Dear Reader,
KINGDOM HEARTS SPOILERS! BEWARE!
I had to rewrite this chapter twice before I was satisfied with it... Now I am... Poor Kota has so many problems... That's because Lone-chan is the main source of my Kingdom Hearts fix so I get to pick on her character to say 'Thank you'...
I cheated. I'm a big fat cheater. I looked up Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories clips on youtube to get the information I needed for this chapter... I recreate the beginning movie and the end movie. Sora at the beginning and Riku at the end. I haven't played KH:CoM... I should... I want to... I'm on a waiting list... I will end up playing it I promise...
To those of you who have played CoM... The road to the light is the right hand path, the road to darkness is the left hand path and the road to dawn is the middle path... Right? That's what it looked like on the clip so that's what I'm going to use, but tell me if I'm wrong and I'll go back and change it...
This was so much fun to write. And it's just going to get funner. Yay.
I don't own Sailor Moon.
I don't own Kingdom Hearts.
I don't own Broken Sky.
I don't own Sailor Kota... She belongs to Lone-chan...
I don't own Kay... He belongs to Irvine.
I don't own Lord of the Rings. I mangle Tolkein. Don't tell me I mangled it, because I know I mangled it. I mangled it on purpose because it sounded cool that way. You'll see...
Thank you to my reviewers. Thank you to my friends and loved ones... Fogdragon and Everfire... I'll see you on friday... Lone-chan and Irvine... I'm free Thurseday and Saturday... Kidnap me... I wanna know what happens next... I wuv you...
Here's to cmartist... Thank you for the review... I love reading history and my favorite passtime is connecting histories to each other... It's rather creepy how history repeats itself and we don't even notice... shivver... scary...
Stay
safe
Stay
healthy
Sincerely,
Starr
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When she woke up again it was night and the carriage was empty. The only sound was the soft breeze shushing through the tall grass. Sitting up Kota yawned and streatched before peering out the window. She had no idea where they were. The hills and grass seemed as endless as the sky, which was filled with missions of stars. There was no moon. Stepping outside she took a deep breath, lettting the fresh air fill her lungs. The air was cool and clean and smelled of damp grass. She found Starr nearby, standing at the top of a hill, head tilted back, simply staring at the sky. A wistful, almost sad expression on her face.
"Starr?" Kota called, "What's wrong? Where are we?" Starr chuckled and simply pointed upward.
"See that?" She asked.
"See what?"
"There... That space where I'm pointing. The one between those two clusters of stars."
"That space right there?"
"Yeah."
"I see it... What about it?" Kota asked. Starr gave a tiny, sad laugh.
"What about it indeed..." She said, "Once upon a time that space had a planet... I think... It feels that there should be one there... I heard once that a planet in that area... I would like to think the one from that space... Was one of the first to be taken by Chaos at the beginning of Queen Litany the Fair's reign..."
"Really..." Kota murmured, staring at the space. It did look eeriely empty, "Why are you telling me this?" Starr shrugged.
"I don't know, really... It's not all that important... It's just... When I saw that space... I got really... I dunno what that feeling was... But it wasn't a fun feeling..." She shook her head and placed a hand over her chest, her voice falling to a whisper, "... Not fun at all..." Kota blinked and bit her lip before asking.
"What kind of feeling was it?" Starr glanced at her and smiled, shaking her head.
"It's not important because it didn't last. You came to me and now the bad feeling is gone..." She said, returning her gaze to the sky. Suddenly she spread her arms wide and began to spin, around and around, faster and faster, her laughter rising into the air before she fell down into the grass in a heap. Kota couldn't help but smile. Starr sounded like a little girl when she laughed like that. Her smile faded as she realized that the laughter had sounded like a little girl's because it was fake. The happiness hadn't been real. Even though Starr had clearly been enjoying herself, it was as if she had been forcing herself to show her enjoyment. Forcing her enjoyment. Once again it reminded her that, although Starr still had a tiny piece of her heart left, it wasn't enough to give her the emotions one needed to be human. It made her wonder, if the happiness and the playfulness Starr was showing now was fake, what emotion had been real? Had any of the expressions Starr had shown her been real? Or had it all just been an act?
"What's wrong?" Starr asked, sitting up in the grass. Kota smiled and asat down next to her.
"I was just wondering what planet this was... Why the grass is so neat and the trees so tidy..." Kota answered, leaning back on her hands, "It's all so qiet..." Starr smiled grimly.
"That's because this isn't a planet and the grass hasn't gotten any taller or shorter in ten thousand years."
"Huh?"
"This is a halfway point." Starr clarified, "It's neither here nor there... It doesn't really exist anywhere really..."
"Like Tweentime?" Kota asked.
"No... Tweentime exists... Just in a different place... But this place... I dunno, I don't question it. What is, is, what isn't, isn't..."
"Don't you want to know?"
"Not really..."
"Why?"
"No reason..." And the tone in Starr's voice told Kota to drop. But that just made Kota even more curious.
"Really?"
"Really."
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure..."
"You don't sound sure."
"Well, maybe your hearing is off."
