Shadows of Beginnings
Chapter Eight - Trapped
A loud crackling noise woke Terra up from his light slumber. He sat up and looked around the room for the object that caused the disturbance.
Finally, he found his communicator and clicked the screen on. An image of Aqua appeared, looking terribly shaky with tears in her eyes.
"Aqua? What's wrong?"
"W-we need your h-he-help Terra," she said between sobs.
"What's happened?"
"We were tricked and…oh god, we don't know where he is and—and…"
"Who Aqua? You know where who is?"
"He got him Terra," Aqua said. "Xehanort got Sora."
VVVVVV
Ventus had to laugh as he watched his brother digging in the sand. He had made a very lumpy, awkward looking sand castle and was now trying to create a mote around it. He had placed the little play-doh figures on the top of the castle and was planning on putting the 'vicious' hermit crabs into the mote to stop monsters from getting in.
"How are you going to get the crabs?"
"You."
"Why don't you pick them up?" Ventus asked with amusement.
Sora shook his head quickly and said, "They hurt."
"You just scared it last time, that's all," Ventus said as he got up from where he was sitting and motioned for his brother to follow him closer to water. "You shouldn't let something scare you just because something bad happens the first time you experience it."
"Really?"
"Yup," Ventus said. "Hold out your hands."
Sora stared up at him skeptically before cupping his hands together. He almost moved them when Ventus picked up a little hermit crab and put it in his hands, but he managed to stay still. The little crab didn't move, instead retreating into it's shell.
"See, it's not so bad is it?"
"No," Sora said with a shake of his head as he carefully took the crab back and put it in the mote that was packed tightly enough to keep the water in instead of draining into the sand.
"Things may hurt you, but that doesn't mean they're bad," Ventus said to his brother as he moved back close to the lopsided sand castle.
Sora nodded and was about to go get another crab when something else distracted him from this task. His wide cerulean eyes seem to get bigger as he excitedly started bouncing on his feet and said, "Wow! A big mouse! And look! A duck and a dog!"
Ventus whipped around and sure enough, Mickey Mouse was heading his way with a grim look on his face. A tall dog that stood on two feet and an oversized white duck followed him.
"Mickey?" Ventus asked with a concerned look.
"They need you in Radiant Garden," Mickey said, deciding not to beat around the bush. "Aqua's been captured by Endless, and from what I've heard, it looks like she was pretty injured when they took her."
Ventus felt rage flood through him but then he quickly looked at Sora and said, "But my brother…"
"That's why I brought my two friends here," Mickey said. "This is Goofy Goof, and this is Donald Duck. They don't use Keyblades, but they'll be some kind of protection for Sora. Or maybe just a distraction for him at least."
"A distraction?" Donald asked. Ventus almost laughed at the duck's voice, but he had enough restraint not to. Sora, being only four, did not, and he burst into laughter.
"I'll have to tell my mother first, and Donald and Goofy will need to stay out of sight, but it shouldn't be much of a problem," the blond said.
"Right. I'll be waiting in the gummi ship for you Ventus," Mickey said as he turned to walk away. "Donald, Goofy, take care of him."
"Gawrsh your ma—I mean Mickey. A little tyke like him should be no problem," Goofy said happily. "Hello there Sora, I'm Goofy."
Sora laughed and nodded at him.
"And this cranky one here is Donald."
Donald let out a frustrated sound, causing Sora to laugh again.
"Come on Sor," Ventus said as he reached down and picked up his tiny brother. "We gotta go let mom meet Donald and Goofy."
"The mouse?" Sora questioned while looking around, but Mickey was gone.
"Mickey? He's not staying, but don't worry, I'm sure he'll visit again."
Sora nodded and continued to stare at Donald and Goofy oddly as they headed towards his house.
VVVVVV
"Masssster, the Keyblade Bearer hasss left, but left othersss to protect the boy."
A balding man with piercing orange eyes looked around and said, "No matter, these enemies are not worth our worry. They are still only training in their arts."
"We ssshall go and kill the boy then."
"No!" the man, Xehanort growled as he turned around. "No you will not. These fools think I want the boy dead, but that is not the plan. What good is all that power if it's simply gone? All Keyblade Wielders can be swayed to either side in this war, and I will take advantage of that. Have everyone prepare for their missions."
