AN: Book two… bout time. And no I didn't mean for it to come out to be ten chapters, it just kind of did. So here is where our hero's are finally being pulled into the mix. And just a small warning… lots of people and lots of places for lots of reasons.
And just kind of a side note, (Link V) goes well with "Final Fantasy VII Son of Chaos" From OC ReMix, it can also be found on Youtube…
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Kingdom Hearts: Fate's Final Fantasy
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Book Two: Hero's Legacy
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Chapter 1: Final Rest - Chain of Memories
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"Sora…
"Sora. You need to remember, but you can't. Not without forgetting everything else. So I have to show you instead."
Link I
The castle stood high and ominous. Sora stood outside as a cloaked man floated beckoning as he retreated towards the entrance. Sora, Donald, and Goofy entered with trepidation.
Sora stood in darkness as a light permeated the area behind him, slowly coming closer. Sora turned to face this light. He stood shocked.
"You don't remember me, but I remember you. My name is Naminé." Two pieces of information he had forgotten came careening back into his mind.
"Jiminy left a note to Thank Naminé in his journal. We found it after we woke up. Is that you." She nodded in the perfect silence marred only by their breathing. "And you're the one that opened the portal for us, and… Kairi's nobody aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Then how are you here now?"
"In time Sora. But first you need to see the enemy you don't remember ever fighting."
"What are you…?" Naminé cut him off.
"Just watch." And Sora watched, as the time between when he saw the castle to the time he woke up slowly began to fill in.
"C'mon fella's." Mickey exclaimed as he stood in front of the terminal. Tron said that Cid had fixed things on the User side of the terminal. So it should be an open connection. They had sent Donald's hat through first. It had arrived safely and intact. Now they could only hope it would be the same for them.
"Send my thanks to the rest of the Users."
"Will do, a'huck." Donald and Mickey nodded in consent. One moment they were in the IO tower, the next they were frozen data being rebuilt in the real world. Then they were no longer frozen.
What they arrived to was a hyper, near hyperventilating Yuffie spitting words out faster than could be understood as Cid tried to calm her down. Cid briefly looked at the three who had just returned.
"Ohthankgoodness!" Yuffie squealed. She ran to Donald and picked him up. He squawked in surprise as she continued her rant.
"Leon'shurtandAriethisdoingherbesttokeephimalivebuthermagicisn'tlikeyoursandyoucanhelphimwithyourmagic!"No one understood her. Cid spoke for them all.
"Say that again, but half as fast." Yuffie huffed and gulped in air.
"Leon is hurt and Arieth is doing her best to keep him alive but her magic isn't like your's and you can help him with your magic so he doesn't die!" They all froze
"Lead the way!" the king answered. With that all five took off towards Merlin's house.
Link II
"Forgive me, please." Naminé asked. Didn't she know who she was talking to?
"It's in the past, you fixed it… so Thank you. The thing is, what does that have to do with me now?" He had seen everything. The cards, the replica, the slow replacement of Kairi with herself and his own decision to get his memories back. He saw Marluxia he saw the battle. All through eye's that were not his own. Naminé quickly answered his query.
"Marluxia, Xemnas, Maleficent… They're not dead."
"WHAT!" Naminé was silent and held a look that told him she wasn't joking. He let it sink in. Then asked, "Xehanorts heartless in there anywhere too?"
"He… He's not dead, but he wont be bugging us. All of them are under a group called Destiny. And Ansem… Xehanorts Heartless, became Riku's heartless and he, his own Nobody. Rather opposite of becoming your own heartless, like you and Kairi. But that Heartless was ripped from Riku when he regained his true form, Xehanorts heartless now resides as a member of Destiny, in Kingdom Hearts. A battle you can't understand is waging there and we are loosing."
Inexistence vs. Subconscious
"So why are you telling me now?" Sora didn't understand half of it, he knew. But from what he knew… his life could never be normal. He just wasn't born for the normal.
