Chapter 11: Back to Traverse Town
A/N: Hello! We're back with another installment to this awesome story (or at least I think so). Hikari gets to see her brother again, that should be nice. Let's see what Traverse Town has in store for her.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, but I do own our lovely heroine, Hikari.
Enjoy!
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As Donald flew the Gummi ship through space, Sora was looking at his keyblade.
He was wondering why it kept reacting on every world they had been on. Whenever they found a keyhole, his keyblade would act on its own and shot out a beam of light.
Hikari's acted the same way, but hers tended to act up more. After that little incident at the Coliseum, she wondered why her keyblade glowed like that.
She drew out her keyblade and examined it for a moment. She thought it was strange that her keyblade was entirely white while Sora's was yellow and silver. From the hilt to the blade, everything was a pure white. Even the heart shaped keychain at the end was all white. It looked really pretty and appeared to be too frail to be used as a weapon. But after slashing so many heartless and monsters, it proved Hikari wrong.
She twirled her keyblade around for a bit and watched as it became a blur of white.
Donald saw her fooling around in the rearview mirror and frown.
"Knock that off, Hikari" he said.
"I don't want you breaking something by twirling that keyblade of yours around"
Hikari frowned, but dismissed her keyblade.
She saw Goofy studying something that was in his hand.
"What are you looking at, Goofy?"
The knight looked up at her and held the strange Gummi block that they found in Deep Jungle.
"I was trying to figure out what this Gummi block was for" he said.
"I've never seen one like this before, so I was wondering what it's used for"
Sora sat up in his seat.
"Now that I think about it, I've been wondering why my keyblade has been acting up in certain parts on each world that we've been on"
Hikari pulled out her keyblade again.
"My keyblade has been acting up too. Plus, it did that little trick when I hit Cerberus. I wonder why it did that?"
"Maybe Leon might know something" Donald said.
Sora perked up at that.
"Hey! You're right. He knew a lot about the keyblade when we first saw him. Maybe he'll know why it acts up"
"And maybe he'll know what this Gummi block is for" Goofy added.
Hikari grew excited at the thought of seeing her older brother. She really missed him since she started traveling.
She suddenly remembered the necklace that Cloud gave her. She had to give it to Mikomi and let her know that he was searching for her.
"Let's go to Traverse Town. I'm sure everyone wants to know how we're doing"
Donald nodded and steered the ship towards Traverse Town.
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She frantically searched for Leon when they arrived at Traverse Town. Hikari wanted to tell her brother about all of her adventures so far and about the memories that she had seen.
She didn't understand why she was seeing some of these memories. She knew that half of them so far where her mother's memories and she wasn't part of them at all.
She also wanted to know more about her mom. She couldn't remember a lot about her since she just started remembering about her. She wanted Leon to tell her everything that dealt with their mother and what kind of person she was.
She spotted Yuffie walking out of the accessory shop.
"See you later, Cid"
Hikari grinned and ran up to her.
"Yuffie!"
The ninja turned around and saw her and Sora running towards her.
"Hey you guys, long time no see" she said.
"What brings you here?"
"We had some things that we wanted to ask Leon" Sora said.
"Do you know where he is?"
"Leon's probably at the underwater cavern. He trains there often" Yuffie said.
"The channel in the alleyway is connected to the cavern"
They thanked her and headed for the second district.
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Hikari lead the way as they went through the town. Since she lived here (or rather, remembered living here) she knew which way to go.
They ran into a few heartless along the way, but nothing that was a challenge.
When they reached the alleyway that was behind the hotel, they saw that the canal was closed off by a set of bars.
Sora tried to shake them a bit to see if he could open them, but had no such luck.
Hikari tried to open them too, but they wouldn't budge. She did however find out that some of the bars were loose.
"Let's slam up to them and see if we can break them down"
They all got in a line with Donald being in the front and Goofy in the back and ran up to the gate. They all slammed into it and managed to break it down.
"Woo Hoo! We did it!"
When they walked through, they noticed that the water got deeper and they had to swim through the other side.
The cavern was pitch black, which Hikari didn't like.
She whimpered a little and stuck close to Goofy.
"What's wrong, Hikari?"
"I'm afraid of the dark" she said in a quiet voice.
Goofy nodded in understanding and let her stay close to her. (A/N: He kind of acts like a father figure to her)
As they swam, they saw light up ahead.
Hikari swam faster and came to an opening where there was a patch of ground that was above the water.
Leon was currently practicing with Mikomi while Aerith watched.
