Shadows of a Dream
Chapter Ten – In the Jungle
Kairi shivered as the frigid air attacked her skin. She had always wanted to see snow, and maybe when she was younger she had (she didn't know if Radiant Garden got snow or not), but now she was wishing that she wasn't near the cold, white substance at all.
Sora held her closer to his body while rubbing her arms, trying to produce some warmth in her goosebump-infested body.
"W-where a-a-are w-w-we?" she asked while her teeth chattered.
Sora wished that he were wearing one of his short-sleeved hoodies at the moment, instead of the hooded vest he had on. At least then he could have offered her to wear that over her bare arms.
He rested his chin on the top of her head as he continued to hold her close before saying, "I don't know but it almost looks like…"
His eyes rested on a tented area before him curiously. He knew he had seen it somewhere before, a while ago, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
A small scream escaped Kairi's lips and she pointed towards the dead bushes. Sora followed her gaze and gasped at what he saw: a frozen, dead ape.
"Deep Jungle?" he blurted out suddenly. "How can this be Deep Jungle? I—but that's the only place I've ever been that had apes and—and that tent! It's Jane's!"
"A jungle? This place used to be a jungle?" Kairi asked with surprise as she snuggled into him a little more. She felt him nod but then it stopped. She heard a thump and felt Sora go limp, falling onto her. Not expecting his dead weight, her legs buckled and she fell to the ground.
"Sora!" she cried out as she twisted herself around and saw him unconscious. There was a rock beside him with a bit of blood on it She held him tightly as she heard rapid footsteps approaching them.
"No!" she yelled. "Leave Sora alone!"
Pain exploded in the back of her head before her world went black.
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"Are you alright Sora?"
Sora opened his eyes quickly and he was on his feet within a heartbeat. He looked around and saw that he was on a stain-glass platform of Namine. He turned around and saw his Nobody looking at him with worry.
"Yeah, I—wait, something hit me! I have to wake up! What about Kairi! She could be hurt!"
"Calm down," Roxas snapped. "There's nothing you can do. We're knocked out cold. What I'm wondering is why are we on a platform of Namine?"
Sora looked down and realized that it was kind of strange. Still, he couldn't care about that mystery. He just wanted to know if Kairi was all right. He could understand why Roxas was curious about the platform; it was of Namine after all.
"No offence Rox, but I don't care."
Roxas chuckled before saying, "I already knew that. Don't worry, I bet Kairi's fine."
"I hope so," Sora whispered. " I really hope so."
Light filled the entire room before Roxas said, "Looks like I was wrong about how knocked out we are, I think we're waking up."
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Sora sat up and stared at the room he was in. His cerulean eyes darted around the cavern until a hand landed on his shoulder and a woman's voice said, "It's alright Sora."
He turned slightly and saw a brown haired woman staring at him. He blinked at her, confusion written across his face until Roxas, literally, kicked the memory back into his fuzzy head.
"Jane, where's Kairi?" he blurted out as he sat up. Pain shot through his head but he ignored it.
Jane smiled slightly and said, "She's right next to you."
Sora turned slightly and saw her lying beside him. He twisted around the rest of the way and put a hand on her cheek while saying, "Kai, come on wake up."
"I sorry," a deep male voice said. "Apes scared and attack."
Sora looked behind him and saw Tarzan behind him. Unlike before, Tarzan was also wearing a ragged, dark brown shirt that had obviously been thrown together quickly due to the cold weather. Sora also noticed that his English had definitely improved since the last time he had seen him, but he decided not to comment on it.
"What happened to this place?" Sora asked as he continued to rub Kairi's cheek gently.
"Heartless and white creatures," Tarzan explained. "They appear and fight the others. White strong things win. Shadowed figure freezes home."
"Nobodies," Sora said quickly. "They're the other piece of a Heartless."
"They came, and killed almost every adult in their way. Then they-they-" Jane looked at the floor sadly.