"You saw a star go out."
"Yes."
"Tomorrow you'll likely receive a letter from the king"
"The king?" She nodded her head.
"You won't have to wait long." It was silence in a lit darkness. And Sora couldn't help but ask.
"How do you know all of this?" She smiled knowingly.
"Wake up Sora, time to go to the Island." She disappeared resuming the unbreakable pitch black. Then his eye's shot open.
"Wake up lazy bum!" He was being violently shaken.
"Alright, Alright." He said groggily but still made no move to get up. Then his covers disappeared.He curled up in a ball until he was finally and very literally dragged out of bed. He landed on his feet his eye's still very heavy. Then he realized who was in front of him, and very, very close. His eyes were wide open and his gaze passed from her shoes all the way up to her eye's. It was assumable she did the same. He was wearing his Mog boxers. Both were suddenly very aware of his state of undress.
"Hey, Kairi did you get…" Riku popped his head in the doorway. He muttered something unintelligible, holding back a laugh as he grabbed Kairi's arm as he dragged her stumbling out of Sora's dorm.
"Take a cold shower!" Riku yelled teasingly. Then he closed the door. Sora looked down in embarrassment…
A cold shower it was.
"Naminé informed him?" The semi-short figure answered.
"Yes, and Leon is being taken care of."
"Good… How is Destin's battle at the Castle That Never Was?"
"It was taken. Maleficent and Pete escaped. Kuja and Ulti are remodeling as we speak. Sephiroth has managed to extract the three brothers and is waiting for them to wake up. It seem they are taking steps to make that planet the 'Vessel' all of Jenova's offspring seem to be after." The tall figure answered.
"Lovely." The figure stood there lost in thought as to of their next move when the Tall Figure overstepped his bounds as he so often had.
"How did you're discussion with Hyne go?" She knew what he was really asking. She kept her eye's distant not looking at him.
"I'll find one… I'm just not sure how." No more was said on the subject. He stood back satisfied by her answer. She may not know… but he had a pretty good idea who it would end up being.
Merlin and Yen Cid had been arguing for a good half hour. It had been quiet, but just the same, it seemed rather hostile. Then the door burst open. Cid, Yuffie, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy plowed into Merlin's house. Arieth sat on the bed next to Leon. He looked incredibly pale, and she incredibly worried. Arieth smiled as Yuffie embraced her in a bear hug and Cid put his hand on her shoulder briefly in a reunion she had been avoiding. But Leon needed help, and it wasn't his time yet. That much she knew. Because she would be the first to go.
Somehow Merlin and Yen Cid were so wrapped up that they hadn't noticed the intrusion. Who knows what they were talking about. It occurred to Donald that their magic would be more powerful than his own. So why was he being drafted? His gaze turned from the arguing sorcerers to the woman who now spoke. She looked worn and guilty.
"Donald I wish I didn't have to ask this but can you take over for a little while." He gave the two arguing sorceress a last glance and nodded to Arieth.
"What do I do?"
"Do you know Regan?" The duck thought about his latest studies…
"Yeah, but it's low level."
"That's alright, I just need you to cast Regan on him, ten minutes later someone needs to inject some of this," she held up a bottle, "into his IV line. Fill the syringe to the top line and that will be enough. Twenty minutes later repeat the process." Donald nodded as Goofy took the bottle and syringe and looked at it carefully.
"Gwarsh, what is it miss Arieth?" she smiled as she got up and Donald took her place.
"It's a personal concoction, a mix of antidote and holy water. It cleanses the blood of toxins and rejuvenates the organs." Goofy nodded in acknowledgement, "If anything happens, wake me up, I'll be next door." Mickey nodded and rushed to ask before she left,
"How long has he been like this?" Arieth sighed, her sleep deprived eye's telling of her current state.