Mikomi smirked while she blocked one of Leon's attacks with her samurai sword.
"Come on, is that the best you can do?"
Leon didn't say anything as he striked again.
Mikomi just jumped out of the way and pointed her sword at him.
"You fight like a girl, you know that?"
Leon glared at her.
"Why you little…"
"Ni-san!"
He turned around to see Hikari climbing out from the water.
"Hey, if it isn't Hikari" Mikomi said.
Hikari wrung her clothes out before running up to her brother and giving him a hug.
Sora waved at them as he, Donald and Goofy got out of the water.
Leon hugged Hikari back. He really missed his sister since he had been reunited with her.
When they finished their hug, Sora told them about their journey and about their keyblades.
Leon had sat down to take a break from his training while Aerith handed everyone something to eat.
"So, you found the keyhole" Leon said.
Sora nodded.
"Yeah. The keyblades locked it automatically"
"Good" Aerith said.
"Every world among the stars has a keyhole" Mikomi said.
"And each one leads to the heart of that world"
"There must be one in this town as well" Leon said
Hikari looked up from munching on a rice ball.
"What do you mean?"
"It was in Ansem's report" Aerith said.
"The heartless enter through the keyhole and do something to the world's core" Mikomi added.
"What happens to the world?" Sora asked.
"In the end, it disappears"
"What?!" the heroes shouted in unison.
"That's why your keys are so important" Leon said.
"Please lock the keyholes" Aerith pleaded.
"You're the only ones who can"
Sora rubbed his head.
"I don't know…"
"Seeing other worlds would probably serve you well" Leon pointed out.
"Yeah" Donald said.
"We gotta find your friends, and the king" Goofy added.
"I guess you're right" Sora said.
Hikari quickly remembered about her keyblade.
"Hey, Ni-san. My keyblade acts a little different from Sora's. It suddenly starts to glow when I'm fighting certain heartless and it seems to react differently when we seal up a keyhole"
Leon studied her keyblade for a moment.
"You're keyblade is different because it represents light" he said.
"While most keyblades are from the realm of light, your keyblade is part of the realm of light"
Hikari looked at him confused.
"I don't get it. How does that make my keyblade special"
"Every world has light within it. When the heartless invade a world, they try to snuff out that light so they can destroy that world. Your keyblade seals up the light of each world so the heartless can't reach it. Your keyblade is very important to the survival of each world. You don't have to only seal the heart of each world, but also the light"
Hikari looked at her keyblade.
"Wow"
Sora remembered that Goofy wanted to show Leon the Gummi block that they found.
"Hey Leon. This Gummi block is different from the others. Do you know what it's for?"
He studied the block for a moment, but couldn't think of anything.
Mikomi rolled her eyes at her friend's stupidity.
"Ask Cid, he should know"
Sora nodded and went to leave.
Hikari looked at Leon for a moment then at Sora.
"You guys go on ahead. I want to catch up with Leon"
Sora nodded and left her with her brother.
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When Sora left, she told her brother about her adventure so far.
Aerith had gone back to see what Yuffie was doing while Mikomi stayed to listen.
She told Leon about how she was able to defeat certain heartless with her quick thinking and all of the new spells and tricks that she learned on the way.
She told him about the memories that she witnessed as she traveled the worlds.
"Do you know why I'm seeing these memories, Ni-san?"
Leon mulled over everything that she told him.
He knew about her special powers since she had them as a kid.
He shook his head as he thought over it.
"Not a clue. Normally, you tend to see other memories if you make any type of contact with someone. Since we never saw mom when we left our world, I don't understand why you would be seeing them now"
Hikari sighed sadly.
"I wish I didn't lose my memories. It just makes things so complicated"
Leon ruffled her hair and handed her another rice ball.
"Don't worry about it. You've been regaining them since you started on this journey. You'll remember them in no time"
Mikomi came over and put Leon in a head lock.
"And if you don't, your older brother will always remember for you"
Hikari laughed as she saw Leon trying to push Mikomi away.
She suddenly remembered that she was suppose to give Cloud's charm to her.
"Oh, yeah! Mikomi, do you know what happened to your brother, Cloud?"
Mikomi looked sad as she thought about him.
"No. When the heartless invaded our world, we got separated. He stayed behind so the heartless wouldn't come after us and said he would catch up with us, but he never came"
Hikari pulled out Cloud's charm.
"Well, I just saw Cloud on the last world we were on"
Mikomi's eyes went wide.
"What?" She said in a shaky voice.
"You did?"
Hikari nodded.