"Maybe you're subconsciously unsure."
"My subconscious is as sure as sure can be."
"Are you sure?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because I want to know..."
"Sometimes it's better to live in ignorance, you ever think of that? In this case ignorance is bliss, now drop it!"
"I don't want to." Kota said petulantly, crossing her arms and stickin gher chin out stubbornly. Starr stared at her for a moment before snorting and looking away.
"Well I'm not talking."
"There are ways of making one talk..."
"Are you threatening me?" Starr asked, spinning around to stare at her. Kota glanced back.
"Do I sound like I'm threatening you?"
"Yeah."
"Well, maybe I am."
"Oh, and what are you gonna do?"
"Hmmm... What horrible tools of torture should I use...?" Kota pondered playfully.
"I have been tortured in more ways than you can think of in your worst nightmares."
"Yes, well.. I bet you haven't had THIS technique used against you!"
"What technique? What are you doing! AAAACK!"
"TICKLE TORTURE OR DOOOM!" Kota yelled, pouncing. And so it was that Kota chased Starr around the carriage and over the hills and this time Starr's laughter no longer sounded fake. It was real and beautiful and Kota wanted to listen to it forever.
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By the time the chase ended they were breathless and exhausted and Kota never go the answeres to her question, but was willing to drop it in favor of breathing. Finally they collapsed near the carriage on the soft grass and Starr quickly fell aslpee, but Kota lay awake. She didn't really think any deep meaningful thoughts, but she did bask in the moment. The air was just right to be comforable. Cool, but not so cool that she needed warmth. The stars were bright and as she stared at them they seemed to shivver and then dance. Whirling through the sky in a pagentry of light and color and she could almost hear them singing. She could almost hear the music they danced to and for a moment she wanted to join in. She must have fallen asleep for when she opened her eyes again the stars were just stars and the only music she heard was the wind through the grass. It was the sudden, restless feeling that made her sit up and look around. Starr was still asleep, the carriage was nearby, the security light on. But the air, the wind, the grass, everything was so perfectly still that, for a moment, Kota felt phobic. As if everything was waiting for something to happen. Taking a few deep breaths Kota got up and looked around. In the distance, a few yards away she could see a path that they had crossed during the chase, but Kota had paid no mind to it until now. It was perfectly flat and smooth, cutting a three foor swath through the grass, twisting and turning over the hills until it dissappeared into the distance. The path seemed to call to her in a strange, deja vu type way. As if she had walked that path before a long time ago. Urging her to step upon it and see where it would take her. The need to find the path's end was a suddenly clutching feeling at her heart. Her feet seemed to take on a will of her own and suddenly she was standing beside the path. One more step and she would be upon it's dirt perfection. Kota was suddenly reminded of an old Earth saying Kay had been fond of. She closed her eyes and forced herself to dredge up the painfiully sweet sound of his voice.
"It's a dangerous business, stepping out of your door. You step onto a path and, if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you might be swept off to." He had said that on a picnic to the river where the swift current reminded him of that saying. Both had been so badly sunburned that day because the reflectors had been turned up for the summer season that they had been red for a full week. She hadn't truly understood the meaning of the saying until now. The path was like a swift running stream and she could already feel the power of ti's cureent, trying to push her towards some unknown shore. Looking back she saw the carriage, still where it was, the light above the door a bright red star in the darkness. A beacon that she could easily see.
"Just until the light is near out of sight." She told herself, "I'll turn around and come back, it's not like this path takes any sharp turns or anything." It made her feel better to believe it, but inside she was afraid of that path and where it might lead her. But curiosity finally got the most of her and she stepped onto the pale dirt, eyes closed tightly, tensed in anticipation that it really WAS a river that would grab her and drag her away. For a moment nothing happened and she laughter at herself for her naivete.
"It's just a path..." She told herself, "Just a straight forward road." She took one step. And another. And another and soon the carriage dissappeared on the other side of a hill. Then that hill dissappeared in the shadow of another. And another and soon the path came to a flat streatch of grass. Kota had no clue how far she had walked or how long she had been walking, but she couldn't seem to stop. It was as if her legs weren't her own, but instead of fear all she felt was a faint dismay. The path was straight and seemed somewhat narrower than before. Either that or it was the faint sense of anothers presence that walked beside her. A presence that she had felt before. It no longer felt afraid or determined. The presence only felt the same insistant curiosity that she did. It was out of the corner of her eye that she caught a flash of wild brown hair and bright blue eyes before returning her attention to the sky. The light of the stars were enough to guide her way and the grass grew straight and knee-length tall on either side, it brushed against her thigh as she made room for her non-existant companion. She squinted. Ahead the path seemed to split three different ways. One path lead to the right where the horizon became increasingly brighter in the far distance, one to the left which became darker until the stars dissappeared above it's distant horizon, while the third continued straight ahead and grew no lighter or darker, remaining ever the same. Her feet finally stopped at the center of the fork and she simply looked up at the sky. The stars were a steady light, not twinkling or shimmering like most stars did. They seemed bigger and brighter than before. The wind had long since died. All was silent. Utter silence. She sighed deeply and the sound of her own breath seemed to echo in the emptiness and it was harminized by the sigh of the one who stood next to her, only the soft exheletion of breath was filled with such longing that it caused her eyes to blur with tears. The stars swirled for a moment and Kota shook her head to try and dispell the sudden dizziness. In her ears she heard a voice, echoing through the mists of forgotten memory.
