Author's Note: Okay, people. I am determined to finish this story in the next two days. Right now, I am sick, so I don't have to go to school which means I can spend most of my time sitting in front of the computer and typing. Also, this is the second to last chapter. So, read, review, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
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Chapter Ten: Pieces of the Puzzle
Kairi awoke to find herself lying in on a hard bed in what appeared to be a burrow in the ground. In the small chair beside her, sat Sora, head resting on his chest as he dozed. Across the room, a small green man with large ears stirred something in a pot over a fire. He looked up at her and smiled in a weird way. "Awake you are, yes," he muttered as he began shuffling towards her carrying a bowl of something.
Confused, Kairi asked, "Where are we? What happened?" She stared at him pointedly, "And what the hell are you?" She was starting to get really creeped out by this creature.
"Yoda I am, and in the swamp you are, yes." He forced the bowl of foul-smelling liquid into her hands, saying, "Eat you must." Hobbling back across the small room, he mumbled to himself as though he were completely alone in the room.
Looking back down at the disgusting bowl of sludge in her hand, Kairi decided she would not try to eat it. She grabbed Sora's shoulder and began to shake him gently, whispering, "Sora, wake up!" She hoped this Yoda thing didn't hear her.
"Huh? What..." Sora trailed off a loud yawn escaped his throat. "Kairi! You're awake!" he shouted excitedly, hugging her.
"Yeah, now, tell me where we are?" she demanded, wanting some real answers instead of the crap Yoda told her.
The Keyblade master furrowed his brows in deep thought, "I'm not sure where exactly we are, but Yoda, here, knows where we need to go to find the witch." He looked at the princess happily, "We'll be able to stop the Heartless before she can destroy any worlds. That is if..."
"If what?" Sora refused to meet her gaze. "If what?" she persisted, demanding an answer from him.
Sora sighed loudly, "If we can get the Gummi ship out of the swamp." He bit his lip before continuing. "After I managed to get us both out of there, it sank."
"It sank? Great! Now what are we supposed to do?" All hope was leaving Kairi as she feared that they may have to stay on this swampy world for the rest of their lives, having to associate with the creature that called himself Yoda everyday, listening to him butcher sentence structure everyday. The grammarian inside her shuddered.
"But I have good news, I think," the spikey-haired brunette told her. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue. "Yoda," he jerked his head toward the green man, "says he can get it out of there using something he calls 'the force,' or something like that."
From across the room, Yoda stated calmly, "Yes, use the force I will." He shuffled over to the two of them. "Come, use the force I will," he said as he walked through the tiny door to the swamp outside.
Kairi pulled herself out of the bed where she was still lying and crawled through the opening to see how Yoda planned to raise their ship from the muddy sludge where it had sunk. Sora followed her, placing a hand on the small of her back as if guiding her. They both stopped behind Yoda who was at the shore of the swamp. "I don't see how a little guy like him is going to raise our ship," she muttered under her breath to Sora.
"You'd be amazed at what little guys like him can do," he whispered back, watching intently the green creature who had become silent as he concentrated. Yoda slowly raised his short arms, and, as he did so, the water began to ripple.
Kairi's eyes widened in surprise and a small "Oh" escaped her lips as the top of the Gummi ship broke the surface. As they watched, the vehicle was lifted completely out of the water and hovered over the surface for a moment before it floated to the land. Once it was above the ground, it slowly lowered itself.
By now, Yoda looked completely exhausted, tired from the great feat of using the force to raise the ship. "Powerful the force is, yes," he managed to gasp out. Both Sora and Kairi looked at him in amazement, neither being able to speak.
Finally breaking the silence, Sora spoke up. "Um, now that our ship is out, maybe we should get going so we can stop the Heartless, don't ya think, Kairi?" She didn't answer, still just staring at Yoda as if in a daze. "Kairi? Hello, earth to Kairi?" He waved a hand in front of her face, finally bringing her back to reality.
