A/N: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of their characters. :3
"So tell me. What are we looking for?" Roxas asked. His hands in his white coat pockets. Ven has insisted to bring that with him. It was quite a surprise that he didn't even try to beg to come. He'd thought that his twin would even cry to let him go with him.
If it was any other day, Roxas would enjoy a night expedition with him. However, he wouldn't dare to let Ven go out at night. Especially not after the things happened.
"Well, the closest one from us is the monster at the auditorium building. It's also the farthest from the rest, which is in the main school building." Pence explained as he, Hayner, Olette, Roxas and Sora marched to the auditorium building.
Roxas was scolded. Yes, of course he was scolded by Eraqus. He spent a total of one hour listening to his speech. And another hour to repent his mistakes. He knew he wasn't supposed to bring anyone to school at night. For they would be fighting the heartless for sure.
Unfortunately for him, Eraqus had somewhere he had to attend that night. That left Terra to watch over the monitor that night and He and Sora to watch over the kids. It was such large task with so little helper.
"It's not like I blame you for accidentally agreeing their invitation… However, since I'm watching over the monitors, and the spell, you guys will have to watch over your friends. Don't let them turn to Heartless. Understand?" Terra said, right before he disappeared along with Naminé to the secret base.
"Sorry, Sora…" He muttered. Yes, he dragged Sora into their bodyguard job. Had he declined Hayner's invitation, and prevented them from coming to school, it won't be this hard. The heartless can come at any time. And his friends' lives are at stake.
The brunette smiled and patted his back. "Come on, what's that sorry for? I'm your friend." He smiled and then placed both his hands behind his head. "Besides, this expedition is kind of fun, don't 'cha think?" Sora grinned.
"If it's you, then it can't be helped." He laughed.
"Hey, guys, we're here!" Pence exclaimed when they reached the auditorium building. Hayner gulped and grabbed the handle slowly. He looked at the others and nodded when they all told him to open it through the eyes.
"OOOOOOOO! REHHHHHHHH !" A voice suddenly shouted from within. It was groggy and scary. It almost sounded like a roar.
And they all flinched.
"I-it's here!" Olette yelped.
"B-but are you sure it's from the inside?" Sora exclaimed, his face half scared.
Hayner and Roxas then placed their ears by the doors to the auditorium building and once again heard another voice.
"SOOOOOORRRRRr… RAAAAAAHHHHHH!" The voice shouted again.
"Sora… Is it calling for you?" Roxas said as he faced the pale faced brunette.
"Stop making things like that Roxas!" Sora cried out.
"Well, there's only one way to find out." Hayner said as he grabbed the handle to the doors once again, and then opened it slowly.
The auditorium was dark. The only light they had was the moonlight shining from the doors. All five of them entered the building slowly. Each keeping close to each other with Hayner standing bravely on the front.
"…There's no one here…" Olette exclaimed.
They stood there for few moments before deciding to explore the room even further. That was when a loud 'clang' was heard, followed by large footsteps running.
"There it is!" Hayner shouted as he equipped his struggle bat and then ran to the stage. There was small light, emitting from behind the podium. The light managed to give them a glimpse of a large body running to the backstage.
All five of them started to make pace. Determined in figuring out whatever it is making the noise. Was it really a monster?
Once they reached the stage, they decided to split up and ambush the thing from two sides. They have surrounded the only two possible exits. There's no other way for the monster to run now. Sora followed Hayner to the right exit while the rest ambushed from the other.
It was then Roxas noticed what made the small light they saw earlier.
'A torch… and… paper?' He thought as he picked up the objects.
"Roxas! Come on!" Olette whispered.
He nodded and quickly chased after them. They walked very slowly. The backstage was even darker as it had no window. There are many carton boxes stacked up. Most of them filled with costumes and other background decorations.
"Show yourself!" Hayner shouted. His struggle bat ready on his hands. Sora keeping close to his back.
Roxas used the torch he picked up and light the things within. A rather large sized figure wearing dark cloak was standing in between them. Its hair long and wavy. Once the light hit him, he ran away and charged at Hayner and Sora.
"Wait! Hayner! Don't hit him!" Roxas shouted. Hayner flinched at Roxas's words and stopped himself from hitting the thing with his struggle bat.
The monster thing ran past the two and charged towards the exit.
"After him!" Roxas commanded and they all ran after him.
"What are you thinking, Roxas? We almost got him!" Hayner protested. But then Roxas gave him the serious look and passed him the paper he found.
"If I'm right, then he's…" He muttered before they all sprinted and chase after the monster.
"Adam!" A female voice called. A young girl appeared at the exit. Although her face was quite unclear under the moonlight, they could see that the girl has a beautiful face.
"B-belle…" The monster replied.
"It talked!" Hayner jumped in surprise. Roxas chuckled at his friend's reaction and approached the monster.
"Oh come on, you guys, don't you figure it out yet?" He said with a grin as he took the paper from Hayner and returned it to the monster figure.
"Here. You're practicing this, right?" He said as he offered the paper.
"You mean… he's not a monster?" Pence asked, his voice full of doubt.
"That's why I told you to cut your hair… or at least tie them. Here." The young girl sighed as she let go of the ribbon tying her hair and tidied the monster figure's hair. Revealing the figure to be a human. A handsome one at that.
"He's a human, just like us." Roxas exclaimed.
"Ah… I'm sorry… I almost hit you with my bat…" Hayner said as he bowed down to the male. His heart filled with guilt. Adam looked away and scratched his chin.
"I-it's fine. I'm used to it…" He replied with a small blush on his cheeks.
"But… why did you run away from us? You can just say that you're not a monster or something. That way we don't have to chase you out." Sora said.
"W-well…" The boy said as he scratched his chin once again. "I thought you were security guards or something that I ran away… Sorry…" He apologized.