"Ten hours since Scrooge McDuck found him. He ran into town and grabbed Yuffie. Apparently while they had their back turned, he just disappeared. A young boy arrived with him where I've been and… transported us back here. He stayed until Leon woke up, but was gone immediately after. Leon was conscious for less than five seconds, but he was alive. It had taken me several life spells and more than a few Curaga's to get him stabilized before that. Now we just need to keep him stable until he wakes up." They nodded as she left.
They sat there in silence as Merlin and Yen Cid continued their near silent bantering. It wasn't long before Merlin turned to the three, clearly exasperated.
"We'll be off for a bit. See you soon." Yen Cid sighed and they both disappeared. Yuffie could not help but laugh a little. Cid, Goofy, Donald, and Mickey all stared at her, probably questioning her sanity.
"And I thought the only one who could piss Merlin off was you, Cid." With that Donald joined in.
"Maybe it's just the name." Goofy and Mickey chuckled at that. And for several hours they stayed and Cared for Leon as they talked with Cid and Yuffie of the current state of affairs.
The hospital was almost fully operational, the town residency was expanding so that all the newcomers could have their place rather than be stuck together in a small area. Everyone volunteered here there and everywhere, each to their own abilities. Leon may be aloof, but somehow he managed to keep the town from drowning and falling into chaos. People were already asking where he was at. Though he could be gone for extended periods of time, people usually knew, at least through word of mouth, where he was. He helped everyone even though he preferred to be alone. He was there for people to look up to even though he seemed unable to see himself as most everyone else did. If the town were to lose him… Neither Cid nor Yuffie could guess at what would become of Radiant Garden.
"They're right, you know." The short figure said.
"I know."
"So what are you going to do?" The figure gave her a pointed look. "Leon and Squall are hardly the same person, you don't expect him to take over for him, do you?"
"Just for a short time, It wont be long after Leon leaves that Radiant Garden will be ready to be collected." The short figure sighed.
"You think too highly of him." The figure smiled,
"Perhaps, but…" her explanation was interrupted by someone calling her by her full organization name.
"Yes." She replied darkly, she hated that name. She turned around. Yen Cid was giving her an apologetic look and Merlin looked furious.
"Someone's going to get it." the short figure whispered in a sing song voice. The figure nodded to her dismissing her. Merlin could be difficult to deal with, when he wanted to be.
"I'd like to know a few things." She raised her eye brows at him, already knowing what she would and would not divulge. She nodded and let the bombardment begin.
It had seemed like days. For all she knew, it had been days. They had all taken turns following the bottle, then going out and about and coming back. But now Yuna, Rikku, and Pain all sat on the bottle as it floated. They had seen the moon rise and fall a few times, but for the first time, they saw the beginning of a sunrise.
"It's beautiful." Yuna stared into the distance sensing she was close to her goal.
"Yeeeaaaahhh." Rikku sighed into the wind with a silly relaxed smile on her face.
"Hmm." Pain nodded her head in agreement for once.
"Something's close, I think." Rikku and Pain looked at her oddly.
"What is it Yunie?"
"Something good. But also, something bad."
"So we go prepared." Pain stated.
"Yes, we go prepared… but If I tell you to leave. You'll go back to Twilight town and Radiant Garden, won't you?" This had both Pain and Rikku looking at her in concern.
"Why would we need to do that?" Pain asked.
"I don't think you'll have to, but just in case… promise me." She looked at both imploringly. And both nodded.
Link III
It was white. And then there were flowers, and floating bubbles, and haunting cries of the dead. Purple waterfalls surrounded the field, waterfalls that saw every ounce of life stream cover it's rocky surface… the Farplane.
"Get up my young brothers." Kadaj immediately sat up seeing Yazoo and Loz as well. But that was not the most important figure. Standing in his uniform, his Masamune drawn, hair floating in the wind, was Sephiroth. But most unnerving of his appearance was his eye's. It was perhaps something not meant for discussing now, as he had never truly met him, but…
"Sephiroth?" He nodded. "What happened to your eye's?" Sephiroth gave him a look that told him it was not his place to worry about it, the fact that he had eye's of separate colors, one was blue, the other brown, neither of which were fully infused with mako as his should be.
