Shadows of Reality
Chapter Twenty-One – Something Different
For Hayner it was an incredibly confusing day. He woke up to intense sunlight coming through his window, something he wasn't used to. After all, in Twilight Town it was always twilight.
Then his parents came running into his room yelling so loudly and quickly that he couldn't keep up with what they were saying. Finally, he managed to shut them up long enough to actually ask what was going on.
By this time Pence had run into his house breathing heavily, saying that Twilight Town was just…different. Hayner had followed him and the second he went outside he saw what Pence meant. The sky wasn't twilight anymore. It was a bright blue with a morning sun, something he had only seen when he went to Radiant Garden the year before.
"What's going on?" a voice asked from behind them. Hayner turned and saw his older sister, Sara, staring at him with confused hazel eyes.
"I don't know," he admitted. "But we're going to find out."
The first thing they did was head to Olette's house, but when they got there her mother wasn't home and her father was just staring out the window with an odd look.
"Do you know what's happening?" Pence asked her as they sat in her room.
"No," she admitted. "But mom left pretty quickly this morning. She said that she'd explain when she got home. I think she knows something about why the sky is different, and where that castle and those islands came from."
"Castle?" Hayner asked.
"Islands?" Pence wondered.
Olette's house was higher uphill compared to both of theirs, so she always had a good view of Twilight Town. She led them over to her window and pointed. Sure enough they could see the ocean clearly with tropical islands and a huge, white castle in the distance.
"Wow," both the boys said aloud.
"Yeah I—what's that?"
Hayner and Pence followed her gaze and saw a small, dark dot moving quickly in the sky. It got bigger and bigger, and seemed to slow down as it got closer to them.
"A gummi ship!" Hayner cried out, recognizing it when it got close enough.
Olette squinted then nodded and said, "He's right."
They watched as the rather large ship headed towards the castle and landed somewhere inside the walls surrounding it. The voices of surprised people could be heard out the window, but none of them paid any attention to it.
"What do you think is going to happen?" Hayner wondered.
"Dunno," Pence replied as all three of them continued to stare out the window.
VVVVVVVVVVVVV
"Ya mon, do you see it?"
"Of course he sees it Wakka! It's hard not to!"
"It's ok Selphie."
Selphie glanced back at Tidus and shrugged slightly before turning her gaze back to the large landmass in front of them. Separated from their islands was a large city made of mostly crimson and sand colored stone and there, as if standing between the two places, protecting them both, was a white castle, dazzling in the sunlight.
Early that morning Selphie's grandmother, Tidus's father, Wakka's grandfather, Riku's father and Kairi's mother vanished over to the town, heading in the direction of the castle. They didn't say for what purpose, but they did say that things would be sorted out soon.
But that had been hours ago. Still, no news had come back, and no one had returned. The islanders could see people in the city, and knew that those people were probably just as clueless as it what was happening.
But when Tidus spotted the gummi ship landing at the castle, they all knew that Sora and the others were back.
VVVVVVVVVVVVV
A knock on the door startled Olette's father, who looked up with confusion. So much was happening that day, so many unexplained things, and yet someone was coming by to visit?
He quickly went over to the door and pushed it open to reveal a tall, young man with spiky red hair and bright green eyes.
"Can I help you?" he asked, giving the younger man an odd look.
"Heard from some other people that Olette, Hayner and Pence are here. Is it true?"
Olette's father frowned and said, "Yes, I'm Olette's father."
"Well listen daddy-o, I need the three of them to come with me," the redhead said with a confident.
"Excuse me? I don't think so."
"Dad?" The two men turned quickly and saw Olette, Hayner and Pence staring at them curiously.
"It's nothing honey," he said, but the redhead would have none of them.
"You three need to come with me."
"Says who?" Hayner asked with a challenging voice.
Rolling his green eyes he said, "Well if you must know, the King wants to see you, and I don't mean King Mickey."
"You know King Mickey?" Olette asked.
"That I do. Name's Axel, got it memorized? I'm a friend of Roxas'."
Pence took a step forward before asking, "If you weren't talking about King Mickey, which King are you talking about?"
"The King of Twilight's Destiny obviously."
"Twilight's Destiny?"
Axel grinned at the question and said, "It's the name of your new home."
VVVVVVVVVVVVV
"They're not back yet," Selphie whined as she hugged her knees to her chest. "Why can't we just row over to that town?"