"Well, we're sorry too. Sorry for mistaking you as a monster. But… why were you practicing here this late?" Pence asked.
The girl, Belle, smiled and held his hands. "You're practicing for the choir club again, aren't you?" She smiled at the boy, which blushed and then looked away.
"W-well, I live in the dormitory, if I were to practice in my room, my voice would have disturbed the students. So I figured that the only place I could train is here…" Adam explained.
"So that's why…" Olette sighed in relief. The monster they thought existed in the auditorium weren't monster after all. It was only Adam, dressed in his usual messy style and sang in his hoarse voice.
"Well, you should go back. Lumière and Cogsworth are worried sick about you. They are looking everywhere for you. You shouldn't make everyone worry like that." Belle said with a sigh.
The boy, Adam apologized and then exited along with the girl.
"Sorry for all the commotion." He said before he walked away.
It was a long pause before the five of them sighed in relief.
"Well, we've cleared one of them. Let's go unto the next." Pence said as he walked out from the auditorium building.
'But… why is it unlocked?' Sora thought as they all exited the building. He gave the building one last glimpse before deciding not to think much about it.
"Well, the second one is in the main school building. They say there's a white ghost wondering around the hallway. It appears at random floors, though." Pence exclaimed as he read his small pocketbook.
"Ghost?" Sora yelled. His face paled again.
"What, are you scared, Sora?" Roxas teased. "O-of course not!" Sora said as he paced and walked past them.
Then he froze.
"What's wrong? Why did you st-" Hayner asked as he froze as well. His face grimaced.
"G-ghost!" He screamed. All of them focused on the direction Hayner was looking and caught a glimpse of white somewhere in the middle of the dark. The figure walked closer.
They all froze. Sora looked as if his soul was taken while both Hayner and Roxas gulped and tried to fight their fear. Pence was busy taking picture of the ghost while Olette hid behind Hayner.
"Roxas?" The voice spoke. It was a female's spoke.
"GYAAAAAAAAARGH!" Sora shouted. He tugged Roxas's shirt and pointed at the ghost aimlessly. "It spoke! Roxas! It's calling your name! It spoke!" Sora blabbered.
Roxas tried to calm his friend down while he focused on the ghost. It wasn't a ghost. He knew this voice too well.
"Roxas! Sora!" The voice called again. Sora was clinging to Roxas. Up to the point where he looked like a kindergarten kid bawling to his parent.
"Naminé." Roxas called as he sighed. Trying to let Sora go and make him realized the truth.
"Eh?"
Then there was the long silence.
.
.
.
"You thought I'm a ghost?" She giggled, breaking up the silence. Sora pouted and looked away, embarrassed. He was the one panicking the most. Pence deleted the photo he just took in disappointment. Olette sighed in relief while Hayner laughed at Sora.
"W-well… It can't be helped, right?" Sora replied with a slightly red face. "Although,I'm glad that it was you, Naminé." Sora sighed gladly.
"But… what are you doing this late at night?" Pence asked.
Naminé flinched and looked away. Looking for an excuse.
"I-I forgot my textbook…" She lied.
"I see, have you retrieved it then?" He asked.
"Eh? Well, no… I'm about to, though." She answered.
"Would you like to join us? We're figuring out this school's seven wonders. So far we've cleared up one… two if this one is counted. We can pass by your class to retrieve your textbook." Pence hummed.
"Sure." She answered.
"Then, let's go to the third one! The talking mirror at third floor." Hayner said as they all marched to the third floor.
"What happened? You're not supposed to be here…" Roxas whispered. She whispered back to him. "I'm sorry… but I can't stay back. The heartless are coming soon… I just… can't pinpoint where it is now. So I thought it's best if I come with you."
Roxas was about to send her back to Terra. But then he realized her determined eyes.
"But… it's dangerous. I don't want to put you in danger, Naminé." He muttered.
"…I know, but… I wanted to do something for you. At least, I wanted to be useful." She replied. Her eyes shining with hope.
"I promise I won't pull you back… and, if it's looking bad, I'll run back to the secret base. Please?" She begged.
He was defeated.
"…Well, it can't be helped. Promise me that you have to stay behind us. Don't do anything reckless, okay?" He sighed.
She beamed with happiness and nodded cheerfully. "Tha-" She sneezed. "Aah, I'm sorry… Thank you, Roxas." She apologized with a red face, totally embarrassed. He then realized that she was slightly trembling. Was she cold?
He sighed as he let go of the coat Ven gave him and put it around her. "Bring more clothes with you next time. Wouldn't want you to catch a cold, right?" He smiled as he adjusted the coat and then walked away.
"R-roxas? But… what about you?" She asked as she ran to catch up to him.
"I'll be fine. I'm a boy after all." He chuckled.
She smiled and then whispered "Thank you" to him.
"This is it, this is the mirror." Pence exclaimed as he identified the mirror. It was a large mirror placed right before the staircase.
"I don't see anything weird. And oh? Are you wearing Roxas's coat, Naminé" Olette teased. Naminé blushed and looked away.
"Do I sense lovebirds here?" Pence teased as well. This time, Roxas blushed and yelled at him to shut up.
"Wait!" Hayner suddenly cried. He put his finger in front of his mouth in a manner of telling everyone to shut up. They went quiet for a while.
Then a voice was heard.
"…ease… oh baby… on't go…le an..ean..s..th..ay that you're…ing"
"…huh?" Everyone was dumbfounded.
"Was that… a song?" Naminé asked.
"I think I heard 'Simple and Clean' by Utada just now." Olette said.
"But… this is weird, where did this came from?" Hayner asked.
"Shush, Hayner!" Olette cried.
The song kept continuing until then a male's voice was heard.
"..and..at was..le and …ean by Uta.. karu…Th..ext song, als..rom..tada…Dista…" The voice continued. It was unclear and it sounded more like an echo. But they could manage to hear it.
"Was it… a radio?" Sora asked.
