Hero's Hearts Chapter 4: Safe?

Sorry for the delays lately, I have had a couple of things to do with my family so writing wasn't exactly easy. Anyways thanks to everyone who has been reading this story. Despite the lack feedback, the reviews that I have gotten are positive. So I am going to assume everyone's happy with the story so far (with the exception of the cliffhangers everyone despises) . I would still like to see what you guys think of this little project of mine, so again reviews are greatly appreciated! Oh and thanks to my friend Crystal for going over each chapter to look for mistakes, which I was too tired (or lazy) to look over myself.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Enough said.

Anyways on with the story!

Sora could not even bring himself to open his eyes. He had no idea where he was, yet it seemed vaguely familiar, like he had been here before. The floor felt like cobblestone, it was damp and cold. He was currently leaning on a wall. He was so tired, and in so much pain. He had no idea for how long he could stay conscious. He could hear the faint sound of footsteps closing in, but he had no energy to even react. Soon enough he began to hear voices.

"So I told him to forget about it." Said one of the voices, it seemed to belong to a man. "Hey what's that over there?"

Sora heard the footsteps get closer and soon he felt a gentle nudge on the shoulder. Sora groaned weakly in response, he attempted to open his eyes only to get a blurry image.

"I think he's still alive, but he needs urgent attention!" The voice said. "Quick, go to Mogster and tell him to come to the alley, tell him that it's an emergency and to bring the others!"

"OK, I´ll be right back kupo." Said another voice leaving. This one had a higher pitch and sounded familiar to Sora.

"Don't worry, everything is going to be OK." Said the man in a reassuring voice.

The world around Sora seemed to spin again, just as his vision began to darken. Soon enough fatigue overcame him. Closing his tired eyes, he once again lost consciousness.

She stood in the spotlight, surrounded by misty darkness.

In front of her a figure lay unconscious, head down.

She knelt down next to the figure, and rolled him so that she could see who it was.

She was shocked to see the pale, nearly corpselike face of her friend Sora.

He had a huge gash in his chest.

A liquid started oozing from it, staining his clothes.

Surprisingly it wasn't blood; it was a thick black liquid.

Wisps of darkness sprouted from his chest and wrists, as the liquid continued to flow.

Soon his entire body was covered in the black liquid.

Black claws and fangs began to grow, Yellow glowing eyes opened.

She could only watch in panic as "Sora" lunged at her.

Kairi woke up screaming, she was gasping for breath with tears rolling down her face. Looking around her room, it became obvious that it was just a dream, a horrible, disturbing, realistic dream. Kairi wiped the tears with the sleeve of her pajama, and tried to stop shaking. She listen intently hoping that her screaming hadn't woken the entire house. The clock on her nightstand read 5:15 am; in others words too early to wake up, but too late go back to sleep. She wasn't even sure if she would be able to go back to sleep after that. Instead she pulled of the covers and got up.

'Are you alright Kairi?' Naminé asked sleepily. It appeared that her nobody had just woken up. She sounded concerned, and she had a right to too. Sharing the same heart made Naminé aware of pretty much everything that was going on with Kairi.

'Yeah, that dream really shook me up.' Kairi replied. 'I'm really worried about Sora. First that eerie feeling, now this? Sora left the islands three days ago, maybe I'm just being impatient but should a simple mission really take this long?'

'You're right, something is definitely going on.' Naminé said. After taking Sora's memories apart in Castle Oblivion, it became clear to her that Sora's heart was strongly connected to Kairi's. She remembered that Roxas had once been able to contact Kairi when he fell from the clock tower in Twilight Town, this in return made Kairi contact Sora. Their hearts were truly connected. So it was plausible that maybe, perhaps, the strange occurrences that they had experienced were in fact due to Sora's heart trying to contact them.

'Then it's settled!' Kairi thought. Once everyone woke up she would call Riku, then they would try and contact the HBRC.

