Chapter 8: Watched

Disclaimer: If any of you ever suspected this was mine, then you probably never realized what website you were on. Still, I don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything... soooo, yeah.

The room was deathly quiet. Kairi stared down at her feet, her thoughts clouded with worry. Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy just stood in shocked silence, the recent news turning them into nothing more than statues. Even Pluto was soundless as he lay on the ground, his paws covering his eyes. Finally, it was Mickey who broke the unsettling noiselessness in the Library as he cleared his tight throat.

"And so your certain that's everything that happened?" he asked.

Kairi looked him in the eye. "Yes. That's everything."

"Hmm," Mickey hummed, his thoughts wandering in his small head. "This is very bad. The darkness seems to have returned again and, at the very least, tried to claim your island."

"And now Sora and Riku are who knows where," Donald added, clearly upset.

"What I don't get is why only Destiny Island was attacked," Jiminy said. "After all, no other stars have been going out, only Kairi's."

"Well, maybe it's because of those Organization XIII guys," Goofy said. "Why, they were always causing some kind of trouble."

"But then, how is that possible, we beat them all," Mickey pondered aloud. "How could they possibly be back?"

All of them gave a loud hum as they thought over this question, except Kairi who gave Pluto a few pats on the head.

"Well are we sure we beat them all," Donald supplied. "There were quite a few."

"Yeah," Goofy said. "There sure was. Though uh I've forgotten how many. Let's see there was 1, 2, 3, 4, uh..."

Donald turned to Goofy annoyed. "13."

Goofy chuckled. "Come on now, Donald. You can't trick me. I'm no fool. 13 doesn't come after 4."

"Oh brother," Donald mumbled as he rolled his eyes.

"Well none of us seem to know the answer just now, Your Majesty. But right now we should stay focused on what needs to be done. And who knows maybe it will come to us later down the line." Jiminy said. "Why it was Sora himself who taught me that you can't change the past, you just have to have faith in the future."

They all smiled at that, thinking about their missing friend and his ways of trust that often border-lined on oblivious. But, as Mickey noticed, with much regret, that Donald and Goofy seemed broken up and unsettled. They felt a deep responsibility to Sora and shared an unbreakable connection. Without him there it felt to them like a piece of them was gone and neither of them knew how to repair the hole that Sora had left.

"Well, that does sound just like Sora, Jiminy," Kairi said, her voice soft and her eyes drifting between the two friends. "Foolishly running into trouble without thinking, never worrying about the consequences... and always believing in his heart that everything would be fine, no matter what. Riku could never understand that about him, but I always liked that about Sora."

Donald and Goofy looked up at Kairi, who gave them a sympathetic smile.

"But lately, he's been acting pretty strange. Not his usual cheerful self. And it's pretty clear to me why."

"Why?" Donald and Goofy both asked.

"Because, he's been missing you two just as much as it seems you have."

Donald and Goofy gave Kairi a wain smile which she returned with a much stronger one. Mickey also smiled to himself and then, seeing his friends had fully recovered, returned to the problem at hand.

"Well, I agree with Sora, then. How the Organization is back, well, that's not important right now. Right now Sora and Riku's safety is our top priority," Mickey said, authority ringing in his voice.

"Well if Kairi did seal the Keyhole, then the islands should be back to normal, right?" Donald said.

"Right," Goofy said. "And then Sora and Riku should be waitin' there for us."

"Umhm." Kairi hummed, nodding her head in agreement. "But it's possible those Organization members are still there. And I know those two can handle themselves, but, they haven't been in a fight in a long time and from what I remember those Organization members can be quite crafty."

"Then what are we waiting for!" Donald shouted, waving his staff above him. "Let's go!"

"Come along, Kairi, there's no time to waste," Mickey said, with much haste in his voice, as the others headed for the doors.

"Okay," Kairi said standing, but then suddenly she felt a strange feeling come over her, much like before, but far stronger. Her head pounding, she put her hands up to her ears to try and stop the pain. She thought she heard a shout muted in the distance, but the ache distracted her so bad she couldn't get her befuddled mind to make sense of it. Then, everything turned white.

...

In the next instant she was someone else. She was now the girl in the room of white. She was drawing something, but Kairi was unsure what exactly it was. She was sad like before, but now Kairi heard her thoughts. Just a few more days. I have until then to tell him. But how can I tell him he's like me. How can I possibly tell him he's nothing.

I don't know, thought Kairi, feeling the sadness of this declaration. I'm sorry, I don't know how to help you. As everything began to turn white, Kairi felt her urgency, her haste. There just wasn't enough time. Only a few days left before it was all too late. And then time ran out for both of us. What was I supposed to do once he was gone, and I'm left... all alone again?

I don't know, Kairi thought as the world faded around her and everything turned to light once again. I'm sorry , I don't know...

"Kairi," the word echoed in her head, but it sounded so far away. She felt the pain in her head return once again and wondered how she could hurt this bad when only moments ago she had felt no pain at all. Then she felt the tears in her eyes and remembered that she had felt pain there in that room. It had just been a different kind.

Something wet and slobbery on Kairi's cheek snapped her back into reality. She heard a familiar bark and opened her eyes to see Pluto, who gave a whine upon seeing Kairi waking. Kairi sat up a little, very slowly and the pounding subsided a little.

