Got it Memorized
Sora, Donald and Goofy went through a door as they came out of the memory version of Traverse Town.
It was so strange for him to see versions of his friends that didn't remember him. Sora had done so much of them and them with him. They were his team in the epic fight against Maleficent and Xehanort. He missed them so much and wanted to see them again. However, he wondered if he ever could if he was going back home. Would he ever see Donald and Goofy again as well. For most of the journey he didn't think of those sorts of questions, but now that he did, they started to fester.
Quickly though he pushed such thoughts in the back of his mind for later. He couldn't think about getting back home and the aftermath of that yet, he was still stuck in this castle. Coming out of the door, he arrived in another small white corridor hallway.
"So is this the same as the last floor or what?" Sora asked, turning back to the door, he tried to open it but there was nothing.
"Not sure" Goofy responded.
Donald sighed, "Great, lost in a castle and have no idea if where moving"
"Starting our cynicism early today I see," Sora muttered as he took a look around, "Well, guess we just go up?"
"Ain't gonna be that easy kid" Bill echoed in his ear.
Before he could even move a foot was he stopped by another hooded individual who stood before him now. However, unlike the last one, this one had an entirely different feel to him. Funny how Sora could tell the difference, but something in his heart just told him that the one from before and the one now were two distinctive individuals.
"Well, did you enjoy meeting your memories?" He said, his voice sleek and condescending.
Sora jumped back, "Hey! Don't scare us like that!"
"Yeah, that's not nice" Goofy added.
The man chuckled, "Sorry...I'm sure you've realized by now that the world you were in was not the real deal, but an actual memory"
A moment of pause as the words hit Sora like a blow to the head.
"So Bill and Aerith were right" Sora thought looking back up at him shocked, "So, what does that mean?
"Simple, in order to see them again, and the others you have lost you must travel through the world of memories. Various illusions, perhaps era's made up of your dear companions over there. That would be interesting, seeing the lives of those who have been your companions. Yet you don't know much about them do yuh"
Sora turned to face Donald and Goofy, "I-I know them. I know their nephews and Son"
"Perhaps the details, but not the feelings" Axel snickered, "From what I heard a lot of your own quest was so much about yourself, do you even know how they met, or how many adventures they had with their king?"
Sora took a moment and paused, he was right, in the grand scheme of things he really didn't know anything about Donald and Goofy. Hopes, fears, ambitious, what was life like for them when they weren't traveling with him. Some friend he was turning out to be at the moment right now. However, this coated figure was starting to annoy him more than his fear.
"That's enough!" Sora shouted.
"You must follow your hidden memories, To find the ones you hold dear."
He steps forward a few feet, Sora gets ready to fight, when all of a sudden a black portal emerges and a new figure comes to the front now. A tall man, taller, gangly and skinny, his hair long and spiky bright red. His green eyes glared at him as the wide smirk on his face began to spread.
"Hey this looks fun, mind if I join in." He said looking at Sora with a smirk.
"Who are you?" Sora asked.
"Names Axel, got it memorized." He smirked, tapping his forehead sarcastically. "A-X-E-L."
"Uh, I'm not always that good with names." Goofy said scratching his forehead. "Axel, Axel, Axel…
"I think he was being a dramatic Goofy." Donald muttered.
"Oh, right!"
Axel smirked looking at the other hooded man now. "So, what yuh say?"
"Very well, you have my permission, enjoy." With that the other hooded figure left.
Now it was just Sora and gang with Axel. Something about his mischievous demeanor had the brown haired boy on edge. This new figure just continued to look at him curiously with a smirk and wink.
"So, you're the kid who took down Xehanort huh?" Axel said in a sly tone. "Don't seem that scary to me honestly. Hard to believe you managed to shut the door on him. You seem kinda...short for one thing"
"How do you know about that!" Sora narrowed his eyes scowling. He hated being reminded of his accomplishment. He did what he had too, he didn't consider it anything special, "Also I'm not short!"
Axel must have noticed that he was getting into his head for he snickered, placing his hands on his hips as he glared back at Sora who hated that smug look. Something about it annoyed him, it had such a egotistical gaze, reminding him of Riku in a way and not in a good way.
"We know everything kid and a big take down like that, it's gonna travel fast….So let's see how fast you are."
Axel raises his arm as a surge of fire begins to spawn around them as three circular weapons appear spikes protruding from them. It spun fast as he magically controlled the flames. Sora grimaced and held his Keyblade tight, ready for a fight. He watches as the flames spin ferociously. Even from this distance he could feel their heat. One wrong move and he was going to burn
"Okay guys, ready for a fight." Sora muttered getting into a battle stance.