She walked over and opened her music box, the delicate tune (Sora´s Sacrifice Theme) rang as she took her all-too-familiar thalassa shell charm from it. The charm looked different, its mother-of-pearl iridescence looked somewhat dull and faded. Kairi looked at it once more before she put it in her pocket, dismissing the dull color as an illusion caused by the light.

Sora lazily opened his eyes, only to get a blurry image of the world around him. His body was killing him, though it wasn't nearly as bad as before. He had no idea where he was, all he knew was that he had lost consciousness and was currently lying on a bed. That scenario seemed vaguely familiar, it gave him an overwhelming feeling of déjà vu.

Sora finally understood why when his vision cleared. He was lying on a bed in a small room, it had yellow wallpaper but it had an overall green color. Many artworks were hung on the walls, above the door to his left was a cuckoo clock, to his right was a window with a view of the alley outside, next to the window was a door that led to the balcony, and besides the furniture there was also a circular table with chairs surrounding it. At the moment a tiny figure was sitting down playing what was apparently solitaire.

'What exactly happened?' Roxas said somewhat dazed. 'Wait, where are we?'

'I don´t know, I though we were goners. But somehow we made it to Traverse Town, I guess we were lucky.' Sora replied without giving it much thought, he was too tired for that right now. Sora was unusually calm for someone who had just had a near death experience, but then again this wasn't the first time he had a near death experience. It also wasn't the first time he lost consciousness and woke up in a strange place. Now that he thought about it, when he first met Leon he lost consciousness and woke up in the same bed that he was lying on right now. That explained the déjà vu, in fact he half expected to find Leon and Yuffie in the any rate, Sora knew that he was safe now, after all he was very familiar with Traverse Town. It was the first world he visited after Destiny Islands were destroyed. Roxas also knew this since he had seen it in Sora's memories. Traverse Town had a special place in Sora's heart. It was where he met the HBRC members (minus Cloud and Tifa), as well as the king's guards: Donald and Goofy. It was where he first learned about the heartless and the keyblade This was the place where Kairi gave him her charm, it was where he made his promise to her. To tell the truth Traverse Town was where his adventure started.

'Sora are you sure you're OK? You got hurt pretty badly.' Roxas asked. The serious tone of his voice told Sora that Roxas was really worried about him. He had the right to be worried too, it was nothing less than a miracle that he was still alive and whole.

'I'm Ok, at least I'm better than before. Looks like someone patched me up while I was out.' Sora replied. He was still bruised all over, he had just noticed the many bandages that covered his body. He felt very weak, a part of him still yearned for rest. There was also an unusual pain in his chest, right where the heartless stabbed him. Sora also felt unusually heavy, as if he had a weight pushing down on him. He decided to sit up but the pain from his injuries made him wince.

"Oh, you're finally awake kupo!" Said the figure sitting at the table, Sora had almost forgotten about it. "We were really worried when we found you kupo!"

It was a small creature with the size and built of a teddy bear. It was of a soft peach color, with a large pink nose, small purple bat wings (that despite their size somehow allowed them to fly) and a large red pompom hanging on top of its head. They were commonly known as moogles. They were strange creatures that specialized in the art of item synthesis, but would occasionally run holographic shops in different worlds too. According to some of the HBRC members, moogles also ran "Mognet" a special mailing service between worlds. In Traverse Town, moogles worked at the synthesis shop which was located in the first district above the accessory shop. There they made all sorts of curiosities from raw materials. Sora spent a lot of time synthesizing items, as a result he made many moogle friends.

Sora turned his attention to the door when he heard someone knock and then enter. It was a elderly man with graying hair and bushy brows. He wore brown pants, with a white shirt underneath a blue vest. He was carrying two bags with him, one in each arm. The man had a very kind face, one that reminded Sora of his grandfather. He seemed happy to see the keyblade master awake.