"Yeah. He said he was searching for you and that he hasn't given up yet. He also wanted me to give you this"
She handed her the necklace.
"I know you gave me yours for good luck, but I felt that Cloud should hold onto it"
Mikomi looked at the necklace. Tears welled up in her eyes as she ran her finger along the black wing.
"I never thought I would see this again" she choked.
She curled her fingers around the tiny wing.
"Our necklaces were a set when we got them. Ni-sama took the black one, claiming that it wouldn't look good on me. He always looked out for me and acted like a father figure"
She gave Hikari a weak smile.
"Thank you for bringing this to me, Hikari. It means a lot to me"
Hikari nodded.
"No problem"
Mikomi got up from her seat.
"I got to show this to Yuffie and Aerith. They're going to flip"
She waved good bye to them and left the two siblings together.
Leon pulled something from his pocket and handed it to Hikari
"Speaking of lucky charms, I want you to hold onto this"
Hikari looked at the exotic looking stone that Leon gave her.
"This lucky charm has helped me out through tough times. I want you to hold onto it. Mom made back when we were little, so it has mystical powers"
Hikari looked at the stone for a moment.
"Ni-san…what was mom like?"
She looked up at her brother.
"I'm still remembering her, but I want to hear about her from your perspective. What kind of person was she like?"
Leon thought about what he was going to say.
"She was a very kind person" he began.
"She was really beautiful, and she always had a smile on her face. She was a very powerful sorceress on our world, and she was an expert at magic. She always tried to see the good in everything and felt that everything happened for a reason. She defended our world when the heartless invaded it, and protected us from the darkness. She was like an angel almost"
Leon then looked at her.
"You look just like her too"
Hikari hugged her knees.
She could see her mom being like that. She remembered her mom always smiling in the memories that she had of her.
"What ever happened to her?"
Leon ran his hand through his hair.
"Well, when the heartless invaded our world, she stayed behind to fend them off while we got away. That was 9 years ago"
Hikari's face fell.
"I wonder if she was able to get away"
"Who knows. But she would have rather that we got off our world than her. We always came first to her"
Hikari sighed contently.
"Thanks for sharing this with me, Ni-san"
Leon smirked and ruffled her hair.
"Anything for you, Hikari. I'm just glad to have you back again"
Hikari smiled when he ruffled her hair.
"Were you that upset when I disappeared?"
Leon nodded.
"Couldn't sleep for a week. I spent the whole time searching for you. I was beginning to think that I was never going to find you, but then you appeared"
Hikari smiled.
"I'm glad"
After they talked for a bit, Sora came back.
"Did Cid tell you what that Gummi block was for?"
"Yep. He said it was a navigation Gummi"
"What does that do?"
"I guess it lets us travel to other worlds. Cid's installing it now, but we have to return this book to someone for him"
"Ok, cool"
She stood up and brushed herself off.
She looked at Leon and smiled.
"Thanks for the talk, Ni-san"
Leon smirked.
"You stay out of trouble, ok?"
She nodded and left with Sora and the others.
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"So where does this book need to go?" Hikari asked.
Sora shrugged as he held the book up.
"I guess some old house that's within the third district. I have no idea where that's at, how about you?"
Hikari thought about it for a moment.
She didn't recall seeing any houses in the third district, but she did remember a strange looking door near the end of the district. Perhaps the house was there.
"I think I know where it's at. Follow me"
She led them to the door that was hidden by most of the buildings. It appeared to be made out of an ancient type of wood and had a flame in the center of it.
Sora tried to open it, but it wouldn't move.
"It won't open"
Hikari looked at it for a moment.
She ran her hand across the fire emblem that was carved into the wood.
Images of fire flashed through her head as she touched the emblem.
"I think it's locked by magic" she said.
"The only way to open it is with magic"
Sora scratched his head.
"What type of magic are we suppose to use?"
"Look at the symbol on the door. It's a clue"
They all looked at the symbol and got the idea of which spell to use.
Donald pulled out his staff and casted a fire spell.
They heard a distinctive click that told them that the door was open.
Hikari pushed the door open and found an old house standing within a dark cave.
She whimpered when she saw how dark it was and that there was not a single bit of light within this place.
"Why does this town have to have so many dark places?" she whined.
Sora just pushed her along the stepping stones towards the house. They had to be careful since they seemed to move on their own. They would jump to the next one when it was within reach, otherwise they would have fallen into the water.
When they reached the house, they saw that the front door was blocked up by boxes.
"How are we supposed to get inside then?" Sora asked.