"Yesss Massster."
VVVVVV
Mickey's ship wasn't nearly as fast as Ventus's was, and it made him wish that he had taken his instead. Well, it probably didn't help that in his hurry Venus had scraped part of the ship on an asteroid, but that wasn't the point.
Finally, after what seemed like ages to Ventus, Radiant Garden appeared in view. Urging the ship to go faster, Ventus felt like somehow jumping out right now and continuing to fly there on his own, if that were possible.
"Don't worry Aqua," he whispered. "I'm coming. Mickey, where's Terra?"
"We got separated," Mickey admitted. "But he did send a message saying that he believes he's on Xehanort's trail."
Ventus nodded and said, "I assume you haven't been able to get a hold of him since?"
"No."
Ventus looked down at his hands for a moment before saying, "I wish he was here to help. I don't want Aqua getting hurt anymore than she probably is."
"Don't worry, I'll help ya," Mickey said. "Who knows, maybe by the time we get there Merlin will have some idea where she is."
VVVVVV
Aqua groaned and slowly opened her eyes. Thankfully, there was no blinding light penetrating her eyes as she opened them, so she didn't have to worry about getting an even worse headache. And my god, did her head hurt. Then again, having been thrown into a mirror, into the wall again, and then attacked and dragged to Hades-knows-where was probably a good reason for having a headache.
Her hands were bound tightly together behind her, so even though she could summon her Keyblade, she didn't have the hand movements to use it without impaling herself. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, since she managed to master using a single Keyblade without actually holding it, but from her pounding headache and the ache in the rest of her body, she wouldn't be able to concentrate on such a task.
She tested her other limps to see if she could move them, but the only thing she found was that her ankles were tied together behind her, and she was gagged so that she couldn't make any noise.
Aqua tried remembering back to what happened, but the attack had been too quick, to painful for her to recall much. She remembered those other creatures viciously scraping at her, and the Endless actually keeping them back for some reason while they dragged her off. Then, she remembered seeing a man. She couldn't put a face to the shadow though. She didn't remember his arrogant voice as he spoke to her. He mentioned something about…what was it again?
She let her eyes wander around the area around her. It was dark, but she could still see the outlines of rock, so she assumed that she was in a cave of some sort. She remembered that, because the man had been standing there, taunting her. He was being the ever so classical, stereotypical villain but telling her his master plan and—
Aqua's eyes shot open again, having closed a moment before. She remembered now. The man wasn't after Kairi or Namine, and he definitely wasn't after her either.
Suddenly, she heard frantic footsteps coming from the front of the cave and she felt herself praying. She was praying that it was actually the person that had taken her from the castle come back to finish her off. That'd be better than the alternative. That'd be better than if—
There was a flash of light and then the rest of the cave lit up thanks to a floating ball of light. There was a gasp and more footsteps, and then Aqua felt someone's hands on her shoulders. She looked up and her eyes widened with horror at what she saw. Ventus.
"It's okay Aqua," he said as he quickly started untying her. "I'm sorry for taking so long. It's going to be fine. The idiots that took you left an obvious trail, even though it took us two days to follow it." He got her wrists and ankles free, and as he did her hand flew up and tore the gag off of her mouth.
"No! No you're not supposed to be here! You should have left Mickey or Terra to deal with me!"
"Mickey's right here," Ventus said while motioning to the mouse, who was using his magic to light up the cave. "And Terra, well we don't know where Terra is. I had to come find you…I needed to."
"That's what he wanted!' Aqua yelled at him. "This is a set up Ven!"
"A set up?" Mickey asked slowly.
"To lure you here Ven," Aqua said. "And Mickey, if you weren't coming back with Ven then something else would have been done to distract you."
"Why?" Ventus asked.
"It's all a trick! They captured me so that you would come running to help me. And while you're here they're going to take him!"
"Take who?"
"Sora!"
There was a heavy pause before Ventus asked, "Who told you this?"
"Xehanort," she said. "He told me his name was Xehanort."
VVVVVV
To say Ayame Hikari had been shocked to see a talking dog and duck come into her house earlier was an understatement. Sure, she had seen creatures like that along time ago, but it had been years since she had any contact with others from another world.
