if they got split up again and he had to do something dangerous with low odds like when he and Roxas were up against hundreds of heartless.

"No, there are never any heartless around here. We just need to see Cid and ask him some questions about the gummi ship."

As they walked on, they saw many people, but Sora and Kairi never pointed out anyone named Cid.

"Kairi, where do you think he is?"

"There's only one place he could be, Sora."

"The sewers?"

"Exactly."

Everyone cringed. They were not looking forward to walking in the sewers. More than half of them would have gladly gone back to Atlantica if it meant they could get out of the adventure.

"Come on guys, it's just a little slightly unsanitary water and trash. It's no big deal. Man, you're a bunch of girls."

"You would know, Kairi." Axel was excited. He might just be able to win this one.

"Well, Axel. If you're so tough, why don't you go first."

"Everyone knows it's ladies first, Kairi.'

"Maybe you're right, after all, it just wouldn't do if there were nobodies down there. You might just faint."

Roxas twitched. "Well, crap. Kairi, why must you make him angry?"

At that moment Axel took out his chakrams and swung them around wildly, leaving behind trails of fire and heat. Kairi sent a wall of water at the raging red-head, literally washing him away into the sewer.

"Shall we follow him?"

Nobody had the nerve to refuse since Kairi had obviously also been slightly enraged even if she didn't show it.

They all walked into the sewer to find Axel being pinned to a wall by a tall blond man.

"There you are Cid. We had a feeling you'd be here. Now, as much as I would like to watch you beat Axel to a pulp, I must advise you to release him because he's our friend and we need him to be able to fight when we go to the next world."

"Axel huh? I suppose I can let him off the hook since he's with you, but if he crosses me one more time, he's dead."

"Perfect. He can be annoying and needs to learn his place, but we really do need him alive."

Cid and Kairi both smirked. Riku assumed they were probably thinking of ways they could torture Axel later. She was really seeming more and more like Larxene everyday. It was getting scary.

Sora was getting worried. Kairi had always been slightly sadistic, but she was even more so now. "I hope she isn't falling into darkness again. This time, she might not overcome it."

Leon had similar worries. He knew Kairi could be mean and sadistic, but she was making it seem almost… funny. She never looked for a reason to torture someone, but she did seize the opportunity. It was sort of like last time she began to give in to the darkness. He knew Sora couldn't just keep saving her. By the looks of it, she was sinking fast.

Everyone else was oblivious. Even Cloud who had been around when Kairi had troubles couldn't pick up the subtle hints that showed that she was once again being devoured by her past.

Cid gave Sora something. Sora examined it before asking, "Where will it take us?"

"Not sure, but it's filled to the brim with heartless. You should be able to take care of it since you have more people with you now."

"Thanks, Cid. We'll get rid of them."

"Good luck."

The nine left and entered the gummi ship.

Upon landing at their destination, Kairi collapsed at the sight of what laid before them.

"End of the World. This is where all worlds devoured by the heartless go. At least, that's what he told me."

"Who?"

Everyone looked on curiously. If Sora didn't even know, it must be big.

"Xehanort."

Ok, so for once I'm going to actually say something. Yes, I know this story is getting worse and worse as it goes on and I hate the fact that I tend to do that with my stories. I'm trying though.

I did pick two major villains for this fanfiction, so it's nowhere near over, believe me.

Anyway, so Kairi has some issues with giving into the darkness. I know, that part of the plot is crap and I hate it, but it needs to be that way for a certain part of the plot that will take place later in the story. Bear with it for now. Thank you people who actually check to see if this has been updated frequently enough to keep up with my pace.

Yay fast writing! Other than that, I have nothing to say other than the fact that the only reason it took so long to update, even though it's not that long compared to some other fanfictions I've read, is that I didn't write for a few days while I was at a friend's house.

Have fun, and keep reading if you like it. I don't plan on giving up on this story. I just hope it ends up the way I want it to. Many times I get off track from the main focus, but I'm also trying to do that less (although the results haven't really shown yet).

Bye!