"It is no matter. What matters, is that you are here, and I am in need of your help." All three stood, all of them nervous.
"What do you require of us?" Yazoo asked.
"Come with me, and we shall have our planet to control. Come with me and help me destroy those that stand in our way of ruling the galaxy as we should."
"Finally, some action." Yazoo quickly slapped Loz on the back of his head. "What was that for?"
"For speaking out of turn Loz." Kadaj spoke.
"Oh, Sorry."
"You're forgiven." Silence. Though there was no debate, he drew the moment out examining the man he had once gone so far as to die for, without even meeting him.
"Lead the way."
Link IV
Kimahri and Laguna stood looking out the window of Twilight Garden. Hayner Pence and Olette sat at the meeting table waiting for whatever it was that they had been called for.
They heard a gurgling swoosh sound and they all jumped out of their seat to look at the source of the sound. A pool of floating blackness disappeared leaving two figures in it's stead.
"Alex."
"Laguna." Laguna and Kimahri noted the second figure. The tall figure shook his head infinitesimally. They remained quiet, as he began to speak to the three.
"Do you remember when you found the doubles? The idea that there was an alternate Twilight town?" They nodded their head yes unsure of where this was going.
"Well there was, it was a computer program that has long since been destroyed. But there were a few things that you're duplicate selves learned in that town, that you too must learn."
"Like…" Hayner waited. The tall figure sighed. How to tell a couple of kids, that their lives were about to end… at least as they knew them. The semi-short figure continued for him.
"Like what it is to have things taken from you, when you can't do anything about it on your own."
"What can't we do on our own?" Olette asked.
"You can't fight and win, the coming enemy on your own. It will take what is yours and smash it to pieces and there is nothing that you can do on your own to stop it." The tall figure answered.
"Well then what do we do?"
"Don't do anything." The semi-short figure said.
"What?"
"Why?"
"What are you talking about?"
"If you do nothing, you will be safe. You will die, and you will go to Kingdom Hearts where your parents will be awaiting your arrival." All three looked at the tall figure like he had grown another head.
"Parents?" Olette repeated.
"Yes, I know you don't remember well, but before the worlds were torn apart you had parents. Once things were put together. Many parents disappeared, leaving similar characters in their wake."
"So you want us to do nothing, so we can see them again?" Pence deduced.
"Yes, once there, I can't guarantee eternal rest, you may have to fight, in one way or another…"
"But you said Die." Hayner pointed out, finally snapping out of his reverie.
"Yes, but you're heart will return to where all hearts begin and end and there you will remain yourself as the battle between Destiny and Fate continues." The tall figure once again answered.
"So when is this going to be?" Hayner asked. The semi-short figure answered,
"With in the next two weeks or so… possibly shorter, possibly longer. It varies." No one bothered asking, 'what' varies. They just sat there realizing what was being asked of them.
Something was going to happen, and they could avoid death, but these strangers were asking them not to. They were asking them to die. They would meet the parents they had no memory of… and they would likely have to fight some war…
"And if we don't?" Pence asked.
"Then you live longer, living half a life… and you die for real." They remained silent processing the request. The two strangers were slowly becoming impatient.
"At least think about it." The semi-short figure pleaded. With that, the two figures left.
"What the hell was that." Hayner spat at the Headmaster.
"That is your chance to live on. To avoid the real bloodshed. The lives lost to the corporeal enemies that exist in this galaxy that will gladly steal your heart, your mind, leaving an empty husk behind." Laguna answered once again looking off into the distance through the window.
"So how will we know?" Olette questioned.
"Kimahri thinks, you will just know." He too looked out the window. The three students took their leave, questioning, just what the hell was going on, and how they fit in.