Donald and Goofy nod also getting into position.
"Good."
"These little beauties are chakrams." Axel explained showing his weapons off looking at them with pride. "Don't go off and die on me now."
Sora eyes narrowed as he charges forward Donald and Goofy right behind him dodging the attacks from the flames. Dodging to the sides Axel uses all his power to spread a inferno on them. He wasn't going to die to him, if anything he was in it to win.
"Careful!" Sora jumps dodging a fireball. "Donald do you know any magic now."
"Uh…" Donald shook his staff. "Nope."
Goofy blocks with his shield keeping the flames from hitting him back. "It's getting hot here." The power of the flames kept pressing but he held firm.
Sora felt a tinge of rage getting to him as he saw his friends in danger. He tried to unleash a wave of power against his opponent but something in his mind blocked him. So instead with all his might he leaped into the air and flung straight towards Axel only to watch him vanish and appear before him.
He kept a firm grip on his kee as the fire continued to rage towards him. Sora was agile enough to dodge the attack, but with each barrage he felt himself getting slower and slower. Not used to this kind of damage. He felt the sweat on his brow as the battle raged on
"Hey you can't do that, that's cheating!" Goofy yelled, keeping his shield to his face.
Axel snickered. "Hey if I got skills I gotta use them right, besides all fair in love and war right?"
Sora blocked as Axel tossed both charkrams at him managing to toss them both aside. As if his battle with guard armor before had taught him something, he remembered some of the skills he learned slowly come back to him as he slid down and managed to strike his opponent in the stomach knocking him back.
"Not bad kid, you haven't completely forgotten your moves after all." He smirked
Sora glared at him angrily at every word giving him a sense of annoyance. "Nobody hurts my friends and gets away with it."
"Let's back him up Goofy!" Donald shouted ready to charge full steam ahead against their red headed opponent.
Goofy looked nervous. "Gawrsh are you sure remember."
"If Sora is in danger I'll remember anything...BLIZZARD!"
Unfortunately for him nothing happened. Sora fired his blade, and a tiny sprinkle of snow eliminated from the tip but the magic though wasn't enough. He leaped back to get back to a defensive position to avoid any counter attack.
"Uh…." Donald frowned. "Okay maybe I don't remember everything."
The battle continued with break neck speed both parties fought valiantly against one another. Sora trying to remember as much as he could yet something about this castle blocked him from using all the moves he had once used to defeat the likes of Xehanort and the Villains. However he persevered nonetheless, he wasn't about to let his friend end up being killed on his behalf. They haven't come this far only to stop themselves now. No, they were gonna fight even if they didn't have anything but the clothes on their backs.
Sora was flipped around, battered, bruised, he kept tripping over himself. Each time he got up he managed to stumble, any sense of stability loss. All the skill and momentum that he had gained during his long great adventure was gone. This Axel character was a fierce fighter, swift and agile, he was able to handle his own weight.
"Doing okay Jiminy?" Sora asked, looking down at his pocket as he got up again,
The poor cricket seemed sick. "Yeah, I'm good ...Wait…...Maybe not ...Oh dear."
"Guys! Defense!" Sora yelled, Donald and Goofy getting behind him. "I might not remember my moves but I'm learning a thing or two about tactics. Field experience."
"Which you will forget the more you are here." Axel snickered.
"Oh yeah well…..Charge!" Sora, Donald and Goofy ran up towards Axel now.
They went so fast that Goofy slipped and got beneath Sora who was now riding his back, Donald accidentally jumping and landing on Sora's shoulder. Now all three were sliding right toward him. But as if by instinct they managed to balance themselves out and head right for him with a epic charge.
Sora shouted, "Absolute friendship tobogganing!"
Axel watched as his opponent headed right for him, he was ready to strike. Only to watch his opponent head for the wall landing face flat as he rushed forward to try and strike.
Sora body hurt as he peeled off from the wall. "Ouch ...Ouch ...Oh that hurt. Yep, that's gonna leave a mark"
"Well this has been fun, but now it's time I head off. Here...take this."Axel laughed.
Again Sora found another card heading straight towards him and looked at it, there wasn't a picture on it this time but the markings were still on the back. Jiminy, still reeling from the battle, hopped up to Sora's shoulder and took a look.
