A/N: Hello everyone. Welcome back to Re: Kingdom Hearts. Before we begin, I'm going to bring something up about Re: Dream Drop Distance as I've been asked about it recently.
Like Re: Kingdom Hearts, Re: Dream Drop Distance is in the same series as it, and I actually wrote Re: Dream Drop Distance before it. However, as I've been continuing on with this story, I've been getting questions about its continuation.
And it's mainly because of Penelope's character development.
As I've been writing Re: Dream Drop Distance, I don't use a walkthrough to write it. I actually play Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance as I write it and it this point, I'm at The Grid in the story.
However, because of Penelope's development in this story, as she is also in Re: Dream Drop Distance, and for the rest of this series, there's a chance I might end up rewriting the story because of Penelope's development as a character.
But there's a chance I may not rewrite it either. You see, Penelope is actually fairy similar to how she is in this story, but she's also different. If she develops differently, there's also a chance I will not have to fully rewrite it, but tweak the story to fit the standards of the series overall.
So, I hope I got that cleared up. Because of the fact this Author's note is rather long at the beginning, I'm going to have to answer questions at the end, excluding RagingStorms7482's review as I tried to answer that.
I own nothing but Penelope and Drake belongs to FernuxBlader.
Here's the 25th chapter!
XxXxX
Chapter 25: Rage to Forgiveness
After storming off, to find that Drake had come after her, Penelope was defeating as many Heartless as she could to get her anger out, and to see if Sora actually cared and/or noticed if she existed.
She knew he noticed. But she hated how much Leon and the others ignored her.
Why was it that very few noticed her? Was it because of her role? Penelope couldn't figure it out.
After defeating more Heartless with Drake, he said, "Man, these Heartless won't stop coming."
Penelope nodded. "If Sora and I were able to lock that Keyhole, most of these damned Heartless wouldn't show up. However, we didn't since Sora turned into a Heartless, and I didn't get time to seal the Keyhole as the Heartless were coming." She explained.
"Only if you were able to." Drake said to Penelope.
"I know. However, the past is in the past, and we probably will at some point later, but we can't now. Oh, and I have to compliment you for something." Penelope said to Drake.
"Yeah? What is it?" Drake asked Penelope.
"You are badass with that scythe of yours." Penelope complimented Drake before some more Heartless showed up.
"Thanks, but we don't have time to talk." Drake pointed out.
"Well then. Are you out of energy yet?' Penelope asked Drake as she was getting into her fighting stance.
"Nope. Are you?" He replied before asking back.
"A little, but I can still keep going. Let's take out some more of these annoying pests." Penelope and Drake went to killing more Heartless, supporting each other before they finally took all of the Heartless attacking them out.
Then that ball of light appeared and circled around them above the top of their heads and healed them. "Here. I hope this helps." The ball of light told them before vanishing.
"Thank you, Navi. You were actually helpful for once. Or are you Tatl?" Penelope asked, making a few references in those three sentences.
And then they heard Kairi's voice. "Penelope! What are you doing? It's dangerous!" Kairi called after her and Drake.
"Hey look. Jubilena Bing-Bing is calling." Penelope said quietly to Drake.
"Just how many things can you reference at once?" Drake asked Penelope, taken aback a bit by her referencing.
"You don't want to know." Penelope answered before replying to Kairi, "What do you mean? I can handle being alone. Besides, nobody really comes after me when I run off."
"Still, it's dangerous. Someone could take yours or your friend's heart!" Kairi told Penelope, but Penelope simply replied with a huff.
"First of all, it's impossible to remove my heart from my body, as it will only react negatively to the darkness and blast away at it like a first-person shooter. Then I'm unsure about Drake, but he's capable for defending himself for long periods of…" Penelope began until a specific person with his dog and duck sidekicks came into the scene.
"Kairi! Don't run off by yourself. You could get hurt." Sora told his friend. And then he saw Penelope. "Then in this current situation, Penelope, you could get hurt. You didn't heal before we left Hollow Bastion."
"Just when do you care about me Sora? You have Kairi, your little damsel in distress to worry about." Penelope said back in a rather rude tone, which took Sora, Donald and Goofy aback.
"Penelope…"
"No. Don't you "Penelope" me, Sora. I am more than capable of taking care of myself and I've shown you two or three times. If you and everyone else would quit pushing me out of the spotlight off of a cliff, I probably wouldn't have said anything!" Penelope yelled at him.
Kairi got rather upset by this. "You don't need to act all angry about it, Penelope…"
Penelope's eyes immediately flashed purple and she said, "Like you would know, Kairi. Sure you've practically experienced this whole journey with us, but you never knew what I had to put up with because you're used to getting a lot of attention. Then there's me, who was alone a lot on the islands, not wanting any attention really as I knew nobody really noticed me already."
