I apologize for the later update, so I'll just say that I hope you enjoy and get on with the story. ;)

Inverted Sky

Chapter 37: Traverse Town part VI

Sora slowly opened her eyes as she regained consciousness, but she felt a bit groggy and couldn't quite focus her gaze at first. However, she could still feel the fact that she was laying on her side and that she had a thin blanket covering her. Yet as the girl's vision started to clear, she saw Merlin sitting beside the bed she was laying on.

Said man had a pan of cold water in front of him as he dipped a small towel into it and wrung it out a few times. However, just beyond him was Donald arguing with Archimedes, while Goofy tired to calm them both down. All the while, the rest of the room had other people scattered in various areas, but they all seemed to have the expression of worry on their features. This group consisting of Leon, Yuffie, Aerith and Cid, the latter two of whom Sora had met after she made her agreement with Riku in Traverse Town.

Cid himself had short blond hair, which was pulled back with a few spikes in the front. His eyes were blue and held some stubble on his chin, which seemed to show his age a bit. The man's attire consisted of a white T-shirt with two buttons descending from the neck, as well as baggy blue pants and a very wide orange waistband. This gave the appearance of his pants being worn rather high, as the waistband came up to just under his rib-cage. Cid also had on a set of grey socks, black shoes and a pair of green goggles placed on his head. Lastly, there was a necklace with a rectangular charm around his neck and even a long toothpick sticking out of the front of his mouth.

Aerith on the other hand had on a pink dress with magenta lining and buttons going down the front. All of which were buttoned, save for the last two at the bottom. She also had on brown boots, as well as a black string in a bow around her neck, this seeming to function as a necklace. The woman also held a lilac belt around her waist with another black string tied in the same fashion as the one around her neck. Her eyes were a bright green, which made a nice contrast with her long brown hair. These locks having been styled into a braid leading down her back, plus had curls on either side of her face.

Though, as the brown-haired girl glanced around to everyone, she gave a soft smile. "Wow...what a turn out." the girl muttered in a slightly groggy voice as she was still just regaining consciousness.

"Ah! She's awake!" Merlin called out quickly as everyone's attention immediately went to Sora.

Whom sat herself up in the bed after pulling the blanket away, to which she looked to all of the people around her and widened her smile. "All of you came here just to see how I was doing?" she asked silently with a slight tilt of her head.

"Of course." a voice spoke up from the outside of the hut, to which everyone turned their attention toward the cloth over the doorway.

"After these two told us about you suddenly passed out..." they continued, to which the cloth lifted up to reveal Cloud, which slightly shocked Sora.

"...there was no way we wouldn't come to see you." the blond man finished as he took a few steps inside before stopping and crossing his arms.

"You came here too?" Sora all but squeaked out with blinking eyes, her still being a bit surprised.

"I happened to be passing by when I saw your friends carrying you down here. I'm an acquaintance of theirs as well..." the blond man started with a gesture to each of the other humans.

"...so I figured that I'd come and see what was going on." he said with a shrug, yet soon received a nudge from a smiling Aerith.

"And?" the woman urged as she tilted her head to the side, which made Cloud just sigh heavily in response.

"And...I guess I was a bit worried about you, so I wanted to make sure you were okay." he said, yet didn't make eye contact as he just let out another, yet even heavier sigh.

"He also scouted out the area to make sure you guys weren't being followed. As well as defeated any Heartless in the area, so that they wouldn't disturb us." Aerith added, her smiling lightly between Cloud and Sora.

"That's where he was for the last half hour." she continued while nudging the blond's side once more.

Sora looked to the man with a small smile, before glancing around to the others as well. "Thanks you guys." she whispered, yet made sure to be loud enough that they could hear her.

Yet she soon looked up in thought for a few moments, to which she then shifted her gaze back to everyone else. "Actually...that makes me wonder, how long was I out for?" she asked with blinking eyes.

"Hmph...coulda been days for all we know." Cid started with a shrug; "They didn't mention how long they were traveling before they got here."

After his words, Donald huffed in response as this clearly indicated some miscommunication between them when they first arrived. This making Sora wish she knew the story behind it, yet she just decided to drop the issue and turn to the wizard as he answered her. "Only a few hours." he stated while drying the water from his hands, now that there was no need to place another cool towel on Sora's forehead.

"Though, while you were asleep..." he continued silently, his tone indicating that he was going to discuss something serious.

"...I'm afraid I took the liberty of forming a link into your subconscious." the old man said as many of the others looked to the side, each of them knowing about this.

Sora blinked at his words at first before to everyone's expressions, her quickly deducing that it must have been a discussion between them before it occurred. But this merely lead for her to then turn back to Merlin as if hoping for an explanation as to what he meant. Despite the old wizard tilting his head down, it was apparent that he didn't entirely regret the decision.

