(-CHAPTER-IV-)
This Is what we'll Be, Oh, Glory
-nOte-
And from the last chapter, the plot has been thickening, I know. So not only does Charity and the gang have to get it back together to search in the dark realm for who could be Roxas and Naminé's long-lost child, but Amali, Jaiden, June, and Anty have to search for Jaiden's lost memories in both realms. But... what exactly are Trevor, Adum, and Q doing again? XD; Anyway, enjoy!
-/nOte-
"Leon?" asked Aerith as the five of them walked into the house. It seemed small and quaint from the outside, but on the inside it was about the size of Amali's house. It gave them a sense of comfort, and a stronger sense of familiarity that they just couldn't grasp the source of.
"Aerith, there's big news." A man with brown hair walked up to the woman. She stopped in her tracks, looking at him, as if she knew exactly what was going on.
"I know we were leaving the committee to newer members, but we have to help them first." she motioned towards the four of them.
Leon hardly glanced backwards, "No, there's bigger news than that."
"What is it?" asked Aerith.
"Do you remember Calypso?" he asked, receiving a worried nod from Aerith. "I think that when Charity visited, Calypso got out and saw Leander's grave. You know how a heart can restore a body?" he looked behind him, as if waiting for somebody to come out.
Aerith's eyes only widened. "L-Leander?" she asked. Turning her head to face the confused group, she begged them to sit down and relax.
Amali shook her head. "What's going on?" she asked.
Aerith sighed deeply, "Some time ago, a boy was killed and he was buried in our backyard. A friend of ours's Heartless has the power to create hearts. Apparently, she gave a heart to him, and it restored his body." she turned back to Leon, "Has he aged at all?"
Leon shook his head, "He still seems about fifteen."
"You heard the news?" a blond man walked into the scene. He seemed slightly less harsh than Leon, but maybe a bit more emotionless.
"Yes." Aerith responded, "Could you take care of these four? I should go see Leander. After all, if we're going to be giving up the committee, he's going to have to work with Rikku, Paine, and Yuna for a while." They both left the room.
The man sat down on the couch opposite them, and his eyes drifted towards Amali, which made her tense up slightly. To her surprise, he smiled a bit, "You look a lot like your parents."
Amali put a hand on the back of her neck, "You know my parents?" Apparently, they were a lot more famous than she could have ever guessed.
The man nodded, "My name's Cloud. Your parents and their friends often stayed here on their journeys. So tell me," he asked, "what's your story?"
"It started when we were all at eighth grade graduation..."
ooooo
"Anton?" asked Charity, in shock although not complete, "I thought we sent you to the darkness." If this was an idea of a joke from Yasuyo, Charity wasn't laughing.
"I've been out lately since I heard someone is trying to bring back the darkness. It's unstable so I've had to take memories to keep my being alive, though." the man with the strawberry blond hair and broad figure looked over at Nessa. "Hey." he acknowledged his cousin.
"Whose memories?" asked Charity.
Anton looked up as if he was trying to remember something very important. "I met up with your daughter, but I didn't take her memories, don't worry."
"Could you," started Yasuyo, "take them to the Dark Realm? That's where they may be able to find this new... let's call it an antagonist."
"The Dark Realm." Anton repeated, looking over at all of them. The only one that he refused to look at in the eyes was Axel. "Without their hearts being eaten alive by the shadows?" he posed, raising an eyebrow.
"Surely you'd think more of your cousin." Yasuyo asked aloud.
"It's not my cousin I don't think will make it." Anton looked straight, no-doubt at Charity, his eyes glaring daggers into her skin. "Miss Balance here might not be cut out for it."
Charity growled; these were the moments she picked up Nessa's temper, "Just take us to the dark realm or I'll take you to an early grave."
Anton shrugged, "Remember, I'm doing you the favor."
"Exactly." Charity's fists clenched harder, "Just as I did you one. You owe me."
Anton couldn't forget; being sent back into the darkness actually was a favor; a very big one. He was at peace in the darkness; he had asked to go back. Anton backed up a few paces, and put his hand against the wall of the castle. A black, swirling portal appeared.
"Thank you, Yasuyo." Roxas nodded at the king. He waved them off, and they all ran through the portal, Anton closing it behind them.
"Do you think they can make it?" Anton asked his old friend.
Yasuyo raised an eyebrow, "If you don't, would you find it wiser to follow them in there?" he asked, stepping off of the throne and looking him in his grey eyes.
"No." he admitted, "It's their turn in the darkness."
ooooo
"Someone's been after you?" asked Trevor to the blonde girl in the long, blue dress, "Who? The Queen?" he asked her.
The girl named Alice shook her head, "Oh, goodness, no! The Queen hasn't found me in months. It's somebody else; they've been trying to take me somewhere, but they can't find me as long as I hide in these flowers." she smiled.