"But… where's it coming from?" Hayner added as he searched around.
"Maybe it came from the air vent?" Roxas said as he pointed at the air ventilation right on top of them.
"Ah! I get it. The air vent must be connected to the guard post. He loves to turn on the radio at night and then fell asleep on it." Pence exclaimed.
"…Really? And how did you know that, Pence?" Hayner asked with disbelieving eyes. When did Pence learned all that, anyways?
"Ah, just some info I received to assure our hunt tonight. Anyways. Should we go to the forth one, then?" Pence said as he led the way to the fourth floor. Which was where the fourth one would be.
"So much for the commotion? And that guard isn't even guarding our school…" Hayner commented.
"At least it gave us the chance to explore the school." Olette said as she walked away from the mirror. Hayner and Pence followed suit. Sora chuckled before he followed them.
"Let's move, Roxas." Naminé said as she left. Roxas, in the meantime stayed behind. Looking at his reflection in the mirror reminded him of Ven. He couldn't lie to Ven about his coming to school tonight thanks to Hayner inviting Ven along. It was a good thing that Ven decided not to come. However, knowing his twin brother, maybe he would wait for him until he gets home.
"…I wonder what Ven is doing…" He muttered before he followed the rest.
Unknown to him that his reflection has changed into a dark shadow resembling Sora. The shadow smirked before it disappeared.
Knock Knock
"Ven… are you in?" A female voice asked through the door. Knowing the voice, Ven didn't bother to hesitate and unlocked it for her. It was Aqua.
"Aqua! What are you doing this late?" He smiled, welcoming the older teen and let her in.
"Actually, I need your help… Cinderella was having trouble fixing the dress for the drama club… She needs to get it done tomorrow and I wanted to give her a hand… but it seems that I won't make it by myself tonight and Terra is no use when it comes to these kinds of things… Would you lend me a hand, Ven?" She asked, showing dresses and gowns with loose ribbons and such.
"Sure." He smiled. "If we're doing an all-nighter… Would you like some coffee first?" He asked.
She smiled and thanked him. "Oh, do you have extra threads? I ran out of mine." She asked.
"I think I have some in my room…" He said as he prepared the coffee. "Hand on a sec, I'll get it for you." He said. However, Aqua cut him in. "I'll go get it." She said as she walked to his bedroom.
"Okay. I think it's in desk's drawer." He said as he boiled the water.
"Right." She said as she entered the room. She locked the room and then summoned her keyblade. Then she closed her eyes. Remembering her master's words.
"It appears that there is someone trying to break into our system. The heartless… they are under control of someone." Eraqus stated to his two students. They were in Eraqus's office. Alone with just the three of them. Terra, Aqua, and Eraqus himself.
"And…" He muttered as he summoned his keyblade and locked it to the walls. A white chain appeared as it hit the walls. A shade of darkness appeared, but then it faded to nothing.
"Someone is using the hollow of darkness to spy on us." He said. Both his pupils were shocked with his sudden actions.
"What? But Master! The hollow of darkness can only be accessed with a keyblade?" Aqua exclaimed. The old man nodded and turned his back.
"True. I won't say that there is another keyblade wielder. But the chance of it is not zero." Eraqus stated. His mind filled with an image of someone he knew well.
"Then that boy, the one controlled Ven the other day… Could he be the one behind this?" Terra asked.
"I'm still unsure of that… However, he definitely isn't on our side." Eraqus sighed as he turned and faced his pupils with serious face.
"There's something I need to do tonight. Terra, I command you to take control of everything tonight. Protect this place with everything you can. If it goes beyond you, do contact me at once." Then he faced the female keyblade wielder. "Aqua, go and destroy every darkness hollow you can find. Also, watch over Ventus…" He commanded.
"Yes, Master." The two of them exclaimed in unison.
Once she pin-pointed the darkness hollow, she pointed her keyblade and released the same chains as her master did. The chains surrounded the wall and again, a shade of darkness appeared before it faded. Overthrown by light.
She smiled gladly to see that the threat was gone. She hurried to grab the thread and then exited the room.
"I finally found it. So, let's get this started?" She asked as Ven nodded in agreement. The two sat down on the sofa and began to fix the broken laces of the dresses and gowns.
"Ukiii!" A screech was heard. The six of them ran to chase a brown haired primate. The monkey was carrying a white cloth around. Anyone else would assume him a ghost for he jumped around and ran in such a high speed with such little body.
"You're not getting away from me!" Sora shouted as he leaped and tried to catch the monkey. Sora had been the first one to scream out the moment he saw the white floating cloth that looked like a ghost. It turned out that a monkey was running around with the cloth on its hands.
The monkey grinned and then jumped away from Sora at ease. Causing him to bump into the wall and ignited Sora's anger even more.
"You!" Sora shouted as he chased the monkey even more.
Hayner and Roxas ran past the monkey and cornered him from two sides. The monkey, however was clever enough to jump past them. Causing them to bump into each other.
The monkey then entered the home economics room, jumping around and accidentally turned the spinning wheel. Loosing so many threads and made mess around the room.
"Ah!" Pence suddenly exclaimed, remembering the fourth wonder. Which was the messy home economics room.
"It's said that at night, the spinning wheel turned on by itself and covered this room with threads!" Pence exclaimed. Now they knew why the room was such a mess.
"Abu!" A voice shouted. A dark skinned boy appeared along with a beautiful dark skinned girl. They both looked happy when they saw the monkey. The monkey, as if recognizing them, jumped and perched on the boy's shoulder.
"Abu! There you are!" The boy sighed in relief.
"Al..laddin?" Sora muttered.
"Sora!" The black skinned boy called. Then he realized the situation and bowed down in apology.
"I'm sorry to cause so much troubles…" Said a boy with dark skin. He then introduced himself to everyone as Alladin. The girl next to him smiled and introduced herself as Jasmine. The two of them were Sora's friends, as well as the hottest couple in the secondary year.