"Ahead of you lies something you need... But you will have to loose something in order to get it..." The voice was deep and darkly beautiful and made her shivver deep inside to hear it. Though whether from fear or something else was the question.When she blinked her eyes open she saw the ethereal image of her walking companion take the road to the left which had become ever darker.
"No.." She whispered, "Wrong way...!" Stumbling forward she tried to grab his sleeve, but since she was hundreds of years too late to stop him, he never noticed her pleas and continued on into darkness...
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The instant her fingers touched his sleeve Kota woke up with a gasp. Next to her Starr mumbled and rolled over.
"A dream..." Kota hissed to herself in annoyance, "Dammit!" Standing up she marched over to the path and glared at it.
"What are you trying to tell me!" She whispered harshly to it, "Are you trying to get me to GO somewhere? What is it!" She stared at it until the dirt seemed to melt in her vision and turned into a flowing stream. Hundreds of thousands of colors seemed to flow past, pulled along by the current. Many people on many journeys each one would come to that fork and make a descision on where it was they wanted to go. With a soft sigh Kota stepped into the current and felt herself be swept away. She never noticed the flow of people thinning until there were only two walking with her. A flash of silver hair and a dark coat and a smaller figure with a determined glare on his face. Again they came to the fork where again a figure waited at it's center. Instead of fighting the dizziness she turned her head to the side and allowed her eyes to blur.
"What do you want from me?"
"Will you take the road to Light or the road to Darkness?" Kota cursed softly, she couldn't see which road was which and trying to look would be a bad idea just then.
"Neither... I will take the middle road..."
Nice additude... Kota snorted to herself.
"You mean the twilit road to nightfall, that which leads to Darkness?"
"No... The road to dawn..."
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When her vision returned she was once again lying next to Starr. This time she pinched herself until she drew blood to make sure she was really truly awake. After proving it with a wince she jumped up and ran to the path, never pausing she raced down it until she reached the fork and stood at it's center. Panting she simply breathed for a moment before straightening and staring at the sky. The stars were so big and sparkled so brilliantly she half believed that if she were to reach out she could pluck one from the sky. It was quiet, but no the utter silence from before. She stood for a moment and simply basked in the peace. The path split into three before her. One to the right, one to the left and one straight ahead.
"Which path would you take?" Starr's voice asked suddenly from behind her. Kota jumped and put a hand to her chest to keep her heart from leaping out of her throat.
"You surprised me!" She gasped, half laughing, "How did you get here so fast?" Starr didn't answer, instead she came up to stand beside Kota, so close that their arms rubbed together and Starr's warmth made Kota sigh. Starr gave her a measured look.
"Which path would you take if you were to take any path at all?" She asked again.
"Hmmm..." Kota hummed thoughtfully, "If I were to take any path at all..." She shrugged, "Well, it would all depend on where each path lead to..." She looked at Starr, "I would want to know the desitnation first." Starr smiled.
"And if you didn't know the destination?" She asked.
"Then I would walk straight ahead, same as I've been going..." Kota answered. Starr's smile became almost triumphant, as if Kota had given her the answer she had wanted.
"You are a much stronger person than I am..." Starr said, "I, myself, would have taken the path to the left..."
"What's on the-?" Kota began curious, but Starr interrupted her.
"Just so you know, "She began, "Not all paths lead to different places. Some lead to the beginning of the path you've already been on, some lead to the same place as the path you've forsaken and some lead to nowhere at all..." Kota snorted.
"All paths lead to somewhere." She said.
"All paths may lead to 'Somewhere'..." Starr agreed, "And some paths may lead to 'Anywhere... But there are only a few paths that lead to 'Nowhere'." She grinned and turned Kota until she once again faced the middle path, "And that, my friend, is the path that we shall be taking... Just as you said we should." Kota raised an eyebrow.
"The path to 'Nowhere'?" She asked incredulously. Starr nodded.
"Exactly..." She said before pupming her fist in the air and shouting, "Onward to Nowhere!" Linking her arm with Kota's she began to march jauntily down the center path and was soon singing an old Earth marching chant with a tune so infectious that Kota was soon singing along.
"The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began... Now far ahead the road has gone... And I will follow because I can!"
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The
road goes ever on and on
Down
from the door where it began
Now
far ahead the road has gone
And
I must follow if I can
Persuing
it with eager feet
Until
it joins some other way
Where
light and shadow gladly meet
And
into places I'd gladly stay.
The
road goes ever on and on
Over
rock and under tree,
By
caves where never sun has shone
By
streams that never find the sea
Over
snow by winter sown
And
through the merry flowers of June
Over
grass and under stone
And
under mountains on the moon
The
road goes ever on and on
Down
from the door where it began
Now
far ahead the road has gone
And
I will follow because I can.