"Now I want you to do your best from here on out." Axel said acting like an overbearing parent. "You have lost sight of the light within the darkness."
"Huh what?" Sora said feeling a tingle of fear come across him.
"Are you sure the person you are looking for is the one who is truly most important to you?" Axel asked
Sora shivered. Of course Riku was important to him. However, so was Kairi, and his mother. Everyone was important to him, he played no favorites and he was certainly not going to allow himself to let this guy get inside his head. He didn't like picking sides, everyone was equal in his heart and no one was going to tell him otherwise. Just the thought of having to pick made his blood boil with anger.
"O-Of course I am!" Sora yelled feeling his anger grow inside him. "I love my friends, no, I love my family!"
"We'looks see about that." With a wicked grin Axel "What me to give you a tint. The answer is in your heart. Keep going through the castle to find it."
Sora glared at him, the Keyblade was still in hand. Part of him wanted to leap forward and strike him down right there. But he held back, not liking this anger that was bubbling beneath him. He held it together, glaring back at his opponent. Still he could feel a twinge in the back of his mind telling him to strike.
"Oh and a word of caution, when your sleeping memories awaken, you may no longer be you."
With those final words, he left, Sora just standing there with Donald and Goofy behind him. For the first time during this journey he felt truly shaken by what had happened. This Axel figure dug into his mind in a way that he the other one didn't
He was here for Riku, no one else. Kairi meant a lot to him, his mother meant a lot to him. To think Riku trumped both of them was absurd. He loved them all and no one was going to tell him otherwise.
"Come on...Let's keep going." Sora walked off the card in his hand, the more he went through the castle, the more trouble he knew he was going to run into before the end.
All the while he wondered just who these people in coats were, as well as where Riku could possibly be.
-000-
When they arrived on the next floor again like before they say a door standing there waiting before them.
Sora paused to look at the card Axel had handed him, he didn't necessarily trust what he said but something told him that if he was going to get through this castle in one piece this card would have to due. He wondered what memories it would take him too, what illusions. Would be made from his own, perhaps some dark secrets he didn't remember, or perhaps something of his fellow companions. He did think it would be somewhat interesting if he was able to learn more about his companions more.
"He said to use this to move forward" Sora muttered holding the card to his face.
"Well that's at least nice of him to give yuh some advice," Goofy said trying to stay positive.
Donald groaned and rolled his eyes, "I don't think it was because he's nice"
"Still it was helpful"
"I wonder where will go this time" Sora thought, "Hopefully somewhere we can find the king, if we're even leaving this dumb castle"
Slowly Sora could feel a ruffling sensation behind his neck as he saw Jiminy leap from the back of his jacket's hood popping his head. He looked worried as he tapped his chin and pondered to himself for a moment.
"What's wrong Jiminy?" Sora asked.
Jiminy sighed, "Well I feel like we haven't picked on the most important part of what Axel said remember, he said that when our memories awaken we might no longer be ourselves"
"Eh, I doubt it, he was probably messing with us" Sora scoffed, "Like when Riku used to tease me. Just say something mysterious and make it sound spooky"
"Hmm, i don't think so Sora"
Goofy interjected, "But they can make towns out of our memories, so strange things have happened to us so far. Reminds me of that last big castle we went too with all the strange contraptions and what not"
"What castle?" Donald asked.
"Yeah, when was that" Sora asked,
Goofy gasped, "You forgot"
"We've been to a lot of places Goofy, it's easy to forget"
"Well I remember it clear is day" Goofy said, "Something really bad happened, too".
Sora looked worried, "What?"
"Remember, that were you stabbed yourself with the Keyblade in order to unlock your heart, and then ...Then you disappeared for a while"
Goofy frowned , as the atmosphere turned morbid, like someone had died.
"When I turned into a Heartless" Sora realized, "I-I remember"
"How could you forget"
"But what happened in that castle" Sora thought to himself, "what was it even called"?
"I uh…" Goofy paused to think, "I don't remember"
Jiminy hopped out of his corner of Sora's hood, "Well all this circling isn't helping at all, what we need is my journal, that'll help us"
"Oh yeah," Donald said, "We have Jiminy notes"
Jiminy hopped onto the ground and took out his journal "Okay, now let's see here and…" He froze, eyes bugging out
"What's wrong?" Goofy asked.
"No, oh no, oh no" Jiminy began flipping through the pages far more rapidly, "My notes, everything...It, it's gone"
"What?"
"EVERYTHING IS GONE!"