"Oh, I see our guest is finally awake." Said the man smiling. "I was quite shocked when my nephew brought you in. He said he found you injured, and passed out in the alley. Oh where are my manners? I'm Migelo, my nephew, Alfred runs the hotel."

"I'm Sora, nice to meet you." Sora said as he tried to get up. He groaned as his body ached in protest. "Thanks for bandaging me up."

"No need to introduce yourself Sora, we already know who you are. Beside we are only repaying you for all you have done for Traverse Town." Migelo said as he put the bags down on the table. "Oh my, the last time I saw you, you were still a wee boy! You have really grown since then."

Sora smiled at the comment, this man really was like a grandfather. Now that Sora thought about it, he did recall seeing Migelo around. Migelo was also right about his growth spurt, he grew a lot during that year he was asleep in Twilight Town's Mansion. Donald and Goofy had laughed when they saw that Sora's clothes no longer fit him. It was rather funny when he thought about it, the hotel's green room seemed smaller than he remembered, but that was only because of his own growth.

"Mr. Migelo kupo, should we tell him about the injuries kupo?" Said the moogle.

"Why yes, you're right Mogster, I almost forgot. At my age one tends to forget easily." Migelo said as he opened one of the bags, and pulled out a couple of Hi-Potions. He handed them to Sora. "Now drink these, they will make you feel better. I am also quite curious about how you got those injuries."

Sora obliged and quickly drank the Hi-Potions. His visible wounds quickly healed and disappeared as if they had never existed in the first place. The potions made him feel slightly better, although his chest still ached and felt heavy but this was a huge improvement. Once he was done contemplating the healing process he began to retell the events that lead to his awakening in Traverse Town.

"So it was the heartless kupo." Said Mogster. "That would explain the scratches, but there's still the matter of his other injury."

"Huh?" Said Sora. A serious silence had overcome the place. Migelo and Mogster exchanged glances before Migelo turned back to Sora.

"You see, when we first found you, most of us thought you weren't going to make it. When we found you, we quickly brought you over and applied various potions to stop the bleeding. Potions work better when the person who drinks them is conscious, but this was an emergency so we used them anyways so that we could at least stop the bleeding." Migelo stopped and took a long deep breath before he continued. "There was however, an injury that baffled us, it's the one located directly on your chest. Potions didn't heal it, neither did magic. According to the moogles, the injury was overflowing with darkness. In fact they didn't think you would make it. It was only until this morning when the wound began to close by itself. It's worrying becausewe found you two days ago. Unfortunately the mark left from the injury is nothing we have ever seen on a person before. I strongly suggest that you find a specialist, any injury left by a heartless can't be good."

"Anyways kupo, if you want I can contact Mog in Radiant Garden, he can tell the HBRC that you're OK." Mogster said. Sora absently nodded and with that the moogle flew out of the room.

"I believe it would be best if I left you to rest. There's food in the other bag if you are hungry." Migelo said as he turned towards the door and left.

Sora was in shock, he imagined he must have been found in a pretty bad condition, but usually he didn't take that long to recover. He couldn´t believe he had been out for two days, Leon and the others must have thought he died or something. Riku and Kairi were probably worried sick! But what plagued Sora most was what Migelo said about his chest wound.

'What did he mean by, not seeing this on a person before?' Sora thought as he looked down at the part of his shirt that covered his chest.

'Well, you´re gonna have to find out sooner or later.' Roxas replied. 'It might as well be sooner.'

Sora nodded as he began to slowly take his hoodie off, followed by his shirt, the pain was intense so he tried to avoid any sudden movements. After finally getting them off, Sora looked down at his chest in utter shock. Now he knew what Migelo meant. The wound was, about three inches long and two inches wide. The disturbing part however, was that the injury didn't leave a scar or a scab. Sora could feel the skin over the wound, but it wasn't normal skin; it was rough, insensitive to touch and of an eerie shade of black. Sora knew that black skin all to well; he had spent two years fighting the creatures that had it. Sora shook his head, this couldn't be happening. Why did his skin resemble that of a heartless? Was it because of the heartless that attacked him? What did it do to him? Would it get worse? Sora shuddered at the last question.

