Quick thank you to everyone who is reading this! I don't really mind if you don't comment, not being a big commenter myself, but every time I see someone following this my heart lifts a little! Also, sorry for taking so long to upload this, but things come up. Ces't la vie. The worst part is, I've had this chapter written in my notebook for months XD I just wasn't sure yet when exactly it would appear. And…GO!
Everyone stood gathered around Sora. They were in some room of Yen Sid's castle that resembled his main study. Sora was floating in a white bubble in front of them.
"Something has happened to his heart; that much I can tell," said Yen Sid. "However, exactly what it is, I'm not sure…"
Mickey frowned. "Could it be the hurtful memories Naminé talked about?"
"Hurtful memories?" asked Riku.
"Gosh, we didn't really fill you in all the way, did we…"
"You mean, the memories you were talking about in the letter?" asked Kairi. "Yes. You see, we turned Jiminy's journal into data because of this extra message we found, and we discovered that it was left by Naminé. A data version of her told us about those memories, but warned us that they could be hurtful to Sora, and could possibly even damage his heart when handled the wrong way."
"So, Sora's heart is…"
"No, I don't think this is what's causing it. At least not completely." Yen Sid raised his hands above Sora. "There is something else. Something foreign invading his heart is causing this."
"Could it be his nobody, Roxas?" said Riku. "He's been with the Organization for almost a year. Who knows what they could have done to him? (*Axel turns away guiltily*) Maybe something…for if he went back into Sora?"
Yen Sid stroked his beard, considering. "This is possible…either way, we must extract this anomaly from his heart."
"What? How?"
"Mickey, I trust you know?" Mickey nodded. "There are powers the keyblade has that you have no idea of—secrets usually only keyblade masters are shown. You and Sora have stumbled across several of these secrets out of necessity, such as locking the hearts of the worlds. However, the true power of the keyblade lies in unlocking the heart." He motioned to Mickey and he raised his keyblade.
"Prepare yourself."
Light gathered around at the edge of Mickey's keyblade. A keyhole appeared above Sora.
"We know not what form this anomaly will take, nor what effect it will have on Sora. You must be prepared to face whatever it is."
Riku nodded and took out his keyblade. Everyone else took out their weapons as well. Hotaru stepped back awkwardly. The beam of light shot out from Mickey's keyblade, and they were swallowed by darkness.
"Now you'll see."
Kairi looked around her. Was this…Twilight Town? She was by the tower, and…floating? She looked up and jumped out of the way as a sword came down, hitting the spot she had been in a moment ago.
"You'll feel my pain…"
Kairi stared at the figure before her. It resembled a Nobody, but was adorned in pink clothing that slightly reminded her of Sora's clothes. It had two weapons in its hands and came towards Kairi with them.
"You'll be forgotten, just like I was. You'll see what it's like to be tossed aside by your closest friend…"
Kairi dodged both blades, and surrounded herself with a Reflect spell as both blades came down again. The puppet jumped back and bombarded Kairi with beams of light. The barrier cracked and Kairi fell down.
"But I shouldn't be surprised; he never really cared about me anyway. All he ever saw in me was you…That's what I am after all, right? Memories of you?"
"What are you…?"
"Dark Firaga!"
The puppet turned and was hit by the blast, but it barely moved. "Riku. 'The biggest Nobody of them all.' So, you're here too?"
"Who are you," asked Riku harshly, "and what are you doing to Sora's heart?"
"So, you still don't remember either. Isn't that sweet!" The puppet dove at him. Riku blocked the first blade, then dodged over the second. "You…you're the one who started it all…who made me question myself…who sent me to this hell!" A golden wave of light shot out from her, knocking both Kairi and Riku back. "If it wasn't for you, I would have just stayed on that tower, content with my friends…we'd still be together!"
A whirlwind was created in front of her. Riku and Kairi were sucked towards her. "I'll destroy you both…see how Sora likes losing his friends…"
"NO!"
There was a streak of light and the whirlwind stopped. Riku and Kairi both dropped to the ground.
"I won't let you put a hand on my friends!" said Sora, the Oathkeeper and Oblivion keyblades in his hand.
"Hmph. Sora…tell me…do you know what it's like?" "Huh?"
"To not exist. To not be your own person. To not even be kept as a memory…All because of you. Because I had to go back to your heart." She assumed a battle stance. "Once I destroy your heart, I'll be free!" She dove at him. Sora jumped out of the way.
"Whoever you are…I can see how badly you're hurting. I want to help you, but you have to tell me who you are!"
She didn't have a face, but Sora could feel her smiling sadly. "Sora…in a way, you're more innocent than anyone here. Though it's all about you…you were just sleeping while this happened." She looked at him now. "But there is no atonement to be made. Nothing you can do to end my pain. Nothing that will satisfy my fury!"
Hotaru hugged herself. Yes, Sora was mostly innocent. One little accident of destiny…one small act of kindness he couldn't even remember had started this. Most things started off with accidents like these.
