Okay, it is a record. Four days, four chapters. It feels like this story is writing itself. It 'wants' to be told. Works for me. :)
Disclaimer! for the hundredth time. Kingdom Hearts belongs to Disney and Square Enix. Enjoy!
Chapter Twelve
Sora had finally made it past the heartless from the Second District and opened the doors leading to the Third. Everything seemed quiet. Now all he had to do was find where Leon went.
As Sora made his way down the stairs he looked carefully around. It seemed these creatures liked to pop up out of no where and without warning. As he made his way into the District's center he heard a commotion from above. Looking up, he quickly tried to get out of the way, but something heavy fell on top of him.
"The Key!"
Sora blinked, trying to snap out of his daze when walls rose up from the ground, blocking all exits. Then the heartless appeared. Sora realized that two others were trapped with him. They didn't seem like enemies, so he focused on the creatures. One of the flying heartless dived from behind and struck him in the back. Sora went down, but he didn't stay there.
"Cure!"
A soft green glow surrounded Sora for a moment before he stood back up, the pain was completely gone. He turned towards the duck and smiled. "Thanks!" The duck glanced back at him and smirked before rejoining his friend to fight. Sora pitched in and worked alongside them. He soon discovered that they made a pretty good team. His hunch was proven right when a twenty-foot heartless appeared and tried to stomp them flat with its giant feet. That fight wasn't easy, but with Goofy's shield, Donald's magic and Sora's keyblade the creature soon crumbled and a large crystallized heart rose into the sky before vanishing.
With the battle over Sora turned to his new allies. Explanations were made and it was soon clear that they had been looking for him.
"Hey, why don't you come with us? We can go to other worlds in our vessel!" Goofy invited.
"Okay, I'll go with you guys!" Sora replied with a smile.
"Donald Duck!" The mage introduced himself.
"Name's Goofy."
"I'm Sora."
"All for one and one for all!" Goofy declared.
Sora smiled at his new friend's cheerful outlook. A sudden roar caused him to look up.
"No!" Sora cried.
A large black dragon with glowing yellow eyes was coming in fast. Sora tried to pull the others with him. "Run!"
But, they were rooted to the spot in fear. The dragon came in and with a blast of green flames engulfed the two. "No! Not them too!" Sora shouted, but it was too late. The dragon turned its gaze towards Sora. It opened its bright yellow mouth and let out a roar of triumph.
"Sora!"
Sora looked around, hoping it was Leon who called to him. Maybe there was still a chance to save Donald and Goofy.
"Sora!"
The key bearer looked around again, but he couldn't find the voice.
"YO! WAKE UP!"
"Ahh!" Sora hit the floor hard. He sat up and rubbed the side of his face. His eyes blinked open and he was back on the Flaring Comet. His mind felt foggy and he took a moment to determine what was dream and what was reality.
"Earth to Sora!" Demyx shouted from somewhere just behind him.
"Yeah, I'm awake." He replied in a grumpy tone.
"Just checkin'." The aquatic musician replied. He leaned his arms over the chair where the teen had fallen from. "That must've been some dream."
Sora looked up at him in surprise. "Why?"
"You know you talk in your sleep?" Demyx asked. "You kept saying, 'Not them too', and you looked like you were about to cry."
"It's nothing." Sora lied. "Just a bad dream I have every once in a while."
It was clear he wasn't going to say anything more on the subject and Demyx gave up with a shrug. Axel had kept silent, but he had been listening. Cloud was right. This kid was breaking apart piece by piece. Soon there might not be anything left of the old Sora or...
"Demyx. Take the controls." He ordered.
"What? You know I suck at flying." The nobody replied.
"Just do it. It won't be for long." With that he got up and let go of the steering. The ship lurched to the side and Demyx hurried to right the ship. Sora had stood up and dusted himself off, but was soon walking backwards as Axel past him and grabbed a hold of his hood.
"Hey!" Sora shouted, almost stumbling, but Axel refused to let go. He dragged Sora into a side room and shoved him inside before entering and closing the door.
Sora glanced around and noticed it was some sort of training room. There was burn marks on the wall and a pair of headphones on a nearby desk.
Axel glared at Sora as if he were an enemy. "I've tried to be patient, but that's about run out. Now, out with it. What is your problem?"
Sora glanced to the side. "None of your business."