Sora looked shocked, "What? How? You wrote in that thing like a hawk".
"Everything" Jiminy sighed in defeat, "All my hard work...Gone ...Gone like that"
Sora stood there thinking as Jiminy continued to press through his journal, a horrible realization coming over him, "Are my...Are my memories vanishing, what kind of castle is this".
Then, a familiar high pitch chuckle came from Sora's mind ""Probably kid ...Probably, good thing you have your old pal Bill on your side. Remember….waaaaaaatching yooooooooou….aaaaaaand….iiiiits….noooooot iiiiiiin aaaaaa creeeeeeeeeeepy waaaaaaaaaaay"
-000-
Sora was still in pain, the battle with Axel had left him completely depleted of any stamina. His bones hurt, muscles ached, that battle was a complete disaster. What's worse is that his ego had been severely bruised, everything he had learned all his skill had completely fallen by the wayside. His companions weren't faring any better. Donald was limping his feet along the wall while Goofy had to hold onto his shield for support as he stood.
They were all glad that they had been able to get out of there alive though, even though they might not be saying it right now. All of them were too tired to talk, instead they just moaned and groaned as they limped there way forward again finding themselves in a white hallway.
"My legs hurt," Donald said stretching his webbed legs.
"I'm doing okay….I think." Goofy stretched his arms only to feel a twinge. "Haven't felt this bad since I kept slipping on Max's skateboard."
Sora rubbed his forehead. "I hate not being able to do anything. This stinks!"
All three of them dragged their way to the center of the hall before resting on the ground, Sora using his Keyblade as support.
All three are unable to move another muscle. Bones aching, muscles spasming, they just needed to sit down and rest for a bit. The battle against Axel had taken quite a lot out of them. Sora especially had been greatly affected physically but also mentality.
Sora couldn't shake off the fact he had to deal with such a strong enemy and with so little power or ability to fight. All his magic, skill, agility, gone, all that was left was a rookie fighting against a pro. Both in the memory of Traverse Town as well as against Axel his inability to move the way he wanted. Use his magic, his special moves, everything, all of it was gone.
And he hated it.
His previous journey had taught him so much, showed him so much. Learning magical abilities like Blizzaga, Ragnarok, and moves such as the unique type of dodge roll and combo maneuver that allowed him to hit his enemies with multiple swings at once. Not even his healing abilities were working. otherwise he would have had the Keyblade heal all of them. His mind could still remember the names of the techniques and spells, what to say, how to move his Keyblade, yet he couldn't seem to translate to his movement in real time. Already he could feel things begin to fade, names, people, places. All of it felt like it was fading. Not even the images of their faces could appear in his head now.
Sora felt very empty inside.
It was like he had been stripped of everything that had been making him, him for the past few months.
All of it ...in a single second, gone.
"This is so unfair, after everything I learned everything I trained gone in an instant. I feel like everything we did was for nothing!"
Sora tossed his Keyblade in a huff causing it to land on the ground for a brief moment before it vanished in a flash of light.
"Sora…" Goofy shook his head, "Ah don't think like that Sora, it wasn't for nothin! We saved the world, that doesn't sound like nothing to me. We just forgot a little bit, that's all."
"I guess…" Sora sighed and nodded, taking a look at the card and glaring at it, as if it had insulted him. "He said use this card to go forward. Forward where? Why can't we just climb the stairs?"
"Well, at least it was nice of him." Goofy pointed out.
"This castle is clearly magical, so it must operate on cards." Sora asked gazing again at the grand halls While nothing seemed out of place, there was definitely a cold atmosphere that oozed of something being out of place.
"I still think something fishy is going on." Jiminy said popping his head from Sora's pocket. "He said, 'when your sleeping memories awaken you may no longer be you.'"
"Hmm…" Sora folded his arms, "Well, that seems odd, how can I be anyone but me? I can't be anyone else, right?"
Sora tried to look for some reassurance from his friends.
"Not unless you think you're someone else." Goofy interjected. "Like uh...uh a pirate...or a sailor...or um uh…."
"Okay, okay I get it." Sora cut him off rubbing his head in exasperation. "I think they'll turn me into something far more sinister if they get into my head."
"Sorry."
Sora realized what Goofy said thought as he started to feel a tinge of fear growing inside of him. Various scenarios playing inside his head at the thought of being transformed into something by these people. A parody or a shell of his former self. When he was a child, Riku used to show him horror movies about people getting mind control, it freaked him out so much he'd always have to go to his mother to make sure that he was still himself. He looked at his hands to make sure he was still able to move them normally. However, the worry continued to build in his mind.