Sora went to Kairi's defense. "You don't need to yell at her, Penelope."
Penelope didn't reply to either of them as she turned away and walked off. Just as Drake was about to follow her, Sora asked, "Um…Drake, right?"
"Yeah? What is it?"
"How come you're still going with Penelope despite what she said?" Sora asked him.
"Despite it doesn't look like it, as Penelope has talked to me a lot, I actually know Penelope a bit better than you know her." Drake answered.
"But I've known her for years." Sora indicated.
"Yes, but you haven't talked to her as much. I can understand why she's so upset too."
"How come?" Kairi asked.
"She told me that when she isn't noticed, it reminds her when she first appeared on your island, because when she was washed up, nobody saw her as she camouflaged with the sand a bit and nobody even bothered to see her." Drake explained.
"What? Penelope mentioned to me that she lived on the Play Island for most of her life, but she never mentioned that."
Drake went to finishing her explanation. "She told me that nobody would care anyway. She told me that she's ripped on being ignored enough and decided to stop trying to even try to get noticed."
Then Drake went to following Penelope and Kairi told him, "I'm going to be at that house if you need me, okay Sora? I'll be fine, I promise."
Kairi went back to the Empty House before Sora said to Donald and Goofy, "We need to go give Cid that Gummi Piece, but I feel like I should apologize to Penelope first."
"She said some pretty harsh things to you back there." Goofy told Sora, reminding him of Penelope's words.
"I know. But I feel like I need to apologize to her because she was right." Sora said to Donald and Goofy. "In fact, the only time I seemed like a good friend to Penelope was in Monstro. She's equally important, as if somebody takes Penelope, it could be the end of the world."
"How come?" Donald asked Sora, surprised she said that.
"Since Penelope is this Guardian of Light and Darkness, and she's pretty powerful, if she's used for the wrong purposes, she could become a weapon of destruction." Sora answered.
So then, they went after Penelope in the direction she went.
XxXxX
At some point, when Sora finally caught up to Penelope, it was near Merlin's house, like where they previously found her.
"Penelope! Where's Drake?" Sora asked.
"He needed to do an errand for Merlin, so I took him here. Besides, why do you care?" Penelope him back.
"I needed to tell you something." Sora said to Penelope.
"What. If it's about Kairi, I'm leaving."
"No. I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry." Penelope stared at Sora; seeming a bit confused and a bit pissed off by this.
"For what? You've barely apologized to me, and now you do? What the hell…"
"No, I'm sorry for everything. I've been a terrible friend, and I really mean it."
Penelope stared at Sora before saying, "Are you saying I haven't forgiven you already? I mean, sure, I yelled at you, but I can't hate you for very long. Besides, I want to kill Ansem as much as you do."
"I don't want to kill Ansem, I want to defeat him." Sora replied to Penelope. "And you've already forgiven me?"
"Sora, how could I not? You're too nice for your own good. Anyway, let's get everything done that we need to get done before we go kick some ass." Penelope went to the door to the first district as Sora, Donald and Goofy were in shock.
"Are you guys coming or not?" Penelope asked.
The three just mentioned followed Penelope.
When they spoke to Cid, he told them a way to get to Hollow Bastion without going through the tons of Heartless, and it was by a Gummi that Cid had hidden in the Secret Waterway in case he needed it. In fact, he said 9 years ago too, which was rather suspicious to Penelope.
"Wait…9 years ago?" Penelope asked Cid.
"Yeah? Why?" Cid asked Penelope back, confused by her question.
"Were you maybe…Forget it? Come on, Sora. If we want to save Riku, we have to get the Gummi that Cid just told us about in that Waterway."
"Uh…right?" Then the four went to the waterway, still leaving Cid in confusion.
Afterwards, they went to the Waterway…and found Kairi there. However, going over to the mural with a sun painted on it, a light suddenly came out of it, and it was the Gummi. So, when Sora got it, it turned to a mural with the moon painted on it.
So then, they walked over to Kairi and Sora approached her. "Let's go back and join the others." Sora suggested to the red-headed girl. "We should rest up."
"Okay." Kairi replied, taking heed to the suggestion Sora made.
As Donald and Goofy left, Penelope stayed because she felt like she needed to do something that she never planned to do again.
"A light at the end of the tunnel…" Sora understood this and asked, "Oh, your grandma's story, right?"
Kairi turned to look at Sora before recalling it and saying, "That's right. We were together."
"You know what's funny?" Sora asked Kairi before he walked closer to her. "I looked everywhere for you, but you were with me all along. Finally, we're together, Kairi."
"In what context do you mean by that, Sora?" Penelope asked him.