"Hey, chill it Al!" Sora exclaimed with a grin.
"So… it was Abu's doing… sneaking into the home economics room and mess around with the sewing machine… Seeing how he walks around carrying that white cloth, he must also be the reason of the ghost in hallways." Said Pence, taking notes. He looked as if he's enjoying this.
"We're very sorry… Abu loves to sneak out at night. I'll try and teach him not to sneak out to school next time… hopefully." Alladin sighed as he looked at his smiling little monkey.
"Well, maybe he's just lonely because you rarely played with him these days." Jasmine smiled as she teased the little monkey on his shoulder. As if understanding her, the little monkey nodded.
"…We can spend our days together, instead of just you and me." Jasmine suggested with a smile. Alladin blushed and can only nodded in agreement. "I-if that's fine with you…" He muttered back.
"Of course." Jasmine stated. Then they said goodbyes to the six. Leaving them to continue their investigation. Well, not until Naminé suddenly stopped and warned Roxas and Sora about the incoming Heartless in whispers.
"The next one is in the music room. They said sounds of instruments could be heard from within." Pence explained.
"Instruments? Isn't it usually just pia-" Olette spoke. But was then cut with the spell. All of them but Roxas, Sora, and Naminé were stopped from moving.
"Heartless!" Sora yelled as he summoned his keyblade and searched around.
Naminé was trying to pin-point the heartless while Roxas watched over the three teenagers.
"I got it! It's in the music room!" Naminé exclaimed as she pointed at the music room, which was not that far away from the home economics room.
The two, Sora and Roxas barged in and saw a horde of flare notes and bubble beats heartless. In the middle of the horde was a human-like heartless with three large instruments floating around it. It appeared to be controlling the instruments.
"Damn it! This place is too cramped! We'll end up breaking things!" Roxas cursed as he tried to beat the annoying flare beats.
"But we can't let them leave this room. Hayner and the others are at the outside!" Sora said as he helped Roxas to beat the bubble beats.
The humanoid heartless swung its baton and commanded the three instruments, Drums, Violin, and Trumpet to attack the two at the same time. The instruments charged and trapped them within. It slammed hardly at them.
"Damn it, there's not enough space to run…" Roxas commented as he tried to destroy one of the instruments. It was hard to defeat the heartless. Especially since the flare notes and bubble beats kept casting cure on themselves and to their allies.
"These guys are so annoying. We have to beat that big one first!" Sora yelled as he charged and performed Sonic Blade. He charged in and then thrust his keyblade continuously against the Trumpet.
Roxas meanwhile kept slashing his keyblades at the drum. He used Criss-Cross and destroyed the Flare Notes and Bubble beats surrounding him. He swung his keyblade around that damaged anything that touched the circle. Including the drum. Although, the drum was more invulnerable than he thought.
The drum rolled, and then charged to Roxas, sending him off the ground.
"Roxas!" Sora yelled in a worried tone. However, he was soon hit by the musical notes honked by the trumpet. "Blasted Trumpet!" Sora yelled as he charged and hit the trumpet with blitz. Destroying it at once.
"One down!" He yelled. Sora smirked and then charged at the Violin.
Meanwhile, Roxas, still focusing on the drum concentrated his strength on his keyblades glared at the drum. He charged in and then threw the drum up to the ceilings. He jumped and then swirled his keyblade around him to make a barrier of keyblades. The enemy was pushed to the side. The drum was thrown hard to the wall as it vanished.
"Two!" Roxas smirked. However, they were unaware that the Symphony Master had gone mad and then threw its baton against them in a similar way to Sora's strike raid.
The baton managed to hit both Sora and Roxas and landed a pretty large damage. If this continues, both of them will pass out for sure. What's more ironic was that neither of them learned how to use cure…yet.
"Roxas! Sora! " Naminé screamed in terror. She was watching through the window. Unable to see the battle any longer, she decided to leave and call for help.
"Please hang on! I'll bring Terra!" She exclaimed as she ran as fast as she could to the library.
"Sora… you didn't bring any potions?" Roxas asked as he stood behind Sora's back, watching his partner's back as Sora did the same.
"The thing Kairi made? I think I've run out of those…" He chuckled. They were now surrounded by the large amount of Flare Notes and Bubble Beats. Not to forget the Symphony Master with its Trumpet ready to blast its horrifying sound waves.
"…I'm about to try something crazy. You up with me, buddy?" Sora asked with a grin. His face somewhat scared but determined. Roxas looked at him and then smiled.
"Game on, partner." He said as he listened to Sora's plans.
As they linked their hands, a light sparked and formed a link between them. Their strength was doubled and shared. Although, during this condition, the damages they received were also shared. They could feel each other's pain[1].
"Roxas!" Sora called as the two jumped into the midair and locked onto their enemy.
"Come on!" Sora yelled as they performed long strikes of slashes together into the violin and then slammed it hard onto the wall.
"Sora!" Roxas shouted as he reached out to the brunette. Sora took his hand and threw him to the air as he used the collision to send himself back down and struck his keyblade to the ground. Creating an impact with the energy he received from the force.
As the impact managed to deal area-damage to some of the heartless, Roxas summoned pillars of light that surrounded himself and Sora. The pillars of light moved and destroyed most of the musical notes heartless.
The move left the Symphony Master alone. The heartless began to charge at them as it jumped and attempted to slam itself on them.
"Roxas!" Sora shouted as he pointed his keyblade to Roxas
"Last one!" Roxas yelled as he threw his keyblades diagonally, performing a reversed triangle with Sora's keyblade.
Light began to shone from their keyblades and took form that of a heart. The light blasted off and destroyed the symphony master at once.
Roxas fell down and made a high-five with Sora. The two then sat down and laughed together. They were beat up. But they were glad that they managed to take down the horde of Heartless.