"What?" she asked, shaking her head. He repeated his question, to which she answered, "Yeah, we should leave." She headed for the ship's entrance, ready to leave this swampy place. "Uh, Sora, where are we going? You said Yoda knew where we needed to go."
"Yes, another world you must go to. The next world you come to it will be, yes," the creature said. He turned to leave the two teenagers, calling back to them, "May the force be with you."
Sora and Kairi got into the Gummi ship, straightening some of the mess from the crash as they walked to the cockpit. Preparing for take off, Sora sat in the pilot's seat and prayed they could leave this place without crashing again. The ship slowly rose from the ground, heading up towards the sky. Thankfully, the ship broke through the atmosphere without incident and they set off for the next world.
After flying for a few hours, the planet finally came into view. As they approached it, they could begin to make out details. It appeared there was an old dark castle, crumbling after years of abuse. Surrounding the castle was a small village full of dilapidated cottages. Towering over the tiny town was a dark, evil-looking forest full of ancient trees. Kairi shuddered as she felt the evil emanating from this world. "This is it," she whispered quietly.
Sora nodded and used the small interplanetary radio in the cockpit, trying to call the other two ships. Receiving no reply, he left a message, giving them the coordinates and the details they needed to know to find them.
After this, he slowly landed the ship in a small clearing in the woods. Opening the door, they both walked out and were immediately surrounded by Heartless of the Darkball variety. Brandishing the Keyblade, he pushed Kairi back into the ship and prepared for the battle.
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Just as Cloud and Aerith were preparing to join Sir Peter and Gorbash on the quest they had become in involved with, Smrgol came flying down, shouting, "Carolinus, we've been attacked."
The Green Wizard ran out of his cottage, looking to the sky, seeing a flight of dragons being chased by what appeared to be smaller dragons. Cloud looked up as well, immediately recognizing the creatures attacking the dragons. "Heartless," he muttered.
Aerith glanced quickly at him, "What kind?"
"From what I can tell, they appear to be Wyverns." As they were watching the sky battle, they noticed a figure riding on a red and black dragon. Cloud pointed, "Who's that?"
"Ommadon, the Red Wizard, lord of the devil's domain, seducer--" The Green Wizard was interrupted by the impatient Cloud.
"We get it, you don't have go into the whole spiel again." Thinking for a moment, Cloud tapped his chin with his finger, "Isn't he the one we have to defeat?"
Carolinus nodded. "This is wholly unexpected. I did not believe he would be foolish enough to bring his minions here, where he knows I've been preparing for a quest to destroy him." As they were speaking, the dragon the Red Wizard was riding lowered to the ground, allowing Ommadon to climb down.
"My foolish brother," he began sneeringly, "I see you believe these mortals can defeat me, the Red Wizard, lord of the devil's domain, seducer of--" He was cut off by the sight of Cloud pulling out his Buster sword.
"I'm so tired of hearing that. Ooh, lord of the devil's domain, seducer of darkness, and blah blah blah." The blonde was losing what little bit of patience he had with these people who felt they had to name all of a person's titles before they could do anything else. "Well, I have a new name for you: wizard who fell to my sword." With that, he swung his large sword around, intending on beheading the evil wizard.
"Foolish mortal, you cannot kill me. Don't you know weapons cannot harm me," Ommadon declared ominously as he paralyzed Cloud. The blonde stood stone still, sword stopping in mid-arc. Aerith gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.
That was when the battle in the sky changed; the dragons were no longer flying away from the Wyverns, but were now fighting for all their worth. And they were winning, the Heartless beginning to disappear in black smoke-filled clouds. Ommadon raised his eyes to view the scene, realizing his plan had backfired somehow.
A black portal appeared behind the wizard and a haggard looking woman stepped through. "You fool! You have allowed my pets to be defeated!" She began to shriek in rage, seeing her plans for the domination for this world going down the drain. "For this, I cannot allow you to live!" As she said this, she waved her arms in the air as if casting a spell.