Link V
Seven chairs of thirteen where filled. Xemnas had his first chair. Marluxia had his eleventh chair. Sephiroth took the seventh, Ultimicia took the eighth, Kuja took the ninth, Seymour took the tenth, and Shuyin took the twelfth.
"And so we sit, as puppets no longer."
"And what do you mean by that Sephiroth?" Marluxia asked.
"We chose our destiny now. No god, no demon, no being shall decide for us." Shuyin answered. Looking to Sephiroth to insure he didn't step out of place. Sephiroth nodded his post consent.
"Throughout our cleansing of the castle, you have said nothing. Yet I assume you have a plan." Sephiroth smiled briefly.
"Oh, yes I have a plan. You will get you're revenge Xemnas, you needn't worry." Both Xemnas and Marluxia nodded impatiently.
"Have you're Khildren arrived?" Ultimicia asked Sephiroth.
"Yes, I will explain once they arrive. It won't be too much longer" He saw the questioning looks from their two tagalongs.
"There are three remnants of my kind that I will require. Puppets that will do no Good, but are not Bad enough to do what we must." He received quizzical looks from everyone from this. "They are the diversion… puppets in a play."
"And what act will they be participating in?" Kuja asked intrigued.
"The next act, why else would I have brought them?"
"And what is it that these children will be diverting." Marluxia was impatient for the details of their coming revenge.
"The Daughter of Hyne of course."
"A name?" Somehow Xemnas knew, the name would be familiar.
"Does the name mean so much to you?" He took their silence as an affirmative and gave them the name they would know her by, the name that would seal Xemnas in his involvement. "Her name is Navixathel."
"Navix!?" Xemnas snarled.
"I take it you know her?" Marluxia asked. Sephiroth did his best to hide his amusement.
"Know her? I thought she was dead!"
"No more than we are." Sephiroth answered him.
"Just what the Hell is going on?" Marluxia asked for Xemnas who was in too much rage to ask.
"Brother?" A new voice asked as the doors to the sanctuary opened.
"Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz, take your places." Kadaj took the sixth, Yazoo took the fifth, and Loz took the fourth. Sephiroth made introductions.
"So will you tell us now?" Xemnas spoke, clearly unhappy that another held more power at the moment in his realm, in his home.
"First and foremost. I must give my brother's their assignment."
"What do you wish my brother?" Kadaj asked, slightly uneasy. Sephiroth smiled once again his time perfected disarming smile.
"It's simple really…"
Link VI
"Hey Riku wait up!" Rin watched as Sora ran after Riku leaving Kairi and Via. Tidus and Wakka were already headed out to the beach to play their underwater game and Selphie had run after them to Cheer Tidus on. The three were slowly following her.
"Do you ever get the feeling that something's coming. Something Bad?" Kairi hadn't meant to say it, but it was just something… a feeling she had been having ever since she had the key blade dream.
"All the time. Why?" Via surprisingly spoke.
"It's something I've had for about a week, and it won't leave."
"Maybe because it hasn't come yet." Rin guessed. Via nodded in agreement.
"But it is coming. And soon." Both Rin and Kairi looked at her.
"I just know." They sat on the beach looking out towards the game circle they had marked. Once again silence broken only by waves, permeated the air. Once again broken without thought.
"Do you know what that statue is for, the one we met at?" Kairi looked at Rin and answered to the best of her ability, which wasn't much.
"Not really, only that where ever Garden was before it came here, there was some sort of war within Time, or something. There's really no legend, just rumor and a few possible memories." Selphie plopped down next to Rin and continued.
"Yeah, it's only bits and pieces I've picked up, when I use my supper sleuth skills, of things that Cid has said when he talks with Irvine and Quistis… er, Instructors Kinneas and Instructor Trepe. And like Kairi said, it's not much. Just a war that extended, not through time, but into Time. Some artsy race decided to give the commander at the time a memorial for their trials as some sort of family honor his dad received from the race."
"And when did you find this out, again?" Kairi looked a little bewildered at the new information.