"Well...we all held the suspicion that you had started hiding things from us. So unfortunately...our curiosity got the better of us and we agreed that I would enter your mind with my magic and find out what it is you've been keeping to yourself." he explained further, which made the teen's eyes widen for a moment.

"While I only told what was vital...I would like to have a discussion with you about a few other things." Merlin continued with a hushed tone before clearing his throat.

"S-So...which things did you tell everyone about?" Sora asked with a light gulp, her clearly worried that everyone knew about her absorbing the power of a Heartless, or even the fact that she could control the Heartless in the first place.

"Well...the first things I made mention of were the hooded figures you saw on both your island and in Halloween Town." Merlin started, yet he soon waved a hand to his own words.

"However, even we couldn't figure anything out about their identities...so we'll just have to figure out who they are as we go. But it's important that we know since they seem to be beings that understand much more than we ourselves do." he continued with a clearing of his throat.

"Next, I informed everyone about the fact that Riku is apparently working to Maleficent. But it's very likely that she's deceiving him into doing so, therefore, we've all agreed to leave him to you when the attack on Hollow Bastion is made." the wizard stated as he offered Sora a quick nod of his head to show that he was being genuine about his statement.

"And lastly...I did mention the fact that you..." Merlin began, which lead for the brown-haired teen to gulp down in nervousness.

"...have Kairi's heart inside of you." he finished, causing Sora to immediately blink in response and let out a sigh of relief.

"Y-Yeah...but I never said anything because..." the teen started, yet paused as she tilted her head down.

"No need to explain your reasoning to us Sora." Leon stated as he stepped forward a few paces.

"The only reason why he told us is because of the fact that Maleficent seems keen on returning your friend's heart to her body as well. But considering that witch only does things to further her own goals, it's likely your friend Kairi has something that she wants." the man continued with a serious tone, him narrowing his eyes slightly.

"So as much as you want to get Kairi back to normal...I would suggest you to wait until we have at least figured out why Maleficent wants her so badly." he finished silently, to which Sora slowly nodded her head in response.

"Anyway..." Merlin began once more while clearing his throat; "...now that we have a bit more solid information, our advance team will have something to be on the look out for."

"Right..." Sora whispered as she hung her head down for a few moments; "...but who is in this 'advance team'?" she questioned with a slight tilt of her head to the side as her gaze met everyone else's.

"You'll be meeting up with them soon." Cloud started, him waving his armor-covered hand.

"Don't worry...they're old 'acquaintances' of mine, so they'll definitely be able to help." he continued, to which Sora just blinked once more before nodding slowly.

"Well...alright." the teen muttered as she turned back to Merlin; "So when do we leave?"

"Donald and Goofy will be leaving quite shortly with Leon and Yuffie." the old man started with a clearing of his throat.

"Cloud and Aerith will be ready to leave once Cid has finished his modifications to their ship." he continued, which received a huff from the toothpick chewing man.

Sora raised a brow to this for a few moments before clearing her throat and tilted her head. "And...what about you and I?"

"We shall be traveling via my magic. However, there are some things I wish to discuss with you...in private." he claimed, his tone making him sound like a parent ready to scold their child.

This caused everyone else in the room to just slowly walk out of the hut, despite the helpless expression on the teen's features. Though once they were all gone, Sora gulped down and smiled sheepishly to the elder wizard. "S-So...nice weather down here, huh?" was all she could think to say in a nervous voice.

Merlin merely let out a breath to this before waving a hand; "I won't ask you to explain why you didn't tell anyone about the things that were going on, but really should have told me about your dark powers and the effects it was having on you." he began, his tone sounding more worried now than anything else as he made sure that it was silent enough so no one outside the hut could hear him.

"The power of darkness is dangerous, even if you were technically chosen by it. There is no less of a danger to you than anyone else who wields that power." Merlin continued as he seemed to go between having a firm voice, to a softer one.

"But I don't want to yell at you about it...I just want you to know that you shouldn't feel the need to keep such things to yourself. We're all your friends Sora, you can trust us not to judge you or think any differently of you with information such as 'that'." he finished while slowly smiling toward the teen.

"I know that...but..." the brown-haired girl whispered as she tilted her head down once more.

"We might know and understand the right answers in our minds, but it doesn't mean that we have the strength to act on them on our own." Merlin said with a small smile curling his bearded features.

"That is why our friends are so important...they give us that strength to do the things we couldn't normally do alone." he stated, to which he brought a finger up as if to further his point.