"Because we were told to stay on the island?" Tidus suggested as he lay on the sand, staring at the sky.
"I agree with Selphie," Wakka said. "We should just row over there."
"Well, Sora and the others are over there," Tidus replied slowly as he sat up, just avoiding the blitzball that crashed into the sand where his head had been a moment ago.
"And so are our family members," Selphie agreed.
"So we just have to row dere without getting caught, ya?"
"Well that's a stupid idea."
With a yelp Selphie shot up, followed by Tidus, and Wakka ended up loosing his blitzball again.
The person ducked quickly, the ball just barely missing his hair before he straightened up again. "Oh man, I told them they had the wrong guy for the job."
"Who are you?" Wakka demanded.
"Umm…" He looked up at them passed his brown hair before turning around and looking at some kind of…flash card? After a moment he turned around again and said, "Hey, I'm here for the King."
"King Mickey?" Selphie asked.
"Er…no…the king that lives in that castle," he pointed to the shining, white castle. "My name's Demyx."
"How did you get here?" Tidus asked suspiciously. "I didn't see anyone row over."
"No, I kind of surfed over on the water," Demyx said with a shrug. "Anyways, I'm here to take you over to the castle."
"Why?" Selphie wondered.
"King's orders," Demyx said. "Don't worry, he's a big softy."
"Who is he?"
"You'll be some of the first in Twilight's Destiny to find out," Demyx replied.
Selphie cocked her head slightly before asking, "Twilight's Destiny?"
Demyx grinned at the question and said, "It's the name of your new home."
VVVVVVVVVVVVV
"It's a small world after all…it's a small wor—"
"I'm going to strangle you if you keep singing that!"
Roxas looked over at Riku with an amused glance before saying, "I've been strangled before and I don't think you could quite compare to that."
"Fine, I'll find that knight and make him strangle you."
"Well—"
"If both of you don't shut up I'll strangle you both," Midori snapped as she made herself comfortable in her large, squishy red chair.
Emiliana rolled her eyes and said, "I'm sure."
"I don't know," Roxas said to her. "Midori's kind of crazy when she wants to be."
"It's the only way I survived living with you and your brother," the raven-haired girl replied with a sigh. "Speaking of spiky-whipped-boy, where is he?"
"Probably being castrated by Kairi's mother," Naminé replied as she erased something from the picture she was drawing. She glanced around the room for a moment before asking, "Where's Aladdin, Genie, Mulan, Mushu and Stitch?"
"Gawrsh Naminé," Goofy answered after chewing on a sandwich he had taken from the kitchen earlier. "I think they said that they were exploring."
"More like causing trouble," Donald muttered. "Probably with Huey, Dewey and Louie."
"Aren't Daisy's nieces here too?" Naminé asked.
Donald groaned, knowing that he was going to get absolutely no peace while he was here.
"Where are the king and queen?" Riku asked suddenly.
"Which ones?" Midori replied.
Riku stared at her oddly for a moment before saying, "Mickey and Minnie."
"Who knows?" Roxas answered as he leaned back with his hands behind his head in a relaxed jester. "And why is everyone asking where everyone else is?"
"Because we're bored?" Emiliana suggested.
"Well life is about to get a little more interesting."
Everyone jumped as Zexion's voice met their ears. Donald's feathers seemed to turn red from anger, but he calmed down quickly enough as Daisy (who had followed Zexion and Larxene in) glared at him.
Larxene leaned back against the wall and said, "Demyx and Axel are back. Sora sent them out on an errand."
"What kind of errand?" Goofy asked.
"To get some friends of yours," Zexion replied. "So go find all your other Keyblade Bearers, I have a feeling you're getting more traveling buddies."
VVVVVVVVVVVVV
"This palace is amazing," Mulan commented as they were led into a large room.
"Isn't it?" Aladdin agreed. "It's so different from home, but still, some things are the same."
"Stitch like!" the alien called from above them as he crawled from the ceiling.
"Stupid show off alien," Mushu muttered from Mulan's shoulder. "If this place wasn't fireproofed so well I'd so you what I could really do."
Midori had to laugh at the tiny dragon as she walked passed. Her deep brown eyes scanned the room until she found who she was looking for, and then she quickly made her way over to them.
"So who did you make Axel and Demyx kidnap?"
"Oh you know, just some other Keyblade Bearers and some friends who deserve an explanation," Sora said with a yawn.
