A/N: I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOO sorry for making you guys wait so long for this chapter. I'll give you guys a full explanation as to why I had you waiting so long at the ending authors note! Again SOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWYYYYYYY YY! :'(
Disclaimer: I own nothing…except for myself…
Also, again, the Japanese language is supplied by Google Translate, so please don't blame me if something's wrong.
Chapter 29 – Radiant Garden (part. 2)
The silver haired man and the group of teens finally arrived at the door of what seemed to be a small town house. Sephiroth then started to walk off. The teens already knew why, though, so there was no point in asking. They waited until he was gone to knock on the door. After a few more knocks, the door was then answered by an old man with a very long beard (can you guess who this is?).
"Yes, yes, I heard the first few knocks," the man said, then he looked up, "Sora!"
"Oi... Mārin… (Hey…Merlin…)" Sora said nervously, mainly because he had to speak to the old man while he still had his little 'speaking problem'.
"Hm? Mārin? It's Merlin, you know that." Merlin stated.
"Watashi wa shitte iru. Sore wa watashi ga itta kotoda... Mārin. (I know. That's what I said…Merlin.)" Sora said, looking at the ground and moving his leg in an arch in front of him.
"Huh? What did you say?" Merlin asked. After realizing what was wrong though, his eyes widened.
"Eh? Speak English, my boy!" Merlin exclaimed.
"〜 Dekitara īnoni, watashi wa dekimasen... (I wish I could, but I can't…)" was Sora's response; he could only hope the man understood him.
Merlin leaned over to Riku and asked: "Uh…What did the boy say?"
"He said he can't…Wait, can't you understand him?" Riku asked.
"I'm afraid my Japanese speaking skills are a little rusty," Merlin responded, straightening his beard, "I think I have the perfect thing for fixing his 'problem', but, um, do you mind telling me what happened to the poor boy to make him talk like this?"
"She happened." Riku said, pointing at Angel, who just glared at him in return, then smiled before Merlin could see it. Merlin turned to face the direction that Riku was pointing in, to find the young lady that Riku was talking about.
"Oh! Hello there, well I guess we should go inside for the explanation as to how this young lady could cause such a problem with Sora." Merlin stated. "Follow me."
Merlin then led the way into his home, followed by the rest of the group.
…
Once inside, the gang was met with more familiar faces.
"Guys, Sora's here!" Yuffie exclaimed.
"We missed you!"
"Well, ain't you in top shape?"
"Hey."
Sora got an uncomfortable and nervous smile on his face as he stared at the faces of Yuffie, Aerith, Cid, and Leon. He really wanted to say something, but he didn't want to know their reaction to his 'speaking problem'. Noticing his discomfort from the corner of her eye, Dom pulled a small notepad and a pen from her High School Musical bag and handed them to him. Sora gave her a confused look, as if he was saying 'why in all of hell do you have this?'
Smiling at him, Dom responded with "Hey you never know when a famous Disney Channel star is at Disney World". Giving her a smile of thanks, Sora took the notebook and scribbled something on the first clean page then showed it to the other three people.
"Hi, everybody!"
Yuffie got a confused look on her face.
"Huh? Sora, why aren't you talking?" She asked, the other three people getting looks of worry and confusion as they started to notice the same thing. Sora got another look of discomfort. He then wrote down something else on the notepad.
" You don't wanna know."
"Yes we do, what's wrong Sora? " Aerith asked, worry lacing each of her words. Sora got a scared look on his face from the thought of how humiliating it would be to speak to his friends with his impairment at the moment.
"No, really, you don't wanna know" He wrote.
"Oh, come on, how bad can it be to talk to us? You got a sore throat or somethin'?" Cid asked, only earning a shake of the head from Sora.
"Then say something, Sora." Leon said in a monotone voice. Sora looked over at Leon and momentarily locked eyes with him, which just about scared him. Not the kind of horror movie jumping, screaming 'OMG, WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!' kind of scared, but the kind of scared that a child would feel after their parents threatened to take away their favorite toy if they didn't tell them what they did wrong. Sora noticed the look in Leon's eyes that was stern enough to almost look threatening. Then, with a sigh, Sora spoke, knowing that it would surprise his friends.