"Kairi." Kairi jumped upon hearing the voice and saw that the others were crowded around her with looks ranging from worry to panic.

"Are you alright?" Mickey, the one who had talked before, said.

"Yes, I'm fine. My head just started hurting."

"You passed out," Donald said.

"And you kept whispering about it being 'too late' or something like that," Goofy added.

"I did?" Kairi said, quite surprised.

"Yep," Mickey replied. "Gosh Kairi you really gave us all a scare."

Goofy gave Kairi a hand and helped her to her feet.

"Thank you," Kairi said.

"Don't mention it," Goofy replied, his voice low and reassuring.

Then Kairi turned to the others. "I'm very sorry I upset you all."

Jiminy hopped onto her shoulder. "Well, we're just concerned about you. Are you tired or something, Kairi?"

"Or maybe your still drained from everything that happened on the island," Donald offered.

"Please tell us what's wrong Kairi, maybe we can help," Mickey begged, but patiently, in a very soothing voice.

Kairi took a deep breath and then let it all go. "Well, lately I've been getting these visions. I didn't tell Riku or Sora because I didn't want to worry them. At first, it was rare for me to get them, but there's been more and more. And just now it was the strongest it's ever been."

"You don't say." Jiminy said thoughtfully.

"What are these visions of, exactly, Kairi?" asked Mickey.

"Namine. They're always of Namine. But the thing is I usually only see Namine. But this time I felt her, I heard her thoughts and I could tell she was sad and... hurried, I guess? Is that the right word? It seemed like.. she was running out of time for something and if she didn't do it, then..." Kairi shook her head.

"Hmm, this is very troubling," Mickey said. "When we get back we will have to look more into it. For now, I'm gonna have to ask you to please remain here. I'm not sure what exactly we're going to encounter and with this being such an unpredictable situation I'm afraid it might... complicate things. I'm very sorry."

Kairi shook her head. "Don't be. I understand. I can do what I can to help here. You go on ahead, Sora and Riku need you."

Donald and Goofy reluctantly nodded, they could come up with no other alternative and it was their duty to follow their king. Still neither of them liked the idea of leaving Kairi after what just happened.

Donald and Goofy did a quick salute to Kairi, and Donald said, "Don't you worry, Kairi. Were use to protecting Sora and bailing him out of his messes."

"Yeah, we're also pretty used to getting sucked up into them, too," Goofy added. Kairi giggled a little.

"So no matter what, we'll bring them back, and that's a promise."

Kairi smiled and gave them a heartfelt thank you, before the two turned on their heels and exited the room. Now Mickey turned to Jiminy. "Jiminy, please inform Queen Minnie of our departure and tell her we should be back very soon."

"Of course, Your Majesty," Jiminy said with a bow.

"And, uh, please tell her I'm sorry for running off like this."

"I'm sure she'll understand, Your Majesty," Jiminy said softly, hearing the regret in his King's voice.

Mickey gave a sad nod and then turned to Kairi. "Will you be alright, Kairi?'

Kairi gave a quick, petite curtsy and said, "Yes, Your Majesty."

Mickey gave a small smile, then reluctantly turned to leave.

"Your Majesty," Kairi called.

Mickey quickly turned back to her.

"Yes?"

"Just... please be careful."

Mickey gave a small nod and a soft look before he turned to leave once again.

Mickey, with Donald and Goofy close behind approached the doors to the Gummi Hanger. His thoughts were full, full of questions without any answer, full of worries and doubts, full of memories he couldn't quite forget no matter how hard he tried. He looked back at the castle of which he lived and for just a moment felt that something wasn't right, almost like invisible eyes were staring him down. He impulsively looked around him, not sure what he was expecting to see. Then, passing it off as nothing more than jitters and nerves, he shook his head, losing the feeling altogether. Then he turned to his two most trusted friends and asked it they were ready. They nodded and saluted respectfully to him, and then Mickey opened the doors and they passed through, and just like that they were gone and yet another adventure to save their friends had begun.

But what they didn't know is that the second the doors closed behind them, a figure in black emerged from the shadows. He was looking at the now closed doors of the Gummi Hanger.

"Perfect," the figure said. "Right on schedule."

Then his eyes drifted away from the doors and onto the castle itself, trained on a single spot. "Now for phase two."

Within the walls of the castle, Kairi sat and stared at nothing, as Jiminy paced and Pluto slept. She was thinking of Namine and of Sora and the connections the two might somehow share. It was easier to think of that then of her friends mission.

Suddenly though, all thought evaporated as Kairi felt a chill run up her spin. She shuddered then looked around her, but the feeling was gone. She told herself it had been nothing, just her overactive imagination, and managed to cast the feeling off. But it had been there, and there was no denying that, for just a moment, she had felt strange, almost like... like she was being watched.

A/N: Thanks to God for helping me to finally finish a chapter in a time frame of less than six months. And thanks to all of you readers who are enjoying this book as much as I am, and for patiently awaiting my chapters, because I know how slow I am. And if your not patient, then... I'm sorry. Finally, thank you Square Enix and Disney for riding the same elevator one day. My life wouldn't be the same.