'We have to get back!' Sora thought as he painfully got off the bed and began to put his clothes back on.

'I agree, but there's really nothing you can do for now.' Roxas replied. 'We are gonna have to wait for Mogster to contact the others so that they can come pick us up. Besides you are still injured. I highly doubt that you can fight the heartless right now. All you can really do right now is sleep, eat, and try to get better.'

Sora hated it when Roxas was right. If there was something that the keyblade master really hated, it was bed rest. He rolled around in bed for half an hour trying to find the most comfortable position to sleep, only to give up five minutes after finding it. He just couldn't sleep. He quickly got up and carefully walked towards the table, as to avoid the pain from his injuries. He opened the bag with food, but only ate a small bit. He didn't know why, but he just wasn't hungry. Maybe the shock from seeing his injuries had ruined his usually ravenous appetite. In any case Sora gave up and went to bed. Without anything else to do, he reached for Kairi's birthday present in his pocket and began to fidget with it. Soon a dreamless sleep took hold of him.

A robed figure walked slowlythrough the empty alleyway in Traverse Town. It was a green skinned woman, wearing robes that were mostly black, with some purple. The women's hair was not visible. Instead she had two horn-like projections on her head. She walked around with a staff and a crow on her shoulder. Her head was held up high in a snobbish fashion as she silently walked. She stopped walking and looked up towards the hotel; she was looking at the green room to be exact. Another figure soon joined her; this one was large but walked in a rather clumsy fashion. It resembled some kind of large humanoid animal and wore what looked like a blue, red, and white jumpsuit.

"So you finally decided to show up, you incompetent fool!" Said the woman. "It looks like the keyblade master has bitten off more than he can chew. Now is the time for us to strike! Did you prepare everything Pete?"

"Yes Maleficent, I mean, your highness. The heartless are in position." Said Pete.

"Once we get rid of that wretched brat and his key, nothing will stand in my way!" Malificent said as she began to cackle the way only an evil witch could. Soon both figures left the alley in the cover of green flames.

A day had passed since Sora first woke up in Traverse Town. Thanks to his fast healing rate and the many potions he had taken, most of his injuries had healed. Well most of then anyways, the injury on his chest hadn't gotten any better. It still hurt and he still had the feeling of weights pressing down on him. On the bright side, Migelo had finally allowed Sora to leave the hotel room and go and explore the town. That was a major relief for Sora; if he had to spend one more hour in that room he would go crazy.

Sora quickly made his way out of the hotel, thanking Alfred on his way to the Second District. A familiar sight greeted his eyes when he left the building. The Second District was rather lively; many people were going about their usual business. It was nice to see that the people were enjoying themselves as they no longer had to worry about the heartless.

The buildings were pretty much the same, except for the fact that more shops were open now. The Gizmo Shop stood to his left, Sora still had no idea what it was they made but the colorful interior made the place very odd and alluring. Next to the Gizmo shop was an alley that led to the house of the 101 Dalmatians. Sora still wondered what kind of sick villain would kidnap the puppies and put them in chests around the worlds. He entered the house and was greeted by Pongo and Perdita, apparently most of the puppies had been adopted by families in Traverse Town. Not that they were puppies anymore, a year had passed since his last visit, and apparently he wasn't the only one that grew. It took about ten minutes to get the dogs off of him. In the end he was tired and covered in drool.

Sora continued to wander the streets of Traverse Town. He passed the water fountain that doubled as the world's keyhole and made his way to the First District. He noticed that overall there were actually less people in Traverse Town than he remembered. It was to be expected since most of the people he'd seen on his last visit were refugees whose worlds had been destroyed. He went inside the synthesis shop and said hello to a couple of moogles that he knew, he also met some moogles that arrived after the worlds were restored. Unfortunately many of the people he had met in Traverse Town had gone back to their original worlds; such was the case with most of the HBRC. Geppeto, Pinocchio's father and a gummi ship engineer had also gone back to his world, but he did visit occasionally.