"Watashi wa hanasu koto ga dekinai riyūu ̄ n... Koreha... (Well...this is why I can't talk...)" Sora said with a slight hesitance. The looks on the faces in front of him depicted different versions of shock and confusion.
"Sora…what happened that made you talk like that?" Yuffie asked. Sora turned around and walked over to Angel, then he grabbed her by the arm and brought her over to Yuffie. Angel glared at him and struggled to get away, but just gave up after a few seconds. Yuffie, Cid, Aerith, and Leon just stared at the young girl with wide eyes.
"This girl…is the reason that you can't speak English?" Leon asked, earning a nod from Sora.
"But how is that possible?" Aerith asked.
"I can answer that." Dom chimed in. The four others looked at the girl with a gaze that said 'wait, who are you?'.
"And what's your name, little lady?" Cid asked.
"Dominique." Dom responded with a friendly smile, "Nice to meet you."
"Same here..." Leon said, eyeing the girl curiously.
"So what were you saying about how this girl caused Sora to lose his ability to speak English?" Yuffie asked, signaling to Angel. Dom nodded.
"Her name's Angel, she's my best friend. Anyway, when we were at the water park the other day, those two-" Dom was interrupted by Merlin coming back in the room.
"Wait, wait! I also want to hear this," Merlin exclaimed, he then walked over to Sora holding a small bottle with a purple liquid in it, he handed the bottle to Sora while continuing, "Here, Sora, take this potion. It should heal you and bring back your ability to speak English."
Sora took the bottle from the old wizard and stared at the liquid inside, he gave Merlin a look that said 'You've gotta be kidding', but Merlin only laughed and shook his head.
"Oh, don't worry, my boy, it's grape flavored. Or at least…I think it is. Anyway, don't worry , you'll be fine…I hope..." Merlin responded. Sora gave the old man a look that said 'Really!? Are you trying to kill me? How could you not know?!', which only earned a nervous laugh from Merlin. Sora, with a look that clearly expressed his fear and discomfort, looked back at the vile and gulped.
"Sonogo daijōbu... Botomuappu. (Okay then...bottoms up.)" The boy said, uncorking the bottle, then, with shaking hands, drinking the liquid inside. After a little while, his throat started to burn. He winced and grabbed it in pain, but the pain only grew worse. Not to mention the raging headache he was starting to feel. Everyone around him stared in worry, and he gave them all a warm, reassuring smile. The pain subsided after a while and he exhaled in relief. He looked up to find everyone else in the room staring at him with anticipation and worry. He straightened up his posture and cleared his throat. Then, after giving everyone the 'one minute' sign and taking a deep breath, he attempted to speak English again. Just as he was about to say something, though, the door opened and Cloud walked in as if nothing was going on. Everyone in the room turned to look at him, but he paid no mind to them, he just went and sat at the table in the middle of the room, then started watching what was happening.
"I like how he did that…" Angel trailed in a voice that was just above a whisper.
"Hey…. Cloud…." Sora said cautiously, because, quite frankly the guy seemed a little scary today. Cloud only looked at Sora and gave a nod.
"Wait…Sora, say something again." Leon said.
"Like what?"Sora asked.
"He can talk…HE CAN TALK!" Yuffie exclaimed, clapping and jumping for joy. Everyone else c lapped, too (except for Cloud, who just slightly raised an eyebrow in confusion).
"He couldn't talk before?" Cloud asked. Everyone jumped in surprise and turned to face Cloud.
"Well, he could talk, but he couldn't speak English, only Japanese." Leon explained with a slightly surprised look on his face due to Cloud's sudden question (and the fact that Cloud said something at all).
"I see…" was Cloud's only response.
"Now, Dominique, you were explaining what happened to make Sora only speak Japanese, right?" Aerith asked.
"Oh Yeaaah." Dom said thoughtfully, "Well, as I was saying, when we were at the water park the other day, Sora and Angel got into a fight and, long story short, Angel knocked Sora out with his own keyblade…" Dom explained, looking at Angel, who was smirking at Sora, who had looked away in embarrassment.