Her shock hadn't lasted long though thanks to Sora, who was a ball of energy. He was beyond excited that he had some new friends to play with. Riku had been sick for the past week and he only had Ventus to play with. Now he had new friends that were odd like him. Sora's words, not hers.
The little boy had been bounding around the house with them for the past two days, and while the dog, Goofy, seemed quite happy to keep up with him, Donald had a short temper and no patience. This was something Sora had figured out early on and decided that it'd be fun to see a duck's feathers turn bright red from anger. Donald never yelled at Sora, since he was still only a toddler, but that didn't stop him from glaring.
Sora was in his tiny blue pajamas with racecars on it, holding onto the old, worn teddy bears he had from when he was a baby. Ayame was never sure how he had gotten them, since she was positive that the teddy bears had been in the castle the night it was destroyed, but she didn't question it. Sora was quite happy with them, and he seemed almost protective over one of them. It had an R sewn into the foot, and Ayame knew that this one had belonged to Roxas, although Sora wouldn't know that for quite some time.
He was sitting in between Goofy and Donald, listening to the stories about their home with a look of amazement on his face. Their stories were almost better then Ventus's. Almost.
"Can I travel?" Sora asked them. "On a gummi bear?"
"Gummi ship," Donald corrected. "And no."
"Awww…why not?"
"You're too little."
"How bout when I get bigger?"
"No!"
Guilt rushed through Donald when he saw tears building up in Sora's eyes, but luckily Goofy came to his rescue. "Aww don't listen to Donald, Sora. We'll take ya on our gummi ship when you're older."
"Promise?" Sora said, his tears gone and a happy smile on his face.
"Of course, a'hyuk."
Sora laughed at Goofy's laugh before his mother came over and said, "Time for bed Mister."
"But mommy, I wanna play with Goofy 'n Dona," Sora whined with a pout. "They're my bestest friends. Well, them, Riku and Venny."
Even Donald's expression softened at this, but Sora's mother was immune to his adorable pout and whine. She quickly picked him up before saying, "They'll be here tomorrow when you wake up, but now is the time for sleep."
"But mommy…"
"No but mommies."
"Bye bye," Sora said in a sulky voice as he waved at Donald and Goofy over his mother's shoulder before they both vanished upstairs.
"Gawrsh, he's a cute little feller, ain't he Donald?"
"Meh, I guess," Donald said with a forced grumble. "I think that we wasted two days here."
"I think you like him."
"Aww phooey."
After making sure that Sora was asleep, Ayame returned downstairs to offer Donald and Goofy extra blankets for the couch, since it was supposed to be colder that night. Well, the island's version of cold, that is.
The house became silent with only the snores of Donald and Goofy heard. This was not what kept Sora up though. He was curled up into a little ball with his eyes squeezed shut. It was freezing in his room, and he thought he saw something move. Sure, his mother told him over and over that there was no such things as monsters, but he thought she was lying.
"Mommy?" he whispered, not wanting to startle whatever was in his room. It was no use though, because his mother was asleep. If Ventus had been in the house, he would have heard his brother's whimper, no matter how quite it actually was.
Ventus. Sora remembered what his brother telling him about the hermit crabs and about being afraid. He was probably just seeing things.
Confidence filled Sora as he took the blankets off of his head and looked around. His room was dark, darker than normal, but he couldn't see anything moving. Carefully, he rolled off of the bed and took a few hesitant steps towards where he had seen the moving shadow.
And suddenly he found himself staring directly into a pair of vicious yellow eyes.
VVVVVV
"Mommy!"
Donald and Goofy both jerked awake, tumbling to the floor off of the loveseat and couch respectively. The sound of Ayame Hikari's rapid footsteps above their head didn't catch neither the dog nor the duck's attention, but her terrified scream did.
Both of them shot up the stairs and towards where they knew Sora's room was. Ayame was already at the door, banging on it, trying to get it open.
"Do something," she pleaded with them, panic filtering through her normally calm eyes.
Donald's staff appeared in his hand and he pointed it at the door. "Thundaga." Lightning crashed into the door, splintering it, but effectively getting rid of it.