"Tired?" she asked with amusement as she sat on the couch across from him.
"You have no idea," Sora replied. "We got here pretty early this morning, and ever since meeting up with the council, Mrs. Yamada has tried to catch Kairi and I up on what our duties here really are. She also lectured me about running around in the halls and stuff like that. So it's been an entire day of lessons. Plus Mrs. Yamada's arranged for all of us to finish school too."
"I imagine you and Kairi won't be going to a public school," Midori said as she leaned back into the chair. "It'd probably be deemed as an unnecessary risk."
"Yeah, mom already said that," Kairi said as she appeared beside them. She sat on the couch next to Sora and curled up against him while closing her eyes.
"Hey," Sora said with amusement. "You can't go to sleep yet."
"But I'm tired," she muttered into his shirt.
"I know bu—"
There was a loud bang as Stitch fell from the ceiling, landing on Donald's head with amazing accuracy. The duck's feathers turned red as he started yelling and chasing Stitch around the room.
"Na na na na naaaaanaaaa!" Stitch called back as he quickly bounded onto the couch where Sora and Kairi were. He looked at them and said, "Hi."
Kairi laughed happily and scooped the alien into her arms, cuddling him close to her like a teddy bear. "You so cute."
"And fluffy," he agreed while sticking his tongue out at Donald.
"Donald," a kind, calm voice said. Donald turned and quickly gave Queen Minnie a bow as he said, "Daisy's coming now. I just thought I'd warn you."
"Thank you your majesty," Donald said before quickly hurrying off. As he ran past him, King Mickey gave his friend an amused smile before turning back to his conversation with Goofy.
"We have arrived!" Demyx's voice echoed around the room as he and Axel came through the doors, followed by six other, very confused looking people.
"I could have made a really cool entrance of fireworks if someone hadn't fireproofed the castle," Axel said as he grinned at Sora, who waved back.
Selphie let out a loud squeal and jumped at the person closets to her, which happened to be Naminé, and hugged her tightly. "Nami! We were all so worried about you."
"Selphie," Naminé choked out. "Need—air—"
Selphie ignored her, but let go all the same as she continued to try and glomp her friends.
"I told you we'd meet again," Roxas said happily as he walked up to Hayner, Olette and Pence.
"Yeah you did," Hayner replied with a big grin.
"What's going on Roxas?" Pence asked curiously.
"As far as I know, Hayner, you and Olette need to come with the rest of us Keyblade Bearers on a little journey," Roxas said. "And Pence, I think Sora has something for you to do around here. I heard him muttering something about not trusting Axel, Demyx, Larxene and Zexion around the communications room ever again."
"Sora?" Olette asked with confusion. "I thought we were coming to see the King?"
A sly grin appeared on Roxas' face as he said, "You are."
Pence's eyes widened with realization, and he was about to ask another question when he heard Wakka ask, "Geez Kairi, been packing on the snacks ya?"
Kairi's face turned a bright shade of red at his words, and even Emiliana, who had been picking on her for the past month about being pregnant, backed off.
"Uh oh," King Mickey said just before Kairi's hand flew out and smacked Wakka across the face, the sound reverberating off of the walls.
"What was that for?" Selphie asked shrilly as Tidus took a step backwards. Hayner was about to comment but Olette nudged him roughly and he closed his mouth.
"See, I told you I was getting fat!" Kairi exclaimed as she rounded around to Sora with wide, watery eyes. "I told you!"
Sora sighed and said, "Ignore Wakka Iri. You know he's been hit in the head with one too many blitzballs."
Kairi let out a tiny sob and Sora hugged her tightly while glaring at Wakka.
"And here come the emotional fits," Roxas muttered.
"Emotional fits?" Hayner asked with an odd look on his face. "Why would she had emotional fits?"
Olette rolled her green eyes and said, "Am I the only one smart enough to see what's wrong?"
"What?" Tidus asked her curiously.
"She's pregnant," Pence said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it was.
Tidus, Wakka, Hayner and Selphie stared at Sora with wide, questioning eyes and Selphie fainted as Sora nodded his head.
"You got her pregnant?" Tidus asked with wide eyes. "Sucks to be you man."
"I'd be careful what you say to him," Aladdin interrupted with a grin.
"Why?"
"Because he's the King," Mulan answered.
This time it was Tidus to hit the floor in a dead faint.