Ommadon fell to his knees, clutching his heart and gasping for breath. The witch continued her chant, eyeing the Red Wizard with malice. Finally, he collapsed into an unmoving heap. As everyone watched, his body turned to dust and blew away with the breeze.
The witch looked to people around her, screeching, "You cannot stop me! I am the Ageless One! I will soon have all these worlds under my control!" As soon as these words left her lips, she stepped back into the portal and disappeared.
Aerith stood in shock for a moment, blinking her eyes in disbelief. "Um, Cloud, I think she's the one who put the curse on Yuffie and Leon."
The blonde turned to look at the Green Wizard. "So, does this mean we don't have to go on the quest after all?" He hoped they could find the answers they needed so they could end the Heartless threat quickly.
Carolinus continued to stand there, almost as if in a trance, before he was able to speak. "No, there is no need for the quest now. She's the one who placed the curse upon your friends?" They both nodded, wondering where he was going with this. "I know how you can destroy her."
They both waited for him to continue, but he didn't say anything. "Well, are you going to tell us?" Cloud prodded.
"The only way to defeat a witch of her power is to have a pure heart. Only one with the purest heart can obliterate her evil," he explained.
Aerith thought about this for a moment, suddenly remembering the Princesses of Heart. "Are you saying a Princess of Heart can kill her?" she asked impatiently.
"Yes, one of the Princesses of Heart." Carolinus looked back to where the black portal had appeared, "But you must hurry, her power is growing."
Without another word, Cloud and Aerith began to run to where they had left the Gummi ship. Unexpectedly, a large form landed in front of them. "Are you crazy? It's too far for you to go by foot," the dragon Gorbash stated. "Come on, I will fly you there." Wordlessly, the two climbed onto the dragon and flew to their ship.
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Squall awoke to the feel of Yuffie curled against him and the annoyingly loud beeping coming from the cockpit, signaling that they had a message. Reluctantly, he left the warm bed and his beloved to listen to the voice mail. Pushing a button, he heard Sora's voice:
"Hey guys, we found the world where the Heartless are coming from. I'm sending the coordinates so you can find it. You might want to hurry though, I don't know how much time we have until she grows powerful enough to take over worlds."
"They found the world?" the ninja asked as she leaned against the wall, running a hand through her hair and yawning. She had awoken as soon as she had felt his warmth leave her.
Squall looked at her, thinking, she's so beautiful and she doesn't even know it. "Yeah, that's what he said," finally answering her question. He walked over to her, kissing her on the cheek as soon as he reached her.
Seeing a flashing red light, Yuffie pointed and said, "Aren't you going to listen to the other message?"
Confused, Squall went back over to the small radio. "Well, I'll be damned, there is another message." He pushed the playback button, recognizing Aerith's dulcet voice immediately:
"We know how to break the curse," she said excitedly. "A wizard here told us that only one with the purest of heart can defeat her, and you know what that means. Kairi's a Princess of Heart, so she will be able to kill her." There was a pause in the message before the flower girl continued. "We just received a message from Sora giving us the coordinates to the world, so I suggest that you guys hurry up and get there. We'll be there as soon as we're able."
Yuffie stared at Squall in shock, before a small smile crept across her face. "They know how to break the curse," she screamed in delight, clapping her hands. "Come on, Squall, let's hurry up and get there."
"What's the rush?" the Gunblade wielder asked stupidly.
The ninja smiled slyly at him, "The sooner we get there, the sooner we break the curse." Finally getting the point, Squall grinned and set the coordinates and put the ship into warp drive toward the planet.
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Author's Note: Okay, I know there wasn't a lot of Squall and Yuffie in this chapter, but I had to have Sora, Kairi, Aerith, and Cloud solve the puzzle of the curse. So, there will be one more chapter and I should have it up tonight or tomorrow since I will be starting it as soon as I get this one posted.