Happy New Years, guys!

Sadly, I have a case of the stomach flu so I might not update for a few days. Or longer. Heh eh...sorry!

Kyrie (c) Me

Kingdom Hearts characters/some of the story (c) Square Enix

Kingdom Hearts

Bonded Soul

Chapter 37

"You go get Scar, we'll handle these guys." Sora cried. The lion nodded as he ran inside the cave, leaving the group to deal with the hyenas. Kyrie smirked, summoning her keyblades and knocking away the mutts with each stroke, hearing Timon and Pumba behind her as they yelled and shouted, pummeling hyenas and sending them flying. But the three lead hyenas, Banzai, Shenzi, and Ed, cornered them and chased them into the cave.

Kyrie turned and growled, following after them with Sora, Donald, and Goofy right behind her. Once inside, Sora summoned his keyblade and went after Banzai, while Kyrie targeted Shenzi. Donald and Goofy dealt with Ed, since he was the dumbest and weakest of the bunch.

"Shenzi's gonna pay for what she did to me earlier-!" Kyrie thought as she tackled the bigger animal, making her shriek in pain. The canine turned and began snapping her incisors at her, causing Kyrie to jump out of the way to avoid her massive jaws. But she was quicker than the larger hyena, and she slammed her keyblades into her side once more, flinging her out of the cave. Kyrie stopped, panting as she dropped her keyblades. But she was pleased, to say the least.

"That's what you get for messing with me!" she thought with a toss of her head and a huff, a smirk on her face. She turned and spotted Banzai and Ed as they ran out of the cave, whimpering and covered with wounds and bruises. Sora, Donald, Goofy, Timon, Pumba, and Nala approached her and regrouped.

"Where's Simba?" Sora asked, looking around for him and Scar. Nala, who had shown up only minutes ago, looked towards a rocky path that resembled stairs.

"He went up there. Hurry, Sora!" she answered. He nodded as he, Donald, Goofy, and Kyrie ran up the path, concerned about the lion's safety. Once they got to the top, they watched as Simba and Scar squared off, growling at each other as they circled one another. Donald looked on in worry, before trying to fly in.

"Simba!" Donald cried, but Sora quickly held up a paw, stopping the duck in his tracks.

"This is his fight, Donald." Sora spoke, staring at the two lions. He looked so serious, that it actually surprised Kyrie. But she quickly turned her attention back to the two fighting lions, concern written on her features.

"C'mon Simba…c'mon…" she thought, watching as the lions roared and scratched at each other. But Simba quickly got the upper hand, throwing a punch and sending Scar over the ledge, to his death. Kyrie flinched, looking away as they heard Scar cry out as he plummeted. Sora and the others walked up to the victor, before he turned to them. Before a word was said, Kyrie stiffened.

"If you think you've won-" Pete started as he came up from behind them. But that wasn't what had made Kyrie stiffen. Ignoring Pete as he began to rant, she looked towards the ledge where Scar had fallen from, her hackles raised as she gnashed her teeth anxiously.

"This darkness- it couldn't be-!" she thought as she stared, but after a moment, a familiar rusted-colored blur shot up, landing gracefully on his paws as darkness enveloped him. Scar sneered at them from where he stood, now completely covered in a dark aura. She growled silently.

"He's a heartless. Dammit!" she thought, crouching and summoning her keyblades; one between her teeth and the other her tail as it wrapped around the handle. Simba and Sora growled as well, crouching as the latter summoned his keyblade between his teeth.

"Sorry Simba but this is our fight too, now!" Sora cried. Simba nodded in understanding, with Scar now a heartless, Sora and the gang were now as needed in this fight as Simba. Scar chuckled darkly, not once saying a word, before he lunged. Donald and Goofy barely dodged his attack in time as he landed in the spot they had been previously. Kyrie jumped back, pushing herself into a leap with all four legs, and swinging the keyblade in her jaws, the Lost Memory keyblade, down in a downwards sweep. But Scar was fast as he jumped, avoiding her attack.

Simba came from his right while Sora came from his left, both surrounding him. Kyrie was in front of him, and kept him there as Sora and Simba attacked, dealing heavy blows to the newly formed heartless. He gave a roar, and sparks began to radiate from his body.

"Run!" Simba cried as the lion began to run around in circles, sparks emitting from his body and shocking whoever came near. Goofy cried out in pain as he got zapped, not able to get out of the way in time. Kyrie jumped, just barely missing him as he ran past.

"How can we stop him?" she thought, running to catch up with Sora. He looked at her in concern, running to meet her as he did so.