Goofy walked around the house until he found an opening.
"Hey, we can get in through here" he said.
They went through the hole and found themselves within an empty room.
"It looks like no one is here" Donald said.
Hikari rubbed her arm nervously as she looked around.
The house was a lot darker inside than it was outside. She could feel herself trembling as her fear over the dark took over.
She was so caught up in her fear, that she didn't even hear Sora call out Kairi's name.
"I hate the dark! I want to get out of this place now!" she thought.
She suddenly heard melodic laugher coming from behind.
"Oh dear, it seems you still have a fear over the dark"
She turned around to see Taiyouko suddenly appear before her.
She had a gentle look on her face as she smiled at her daughter.
Her long white gown traveled behind her as she walked past her. Her long hair blew slightly behind her as she moved around.
"Although…it does look like that secret place back on the island. You know? The one where you drew a paopu fruit for that boy you love"
She looked back at her and smiled.
"Remember?"
Hikari was speechless as she saw her mother. She never thought that she would see her now. She looked just like she did in her memories.
She reached out a hand towards her, as if she was grabbing her.
"Mom?"
"Hikari?" Donald asked.
She looked back at her friends.
"Who are you talking to?"
"I was just talking to my-"
She turned around to find Taiyouko gone.
"Huh?"
"What is it?"
Hikari looked around the room.
"I thought it just saw…." She mumbled.
She shook her head when she realized that she must have imagined it.
"Never mind. It's nothing" she said.
"You must be tired if you're randomly talking to nothing" Donald said.
Hikari didn't say anything. She just looked at the spot where her mother once stood.
"That was weird" she thought.
"Why did I just see mother like that?"
She suddenly recalled something that Taiyouko just said.
"Wait a minute, how would she know about the secret place on the islands? She never made it off our home world, so how would she know about that place?"
She rubbed her forehead.
"I must be overtired. I need a break"
"Well, well. You've arrived sooner than I expected"
Hikari turned around to see an old mad with a pointy hat appear into the room.
They all went up to the man as he put his traveling bag down.
"You knew we were coming?" Sora asked.
"Of course" the old man said.
Sora looked at him wearily.
"Are you…a heartless?"
Donald studied the old man.
"He doesn't look like one"
"Oh, heavens, no" The old man said.
"My name is Merlin. As you can see, I am a sorcerer. I spend much of my time traveling. It's good to be home "
Hikari wacked Donald and Sora across the heads.
"You idiots! Of course he's not a heartless. If he was one, he would have that little heartless symbol on him like the other ones!"
Merlin laughed.
"My, my. What a spitfire you have for a friend" he said.
"Your king has requested my help"
"King Mickey?" Donald and Goofy asked in disbelief.
"Yes indeed" Merlin said.
He looked at them as he spoke.
"You must be Donald and Goofy"
He looked back at Sora and Hikari.
"And who might you be?"
"I'm Sora"
"Ah, so the Keyblade choose you" Merlin said.
"And you are, my young lady?"
"I'm Hikari"
Merlin studied her for a moment before breaking into a grin.
"Ah, you're the spitting image of Taiyouko"
Hikari grew surprised.
"You know my mom?"
Merlin nodded.
"Of course. She was my student when she was learning to become a sorceress. I must say, that she was my most gifted pupil. I had never seem someone wield magic so greatly as her"
He adjusted his glasses.
"I take it that you were chosen by the keyblade as well?"
Hikari nodded and drew out her keyblade.
Merlin studied it for a bit.
"Ah, what a magnificent weapon. I'm sure your mother would be so proud that you were chosen by the keyblade…but then again, she might have been upset"
Hikari frowned.
"How come?"
Merlin simply smiled as he waved a hand.
"Taiyouko didn't you or your brother involved with the heartless. She was like any other mother who wanted to protect her children"
Hikari smiled at that.
"What did the king ask you to do?" Donald asked.
"Just a moment" Merlin said.
He put his back down and pulled out his wand.
"Presto!"
The bag magically opened up and things started to float out of the bag. In a matter of minutes, the empty room was filled with furniture and had light within it, much to Hikari's relief.
"There we go" Merlin said.
He turned back to the others.
"Your king asked me to train you in the art of magic" he said.
"Whenever you feel like training, just let me know. Oh, and one more thing"
He turned to the entrance of the house and spotted a white pumpkin.
Light suddenly gathered around it and out of nowhere, a woman appeared.
"Hello, I'm the fairy godmother" she said.
"Your King asked me to help too. I will assist you throughout your journey"
"I don't know how much I can be of help" Merlin said.