"Oh blissful joy." a flower nonchalantly commented.
"They don't seem too happy with you." Q laughed.
"Exactly," Alice said, sounding like a real victim in this statement, "they said that they will squeeze me with their roots until my guts come out of my mouth if I don't leave here within the next twenty-four hours."
Adum was only shocked as he looked up at the 'prim and proper' flowers that they said such gruesome things.
"Do you know a way out of Wonderland?" asked Trevor.
"Well," started Alice, "do you have a pair of red slippers?"
The three of them were silent. "...What?" asked Adum.
"Perhaps a cricket for a conscience?" she suggested, only receiving blank looks from the three boys, and exhasparated sighs from the flowers, some of which commenting, 'there she goes aaaagggaaaainnnnn.'
"A flying carpet?"
"Why the hell would we have any of those things?" asked Q, annoyed.
Ignoring his outburst, Alice simply smiled pleasantly, "Then I have no idea! Perhaps if we found the rabbit hole."
"...That's what we came through." Adum shook his head.
"We'll go up!" she smiled.
"Anything's worth a try." Trevor shook his head. As he led her and his friends out of the flower patch, all of the flowers cheered with delight.
"This is quite similar to what happened not too long ago." Alice said as she skipped down with them, blissfully unaware of all of the Heartless that were now coming out. "Well, it could have been a while ago, but time doesn't pass very quickly in Wonderland."
"What happened?" Q felt himself inclined to ask.
"Me and six other Princesses of Heart were taken and our hearts were stolen! We were kept in these tiny little compartments..."
Q, who had slight claustrophobia, didn't even want to think about that. He held up his hand in a motion for Alice to stop talking. "Okay. We get it." he mumbled. He, too, was unaware of all of the Heartless that Trevor and Adum were currently working hard to keep at bay.
"Why, the Bizarre Room!" Alice exclaimed happily as she entered the strange room with the rest of them.
"This is going to be a long day." Q groaned.
ooooo
"So yeh need a Gummi Ship?" Cid asked them. "I'll get yeh one, but I'm thinking you should stay here for the night. It will also give Yuna, Paine, Rikku, and Leander a chance ta' settle while we pack our things and leave for Destiny Islands."
"That would help so much." June smiled.
"Princesses get the royal treatmeeent!" came an odd voice from the hallway. All four heads flipped around to see who was coming, and they could only hear its odd singing and Cloud, Leon, Aerith, and Cid all complaining behind them.
In walked a scarily old man dressed in a long, pink, sparkly dress. His beard must have reached his stomach, and he was holding a long wand. Two women walked in afterwards, one of them with short, brown hair and one blue eye while the other was green, and the other one had her hair put up in an odd style, and rubbing the back of her head.
"I don't know," the blonde stated cheerfully, "I thought taking him off his medication might help. Guess not." she smiled at the heterochromia girl.
The old man put his palms to his cheeks in utter shock, "Oh, no, no, no! Graduation gowns? These won't do, oh no they won't." He pulled out his wand and pointed it threateningly at the four early teenagers.
"No, no Merlin, put it down." Leon tried to stop the man.
"Damn yeh!" Cid screamed, but the old man named Merlin began in a cult-like chant that almost put June on the verge of tears.
Before they knew it, they were wearing much different clothing. Amali was wearing a brown tank top over a pink shirt, and a pink skirt. Knee-highs traveled down to Baretrap shoes, and her bangs hung in front of her face, although part of her hair was to the side in a small braid.
June, however, seemed extremely pleased with her clothing; a skirt over leggings, the skirt was blood red, and her shirt was black with white stripes going in random directions, and she had large, black arm warmers with white ribbons. Her hair was still in a terra-twist.
Anty was very disappointed to find out that he had been decked out in a skirt and top, but felt a little bit better when he saw Jaiden in a dress.
"How am I supposed to fight in a skirt?!" Amali complained.
"How are we supposed to fight at all?!" Jaiden shouted.
"I like it." June smiled lightly, looking up into nothing as if she was on her own, private world as the other three practically ran forth at Merlin. Aerith tried her best to calm them down, and finally did when she said that she would give Jaiden and Anty some of the clothes she had bought for Leander, and that she doubted Amali's skirt would fly up during battle.
"Nevertheless," the blonde girl with the odd hair and cheery face stated, "you can take the empty rooms for the night!" She gave them the 'V' and then began to push the old committee out of the house.
"We'll keep it safe." a girl with hair up and wearing generally dark clothes walked out, with her arms crossed.
"I should call Charity about Leander..." was the last thing they heard Aerith say as they were pushed out of the house.