"Well I was early for class on the first day and Quistis left, so I followed her and she was going to see Cid, but he ran into her on her way to the elevator so she asked him, and that little bit is the basic summery."
"Huh."
"What is it Rinny?"
"Just… the timing doesn't make sense. It never does." The three others looked to Rin, unsure of her meaning. Once again they didn't talk. Even Selphie remained quiet. It was almost as if the atmosphere was weighing down on them, making silence something preferred. Something Via knew all to well to be more than true.
"Hey what's that?" Selphie yelped. She leaped up from her sitting position and ran towards the water line.
"Hey, Kairi, I think you're message in a bottle came back!"
"Hmm… But Sora…" He had it, it was in his room in his journal under a pile of school books. Kairi got up as did Rin and Via.
"See." Kairi took it in her hands and rotated the bottle. She had to stifle a gasp.
"Well, I'm going to go find Sora and give it to him." It wasn't a lie.
They all nodded, Via with a small smirk. With that Kairi took off with Selphie yelling after her…
"Have fun making out!" She would have chuckled, but she was running too fast, she had a message to deliver.
Link VII
"You won't be able to get a hold of us, but if you ever find a message in a bottle with my seal, it's from me."
"And if it doesn't have your seal?" Sora smiled to cover the pain. Because talking of them leaving… it hurt. Even if they said they wouldn't leave for a few days, it was still years too soon. But that was life, he wouldn't see the friends he had on other worlds either, the king, Donald, and Goofy fit into that category all too well.
"Well, I don't know. I guess you'll just have to check and see. You never know who you'll meet!" And that gave Sora a true reason to smile, he looked to Kairi.
"Yeah." Somehow Sora and Kairi lost themselves in each others eyes. They no doubt heard the coughing, the clearing of the throat, or the quacking snigger, but they ignored it. Sora was far too lost in his own mind to bother paying attention. How far they had come. Kairi found him, and brought him home. But what was that door? That door home, to the light, to her…
His thoughts were interrupted by Riku finally resorting to messing his hair up. Oddly enough, that was enough to grab Sora's attention as much as it would a girls, if not more so.
"Hey!" Sora turned to Riku, breaking the hold their eye's had on each other resulting in both Kairi and Sora to grow rather red in the face both casting their eye's downward. Sora's question of the door and his anger at Riku immediately overcome by embarrassment.
It had been the day of their arrival. Their return, when they started forgetting. Or rather, they had already forgotten, it was just something they became aware that they had forgotten. Things were different though they could not put down what it was. Even the King had noticed a change in atmosphere even though he had never been to the islands before. It was just how things felt.
How everything felt, but they had become accustomed to it, Riku had slowly faded into a shell, still participating in life, but not living… Almost as if he was acting the part, as if he were a memory…
Link VIII
Sora was jolted from the memory as Riku said without moving.
"Come on Sora, race you to the Paopu fruit tree." They had been laying on the sand listening to the waves and the waterfall behind them. Riku could sense there was something Sora wanted to tell him, but Sora was having difficulty putting it into words.
"Sora?" Sora sighed and just blurted it out.
"The stars are disappearing again." They were silent for a moment.
"I know." They lay there looking into the blue cloudy sky.
"It's been a week."
"It hasn't been normal though."
"No… If we have to leave, Kairi is coming. We already talked about it." It wasn't unexpected, but it wasn't necessarily the best idea either. Yes Kairi could more than hold her own… But she was a princess. Though he had to admit, it would be easier to ensure she didn't fall into the wrong hands, they could keep their own eye's on her. The silence grew, though not uncomfortably.
He felt so much more assured of himself when he was surrounded by darkness. After having tasted it after having been without it… he felt alive. He was alive. He was whole, and broken at the same time. But without the darkness, he was nothing and any decision he made, he would always second guess.