But of course, she knew they were no accidents.
And now, more accidents: a puppet who never should have been, a nobody that can feel, and another that wants to have a friend. All these small happenings and accidents compound each other, and destiny is woven. Sora, who merely wanted to reach out and help everyone, has touched so many hearts…
Sora slashed through the puppet with both of his keyblades. She fell to her knees and cried out. It was a sound of fury and sadness and utter despair.
"I'm sorry I couldn't help you. I hope you can find peace now," said Sora sadly. Then the puppet cocked it's head again as if smiling. "This isn't over," said a voice completely different than the one used before. "Not nearly yet, boy." Xemnas?
Darkness swirled around the puppet. Kairi and Riku disappeared, leaving Sora alone in the darkness. Then he saw Kairi in front of him. He ran towards her, but she began to fade away.
"Kairi!" he shouted. She seemed to be getting farther away the more he ran. "Kairi! Kairi!"
Riku and Kairi looked up. They were back at the Mysterious Tower. "What happened?" asked Mickey, panic in his voice. "I don't know, we fought some sort of nobody or something. It was strange…AH!" Riku gasped and put a hand to his head. Hotaru screamed and bent over too.
"What's wrong—" began Mickey, but he turned and saw a light emerging from Sora's heart. Pieces of glass floated around, converging into a figure…
"Kairi!" shouted Sora. He seemed to finally be closing in on her, but she was starting to fade away.
"Kairi! Kai…" he reached for her. She turned, but was beginning to fizzle out. Sora touched his head. "Kai…K…" Kairi looked down sadly as she fizzled out completely. "Who…who was that? Who was a searching for again?"
Deep within Sora, Roxas opened his eyes. "Xion," he breathed. A faint smile went across his lips. Then a frown. "I'd forgotten her…" he thought to himself. He clenched his fist. Not again, he promised himself.
Sora's nobody would not be going back to sleep.
"Xion," whispered Hotaru, slowly recovering. She then fell down again, having a seizure. "Hotaru!" Kairi ran towards her and started to use a cure spell.
"Xion," said Riku, a little sadly. He held out his hand. "The puppet that shouldn't have been…"
"Should any of us have been?" said Hotaru softly before passing out.
Thrown from the sea of oblivion to existence. From a lost memory of the heart inot the cruel outside world. Her slowly awakening mind began shooting millions of instinctive questions:
"Where am I?"
"What's going on?"
"Who am I?"
Slowly, a few memories returned, and she was suddenly panicked—shouldn't she be dead, gone, How could she still exist? What would happen to Sora now?
Then the memories faded from her mind and she was again an empty vessel. As Sora's memories of Kairi filled her, she began to become aware of her physical self and began to flex her fingers. She then sat up and looked. Several faces were staring back at her in horror.
"She looks…like me…" said a girl confused. "Xion…how could you be back?" said a boy.
Xion backed away from the accusing faces and pulled her hood to hide her face. Sora groggily sat up behind her. "Xion?" he questioned, his eyes barely opened. Xion panicked and opened a corridor of darkness.
"Xion!" shouted Sora, but the voice was not his—it belonged to Roxas. Xion ran into the corridor, and Sora was right on her heels.
"Sora!" Kairi ran forward, just a moment too late. Both disappeared into the darkness as Kairi clung to the spot where he was only moments ago. Hotaru groaned and surveyed the scene. Why were those two always destined to part like that?
"Xion," said Riku looking away guiltily.
So what do you think? Worth the wait?
When Nomura said that it would be difficult to bring Xion back, I understood what he meant; I wanted to try and make a plausible reason for Xion to be reborn, and virus implanted by Organization XIII+Keyblade Heart extraction stuff seemed like a pretty legit way for her to be reborn. As you can see, she took memories of Kairi with her, showing how deeply a keyblade can affect hearts, so things are going to get pretty kooky with Sora's memories…
And if you're wondering why Xion went from hating Sora to worrying about him, I will explain a bit next chapter.
Oh! I forgot! We have Hotaru speaking mysteriously again. I wonder what connection she has to all of this? Maybe I lied and she does have a nobody…although I didn't lie because I didn't say anything specific. Kind of like Nomura, which I hate because I'm usually anal about these things. But since this will be revealed probably soon, I'll leave it a mystery. If you want a hint, you can read my other story that features Sailor Moon the way this one features Kingdom Hearts. If you really can't stand Sailor Moon, well…I'm not sure why you're reading this, but I warn you that the next installment (and there will be at the very least one more) will be a full on crossover between the two, i.e. Sailor Senshi and Keyblade Masters unite! So…I'd get out now, since their going to be a major point in the plotline come the next one. You don't actually have to read the Sailor Moon one until it gets towards the end if you're only interested in it enough to read the conclusion, 'cause I'll admit that the rest of it isn't that fantastic and I've been lazy with updates.