"You make a good other." Roxas chuckled.
"You too." Sora grinned. Not long after that, the three, Hayner, Pence, and Olette arrived and made a confused look at them.
"Eh? I thought you guys were behind us!" Pence exclaimed as Sora and Roxas tried to hide their fatigue and injuries. "We-we're too excited that we ran here!" Sora said.
"That's impossible! When did you ran here anyways, were you trying to make an 'eight' wonder?" Hayner chuckled as he inspected the room.
"Where's Naminé? Wasn't she with you?" Olette asked as she tried to look for the blonde girl.
"A-ah, maybe she went to take her forgotten thing? Anyways, we found nothing in this room. How about you guys go check this room and me and Roxas go look for Naminé." Sora stated as he dragged Roxas out from the room and skidded away.
They ran to the library and checked the secret base. However, there was no one there. Not even Terra who was supposed to be there.
"Strange… where are they? And here I thought I would ask Terra to cast Curaga on us…" Sora pouted.
"Sora! Look!" Roxas cringed as he pointed at one of the monitors. It showed Terra battling a rather large Heartless shaped like a spinning wheel. Naminé was behind him. Her face looked shocked.
"There's another one?" Sora exclaimed as the two sprinted to the location shown on the monitor. The home economics room.
"But… why is time moving?" Sora asked while panting. Roxas gritted his teeth and paced to the home economics room.
"Like hell I'd know!" He answered as he jumped through the stairs and hurried to the home economics room. His mind completely filled with worries.
He tried to open the door. However, it was blocked by something. Sora tried the window, however, it was completely covered by threads. They can only see through the gaps between the threads, which are not helping them about the current situation.
"Naminé! Terra!" Roxas called as he knocked on the doors.
There was no response.
"Naminé!" Roxas yelled as he searched for the spots uncovered by the threads.
Naminé seemed to realize him and ran to the window. She tried to say something, however her voice was blocked by the threads. She then picked up her cellphone and dialed Roxas's numbers.
"Roxas!" She called.
"Naminé! Are you alright? What's going on?" Roxas asked through his cell.
"I-I'm fine… Terra noticed that something was not right about the home economics room… So we went to check it, but…"
A loud crash was heard.
"This monster suddenly appeared… and now it locked us in with its threads… Roxas… I-I don't know what to do…" She cried.
"Keep calm, Naminé!" He cried, trying to calm her down. He gritted his teeth and tried to push the window open.
"Can you do something about the threads?" He shouted.
"I-I'll try something!" She said with a trembling voice as she tried to search for anything that could cut the threads. She noticed a small pocket knife fell down from the card box the monster threw to Terra.
She picked it up and began to cut the threads that surrounded the door.
Waiting was the hardest thing to do. Sora and Roxas could do nothing but watch the monster and Terra attacking each another.
The Wheel master then noticed its thread being cut by Naminé. It was angry and then shot its thread to capture the girl. Only that it hit Terra instead of her.
"Terra!" She shouted. Terra struggled to free himself from the threads. "I'm fine, just focus on the threads." Terra said as he broke free from the threads and then attacked the monster back.
She nodded and hurried in cutting the threads.
"Done!" She shouted as she finished cutting the threads. She slammed the door open and allowed Roxas and Sora to enter the room and helped Terra.
"Naminé!" Roxas shouted as he ran to her with a really worried face. Sora followed suit and ran to help Terra.
"Are you alright?" He asked with a really worried tone.
"I'm alright, but Terra…" She said as she looked at the older man with worry. But when the two glanced over, they saw how the impossible happened.
Sora ran with his keyblade ready. He jumped and slammed the monster. The monster lost its balance once it was hit, and then vanished into darkness.
Both Roxas and Naminé were dumbfounded.
The tall brunette smiled and then walked away from Sora. He looked tired, but his wounds were totally healed. As if he wasn't injured from the start.
"Don't tell Sora about this, but… I already finished that monster when Sora came to help." Terra sighed.
The wheel master was strong. It was able to freely control its threads and trapped Terra to continuously dealt damage upon him with its wheel and arm. When angry, the wheel master would charge itself upon Terra and dealt another large damage.
It's not like Terra was unable to fight the Wheel Master. However, his movements were limited by the many things placed in the home economics room. One false move and he would break everything within.
Terra advanced himself in brute strength. Therefore, everything he touched, break. He limited his own speed and only attacked whenever he saw nothing could break. It took a long time to beat the monster. Although he was proud of his stamina, this style of battling took a lot from him.
He then noticed that the monster was no longer focusing on him. Instead, it shot its strings towards Naminé, who was trying to cut the threads that blocked the door.
'Shit!' He thought as he ran as fast as he could to block the threads from reaching her.
"Terra!" She screamed.
"I'm fine, just focus on the threads." He said. Well, he isn't that fine, but at least he's still able to hang on. He quickly broke free from the threads, however, the monster quickly charged at him.
Terra was thrown with the last tackle. An orange star shaped charm fell from his pocket. He quickly grabbed it and squeezed it to his chest.
'What should I do…?' He thought, he couldn't last any longer. He couldn't pass out now. If he passed out, who knows what would happen to Naminé.
'Aqua…Ven…lend me your strength…' He spoke through his heart.
Back in Ventus's room, the similar green charm on his bag glowed. Another one, a blue charm shone from Aqua's pocket. Aqua took it and made a concerned look while Ven looked out to the window.
'This light… Terra? Did something happen?' Aqua thought as she examined her wayfinder. She placed it close to her chest.
"…Terra?" Ventus muttered.
"Eh?" Aqua muttered with a surprised face.
"Ven, what did you just say?" She asked. The boy gave her a confused look and tried to remember.
"…Terra." He repeated. "…Aqua, I don't understand…I…I think Terra's in danger." The boy muttered, then chuckled. "He's supposed to be in his room, right? Silly me…" He muttered, then he saw the blue charm on her hand.