VVVVVVVVVVVVV
Author's Note
I'll be honest, this chapter sucks and stands out SOOOO badly. Why? Because it was written in a HUGE rush. See, life hates me recently. I have a billion and one projects due by the 14th of November (ok exaggeration much…it's actually like 6 projects worth 30% of my final grade…). I became the world's biggest idiot when I accidentally deleted one of my Kingdom Hearts II games…you know…one of those ones where you're at level 99 with all your forms up as high as they can go and with the goddamn Ultima blade? Yeah, that kind is completely gone, and the second highest level I have saved is level 46 -.-
Then there's this chapter. My Mac decided to…I dunno…eat the file? I was moving some things around and the original chapter vanished (POOF), so I went looking for it, thinking I moved it or accidentally sent it to the trash. Yeah, I couldn't find it, even with a full system search. So my Mac ate it. I rewrote this chapter in such a hurry over the past 45 minutes (so yeah…sorry…this was all I could pull together in that short a time span) and believe me, before I was done I was tempted to just say 'screw it' and not update anymore, I was THAT frustrated.
So, long story short, I know this chapter probably isn't even written as well as the others, but please just ignore that for now. To make up for it I plan on update in like…two days…ummm…yeah tomorrow's Halloween so I won't be able to update, but Saturday or Sunday I will, promise.
The Key of Hope – You're cat has been possessed by my squirrels…so I'd be careful. Hmmm…wonder if I can use a katana on my Mac…nah I like it too much…but those bad Macs at school can die…
Catharsis35 – Armor makes everything cooler? I disagree because armor slows everything down! I'm sure KH is the exception though.
Chasingfireflies – yes, you got cookies. Be a good girl and I'll make Christmas Cookies too! I love baking stuff for Christmas…and decorating…and everything else involved in Christmas! =D Yes there's a character limit, but you seem to be fine since this is an epic novel. LMAO my friend said that she corrupted me because I don't really like playing many video games and I don't like anime, but I like Kingdom Hearts because I like the cut scenes. She's says that means I like an animeish thing, I say it's because I like EVERYTHING associated with Disney. OK you can believe you've corrupted someone in Canada somehow. Wanna know what's funny? I'm a pretty blunt and mean person too…especially to my friends. The funniest thing about it is that they appreciate it, because they know I always tell them the truth. So what if I saw HSM3? SOMETIMES I can be a nice person to my friends, and one of my friends was really depressed and since she likes HSM so much I agreed to go see it with her. 59? Where the hell did the rest of the respect points go? And you're insanity percentage is well over that my friend. It's probably closing in on 92 or so. …yeah no, Squirrel's and my grandfather throwing shoes go together. Midori's not going to kill Emi! I wish I could kick my computer with a steel-toed boot -.-
Oberon Axelus – Yeah I knew what their names meant in Latin. Square Enix did it on purpose to connect them and I want to know why. It's driving me insane.
Shire Folk – If things go better than they did with this chapter expect Christmas cookies at some point of time too! I thought about doing more with the wedding scene, but SO many people have done that with their stories that I decided to make it an in-and-out sort of thing. My teacher wouldn't have cared if they took his money…but he was awfully upset over the fries. Then again, he also lives in a hippy van in the summer with his girlfriend and rents a cottage for the school year…and don't go hating squirrels! They know where you live! And they seriously throw acorns at your head…it's happened to me before.
Syrena Li – I LOVE Genie. Really, he's the only thing that keeps the sequels interesting. I did put your bird in a box. Tried to ship it but I don't know where you live so I just put a random address. It'll probably get out and come back to hunt me down though. But it's not MY fault it cheats! I blame it's owners!
Kanie – Way to rip off 'just keep swimming, just keep swimming'…great now the song's stuck in my head…just keep—DAMNIT! The squirrels will start stalking you now too.
Iaveina – I noticed that too…cause clearly people couldn't understand the arrows. I LOVE Aladdin. It makes me laugh so much. I know I made my Roxas seem a little dense, so I'm trying to make it seem like he's not as stupid as I portray him. Your reviews look fine, so don't worry. Glad my story makes you go into weird moods. It's that for Japan, but it'll probably be out in like March in North America. You know, if I met your mom we'd probably get in a huge fight over Disney. My friend's mom hates it just as much as yours seems to (except she absolutely despises Mickey, not Donald) and I got into an argument with her over it. ^.^''
Thanks for the reviews. Sorry this chapter sucks. Promise to update in a few days!
Krystal Lily Potter