Sora stared at him for a few moments before slowly gaining a smile; "You're right! I kept thinking that I should handle things on my own, regardless of what anyone said otherwise...but I should have always remembered that my friends will always be there for me." she claimed as he smile turned to a grin.

"Exactly!" Merlin agreed with a small grin of his own, to which Archimedes gave a quick hoot in agreement, him having heard the whole conversation.

"Alright...I'm ready to go!" Sora claimed, to which the old man nodded his head and readied his magic for travel.

However, the teen never noticed Zola asleep in her hood, just as Merlin hadn't remembered that the leopard cub had crawled inside of it. This leading for the kitten to disappear along with the pair as they vanished together, though they soon appeared in the space between the worlds. Though in order to make sure they didn't just start floating around, a large bubble of magic was formed around them. Of which also seemed to be able to move freely through the space they were in as easily as a ship.

"Whoa...seeing it like this looks even cooler than usual." the teen whispered while looking in every direction.

All the while, the Gummi ship came flying up from Traverse Town to meet with them. It containing the first group Merlin had assigned, to which said older man gave a nod to the crew and flew off with Sora within the bubble. Yet the ship didn't seem to have any trouble keeping up as they flew at great speed side-by-side.

"I thought that you would have been able to just transport us to Hollow Bastion instantly." Sora muttered silently with a glance to Merlin, whom cleared his throat with a nod.

"Under normal circumstances, yes. But since Maleficent has enchanted the world to keep it hidden, even knowing its location still isn't enough to break through her magic. I hate to admit it, but her powers are possibly equal to my own." the elder wizard explained as they continued to fly on.

However, along the way, all of them quickly took notice of some sort of vessel coming directly toward them. Though the closer it got, the more they could make out its shape as an old fashion pirate ship. Which made Sora's eyes all but light up in excitement, to which she leaned her hands against the bubble. "A pirate ship...a real life pirate ship." she whispered out as her grin practically spread from ear-to-ear.

But this seemed to be cut short as the canons on the ship suddenly began firing at both Merlin's bubble and the Gummi ship. Yet while everyone else was panicking slightly and figuring out a way to defend themselves, Sora was just squealing silently. "A real pirate ship just fired its canons at us...this is so awesome~!"

Merlin briefly glanced to her with a light chuckle, yet he then used his magic to transform the canon balls into a bunch of butterflies. "We better split off, they can't get us both! And no matter what, just keep running!" he called out to the Gummi ship, yet it was clear that he was using a spell so that they could hear him.

As the wizard moved the bubble to the side, Donald piloted the Gummi ship in the opposite direction. This lead for the ship to then start pursuing Merlin and Sora, to which the former increased the speed of his transport as much as possible. Along the way, the teen looked from the elder man, to the ship with narrowed eyes. The brown-haired girl seeming to feel something coming from it, but couldn't quick make out what it could be.

Though the moment she unconsciously placed her hand over her heart, the brown-haired girl immediately knew who was on that ship. "Hey Merlin...does this thing move faster with only one person?" she asked quickly as if to make him answer without thinking too hard on what she intended to do.

"Yes it does, but-" was all he managed out before Sora suddenly blasted herself through the bubble and head on toward the pirate ship.

"Wait Sora!" Merlin called out as he looked back to her, yet she just gave a wink and grin.

"I'll catch up to you once this ship is mine~!" she responded before turning back to the vessel.

"I have been wanting to try this on a large scale." Sora whispered before summoning her Keyblade and holding it out in front of her with both hands.

"Reflega!" she yelled, to which a huge barrier started to form just a few feet away from the teen.

Yet this spell began to curve outward and away from its caster as its intended target was the incoming ship. But the moment the vessel hit the barrier it stopped with a sudden creak in the wood and brief upturning of the back. Upon seeing this, Sora smirked lightly and allowed herself to float through her own barrier and grab hold of the ship. She then climbed aboard and let out a satisfied breath as the barrier she created fully formed around the 'enemy vessel'.

"Well...that went well." she muttered, her sounded rather proud of herself.

"I beg to differ." Riku spoke out with a voice that sounded as if he was spitting out poison from his mouth.

Sora gasped to this as she turned toward her friend as he was kneeling next to the helm, yet it was the lifeless body of Kairi in his arms that made her eyes widen. This leading for her to whisper out both her friends names and slowly walk toward them. However, she was quickly stopped when Riku summoned his weapon and pointed at her. "Don't even think about it." he stated firmly as his eyes narrowed.

And there you have it. This was mainly an 'in-between' chapter, but make sure to keep in mind the things that were said in this...they will be brought up later. Anyway, sorry again for the later update...unless, again...you're not reading this on the date I posted it. *Ehem* But I digress, thank you for reading and let me know what you all thought in a review. Until next time everyone.