"Damn!" I spoke harshly under my breath. I ran out of my room regretting my cursing. I didn't curse all the time, but when it was REALLY necessary, I did.
I ran down the hall and then decided to jump in a portal. I summoned one and appeared on the spiraling steps descending from the tower. I saw Xaldin leaning against the tower wall at the door. I was about to burst through the doors when I was stopped.
"And just where do you think you're going?" he spoke jumping from his place and landing in your path. He grabbed each of my shoulders with his large hands as a dozen Dusks appeared around us for extra security to the doors.
"Let go of me!" I said struggling out of his grasp.
"What seams to be the big rush? Shouldn't you be preparing for your mission?" He spoke releasing me causing me to fall back a few feet.
"I need to see Xemnas. And seeing as how only the older members are allowed in, I need you to go and get him," I spoke rapidly in one breath. I was really in a hurry.
"Calm down! Xemnas said he would be right back…ah, here he is," he said looking over my shoulder.
I turned to see Xemnas. "What can I do for you?" he spoke.
"Superior, I have a question about my mission. I was thinking about this. Sora awoke a couple of days ago. How am I supposed to know where he is now?" I said walking forward and bowing to show respect.
"Ah yes, I forgot to mention…Saïx took care of everything," he spoke. I gave him a confused look. "Well Roxas went away in the simulate world. Sora has to awake in the real world. Saïx went to Twilight Town. He found out that it was going to take some time for him to completely change from one world to the next. He should be awaking in an hour or so. Does that make any sense?"
I nodded. "Well, that settles that then. I guess I'll just be off." And with that I jumped into a portal and started the now long walk to Twilight Town.
Ever since Sora and his companions disconnected the worlds, they became separate. I thought it wouldn't have been so hard for us creatures who can use Darkness to travel. But, I was wrong; because of what he did, the paths between worlds, even in the Dark corridors, were now harder to travel on.
Axel had been telling me this ever since Sora disconnected them. I never traveled long distances in the past year though, so I didn't really know what he meant. Axel even tried to teach me how to sense when you were there. When you were walking in the colorful tunnel of Darkness, when to summon a portal and appear in the right place.
I concentrated really hard and then appeared in Twilight Town. I was standing at a train station. There was the end of a train pulling out through the doors and three teenagers watching it leave.
"Hayner!" I yelled running up to them.
He turned around. "Do I know you?" He said in his usual annoyed tone.
"No. But that's not the point. Do you know if a guy with spiky brown hair and a duck and a dog just got on that train?" I asked pointing to the doors that the train had just gone through.
"Umm yeah. If you were looking to speak with them, tough luck. That train was different, it's not stopping for anyone."
"It'll stop for me!" I said summoning my Keyblades. I could feel their eyes widen around me. I did a gravity-defying jump to the edge of the platform. My feet barely touched the edge before I was flying through the air again.
My feet landed on the wall of the tunnel that the trains pass through leaving the station. I bounced off of it and landed on the opposite wall, quickly making my way to the track.
I landed on the track a good hundred yards from the station from my last jump and started running off following the train. I could see it in the distance. It was a good few hundred yards ahead of me. I picked up my speed and flew across the track hoping that I would be able to use my Keyblades some how to stop the train.
Teleporting closer to the train wouldn't help me at the speed we were going. So I kept running. Sooner than expected, the train started to near a shiny pathway up ahead.
I put one Keyblade away and held the other one in front of me pointed at the train. "Stop! Freeze! Time! Anything!" I yelled crazily. None of the magic was working. I had to catch up. I was gaining on the purple train and just as I was about to jump to it, it disappeared through the light. I slammed into an invisible barrier at an alarming speed and fell back onto my butt. "Damn!" I muttered for the second time that day.
I stood up and grabbed my Keyblade, which had fallen out of my hand when I slammed into the now closed portal. I started slicing at the light, praying that it would open. For five minutes I sat there, cursing to myself and using all of my strength to try and burst through the portal.
When I was about to give up, I swung one more time at the light, and surprisingly, my Keyblade shot through. I poked my head through and looked upon the vast blackness of outer space. I summoned away my Keyblade and followed at a lightning speed along the bright green track.