"What about me?" came a voice from down the hallway. Walking towards all of them was a boy with his arms crossed as well. His hair was mostly green mixed in with a deep red, and it wore long on his forehead, leaving his eyes free of almost no vision. He seemed like a boy who had seen too much in his lifetime.
"Leander." the girl with the brown hair smiled, "We were supposed to meet you. I'm Yuna, this is Paine, and that's Rikku."
He smirked, "And then there's Charity—... what... the...?" He walked closer to Amali, who was backing up a few paces. "You look so much like..." he shook his head, and then tried to remember what Leon had told him. "Right. It's been about twenty-five years."
"It's a long story." Paine clarified for them.
Amali suddenly felt bad at that moment that she wasn't a familiar face. Then again, neither was this boy. Still, she raised her hand in the ecstasy of the moment and smiled at the strange boy. "My name's Amali. These are June, Anty, and Jaiden."
Leander smirked once more, but grabbed her hand. His touch was surprisingly warm and soft, yet it held a strong grip at the same time. This was definitely a grip of an experienced keyblade wielder. He looked over at them.
"You're all their kids, huh?" he asked. He didn't even want to think about who Nessa was with. "I can see your parents in you. What's your story anyway?" He certainly acted like somebody out of the 2000's.
ooooo
"You're kidding." Charity put her hand over the phone, "Nessa?" she called.
Her friend smiled in her direction. They were, unfortunately, still on the Gummi Ship trying to navigate their way through this new realm. Sora, however, was flying, making things much tougher. Nessa tried her best to stay balanced as she walked towards her best friend.
"It's for you. It's about..." Charity stopped herself. "It's for you."
In the meantime, Axel was setting something unrecognizable on fire, causing Kairi to get up and complain, and Roxas to merely stifle laughter.
"Hullo?" asked Nessa dumbly. She smiled when she heard Aerith's voice, "Aerith, what's up?" she asked. A look of horror and sadness slowly spread across her features, and her hand loosened so much on the cellular phone that she could have dropped it at any second. "Leander... I haven't heard that name in... what? He's...?"
The phone dropped. Exactly what Charity was waiting for, thankfully, she managed to catch it before it hit the floor.
Nessa, herself, passed out on the floor of the Gummi Ship.
ooooo
Many Heartless made themselves all too known all too soon in the Bizarre Room. Acting on impulse, Trevor had whipped out a keyblade, although it still took Q and Adum a second to get the point. Alice, however, cowered behind Trevor.
Many Large Bodies and Fat Bandits appeared that only Trevor recognized. He seemed to finally think that his years of having virtually no life were finally paying off. Hacking and slashing, he managed to destroy many of them, although Q and Adum were jointly working on one Large Body, finding themselves unsuccessful.
In a whip of action, an Air Soldier zoomed down at Trevor, causing him to jump out of the way. From behind Alice, a simple Shadow was appearing.
"Get the girl!" Trevor growled at them.
Q didn't get the point, but Adum did. He swooped down to grab Alice out of the way, but landed only a fraction of a second too late when the shadow disappeared into the air like sand with Alice in his grips.
The Heartless attacking them then all disappeared as well.
"Damn it!" Trevor cussed, throwing his keyblade to the ground in anger. It disappeared.
"What? She was annoying anyway." Q blew a piece of curly blond hair out of his face.
"But... this was helpful." Adum nodded, "She said something about the other Princesses of Heart or something like that. Is that what the Heartless want?"
"I think..." Trevor calmed down, and sat down as well, "I've been trying to piece this together for a while now, but nothing seems to fit entirely. I think there's somebody that took Amali's darkness just because it would be the best to control the Heartless with and to be in different areas at once. But it's only a guess. There are so many missing pieces. Like, why Amali's dark side? What does this person want? And why do they need the Princesses of Heart, if what you were saying is true?"
"What are the Princesses of Heart?" asked Q, suddenly getting more serious.
"They're these princesses with no darkness in their heart at all." he mumbled. Two seconds into silence, an odd look of surprise spread across Trevor's face, and he jumped up in a sudden panic. "That makes Amali a Princess of Heart."
"Why?" asked Adum, "Because they took her dark side, right? Did they want her to become a Princess of Heart for some reason and thought of her dark side as just being helpful to whatever they want?"
"That could be it. We have to find out. But first we have to find a way out of here. Somehow I don't think just jumping up the rabbit hole can get us out of here." Trevor thought to himself. He had said earlier to the two that it was very dangerous to have a large amount of darkness or light in one heart. He gulped at only thinking about it.
Perhaps I can be of some assistance.
Adum jumped, as did Q and Trevor. "Charity?" asked Trevor worriedly. He had only heard her voice very recently, but he had already grown to recognize it. The boy always just figured it had something to do with being family.