Goofy used his shield to bash away the creature that tried to come out as he led the way in. He and Donald barely got the chance to move before the creatures were upon them.
Ayame managed to get around the wreckage of the small room and saw her son backing himself into a corner, his blue eyes full of fear.
"Sora!"
His head whipped towards her as he yelled, "Mommy!"
She tried to make a run to him, but one of the creatures, Endless, she realized, cut her off and threw her backwards.
"Let go! Mommy!"
Donald was the closest to Sora and could clearly see a tall, cloaked figure pick up the small boy, who was struggling with all his might to get away. Donald was about to use his stopga spell on the man, when he was tackled to the ground yet again.
Sora struggled, but this stranger wouldn't let him go. He was kicking, clawing and screaming, but nothing was working. Finally he did the only other thing he could think of. He bit him.
The man let out a yell of pain before yelling, "You little brat!"
Ayame let out a scream when she saw the man, in his anger, slam Sora into the wall. His eyes met hers for only a moment before they rolled back into his head and his body went limp, but not before whimpering the word, "Mommy."
A corridor of darkness appeared behind the man as he carelessly carried Sora away from his home. Then, since their mission was complete, all of the Endless vanished as well.
There was a heavy silence before Ayame's sobs echoed around the room.
"What do we do?" Goofy asked, a downhearted look on his face. They had tried to protect the boy, but they had failed miserably.
"Try to contact the Kin—er—Mickey, and Ventus too."
Ayame's sobs suddenly increased, causing them to turn around. She was holding a stuffed bear with an S on the foot of it as she cried. They could both clearly see that the stuffed animal had been torn in two.
"Sora," she sobbed. "I'm sorry Sora. I couldn't protect Roxas, and now I've lost you too."
"We'll get him back," Donald said confidently. "Well, maybe not us, but we'll help any way we can."
"Donald's right ma'am. Don't worry, he'll be home before you know it."
She didn't look at them, but she nodded her head as she held the torn teddy bear close.
VVVVVV
Author's Note
Maybe I should have put a warning on this for it's extreme choppiness? Or the fact that there is no consistency in time. Some chapters take place in the same day, others take place weeks and months from each other.
Oh well, just nod your heads, smile, and pretend you understand.
I haven't had much time for fanfiction lately, and I don't even have classes right now. Oh well, Easter and then moving can do that to a person.
So yeah, Xehanort took Sora. That bastard.
Onto reviews!
DAN88 – Who's Aqua gonna call? Ghost busters! …or have someone else call an over grown mouse, but, ya know, same thing.
Hero Of the Hazard – No premonition or eavesdropping. My explanation for Sora's weirdness is better than that! No one's guessed it yet.
Chasingfireflies who is under the name AteloPeafic619 – You my friend are on the edge of story abandonment. Don't feel bad, most people have done it…especially me. I loath the name kaykay, LOATH ENTIRELY. I'd like to take the Avada Kedavra curse to it. I thought Hayden Christensen looked better in Revenge of the Sith. He was badass. It might not be a tragedy because everyone dies, but it could be because of the reason the reason Ventus dies. Also Shakespeare's plays are only categorized in two major (Keyword being major) categories: tragedy and comedy. Tragedy's have sad endings, comedy's have happy endings. I know what the Biggest Loser is. I don't watch it though.
Trainalf – You gotta love when high and mighty characters are reduced to comedy. Kind of like Riku! It's fun making him the comic relief in anything. I completely understand the words 'school business' and not responding.
Iaveina – Kairi's the worse of the two. You can make up your own story about glitter, glue, a live horse and pie. I was just throwing out random words when I was typing that. The goddamn witch in Snow White terrified me to no end. And Monstro. Kingdom Hearts completely took the horror out of all the villains and flying space whales. Although Hades was pretty damn good cause he was funny, not scary. The kids are creepy, or at least Sora and Namine are. Riku doesn't really care about much and Kairi's just spoiled. My project did go well. I made a website for my design portfolio, but I think I'll make a second one for fanfics, images, videos and such.
Thank you to the reviewers. Bunny shaped cookies for all!
Happy Easter! Or if you don't celebrate it, Happy Having Monday Off For Not Reason!
Krystal Lily Potter