Axel resisted the urge to throw a fireball at him. "Too bad, I'm making it my business. Besides, you owe me."
"Oh yeah?"
"You darn right! Not only did I use the last of my energy to help you beat the Organization, but then I swooped in and saved you when the heartless made your ship crash."
Sora kept his gaze directed to the side. "Maybe, I wanted that to happen."
"What?" Axel's anger gave way briefly to confusion.
"Maybe I wanted the heartless to get me."
"You...you want to become a heartless?" Axel really couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"What else am I good for? If my light is weak then maybe my darkness is stronger."
WHAM!
Sora was on the floor before he knew what hit him. Axel was standing over him with a fist raised. He was seething with anger as he picked Sora back up by the collar of his jacket.
"You really don't get it do you! You think you're the only one who's had a tough life? Living on that tropical paradise made you soft! there are others who've had it a lot rougher then you and they're still fighting! I refuse to let you hide in a corner with your tail between your legs!"
Sora rubbed his cheek, but kept his gaze at the ground.
"Fine." Axel sighed. If you really want to be a heartless then I'll grant your wish. At least then we'll get Roxas back and he'll go on usin' the keyblade."
"No!" Sora argued back. "I vowed never to use that thing again. That also goes for my nobody!"
"Why?" Axel demanded. "Why don't you want to use the best weapon you have? You probably wouldn't need any help at all if you just used it. I tried waiting for you to tell us on your own, but there's more people involved in this than I realized."
Sora blinked in confusion at this. He looked Axel in the eye and then noticed something. He had a gash on his cheek. It had scabbed over, but it was fresh.
"You weren't attacked by the town's defense system, were you." Sora replied.
Axel's eyes squinted slightly. "No, I wasn't."
Axel thought back to that battle with Cloud. It wasn't a very long battle. In fact, it lasted about a minute and thirty-five seconds. The soldier kept his word about not going easy. Yet, he was also unusually chatty during the fight.
"So, who're you lookin' for if you didn't want to fight me?" Axel asked as he threw his chakram, always keeping one in his grasp should Cloud decide to close in for an attack.
"Sora." He replied, easily deflecting the weapon.
Axel smirked as he caught the weapon and threw the other one, giving it an extra spin. "Man, what is it with you people? He's a big boy now, he can take care of himself."
"As usual, you don't have a clue." Cloud replied. "The kid's become a danger to himself." He jumped out of the way to dodge the attack.
"Since when did you start caring about others?"Axel asked as he tried for a close range attack.
Both chakram and blade clashed and pushed against the other. It was now a standoff.
"Like I said, you don't have a clue."
Axel smirked. "N'aww you do have a soft side. How cute."
Cloud pulled back suddenly, causing Axel to stumble. The soldier then closed in and slashed for Axel's throat. The nobody avoided a lethal blow, but took a hit to the cheek. He also managed to strike Cloud in the arm with his flames.
Cloud grunted slightly from the blast. The flame was a bit stronger than he had expected. Axel came at him again, but Cloud was ready. Taking the blunt end of his blade he side-stepped Axel and struck him in his side, sending him flying into a stack of wooden crates.
Cloud approached the broken wood where Axel tried to sit up, but that last blow had knocked the wind out of him. "The darkness is taking him. If that happens everything will be lost."
Axel tried again to sit up, but blacked out. When regained consciousness, Sora was there helping him out. He seemed like his normal self, but maybe Axel had been wrong.
Axel glared at Sora. "Why are you running from your friends? And I want the truth!" He set Sora down and folded his arms, making sure he was between the teen and the door.
Sora glared at Axel before he looked down at the palm of his hands. "Because,...I'm a danger to them."
"Don't give me that. you'd give your left arm to save your pals. Admit it, you're afraid! Afraid of facing that witch." Axel shouted.
"No, I'm not afraid of Maleficent." Sora replied.
"Then what is it?"
"I...hurt someone. They depended on me to save them and not only did I let them down, but I..."
Axel sighed. "Look, we can't always get there in time to save the day. No one's that perfect."
"You don't get it." Sora mumbled.
"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Axel asked, revealing that he had good ears. "I'm not stupid."
Sora walked over to the desk and sat down on the chair. Axel shook his head in defeat. "Guess he was right. The darkness is taking you." With that he turned to leave, but stopped in the doorway. "The real question is, are you going to let it?"