Nobody was in plain view. In fact, not even 'nobody' was in plain view. Author's Note: That, my good friends, was a joke. :3 Rising from Trevor's shadow, that only Adum seemed to see, was a black figure, making itself solid and 3-D right behind him.
It took the shape of a girl, just the slightest bit shorter than Q but much shorter than Trevor. Short hair was obvious, but the color of anything was just the opposite as it was just a girl that seemed to be shrouded in darkness.
I'll help you out if you give me the girl.
"Give it the girl?" asked Q, confused to Trevor. He then turned to the black figure, "Alice is gone, a Heartless took her." he crossed his arms, but Trevor kept his keyblade wielded, and his face screwed up in more anger and concentration than he had felt for a good, long time.
I can feel memories of her. She's here. Surrender her.
"You can feel memories of Alice?" asked Q.
"Can you feel the memories of the Princesses of Heart?" asked Adum.
"That would make a lot of sense." Trevor's grip, though, had only tightened on the Keyblade. The large silhouette of the girl made no attempt at a fight, but he could see her slowly, almost hypnotically, shake her head from the left to the right.
Alice is not the Princess I seek.
"She was the only one here. How can you see memories of Princesses that we haven't met?" Q asked, getting slightly fed up but moreso irritated by this shadow.
It turned slowly to face Trevor.
"Who are you?" he asked. He could see something familiar in this being, but just nothing he could really understand. Trevor shook his head; a name was not important right now. "What do you want with a Princess of Heart?"
"Answer my riddle and you can find out." the girl said in her melancholy voice, "If you are eight feet away from a door and with each move you advance half the distance to the door, how many moves will it take to reach the door?" Without waiting for an answer, the silhouette disappeared into the darkness. Her last words, however, lingered a few seconds longer.
I sense her memories. I know she is here. I will come back later for her.
"If each time you move half the distance to the door..." Q thought aloud, "Well, you start with eight, and then with the first one you'll get to four, and then two, and then one, and then a half..." Q continued to work it out in his head.
"Maybe it's from a deeper answer?" asked Adum.
Trevor shook his head. "Wait. You'll never get to the door if you only move half way each time. It means you'll always be a little bit away."
Q turned around to look at Trevor, "Oh really? Well, what if your shoe gets in the way?"
"Now isn't the time for technicalities." Trevor shook his head. "I think it wasn't the riddle that's so confusing as what does the answer mean? You'll never reach the door?"
"Know any famous doors, keyboy?" asked Adum.
Trevor shook his head, "Only Kingdom Hearts, but that's been left half-opened for the longest time. If it was fully opened or fully closed, we'd know it."
"It's getting dark." Q said boredly, "So where do you sleep in happyland anyway?"
"Wonderland." Adum corrected him.
Trevor shook his head, "That's like asking me where you sleep on an alien planet. It could be the toilet for all we know."
ooooo
"Hey, Jaiden." Amali whispered as she walked into Jaiden's room. They had been told that it was Sora's back when they all used to rest there. She smiled sadly at him.
"Amali," he started, "I was thinking about what happened." he looked down on the ground, and Amali sat next to him on the bed, "We were best friends?"
Amali tried not to look at him. "Yeah."
There were a few seconds of silence.
"It's kind of funny." Jaiden started, "How you can be best friends with somebody and suddenly their memories just leave, even if they're important." Author's Note: THIS IS IMPORTANT LATERRR. D:
"No, it's really not funny." Amali looked up with him with sad eyes.
"That's not what I meant." he said, shaking his head.
Much to his surprise, he found himself in a strangely warm hug. He didn't remember this girl at all, but apparently his body did because it easily relaxed to her hug, and brought back some nostalgic feeling in his gut that he just couldn't place a name for. Without even realizing it, he wrapped his arms around her as well. She was warm. Warmer than he had ever felt in a long, long time.
Unless... that was all a lie as well?
He tried his hardest not to think that he was the cause of the tears he felt dripping on his shoulder as they sat there in the silence. She felt so real. He felt so fake.
"I'll do whatever I can to get my memories back. I promise." he swore to her. A second later, she pulled apart from her best friend to see something shining and glowing a brilliant white that seemed to come from Jaiden's forehead.
"Is it a memory?" asked Amali, wiping one of her eyes, "Was wanting to get your memories back the first step?" She had always guessed that you never really forget the important memories. "But Aerith said that only you can see them."
He smiled, and took the memory. It sank into his chest where his heart would be. "I guess you're a part of me." He closed his eyes for a second and thought hard. "We sat together a lot. We met through our parents when we were really little."
Amali's eyes glinted. "We did."
Author's Note: Cute, right? Sorry this one took so freaking long to finally put up, I've been busier than you could ever imagine. DDD: And lazier. Well, see you next chapter!