"Are you okay-" he started, but stopped when Scar turned, the two cubs in his sights. Sora gasped, stiffening just as Kyrie was about to bolt. She stopped, jumping in front of him and facing the lion head on, closing her eyes.

"Shield!" she thought, imagining a familiar round shape in her mind. Opening her eyes, the shield had appeared again, just a Scar ran into it. He gave a roar of pain as he was thrown back, Simba and the others taking this chance to deal more blows to the fallen lion. Within minutes, the fight was over as the aura disappeared from Scar's body and the lion fell, his body laying limp on the rocky surface. Kyrie looked away, feeling her body shudder in revulsion.

"Ugh…" she thought, closing her eyes tightly. She hated doing this, ending the lives of their enemies. First Shan-Yu, then Barbossa, now Scar. How many more people were they going to cut down before they achieved peace?

Simba looked at the body for a moment, before turning and walking down the path that led to the cave. Sora and the others followed, with Kyrie taking one last look at the corpse as they went. When they made it out, Simba walked up the ledge that towered over the Pride lands, and let out a roar. The lionesses roared with him, and the chorus of roars continued. Sora and Kyrie smiled as the king finally took back his throne, before their keyblades appeared unexpectedly. Looking up, a light shot out of the sky and formed a keyhole, meaning that a new path was opened.

Balancing their keyblades on their tails, they locked the keyhole and it disappeared in a flash of light.

"Hey, what's with the light show?" Timon asked as they dispelled their keyblades. The two looked at each other, before looking at him.

"We have to say goodbye for a little while." Sora explained. Pumba nodded as he looked at Simba, who was still standing over the ledge looking down at his subjects.

"I'll run and tell Simba." But Goofy quickly shook his head, stopping him.

"Aw, he's prob'ly busy. Just tell him we'll be back soon." He added. Timon sighed.

"Oh, that's right… he's king now. He's gonna be so busy he'll prob'ly forget all about his two best buddies."

"Well, you always got Hakuna Matata, right?" Sora asked, smirking. Pumba shrugged his shoulders.

"Guess so."

"Whaddaya mean, 'Guess so'? What if he forgets to tell the carnivores who we are? One look at you, and you're a pig roast."

"That's Mister Pig Roast." Donald added, teasing them.

"Same thing! And I'm not sticking around to be anybody's pork dinner!" Pumba cried as he turned tail and ran. Timon ran after the warthog, waving his arms in the air as he did so.

"Pumba!" he cried. Sora and the others watched them go, before he smiled.

"You can never forget your true buddies." He murmured, looking at Donald and Goofy. Kyrie looked at him and felt a pang in her chest. She knew exactly what he meant. Looking into the distance, the scenery changed as she pictured three people sitting on the edge of the Station Tower in Twilight town, eating sea-salt ice-cream as they cracked jokes and laughed with her. She smiled a little, a small tear forming at the corner of her eye at the bittersweet memory. The tear dropped, three names echoing in her thoughts.

"Roxas…Xion…Axel…"

-Later-

"Ah…it's good to be back on two legs again." Sora sighed as they got back onto the ship, now in human form. Kyrie nodded, stretching her arms and glad to feel her fingers again. Looking behind her, she gasped when she saw her backpack on her back. Sliding it off, she hugged it to her chest.

"I have it back! Now I can talk to them again!" she thought happily. Pulling out her notebook, she quickly nudged Sora and made the boy look over.

"Hey, you got your notebook back!" he exclaimed in surprise. She nodded before writing.

Yes, and now I have a few things to say…Do you know how hard it is not being able to say anything? I can't tell you how many times I wanted to claw myself because how annoyed and mad I was to have you three guess what I was trying to say!

The boys took a few steps back, surprised at the written outburst.

"Gawrsh, we're sorry Kyrie. We didn't mean to make ya mad." Goofy apologized. She paused and smiled, quickly shaking her head.

Don't worry about it. I just had to get that off my chest. It's hard not being able to talk, and once you lose your one means of communication, it gets even harder.

"It has to be, since you can't talk at all. Hopefully you don't lose it again." Sora spoke, agreeing with her. Donald and Goofy nodded as well, also in agreement.

"Now let's see…" Donald spoke, quickly taking his place at the wheel and looking at the monitor to see where they were going next. Sora and Goofy came up from behind him, looking at the screen in curiosity.

"Where do we go next, Donald?" Sora asked. Donald looked the map over before pointing.

"Twilight town!"

Oh gosh...I'm warning all of you now, the next couple of chapters are gonna be full of D-R-A-M-A.~ Especially with Axel and Kyrie's current relationship. Stay tuned to see what happens next!

Also, you all know the drill! R & R! XD