When Via was around, he felt that. He felt alive and held half of her pain, the pain of the planet as it died, as the darkness corroded the life stream. Sharing that pain was unlike anything he had ever known… well it wasn't like anything he'd known, when the other was actually somewhat relieved that some of the pain was gone. She thrived on pain, she didn't share it because it was her own. She didn't want to impose the pain on others, it was a self inflicted punishment for her countless years as a member of Destiny. But sharing Via's pain made him feel not quite so broken… like he was worth something.
"Riku?" Riku was thrown out of his thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"That's alright, isn't it?"
"What?" Riku had completely forgotten what they were talking about.
"Kairi…" Riku smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, that's fine. Just as long as you keep her with you, always." Sora nodded and smiled back.
"Always… Now what was that about a race?" Riku was up in a second and took off running.
"HEY! NO FAIR!" Sora was up and running after him, both laughed. Riku flew threw the shack door and as it swung back into place it hit Sora in the face knocking him on his rear.
"Ow!" He got back up and ran up the stairs and across the bridge. Riku was already sitting silently on the tree branch looking off into the distance as the sun set, remembering; the sun was low in the sky, the three friends talked of unreachable lands beyond the sea… but that was before the world was taken by heartless. But now, without help, other lands were still just as unreachable. Sora hopped over the branch and stood leaning back on his hands holding his head against the tree branch. He looked to Riku questioningly, and Riku answered the unspoken question in his own way.
"Nothing's changed, huh?" Both stared at the sunset. Sora replied off handedly, knowing full well that Riku spoke of the setting, the isolation, not the situation.
"Nope. Nothing will." Riku sighed remembering his ambitions before being sucked into darkness. A raft really wouldn't have taken them that far.
"What a small world." Sora looked at his friend and smiled at the sentiment. But still, no matter how small their own world was, it was still part of a world much bigger, the universe.
"But part of one that's much bigger." Riku smirked.
"Yeah." The friends shared a contemplative silence once more. Sora had been wondering all day after Naminé's revelation, if Riku had known about his time in Castle Oblivion, if he had, what had he been doing. It was a subject, they just didn't touch, his time in darkness. It was as untouchable as his emotions were, because, Riku by all rights, as Naminé had put it, was his own Nobody. Did his friend not just fall into a shell, but was the shell itself. Did he feel, because if he didn't, he was a very good actor, especially as of late. But those weren't questions he could ask, not yet anyway. So he went with the question he had wanted to ask but had always forgotten.
"Hey Riku… what do you think it was… the door to the light?" Riku looked at him slightly shocked at the question, but chuckled at his friends brain, it didn't always shoot strait. He jumped from the branch and turned to face Sora, and pointed at his heart.
"This." It was something he had contemplated before, how their escape was made possible from the darkness. Kairi had reached out for Sora's heart, and his reached back. It was almost like something you would find in a fairy tale, then again. Most of their life for the past three years was a tale of the unbelievable.
"This?" Sora put his hand over his own heart and looked at Riku questioningly. It was something that Sora would have to figure out for himself. But Riku gave him an answer, albeit, a cryptic one.
"Yeah. It's always closer than you think." Sora dropped his hand and smiled. His friends were always close by, if not in body it was in spirit, in his heart. It was something that had once won the key blade from Riku, before Xehanort heartless fully possessed him. His friends were his strength. And the door to light… light was that strength.
Before the conversation could continue, Kairi called,
"Sora! Riku!" They both turned their heads. She was running towards them with a bottle in her hands. She stood before them panting facing downward as she caught her breath.
"Hey, what's up?" Kairi looked up and held out the bottle.
"Look." There was a rolled message in it, much like Kairi's had been. And it had the King's Seal on it. He remembered what Naminé had told him… they would likely receive a letter from the King today…
"From the king?" He grabbed the bottle greedily, popped off the cork, and shook the message out. He unrolled the message and started reading, Riku and Kairi reading over his shoulder.
Time is short.
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HAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!! Yes, we're getting to the good stuff. And yes, that was the last scene after the credits of KHII, I hope it fit. Until next time… R and R