"Wait…How'd she do that?" Yuffie asked. Dom sighed, "Well, I guess I'll have to explain the way the fight went down, won't I?" Dom asked, earning a nod from Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Cid, Merlin, and even a slight nod from Cloud.
"No! Please don't!" Sora exclaimed, not even wanting to think of how much more embarrassed he'd be if they found out exactly how he got knocked out with his own weapon.
"Do it! Do it!" Angel exclaimed, laughing at the memory of what happened between her and Sora at Blizzard Beach. Dom looked at the two, then at the others to see if they thought she should do it or not. Riku shrugged and Kairi slightly giggled, and Angel was still encouraging Dom to do it. When Dom looked over at Sora, though, he looked absolutely terrified.
"You sure you want me to tell you guys, cause Sora looks like he's about to run out the room screaming if I do…" Dom trailed, directing the hesitant statement at the six other game characters in the room.
"Well, maybe not…" Aerith said with slight worry in her voice once she saw the look on Sora's face.
"Yeah! I wanna know!" Yuffie exclaimed, jumping in excitement and slight desperation due to her curiosity.
"Well, I wanna know, but not if Sora's gonna pass out if ya tell us." Cid said, also eyeing the deep blue eyed boy's expression with a slightly pained look.
"He'll be fine, tell us." Leon said plainly. Sora's mouth dropped and a look of betrayal crossed his face.
"Oh thanks, Leon! You're a real help!" Sora exclaimed sarcastically, Leon just shrugged.
"It's true." He said, "It can't be that bad."
"Yeah, to tell the truth, Sora, it isn't that bad…I guess…Angel just caught you of guard…kind of…" Dom said, trying to consol Sora.
"Are you kidding me!?" Angel said, "Do you even remember what happened? I went straight up warrior on his ass!"
Everyone looked at Angel with shock (except for Cloud, who just raised an eyebrow, and Dom, who gave Angel the look a mother would give a child that cursed).
"Angel, language!" Dom scolded.
"What? It's true!" Angel exclaimed.
"Still, have some manners, will ya? You don't have to curse!" Dom responded.
"Okay, now I have to know what happened." Yuffie said, her interest in the subject growing. She wasn't the only one.
"I agree, Yuffie, this should be interesting." Leon said, a look of amusement clear on his face.
"Yes, tell us this story, child." Merlin said, clapping his hands in amusement. Dom laughed a little and sighed.
"Well, Sora's most likely gonna kill me for this later, " Dom said, then turned a quick glance over to a horrified Sora ( which made her heart ache a bit, but she did her best to brush it off), "But gather round, people, I got a story to tell…"
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" Yuffie and Angel shouted in unison, both jumping with joy.
"Nooooooo!" Sora said, dropping to his knees with dread dripping from his voice, but it was unfortunately drowned out by Angel and Yuffie's exclamations of happiness and excitement.
There you have it, after a year of blowing this poor story off, I'm finally back. I know this chapter isn't the greatest, but I felt I needed to give you guys something after making you wait so long. Again, I'm EXTERMELY sorry for making you guys wait so long for this chapter. I was gonna put Inuyasha characters in this fanfic, but, after a year of mentally debating (and Angel downright refusing to accept the concept of them being in this story) I decided not to. Now, although that contributes to the wait, that's not the main reason. As you can see, I started another story that is a Hetalia fanfic with (basically) the same concept as this one, except it has more of my friends, which means more characters, more romantic scenes, more inspiration needed, and, mainly, more people bugging me to update it. Add on the laziness and a stressful freshman year of high school (so far) and you have this long wait. Fortunately, playing KH2 (for the umpteenth time) and "Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance" has inspired me to put the Hetalia fanfic down for a bit and tell the people bugging me about it to wait, and get back to this story, which is basically the story I started off loving and vowed to myself I would end loving (which means there's no way I'm discontinuing this story, I vowed to myself that I would never do that. I love Kingdom Hearts far too much for that). Anyway, there's my extremely long explanation. Now, expect this story to be updated by at least the end of this year, more specifically, before summer. See you guys then. R&R, Byeeee! (And again, I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry for the wait).