Sora looked at her and Penelope got it by his expression before Sora looked back at that mural and said, "Now, its time to get Riku back."
"You think it will ever be the same between us? Riku's lost his…" Kairi began to say until Sora interrupted.
"When I turned into a Heartless, you saved me, remember?"
Penelope felt sick. "This is a cheesy romantic-ish moment between our male protagonist and the damsel-in-distress. AND BEFORE I FORGET TO SAY IT, I was the one who told you to come after us Sora. I tried to lead you to us, and it worked."
Sora smiled at her and said, "I know. Despite Kairi was the one who restored my heart and body, you were the one who figured it out before everyone, and despite I would've followed my friends anyway, you tried to lead me."
Penelope smiled in triumph. "However, I was lost in the darkness… I couldn't find my way. As I stumbled through the dark, I started forgetting things- my friends, who I was. The darkness almost swallowed me. But then I heard voices. Penelope's voice…and your voice. You brought me back, Kairi."
"I didn't want to just forget about you, Sora. I couldn't."
"That's it!" Sora cried out upon realizing something. "Our hearts are connected. And the light from our hearts broke through the darkness. I saw that light. I think that's what saved me. No matter how deep the darkness, the light shines within."
"Yes Sora, but if you didn't stab yourself and simply just unlock your heart like any normal person, you wouldn't have become a Heartless in the first place." Penelope pointed out in a rather flat tone like she did at times.
Sora and Kairi stared at her. "If there's anything wrong with just pointing things out, just tell me." Penelope said to both of them afterwards.
"Uh…where was I at…? Oh, right. I guess it's more than just a fairy tale."
"Well, let's go!" Kairi told Sora afterwards.
"Not yet! I need to say something, but I'll let you finish your moment first." Penelope said, stopping them before she allowed them to finish their conversation.
"You can't go!" Sora said to Kairi, in all seriousness.
"Why not?" Penelope heard the tone of sass in Kairi's voice.
"Because its way too dangerous." Sora attempted to make an excuse.
Kairi put her arms behind her back and tried to get Sora to let her go with them (which Penelope personally didn't want as when they came back, they let Kairi have her seat by the window, and Penelope didn't get a chair.).
"Come on, Sora. We made it this far by sticking together. You can't go alone."
"I'M WITH HIM." Penelope pointed out.
"Kairi, even if we're apart, we aren't alone anymore. Right?"
"I can't help?" Kairi asked Sora.
"You'd kind of be in my way." Penelope smiled at this and smirked at Kairi.
But Kairi took this just fine and giggled before saying, "Okay. You win."
"What."
Kairi took Sora's hand and gave him a star-shaped charm. "Take this. It's my lucky charm. Be sure to bring it back to me." Kairi told Sora in somewhat of a nagging tone.
"What. Kairi, what are you doing?"
Sora looked at it before telling Kairi, "Don't worry. I will."
"Promise?" Kairi asked, having to make sure.
"Promise." Sora answered her, sealing the promise he made.
There was a silent moment before Kairi said to Sora, "Don't ever forget. Wherever you go, I'm always with you."
Sora then checked what happened when he'd attached Kairi's charm to his Kingdom Key as its Keychain.
And it turned into a Keyblade…that looked just like Penelope's.
Penelope blinked at this, not seeming amused. "Look Penelope, I have the same Keyblade as…"
Penelope took Sora's Oathkeeper and threw it like a Javelin at the wall, making Sora's Oathkeeper get stuck before she took off Kairi's charm and handed it to Sora, causing it to turn back to normal.
She also decided to further delay the apology she was going to give to Kairi because of it.
XxXxX
A/N: I apologize for Penelope acting like a bitch in this chapter. I had to tie up the loose ends with her being ignored before I went to the next chapter because of that little fit she had there.
Also, as I said at the beginning of this chapter, I will reply to those reviews.
Guest: With Penelope singing to get Kairi and her to remember. I would do that…if I weren't going to write Re: Chain of Memories as it ruins the point of Penelope having to do something involving her memories. I plan for her to sing at the end of the story though before they begin their next journey and when she breaks the fourth wall at the end.
Oops. Spoilers.
Silent Searcher: As I spoliered myself before I played Kingdom Hearts, I pretty much knew what would happen. But Riku saves the day in Kingdom Hearts 2, right?
And Penelope's role doesn't end there. In the next story, it shows an important disadvantage for her relevant to the plot of this series. Thanks.
As we are getting close to the finale, I am going to tell you that Re: Chain of Memories will be next, but it will be kind of short. I will also base it more on the manga, thus making it shorter.
Okay, once again, I apologize for Penelope being a bitch in this chapter, review if you'd like, please don't flame, and tell me how I can improve as a writer.
I will see you all in the next chapter!
Ciao!