"But do stop by anytime"
Hikari thought for a moment.
If her mother was a sorceress, then shouldn't she be an expert at magic too?
She suddenly left the stone that Leon gave grow warm.
She pulled it out of her pocket and saw it glowing in her hand.
"Oh, my. You have a summoning gem" The fairy godmother said.
Hikari looked at her, then back at the stone.
The fairy godmother held her hand.
"Do you mind if I take a look at it, deary?"
Hikari shook her head and handed it to her.
The fairy godmother examined the stone for a moment.
"Oh, the poor thing" she said.
"This little creature lived in a world that was consumed by darkness. When a world vanishes, so do its inhabitants. But this one had such a strong heart, he became a gem instead of vanishing with his world"
Hikari looked at the stone sadly.
"Poor thing" she thought.
"Can he regain himself?" she asked.
The fairy godmother nodded.
"Yes, but only his spirit. Now watch"
She waved her magic wand around.
"Bibbity bobbity boo!"
The stone glowed brightly and was created into the summoning gem to summon Simba.
"Whenever you call, he will help you. If you find any more of these, let me know"
Hikari looked at the summoning gem in her hand.
Sora pouted.
"No fair, you get to summon? What about me?"
Hikari grinned at him.
"Don't worry, Sora. I'm sure we'll find you a summoning gem. And don't forget the reason why we came here"
Sora nodded and pulled out the book.
"We were supposed to give this to you" he said as he handed it to Merlin.
The sorcerer took the book from him.
"Oh, that book" he said.
"So Cid asked you to bring this. Thank you very much. You wish to know what kind of book this is?"
They nodded.
"I'm afraid I don't even know myself" Merlin admitted.
"In fact, it's not mine. Somehow, it found its way into my bag one day. It was such a curious book, I asked Cid to repair it for me. Well, I guess I'll put it here somewhere for now. This book holds a great secret. The missing pages will unlock it. Do look at it whenever you feel like it"
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Hikari walked up to Merlin. She wanted to see if he could help her improve with her magic. After hearing about her mom being a powerful sorceress, she wanted to be an expert at magic too. Plus, she wanted to try out the summoning gem that she had just gotten.
Merlin looked at her, as if he knew what she wanted.
"You wish to practice magic?" he asked.
Hikari nodded.
"I should have known. You are Taiyouko's daughter after all. Magic runs through your veins"
He took them up to the second level of the house.
The whole room was filled with furniture and was large enough to move around.
"Feel free to use any type of magic you see fit" Merlin said.
"Good luck, Hikari" Sora said.
She smiled at him and went into the center of the room.
She pulled out her keyblade and nodded for Merlin to start.
"Very well, then. Begin"
He waved his wand and made all of the furniture come to life.
Hikari immediately pulled out her summoning gem and called out Simba.
"Give me strength!"
The mighty lion appeared beside her and roared loudly.
She patted his head and smiled.
"Help me out, ok?"
The lion nodded and followed her around the room.
Whenever she pointed to a piece of furniture, Simba would let out a mighty roar and caused the piece of furniture to explode from the shock waves.
The two of them kept working together like that until Simba felt drained.
Hikari dismissed him and focused on using her magic.
She performed a series of fire attacks before switching it with blizzard and thunder.
Whenever she moved, she looked like she was dancing as she weaved her next set of spells.
When she felt drained from using too much magic, she would cast cure on herself and go at it again.
She kept doing this for about fifteen minutes before she felt like she got the hang of it.
"Very good" Merlin said.
"Your mother would be so proud of you"
Hikari smiled at that.
She turned to Sora and the others.
"Come on; let's go see if Cid finished putting that Gummi block on the ship"
They all nodded and left the training area and said good bye to Merlin.
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As they stepped out to the third district, a heartless suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
It latched itself to Hikari's back and started clawing at her.
"Get it off!" She cried.
Sora was about to strike it, but someone did it for him.
"Come on, Sora. Snap out of it"
Sora and Hikari both gasped as they heard that voice.
"It can't be!"
They both looked in front of them to see no other than Riku.
"Hey, you guys. What's up?"
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A/N: So they finally caught up to one of their friends. I wonder if it'll be a happy reunion for Riku and Hikari. The only way to find out is to send your reviews and tell me what you think. Also, did you think the brother/sister moment between Leon and Hikari was cute?
We'll get back to the main story in the next chapter. I just wanted to show a little family time in this story.
Please send me your review and tell me what you think!
Ja ne