I ran and ran and ran until I saw another portal up ahead. I kept my speed the same and burst through the portal. I slammed into the ground on the other side and got covered in dirt and grass.
I stood up and glanced back to the direction I came from. A twenty-foot long impact crater digging into the ground stretched from the track to where I was standing. I laughed at the fact that I had caused that. I brushed off my hood and pants.
I was on some sort of floating island. There were a few trees and a large, brick tower on the other side. There was a big person by the tower. I pulled my hood over my head and walked over to him.
He was some sort of large, talking dog; I could hear him mumbling to himself. He was either leaning against the door to the tower, trying to push it open, or listening to whatever was inside.
I coughed to get his attention. He turned. "What do you want now? Wait, you isn't one of them."
"Who are you?" I asked casually.
"Who are YOU? Wait, you're one of those Organization folks, aren'cha?" He spoke stepping closer.
"And you're a Heartless," I said placing my hands on my hips.
"Not yet, my dearie, but close," he said shaking his pointer finger in front of my face.
"Not yet? Are you planning on turning into one?"
"Not a chance! I only control them, you see?"
"Pft, YOU? Control Heartless? Don't make me laugh!" I said leaning forward in a fit of giggles.
"Ok, fine! Maybe I 'aint controllin' 'em by myself, but I gots a helper. Maleficent! I gots a debt to repay for 'er busting me out."
"Of what?"
"That stupid king sent me away and she let me out. Now, I gots to round up some Heartless to pay 'er back, you see?"
"I don't see how that's possible, seeing as how Maleficent was destroyed a year ago my the Keyblade master."
"Why does everyone keep telling me that? I know what happened to 'er! But, now she's back and together, we're gonna finish what she started; takin' over all the worlds. Ever since that no-good rotten Ansem did what he did, she was basically cornered by that key boy!"
"So Maleficent's back? Interesting…by the way, I never caught your name?"
"Pete."
"Right, so Pete, did you happen to see the Keybearer and his companions?"
"Ah, so we're not the only ones after him, eh? Looks like you Nobodies are finally stepping forward, eh?"
"Did you see him or not!"
"Yeah, I saw him. He just went into this here tower with those nimrods of his. They went to go talk to Master Yen Sid, that king's teacher. He s'posed to tell them all about you good-for-nothin' Nobodies and why they all need to be taken down!"
"Is that so?" I said summoning both my Keyblades again.
"Wh…another Keyblade wielder? How…how can some stupid Nobody possibly wield the all-powerful Keyblade?"
"You better watch your tongue, buddy or you'll be seeing these Keyblades in your nightmares!" I threatened stepping forward.
"Pft, in my nightmares?" He said shrugging, not realizing what was coming.
I then hit him in the head with one and then spun him around with the other. Before he could react to anything, I was repeatedly hitting him with both across the back, slowly pushing him to the edge of the floating island.
Before he was about to be pushed off the edge, he teleported away in a mist of black and green smoke. I then ran inside the tower, both Keyblades at hand.
I ran up the several flights of steps until I came to the large brown door. I put my ear to it and listened carefully.
"Sora, Donald, Goofy! Ah, I see you got appropriate clothing for your journey. Those seam to fit you much better," came a raspy old voice from inside the room.
"He sure did, Master! Those ladies in there said you had something for us, sir," came a second voice. It was a very strange voice but I knew it belonged to one of Sora's companions. Donald Duck who I had seen a few times in Kairi's thoughts.
"Ah, yes. Well, you three, I have here an exact replica of your former gummi ship but it is highly more efficient then your last one," came the raspy voice once more. A sound of an engine came to my ears.
"Wow! Thanks, Master Yen Sid!" The all-too-familiar voice reached my ears and a smile played across my face. Sora.
"Garsh, I don't know what to say!" The other companion's voice, Goofy sounded in a pleased tone.