"Aqua…that charm…" He was about to question her, but she smiled at him.
"It's a wayfinder. I gave you one long time ago. Do you remember?" She asked, truthfully, she was afraid. She never dared to ask him this question. Although she had wanted to know. She was afraid of him forgetting the bond the three of them, Terra, Ven, and she made.
"I…I'm sorry, Aqua, I don't really remember…" Ventus muttered.
She was shocked. It was painful to be forgotten.
"But…Somehow, I knew. I cherished that charm. I don't remember when I got that, but… It is a very important thing to me." He said as he placed a hand on his chest.
She wanted to cry. Ventus didn't forget them after all.
"Thank you, Ven." She said to him. Then she looked at the window. 'Terra, Ventus is here. He didn't disappear like you said.' She thought as she held the charm close to her again.
絆繋ぐ舞水[Dancing Waters Forming Bonds]
絆守る大地 [Vast Earth Protecting Bonds]
絆巡る疾風[Swift Wind Returning to Bonds]
Light glowed from Terra's body. His injuries were cured and a newfound strength engulfed him. His speed became faster and he could block the enemy's moves at ease. He smiled and brutally landed damages on the enemies.
Finally, he finished it off with his Ultima Cannon. In which his keyblade turned into a giant bazooka, and then fired an enormous blast.
"Thanks…Aqua…Ven." He sat before he lost his balance and sat down.
The monster, although he was still there, was burning away in dark flames, waiting until it disappeared completely into darkness.
"Did you see that? I finished it with one hit!" Sora chirped as he jumped around cheerfully. As if he wasn't hurt.
"Come on, Sora. It was just your luck…" Roxas muttered. How could the child be so foolish that he didn't realize the monster has already been defeated before he attacked it.
"Whoa, I must be really strong… to defeat such a big heartless in one hit!" Sora exclaimed happily, totally didn't listen to Roxas.
"Roxas, you're hurt…" Naminé muttered as she examined Roxas. Both him and Sora were injured, although not fatally.
"We're fine. We needed some help to heal though, since both Sora and I haven't learned how to use cure yet." Sora said, scratching the back of his head.
"If that's so, then please use this." Naminé said as she handed three bottles of Hi-Potions. Each for every one of them.
"Whoa! Thanks a lot, Naminé!" Sora grinned as he snatched one and then drank up. His wounds were treated, yet he still felt the fatigue of beating the monsters. At least he won't look suspicious now.
Terra and Roxas did the same and got their wounds healed. Although, nothing much changed for Terra.
"Kairi told me to bring some with me. I don't need it, so you guys can have it." Naminé said.
Then there were sounds of footsteps marching downstairs. He could hear Hayner's scream and Pence's excited humming. "What happened?" Hayner asked as he entered the room. But then he saw Terra and flinched.
Terra squinted his eyes in a manner of trying to remember the boy's name. However, Hayner got the wrong idea and took it as Terra intimidating him.
After all, Terra was a senior. A third year at that.
"Well, I'll take my leave, now." Terra muttered before he returned to the secret base.
Hayner was frozen still for a few moments until Terra exited the room.
"Uwaaah, that scares me." Hayner said as he sighed gladly.
"You mean Terra?" Roxas asked.
"You knew him?" Pence asked, his eyes filled with curiosity.
"He is my half-brother. Of course I knew." Roxas answered. He could see Pence's eyes shone brightly and wrote down something on his pocketbook.
"Half-brother? Then that means, is your…" Hayner asked.
"Yeah, he's my adoptive father. Only Ven is related to me by blood. Although, among us, Ven is closer to Terra." Roxas explained.
"I see… but, what's he doing here?" Pence asked as he looked back. Only to find Terra completely gone.
"Ah, he just went to check up on me. I didn't realize he was calling me since I changed my phone to silent mode." Roxas lied. Which seemed to work.
"If that's so, then let's continue. Didn't want to make your brother worry. We found out that the instruments in the music room made sounds because of a mouse. There was a mouse hole and a mouse jumped into the piano. So that must be it." Hayner explained as he remembered how they all panicked when the piano suddenly sounded.
And then a mouse popped out from the piano, showing its innocent little face.
"The next one is in the chemistry laboratory. They said that there is a potion that can make you small there." Olette exclaimed as they all moved to the Chemistry lab.
"You mean like the one in Meitant*i C*nan manga?" Sora said in astonishment.
"Maybe." Pence hummed again as he flipped his pocketbook.
"Wait, you guys believed that such things exist?" Roxas said, sweatdropping in the process.
"We'll never know until we see it, right?" Hayner chuckled.
The chemistry lab was placed at the fourth floor. Next to the biology lab and the physic lab. Surprisingly, the lights were turned on.
"There's someone there…" Hayner whispered as he told them all to get down. They all crawled and then peek through the windows. There were two people inside.
"No way!" Sora muttered as he saw the two men.
It was Professor Vexen and Sir. Zexion, the literature teacher.
"I'm sure this one will work." The old man with long light blonde hair said to the other.
"The last time I tested it, I got knocked out. I had no intention of ever tasting your potion again." The blue haired said with a sigh, reading what seemed to be a chemistry book.
"Fine, I'll test this one myself!" The old man said as he gulped down his chemical experiment.
Then there was silence.
"…What's he doing?" Olette whispered.
"I don't know. Could that be the shrinking potion?" Hayner guessed.
"…So, did anything change?" Zexion asked. He waited for a change and Vexen seemed to be hesitating in doing whatever he wanted to do.
Then suddenly his hair slipped down. Revealing a clean shiny head.
"Ienzo! What are you doing?" Vexen screamed. He took his wig from the smaller version of Zexion. The young boy gave him a blank face. "It's still bald…" He commented.