"What did they do?" Sora urged on.
"Take children," Tarzan replied sadly. "All them."
Sora blinked at his friend and suddenly said, "I'm sorry. I'll do whatever I can to find these Nobodies and get them back. I swear it."
"Tarzan believe you," Tarzan replied after a moment.
"It's late," Jane spoke up. "And these caves are safe. You should rest Sora."
"Not until Kairi wakes up," he said quickly while turning his gaze back to the object of his affections.
Jane grinned at this and giggled slightly. She motioned for Tarzan to leave that part of the cave, but he just shot her a confused look. She rolled her eyes and dragged him to another tunnel in the cave.
Sora turned back to Kairi and leaned into her a little more. He kissed her forehead and said, "Come on Kai, wake up. Please? For me?"
She stirred a little bit but her eyes stayed firmly closed.
"Come on baby, please wake up," he whispered and he rubbed her cheek.
Slowly her indigo eyes opened, looking into his cerulean ones. She blinked as he gripped her tightly and said, "Oh thank god. I was so worried Kairi."
She continued staring at him and said, "Did you just call me baby?"
Now it was his turn to stare at her as his eyes widened and a deep red blush appeared on his face. She giggled, wincing at the pain from where she had been hit, but ignored it as she leaned up and kissed him on his burning cheek.
"Well you see-I-um…"
"You're adorable," Kairi cooed as she leaned up. Both their eyes slowly closed as their lips met in a light kiss.
Roxas and Namine appeared a few feet away from them. Neither of their Others noticed them standing there, grinning at them.
"They really are made for one another," Namine whispered.
Roxas smiled and put an arm on her shoulder as they sat at the entrance of the cave, standing guard for their two friends.
Sora broke away from her and smiled while flopping next to her. Wrapping his arms around her protectively he pulled her over so that she was curled up to his right side.
Kairi sighed happily and pressed her lips to his forehead before tucking her head into the crook of his neck and sighing happily again as she went to sleep. She never once asked where they were or what had happened. She knew she could trust Sora with her life and knew that, as long as he was with her, that she was safe.
Before her eyes closed Kairi saw a grinning Roxas and Namine staring at her.
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"That's terrible."
"I know."
Kairi sat beside Sora, across from Jane. They were on a large, bare tree and Tarzan was sitting in the thick braches farther up from them. They had just told Kairi what had happened to Deep Jungle, and she was not impressed at all.
She shivered from the cold, and from the feeling of dread the story left with her. Kairi shifted and pressed herself to Sora's side, snuggling up to him for warmth.
Sora wrapped his arm around her tightly, but aside from that he made no motion to acknowledge her presence. He had a thoughtful look on his face and his eyes were staring off into the pale sky above them.
Thoughts ran through his head faster than lightning, but he came to many dead ends before he reached where he wanted to be. Roxas was helping him sort through some of the information going through his mind, and the conclusion they came to was one that they wish they hadn't.
"They thought the seven dwarves were children," Sora blurted out quickly. "Then they realized their mistake and let them go. These Nobodies are capturing children for some strange reason, and I'm willing to bet they're only taking children. That's why they kill all adults that get in their way."
Kairi shifted and said, "It makes sense but why only children?"
"Are children born evil?" Jane thought aloud. "Is there any darkness in a child's heart, or is that developed over time?"
Sora nodded and said, "You have a point."
Suddenly a string of curses that would have made Jack Sparrow proud came from Sora, but not actually from him. Everyone in hearing distance turned and looked at him with shock and Kairi elbowed his gut.
"That wasn't me!" he cried out. "What the hell Roxas? You do know that everyone else heard that, right?"
"Sorry," Roxas said as he appeared outside Sora's body, sitting on the opposite side of his Other from Kairi. "But I just remembered something that I shouldn't have forgot."
"What?" Kairi asked.