He waited a moment longer until it was clear Sora wasn't going to reply and then he left the kid alone with his thoughts.
Back on the bridge, Demyx was a nervous wreck. He had managed to keep the ship steady, but he really had to be careful. "How the heck does he make it look so easy? Boy did he pick the wrong guy for this."
"Quit your whining, I'm back." Axel replied as the door slid closed behind him. He walked over and took the controls from Demyx who happily gave Axel his seat back.
"How's Sora?" Demyx asked.
"Hopeless." Axel quickly replied.
The musical nocturne decided not to ask further.
. . .
Back in the room Sora was resting his head on the desk. His mind was wandering. Thinking back to the simple life he once had on Destiny Islands. Just an ordinary kid. Spending each day doing normal kid stuff. Sparring with Wakka, racing against Riku, fishing, climbing, laying on the beach doing absolutely nothing, Kairi constantly getting onto him for being lazy. . .
He halted his train of thought. What right did he have to think about his friendship of her? After the horrible thing he had done to her. It was all his fault. He should have been stronger, he should have seen that Maleficent was up to something. She wasn't stupid, but he was. He fell for her scheme and Kairi paid the price.
Why did the others have to save him? He should have resisted. Why didn't they let Maleficent end his suffering? Now he was doing nothing but making everything worse and causing more problems. They were true friends, but he wasn't. He had let them down. Why? Why did the Keyblade chose him? There had to be a reason. He refused to believe it was for this.
His fist clenched tightly at the thought. So tightly his hand was shaking. He suddenly stood up and slammed his fists onto the desk.
"It's Not Fair!" He shouted.
"Life rarely is."
Sora spun and looked around the room. That voice. He had heard it before, but where?
"Hello? Who's there?" He asked. He tried to remember, it sounded female.
The room remained empty and silent. Sora shook his head and turned to sit back down.
"Ahh!" Sora jumped back as the Cheshire Cat was laying curled up on the desk, grinning up at him with his tail swishing back and forth.
"Oh, I'm sorry," He purred. "Did you still want to be alone?"
Sora glared down at the cat. "What do you want? and this time I really do mean 'you'." He added, remembering the last time he asked that question.
The cat giggled as he replied. "I was curious to see how you were faring. The game has really begun to get interesting. All of the pieces are lining up nicely."
Sora's mouth dropped open. "You, think this is a game?! People are suffering!"
The Cheshire Cat giggled once again. "Don't you know? War is a game. Think of it as a large chess board. The leader is the king, the reason why they fight is the queen, the guards are the knights, the ace fighters are the castles the skillful planners are the rooks and everyone else is a pawn."
Sora was getting more frustrated by the minute.
"So," The cat asked. "Tell me Sora,..."
"Tell you what?" He asked.
"Which of your friends are the pawns?"
"What?!" Sora's anger was rising to a boil.
"You know, the throw away pieces that no one cares about. the ones who always get sacrificed. Could it be the soldier? No, he seems more like a knight. Perhaps it's Riku. Wait, he's better suited for a rook. The mage and the guardian are more like your castles. Hmm,...who would make the perfect pawn? Oh! Maybe it's a piece you've already thrown away? That girl. Kairi was her name? She'd be the perfect pawn."
"GET OUT!" Sora shouted at the top of his lungs. "Don't you ever call my friends pawns or throw-aways. I'd never treat them that way!"
The cat still grinned, but it seemed to change. Shifted somehow from goofy to satisfied. "Glad to hear it, but you sure have a funny way of showing you care. A king who runs in chess will get cornered by the enemy sooner or later and if the king is captured, well then, I'm afraid it's checkmate."
With that the cat disappeared. Sora suddenly felt so exhausted. Getting angry like that always took a lot out of him. But that anger wasn't without a purpose. It woke him up. He realized that he did care. He cared about his friends. Why else would he defend them like that? That's when he realized. Axel had done the same thing he just did. His anger was to get Sora to wake up. Now he was awake. Wide awake.
He didn't know how he was going to win without the keyblade, but he promised himself he would try. With a deep breath to calm his frayed nerves he opened the door and headed off to find the others.
Just whose side is that cat on?! Boy was this chapter an emotional roller coaster. but every character's gotta have their breaking point right? Though, who can say if his suffering is over. there are still quite a few mysteries floating around between the worlds.