"Now, wait just a moment. I have some instructions before you continue on your quest. Because of what you did; disconnecting the worlds, the pathways are no longer there from before." A chorus of 'sighs' played through the door. "But not to worry. Special gateways will open up new pathways through your journey. But you can only unlock those gateways in a certain manner. Whenever a beam of light shoots out of your Keyblade, Sora, you must return to your gummi ship as soon as possible. A new gateway will be revealed."
"Ok. We understand, and thanks, Master Yen Sid!" Sora's voice said again.
"Are there any questions I can help you out with before you leave? I am sorry that I couldn't give you more information about the Nobodies, but is there anything that I could answer before you leave young master?"
"I think we got the gif. We'll see you around, sir," he said before the sound of someone teleporting and the start of an engine came to my ears.
I quickly teleported out side just in time to see the sight of the back of a gummi ship disappearing into the twilight sky. "Great! Now what am I going to tell Xemnas. I lost track of my mission!" I said to myself. Before I could even think of what to do I heard a menacing laugh come from up in the tower behind me. I knew that laugh. Kairi had heard it for months while she was trapped in our hometown last year as a key to open the heart of that world. Maleficent. I sank into a portal and secretly disappeared from the base of the tower.
"And I was thinking we should change the color of the walls in the—Raene?" Xemnas spoke as I appeared in the center of the meeting chamber.
"Superior." I said bowing.
"Well, we weren't expecting you for a while. Is something wrong?" He said leaning forward as to get in my face—which made no difference since he was a good twenty feet above me.
"I…well I found the Keyblade wielder." I said choosing the way to play this conversation carefully.
"Well?"
"Well, sir, I didn't actually get to see him. It took me a while to actually get there—to Twilight Town. He was just departing on a train when I got there. We went to a sorcerer named Yen Sid. He is King Mickey's teacher. He told them some of what their journey is supposed to be like. I'm not really sure what their task is but he told the three about Nobodies. He doesn't know much but they learned some. There was some guy who was there. He's working with Maleficent. She's back and is planning to finish what she started." I finished speaking and took a breath.
"You never saw Sora? Where is he now? How do you know all this?" He spoke resting back in his chair and placing both arms across his chest.
"I was listening to them, sir. I don't know where they are, sir. They got away."
"No problem then."
"What?"
Xemnas jumped down and gestured the other five members around him to do the same. "We know where he is for right now. We were just about to pay him a visit and were gonna catch up with you there."
"Oh…"
"Well, actually. I want to rest a bit and have Xaldin, who just returned from working on his mission a bit, to rest as well. You go on ahead and follow them. We'll be there in a few," he said smiling.
"But, sir, I don't know where—" but before you could answer you were being pushed into a portal by Xemnas and sent flying through a cloud of black.
I fell hard on my back. My eyes were closed tight from fear of falling and the pain that was now shooting through my head. "Oww…" I spoke placing my hands at my sides to push myself up. I felt cold cobblestone through my gloves. I opened my eyes and looked around.
I heard voices coming from over a rooftop next to me. I jumped up and nearly fell back over at the sight before me. I was in Radiant Garden!
From what I had briefly seen through Kairi's eyes of the outside and inside of my old home, it looked just a little bit smaller than when I used to live here. When Kairi was first brought here a year ago, she had seen the outside of the castle. It has a few collapsed walls and a few large copper pipes sticking out of the exterior. There also was a large Heartless insignia on the front but that didn't bother me when I saw it. Kairi never saw much of the inside of the castle when she was brought here so I didn't see much either.
I looked at the castle now. It had to have been a third of the original size. There was no large grand entrance anymore, no beautiful stain glass windows, no flags to show our kingdom, nothing. The castle was barely even touching the ground. Only a small brick foundation held it up now. There were several large cranes though, and they seamed to be helping to rebuild the once great castle. Long built beams pinned to the wall allowed workers to get up high and fix the details. Even though it looked like a tornado had hit it, it seamed to be fixing up.
Out in the distance I could see the outskirts. The waterfalls weren't there anymore and neither were the large gardens that gave this place its name. Now the whole horizon was covered in tall, jagged glacier cliffs. In between were large, deep valleys that were deserted of the long-flowing rivers and streams that used to give this place life.