"There was another part of the Ansem Reports," Roxas explained. "One piece that was hidden away by Ansem the Wise. It was my job to find it. I did find it, but I only got a chance to skim it over before I started having dreams about you Sora and left the Organization. I remember putting it back where I found it because it was such a good hiding place. I was going to use it as leverage to get Xemnas to leave me alone when I left. Unfortunately, Riku got to me first and my memories were taken by Namine."
"Do you have any idea what it was about?" Sora wondered.
"I can't remember it, but I know that Xenmas said something about the types of hearts we needed. I don't know why, but I have a feeling that the report could help us," Roxas said with a sigh.
"Do you remember where you were sent to find it?" Kairi asked.
"It was around Twilight Town I think," Roxas said after a moment. "That would make sense. Until I merged with Sora again I had only ever been to there and The World That Never Was on my own. Every other place I went I was supervised."
Tarzan suddenly jumped past them onto the ground. He seemed to almost growl angrily as he said, "Heartless."
"Where?" Jane asked as she stood up on the branch.
"Past trees over there," he replied while pointing a strong arm westward.
Sora jumped off of the tree, followed by Kairi. At the same time the Ultima Weapon and Oathkeeper appeared in their hands respectively. Kairi had been ecstatic when Sora showed her how to change the Keyblade, and she was very pleased with Oathkeeper.
This time Kairi led the way by leaping in front of Sora and flipping into the circle of Heartless. She swung her Keyblade quickly, slamming four of them at once, cutting through them with ease.
Sora smirked at her improvement, but he also knew that the Keyblade she now used was stronger than her 'girly' one. He followed her and started striking the creatures. It was a quick battle, too quick for Sora's comfort.
They continued to stand back to back, Keyblades held tightly in hand, waiting for something else to spring out at them.
"There's nothing around you," Jane called out from above.
They lowered their weapons and suddenly Kairi let out a terrified gasp. Sora turned to her quickly and she threw her arms around him, Keyblade still held tightly in her right hand. "Sora," she whispered. "What if those were some of the children turned into Heartless?"
Sora felt a lump appear in his throat before shaking his head and whispering, "I hope not. Just, don't tell anyone else about that idea, it might upset everyone."
"Are you alright?" Jane asked as she slid down one of the vines.
"Yes, there were only a few," Sora replied. "Umm, Jane do you happen to know if the keyhole here was unlocked recently?"
"Yes, it was," she replied. "Tarzan said that it was pretty much torn apart."
"Can you show us?" Kairi asked the man in question.
He nodded and they headed into the frozen jungle.
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The trek up the waterfall, which still fell despite the frigid temperature, was a treacherous one. The rock was frozen, covered in ice and very slippery. More then once Sora cleared the way with the Firaga spell, but even that didn't stop them all from slipping and sliding. They needed to stop for a few minutes when Sora had taken a nasty fall and hurt his leg, but Kairi used a Cura spell and he was back to normal in a few minutes.
"Key," Tarzan muttered as they entered the familiar place.
A sad look passed over Sora's face. The Keyhole here had been beautiful the first time he had seen it, but not it looked like a shattered carving in a wall of ice and stone.
He held out his Keyblade and saw that, slowly, the keyhole shut again, but it was a struggle to get the torn keyhole to do so.
"There," he said after a few minutes. "Closed, and hopefully for good this time."
"Will you be leaving then?" Jane asked curiously.
"We have to," Sora replied. "You've seen what happened here, and I'm willing to bet that other worlds suffered through it as well."
Jane nodded and Tarzan said, "Friends always here." He patted the place where his heart was. "Remember."
"Thank you Tarzan," Sora replied with a small smile as he took Kairi's hand. "You're right, friends are always in our hearts and can give us strength, even if they're not here anymore."
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Author's Note
I know I updated two days ago, but I'm in a writing kind of mood so I'll probably write really fast in the new few weeks.
So thanks for reading and I'll see you all next time.
Krystal Lily Potter