"Forgive my dear brother, , but he was right about it. Now let's go home, Ienzo." The blue haired man said as he took the smaller boy's hand and then exited the room, only to find the six children trying to hold their laughter.
"Wait! Zexion!" Vexen yelled as he ran to catch up with him. His wig on his hand and his head still clean like a lightbulb.
And that became the destructive nuclear bomb to the children.
"Pfff…BWAHAHAHA!" Hayner laughed. His eyes letting go tears of laughter.
"H-his head… his head is…" Sora muttered as he tried to hold his laughter.
"My stomach hurt, pffftt…" Roxas said as he held his stomach.
Even Naminé and Olette were looking away, trying to hold their laughter but still let out soft giggles.
Pence was writing happily on his pocketbook. Totally enjoying the situation
"Ah, they found out." Zexion commented calmly.
3
2
1
"SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU!" Vexen exploded in anger.
"Ahh, we got caught." Hayner commented. He sighed in disappointment.
"At least we found out about 's secret. Although we got so many punishments in exchange." Pence chuckled.
"I can't believe that he's actually bald. Oh my, how will I face him tomorrow?" Olette said with a smile.
"Well, should we continue to the last wonder? It's late, though…" Sora exclaimed as he placed his hands behind his head.
"Well, only one is left. I might as well check that out." Hayner said as he looked at the others. None disagreed with him.
"Then, the last one is on the roof." Pence exclaimed as they all marched to the roof. Only to find the door locked.
"It's locked." Sora stated.
"Whaaat? Man, and we're this close…" Hayner pouted.
"Well, we can always find the key and then checked it out." Pence suggested.
"Where would the keys be?" Olette asked, wondering.
"I think it's either in the faculty office… or the janitor's room." Roxas muttered.
"Okay, then, Pence, Olette, you're coming with me to the Janitor's room. You three check the faculty office, 'kay?" Hayner said as he left to the Janitor's room with the other two.
"Then let us go to the faculty office?" Sora asked. But then the door suddenly opened by itself
"Ack!" Sora jumped in surprise and leaped back in defensive style.
"It's opened…? But… how?" Naminé asked.
Roxas approached the door with caution. He gulped and then kicked the door open. Revealing a raven haired boy smirking on the edge of the roof.
"Welcome." Vanitas smirked.
"You!" Roxas yelled as he pointed his finger at Vanitas. His stomach boiled. He gritted his teeth in anger. He wanted to punch his smug face. He wanted to beat him out. After all he'd done.
"Oh please, It's Vanitas, not 'you' " He sighed.
"What do you want?" Sora shouted.
The dark haired laughed and then leered at them. Dark shadows engulfed the roof. From the shadows, large minions of small monsters appeared. They looked similar to shadow heartless. Only a little bit smaller and it has blue skin. Its eyes similar to the two monster they just beat.
"What are these?" Sora yelled in surprise as he summoned his keyblade and destroyed those that gotten near them.
"They are what I feel. A horde of fledgling emotions under my control. Unversed" Vanitas smirked.
"Unversed?" The three of them shouted in unison as large amount of unversed appeared and pinned them to the ground.
"Let's see…" Vanitas said as he approached Naminé and released her from the Unversed grab. He then took her hand and then dragged her to the edge of the roof.
"Let me go!" Naminé struggled free. However, Vanitas was far stronger than her.
"Naminé!" Roxas shouted as he struggled to free himself from the Unversed. "Let go of her!" Roxas screamed. He was, however left ignored by Vanitas.
"I see, you're the daughter of Ansem. Tell me, where did he hide the key?" He asked to the girl, which faced him with a confused face.
"What key?" She asked in confusion.
"He hid it within you, didn't he? The key to forge the X-blade?" He yelled at her. He was so scary. Still, she was clueless with what he meant.
"I don't know what you're talki-"
"Silence!" He yelled again
Roxas can only watch the situation helplessly. Anger boiled within him even more. First he tried to use Ventus. Now, he was hurting Naminé. He couldn't let that happen.
"LET GO!" Roxas shouted as whirlwind was summoned around him. Allowing him to break free from the unversed. He glared at Vanitas. His face filled with hatred.
Vanitas smirked at him.
"Oh? You want to play?" He teased. His hand gripped Naminé tightly that she wasn't able to struggle free. "You should know that if you tried to attack me, this girl would get hit as well, don't you?" He chuckled evilly. With his other hand, he reached out for something. Darkness engulfed his hand and then took form into a long blade.
It was a keyblade.
"Keyblade?" All three of them shouted at the same time.
"It's said that a keyblade can extract human hearts. I wonder if it's true." Vanitas said in a playful tone as he pointed the keyblade to Naminé.
"Stop!" Roxas shouted.
"Well, if you kneeled down and begged, I guess I could spare the girl's life." Vanitas laughed.
At that, Roxas couldn't do a thing. He watched Naminé begging him not to do that. He watched how she struggled through Vanitas's grip. He watched how she cried for him.
He heard her voice. He heard her cries. Then he heard nothing. He disposed everything around him and then crouched down.
"…Please…" He managed.
Vanitas laughed. But he pretended he didn't hear him.
Naminé cried. But he ignored her pleas.
Sora protested. But he looked away.
He just wanted Naminé to be safe.
"Well then… die." Vanitas laughed as the Unversed minion returned and attacked Roxas.
"Roxas! Roxas!" Naminé cried helplessly. She struggled even more.
"Stop…STOP!" She shouted. Then something glowed from the ground. It circled around Roxas and Sora. Light came from the circle and blasted the Unversed crowding the two.
"What?" Vanitas flinched. A circle appeared under his feet and blasted him away. Resulting him to lose grip of Naminé. However, as he was pushed aside, Naminé also lost her balance, and then was thrown off the roof.
"NAMINÉ!" Roxas screamed as he jumped from the roof to reach her.
'No…'
'This isn't happening, no no…'
'NO!'