I looked down and saw a small portion of the original village. I was near the old town square where there was the only life in this place. Shops were up and running and people buzzed around going about their lives. I didn't recognized many of them. They all seemed new to me.
I spotted Sora and his companions heading out of the town square and down a long flight of stairs that led around the village in the castle's direction. I followed at a distance, not wanting to be seen. I didn't have a good view of Sora since I was trying to be secretive.
I came down the stairs just as Sora swiped through a Dusk with his Keyblade. I had my head poked around the corner. I could see more newly built buildings coming up. Yuffie jumped down from somewhere and started to talk with Sora. They shared a few laughs as I watched from my hiding spot.
Yuffie was much older than the last time I had seen her. She was small built, but the maturity in her face showed that she was in her early twenties. The last time I had seen her was the first day I met the Organization when Axel and Roxas took me to Traverse Town. Yuffie was around twelve or thirteen then. Her purple shaded eyes sparkled as she laughed at something Sora said. She ran around the corner and Sora and the others followed her.
I ran up too and saw as they entered through a big wooden door into one of the houses. I peered in the window and saw a group of people gathered around a computer. Cid who looked the same as the last time I saw him but with some wrinkles to his face sat there. When Sora came in he turned along with Squall and Aerith.
I had learned that Squall was now going by Leon for some reason. He was around fifteen last time I saw him and so was Aerith. They both smiled at him. They looked the same too only older.
I started to pay attention to Sora at this moment. He was still the same as the last time I had saw him in Kairi's vision. Kairi on the other hand, when I last saw her was completely different. She had always had her hair short for the past few years and I had always kept mine at the same shoulder length. She had since grown her hair back out. She was much older looking all over, her face and her everywhere else. Sora, of course his face seemed older and he had grown a good four inches in the past year. Roxas was always tall and Sora was always short. Now they would have been the same height. I looked into Sora's face as the turned around to talk with all his friends around him. When I saw him, Roxas' face popped into my head and it made me remember how much I missed him. His eyes seamed to have gotten a bit darker but maybe I was just seeing things.
All of a sudden Squ—I mean—Leon came up to the door. I jumped out of the way just as he came out and started heading further into the collection of buildings. I followed him by jumping onto a roof and dashing across to where Leon was heading. He headed down a tunneled stairway on a high-set part of the village. There was a second stairway that led up to where the tunnel started. I stood on the ledge at the top of both staircases, crouched watching as Leon disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel.
Suddenly, I heard fast approaching footsteps coming towards me. I quickly shot my head over in the direction they were coming from. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were quickly running up the cobblestone stairway towards the tunnel. I quickly back flipped off the ledge and caught hold of it by one hand. The footsteps past by and echoed down the tunnel.
I pulled myself up and back onto the ledge. I glanced down the tunnel to see the tail of a duck pass by the wall. I slowly tiptoed down the stairs. Making no noise at all. I came to the end of the stair and glanced around the corner. The four of them were looking out into the distance at a large formation of some sort. They were starting to talk when someone tapped me on my shoulder from behind.
I had been trained to remain as quiet as possible when needed. I spun around silently, not even the chains on my cloak jingled. There was a portal open behind me a hand belonging to one of the Organization members was sticking out motioning me to follow with it pointer finger.
I stepped inside and found myself on a large brick wall. There were six other members around me. I glanced at their body sizes and identified all of them as Xemnas, Xigbar, Xaldin, Saïx, Demyx, and Luxord. I was once again, saddened at Axel's bony armed being wasn't here.
"What are we doing here exactly?" I asked Xigbar who was next to me. I was on the far right side from our position. It was in order: Xigbar, Xaldin, Xemnas in the middle, Demyx, and Saïx and Luxord who had the same body shape on the left side.
"Shhh, just let Xemnas do the talking for right now," he said wrapping an around my shoulder and covering my mouth with his hand. All of us disappeared into portals for a moment.
I heard Xemnas' voice call out. Then Luxord. Then Xemnas again. They all said just a few words. There was the sound of swords, gunshots, and shouting coming from somewhere in front of the dark colors in font of me. I wanted to move and see what was going on but Xigbar had a tight grip on me. His right arm was still over my shoulder and covering my mouth. His other arm was wrapped around my waist like a snake. My back was pressed against his chest and he was holding me still.