Sora continued to walk casually through the cobblestone streets. He had already passed down the stairs and was headed towards the restaurant when he heard screams in the distance. People were running from the Third District with panic in their eyes, and many of children were screaming.

"HEARTLESS!" Yelled a woman. In response many people started to run in different directions. A couple of men began to pull the gates to the Third District together.

Sora ran towards the gates and managed to make it through before they were completely closed. Although the men protested and told him to get back, Sora continued, after all they were probably unaware that he was the keyblade master. He ran towards to central square to be greeted by three neoshadows and two wyverns. After dodging an air attack from one of the wyverns Sora prepared his battle stance. The fight had begun. Sora quickly ran around and looked for an opening. The neoshadows sank into the ground in a pool of darkness and attempted to strike but thankfully Sora easily dodged them. Once Sora found and opening he extended his arm in front of him to summon the keyblade. But nothing happened.

"WHAT THE?!" Sora yelled. For some reason he couldn't summon the keyblade. Sora was knocked backwards by a wyvern. 'I can´t summon the keyblade!'

'WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN´T SUMMON THE KEYBLADE?!' Roxas shouted. 'Well what are you waiting for?! Do something!'

Sora was shocked, this was the first time this had ever happened to him. Despite the shock he was aware that he was still in the middle of a battle. He quickly focused as he felt a surge of electricity run through his fingertips. Sora waited for all the heartless to get near as he continued to charge the spell, when it was ready Sora released it instantly killing the heartless. Sora fell back, the spell had taken a lot from him. Just then, a neoshadow lunged at Sora from a pool of darkness that appeared in front of him. Sora tried to shield himself by putting his hands out in front of him. He was waiting for the attack to hit but instead a blinding light appeared in front of him. It was the keyblade. Realizing this the neoshadow fell back and began to hiss at Sora. Sora simply ran towards it and slashed it into two with the keyblade. Black smoke emanated from what was left of the neoshadow and soon it disappeared completely.

Sora dismissed Oathkeeper as he made it back to the First District. Despite the thanks from all of the townsfolk, he was still worried about what had happened earlier. For some unknown reason he couldn't summon the keyblade. This was actually the first time that had ever happened, but why now? Sora stretched his arm forward and experimentally tried to summon it again. With another flash of light, Oathkeeper appeared in his hand. Sora felt a wave of relief come over him, for a moment he was afraid that it wouldn't appear.

'That was definitely strange though, I really think you should try to get to the bottom of this.' Roxas said pensively.

'Yeah, as soon as we get back I'm gonna ask Merlin about it, if anyone knows it's him.' Sora thought. 'I also want to ask him about the wound on my chest, it hasn't stopped hurting. The skin also looks like a heartless´s. Do you think it has anything to do with this?'

'At any rate, we have to wait for someone to pick us up.' Roxas said. 'Don't worry I'm sure we will find the answers in Radiant Garden.'

Canis: "Chapter 4 is finally done! It took forever to finish, and look, no cliffhanger this time!"

Crystal: "Well that was fun to read. You also sound quite happy with yourself."

Canis: "Yes I do. I had my hot chocolate. Anyways I would really like to thank the people who are reading this."

Crystal: "Can I have some hot chocolate?"

Canis: "No its mine! (Snarls)"

Crystal: "I think you had too much sugar. Put the cup down and slowly walk away from it."

Canis: "NO MINE! (Runs off)"

Crystal: "Great now I have to go get her. Anyways Chapter 5 will be up soon. Canis and Crystal out. HEY! GET BACK HERE! (Chases after her)"

Canis: "RAWR (Tackles Crystal into a dark portal)"