He grabbed her, and then shielded her with his own body. Hoping that it would at least saved her from the crash.
'Will I…die?' He thought as he looked at Naminé's panicked face and how the sky is moving away from him.
CRASH!
"Ven?" Aqua called as she heard the voice of glass breaking. She found Ventus kneeling down and grabbing his shirt. Next to him was broken mug of newly brewed coffee. Ven was holding his chest tightly. As if something was hurting him inside. His face showed agony.
"Ven, are you alright?" Aqua panicked. The boy didn't respond to any of her calls. He just panted. His face grimaced and then he started screaming.
"Aaagh! AAARGH!" He screamed. Aqua was trying to support him and found out what was wrong. She tried to calm him down, however her attempts were useless.
"Roxas!" Ven yelled before he passed out.
"Roxas! Naminé!" Sora shouted as he ran to the railings and looked down. Vanitas had yet again fled through the dark panicked and searched for his two friends. Hoping that they would somehow survived. Then he saw the impossible. Wind was engulfing Roxas. He was floating in mid-air. Just a feet from the ground. He hugged Naminé tightly. None was hurt.
"W-what?" Roxas asked. Then the wind faded and allowed the two of them to fall to the ground.
"What…just happened?" He asked again, then he looked unto Naminé. "Are you hurt, Naminé?" He asked.
She was trembling. Her eyes showed fear. Tears flowing down from her eyes. She grabbed him and then hugged him tightly. Making his face red once again.
"…scary…" She managed.
No one would be not afraid after falling from such height. Although, it was a miracle that the two of them survived.
"H-hey… it's okay, now… Don't cry…" Roxas muttered as he shed her tears.
"I-I'm sorry…" She let out small hiccups. "I'm… scared." She muttered slowly.
Then he decided to let her cry on him.
"Sorry, Roxas…" Naminé said as she finally calmed down.
"It's okay. What matters is that you're alright." He smiled.
She smiled as well. "Thank you" she said with swollen eyes.
"Let's go, we can't disappear for long. Hayner and the others might be back soon." He said as he helped her up and then walked to the roof once again.
"Sorry we took so long… We couldn't find the key in the janitor's office." Hayner muttered in apology as they met in the main hallway.
"It's fine. We've already got the door opened, anyways. What is the seventh wonder?" Roxas asked.
"I'll tell you once we're there. Let's go." Pence said as he hummed to the rooftop. They bumped into Sora as the brunette tried to jump down the stairs in an inhuman speed. He had a really worried face. He fell onto Roxas not so gracefully.
"Roxas! Naminé! You're alright!" He said with a really worried face.
"Alright? Did something happen?" Hayner questioned with a confused face.
"A-ah, we kind of got lost and separated." Roxas lied. Well, there was no way he could tell Hayner he fell from the roof and then somehow survived.
"Lost? Ah, well the school is dark at night." Pence noted.
When they finally reached the roof, Pence took his pocket note and then read out the seventh wonder.
"The seventh wonder is seeing your doppelgänger at night." Pence stated. They waited for a while until they got tired of waiting and decided to call it the night.
"Oh! Could it be?" Olette exclaimed suddenly as she saw her shadow. "Perhaps people are mistaken their shadows as their doppelgänger?" She noted.
"Could be." Pence stated.
"What, if it's just shadow then it's no fun at all." Hayner sighed. "Man, what a party pooper." He commented, but then he smiled. "Well, at least it was fun today." He chuckled.
All other five nodded in agreement.
"Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow. Bye!" Hayner said as he ran to his home. Pence and Olette did the same at the next intersection. Unlike them, Hayner, Pence, and Olette lived in their own house.
"It was fun today." Sora commented.
"Yeah." Roxas nodded in agreement and Naminé just smiled.
"Although, you guys gave me a heart attack. How did you do that, anyways? You know, floating?" Sora asked.
"I…don't know myself. There's wind engulfing me, and it stopped me from falling. And…" Roxas placed a hand on his chest. "It felt warm here." He said.
Sora raised an eyebrow, then turned to Naminé. "About that light… Was that you, Naminé?" He asked.
She went quiet… as if looking for an answer, and then shook her head. "I'm not sure, either… All I did was thinking that… I don't want him to hurt Roxas." She blushed.
Roxas blushed as well and then looked away.
"We'll ask about that." Sora chuckled. "Anyways, we have to report to Sir Eraqus about Vanitas and the Unversed." Sora muttered.
Naminé looked down, but then nodded in agreement. "Yes, you're right." She muttered. Her head filled with questions and Vanitas' words about the X-blade.
"A new enemy." Roxas stated.
"Well, let's rest for the night and prepare for tomorrow. It's useless thinking about it when we're tired." Sora chuckled.
"Yes. Well, see you again tomorrow." Naminé said as she walked to the girl's dormitory.
After waving goodbye to Naminé , the two boys walked to the boy's dormitory.
"Phew, I'm tired. I'm gonna sleep like a bear tonight!" Sora said cheerfully as he walked to his room. "Night, Roxas!" Sora grinned as he entered his room.
"Night." Roxas replied as he entered his own. His room was dark and there was a note on the table.
'Thank you for helping me tonight, Ven! From : Aqua' It said.
"Aqua was here?" Roxas asked as he get changed and quickly slipped to his bed. Ventus was lying asleep on the other bed.
"Night, Ven." Roxas muttered as he smiled to his twin.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the middle of the woods was an old factory building. Burnt marks remained untouched. Eraqus was there, his hand tracing the burnt mark on his face. He was remembering. It was where he found Ventus and Roxas and then took them in.
"Xehanort… You can never let it go…" Eraqus muttered as he left the place.
[1] This is something like a combination of Limit break [Roxas's ability] and Limit [Sora's ability]. It will combine their strength but in the same time, they will feel each other's pain. Meaning, when Sora receives damage, Roxas will feel it as well.