When the noises stopped, Xemnas spoke again. A chorus of laughs surrounded me and we all appeared back on the wall. Xigbar had tightened my hood to cover my face more, let go of me, and gripped a handful of my cloak on my back in a matter of a second. I looked down off the wall and through the darkness of my hood I could see Sora, Donald, and Goofy gathered at the end of the tunnel that they were just in.
"Organization XIII!" Goofy called out hysterically. The three nodded in agreement. Sora shouted some sort of threat up to us that Xemnas simply made a sarcastic remark to reply with. All the other members laughed but I stayed quiet.
Xigbar lowered his hand from my back to the side of my waist and whispered in my ear, "You're coming with me, sweet cheeks." He pulled me into a portal as everyone else did too. The two of us appeared down where Sora and his companions were. Xigbar took his hand off of my waist and pushed me off to the side. I stood near the outer wall of the tunnel and waited as Xigbar and Sora started to talk.
"Move!" Sora shouted threatening his Keyblade at Xigbar.
"Now, come on. That's not very nice. You don't even give me a chance to speak.
"We're gonna make you move then!" He shouted back.
"Right. What are you gonna do? Throw that key at me? Hit me over the head with that shield? Poke me with that wand? I guess those tactics would work against us if we were somebody else, but it won't. Me and this little lady right here; seeing as how we're with the Organization, it's not gonna be that easy," Xigbar said pulling me closer to him. When he released me I stepped back hoping that the next time he wouldn't be able to reach me.
"Pft! You two seam pretty tough by the way you talk, but you guys are probably just a bunch of wimps since you never fight! You only let those lesser Nobodies do your dirty work!"
"HEY!" I shouted out not knowing where it came from. Xigbar turned to look at me. I could see his surprised look from behind his hood. Sora too looked surprise. He stood up straight and backed up a step. His eyes got wide and he raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, Rae, I think he doesn't understand our crowd. You want us to remind you of how tough it is!" Xigbar said motioning me to his side after an awkward moment of silence.
Sora got a very annoyed look upon his great features. His eyes narrowed into slits and his eyebrows lowered over a lot of his blue color.
"LOOK RAE! Ha! If it isn't our old friend HA!" He said grabbing me by the shoulder and slamming me into his side. I was being suffocated. Xigbar started laughing. "Rae, he used to give me that same look HA! Man, that's good."
I was getting annoyed at this point. I had looked at Sora and only saw Roxas. I started to summon my Keyblades to hit Xigbar over the head with them. Unfortunately, he noticed and grabbed hold of my wrists. "No, no, no. We wouldn't want to reveal one of your secrets now would we?" The tension in my hands went away and I relaxed a bit. "That's right. We wouldn't want to show him those or your precious face. No, that would remind him far too much. Ha, that's funny, because I could be talking either way. If you revealed yourself to him, well you could remind him of her or if you did that you could remind, well, you know, of yourself. That's funny!" Xigbar said in a fit of giggles.
"What's up with you? You think you can go and confuse me my saying all this random crazy stuff? It's not working!" Sora said.
"Now why would we wanna do that?" Xigbar said pulling me once again to his side. He wrapped his arm around my waist and said as we were sinking into a portal, "Be a good boy now!"
Xigbar and I appeared in the chamber where all the members were sitting on tall marble chairs. "That was some work, Xigbar! Very good! But you even confused me a bit." Xemnas spoke motioning Xigbar to his chair.
"Well, simply, if Xarene showed her face to Sora, he might see Kairi. Or Roxas might see through him to herself." He went on and on like this but I had already left the room and was on the tower looking up at the moon.
I looked out for what seamed like hours. I was thinking of the future and what was going to happen to us. Sora was very powerful, and with his determination, he could destroy all the Nobodies.
I sighed trying to think of something else. Then something hit me. My best friend wasn't here. And I really needed to talk to him. "Axel…where are you?" I spoke out to the night sky.