He couldn't allow himself to be taken over by these weird cloaked thugs if that was there mission. Sora knew what position was like because of what Xehanort had done to Riku and it looked painful. He didn't want to experience that pain.
"You okay Sora." Goofy asked putting a hand on his shoulder in order to comfort him
"No." Sora sighed bending his knees in exhaustion. "I'm thinking about what would happen if they turn me evil or make me a puppet or…."
Sora started to breath heavily now, hyperventilating almost.
"Calm down, Sora." Goofy said getting a tight grip on him. "Even if that were the case, we won't let that happen."
"Yeah, we'd stop ya." Donald said
Sora smiled, thankful for such great friends. "Thanks guys."
While calming, he still felt a bit nervous about the idea of being controlled. His Keyblade was powerful, and he knew that if something like that were to get into the wrong hands, well, he didn't want to think about it.
"No worries fella's, we'll get through it together! We've explored one castle before, remember the one with all those contraptions?" Goofy said catching Sora's attention. "So it's not like this is the worst thing that's happened to us."
"Huh, what was that?" Sora asked something Goofy said sounded familiar. "What other castle?"
Goofy jumped back, shocked "What you forgot?!"
"Goofy, your just making stuff up." Donald accused.
"Am not, remember fella's!"
The trio took a moment to pause and think about what Goofy said. They thought, and thought they couldn't think of anything in particular. Sora tapped his chin trying to think back, it seemed familiar yet it didn't ring a bell.
Such a strange memory to focus on a Castle of all things. He had remembered a few images in castles popping in his mind, but he assumed many of them were probably just castles he had made up when he was a child playing knights and dragons back on the island. Though, by the way Goofy was describing this it seemed this castle had great significance and that something really bad must have happened to him, something almost tragic by the quiver in his voice.
Sora shrugged. "Sorry, don't ring a bell. Come on, let's keep going."
"But how could you forget Sora? That's where probably the scariest thing ever happened! I remember the feeling...like losing my own son."
"Goofy, I…" Sora didn't know what to say
This definitely was causing Goofy some amount of grief.
"Never felt that worried in my life."
Sora still was unsure what exactly Goofy was talking about, a lot had happened during his first adventure. What made this event so special. But by the looks on his friend's face this must have been something quite traumatic. He placed a hand on his friend's shoulder and smiled
"Goofy, what happened?" Sora asked now, worrying about his friend. "Come on tell us, it's okay."
Goofy seemed hesitant to speak at first, it was as if the pain of the event was a bit much for him to bare. Donald as well as began to form a sad face, though also one of confusion. Sora just watched as his two friends seemed conflicted.
"Remember? It was when you turned into a Heartless to save your girlfriend."
"Kairi is not my….," Sora frooze, the memory coming back to him, "Girl-friend….Oh, y-your right."
Suddenly it started to sink into him now, the realization of what he did at that castle. Although the name escape's him, the events were as clear as day.
"Yeah, I was so worried." Goofy said, the memory flowing back to him and Sora. "When that happened, it was like...Well, it was as if I had lost my own son."
Sora remembered now, it was where he used the Dark Keyblade to free his Kairi's heart, which had been hidden safely inside his own heart after the destruction of the island. It was the revelation that shocked him the most during his entire first journey. That whole time Kairi was inside his heart, protected and safe. But the price was high and he was willing to pay. So he struck himself with the Keyblade, became a Heartless, and for a brief moment learned what it was like to be part of the darkness that he fought so long against.
True love triumphed that day.
"Feels like a lifetime ago." Sora said, even though it was only a few weeks to a few months at the most.
He gently put his hand over his chest to wear the blade pierced his chest. Amazed that he didn't form a scar or something. Though it's legacy still lived on in his memories. Sora could only hope that this castle wouldn't take that away from him too.
"Still what was the castle called?" Donald asked.
Jiminy stepped in now. "Don't worry fella's I got this one covered." He took his journal and began to flip through the pages. "It was a castle…."
He stopped and became distraught.
"What's wrong Jiminy?" Donald asked
"Everything," he spoke with a hushed whisper, "It's gone, everything in my journal is gone."
"WHAT!" Sora yelled, taking the tiny journal to look over it. As Jiminy said it was completely blank, all the adventures he and his friends went on erased. It was like losing a large chunk of one's life.
Jiminy was on the brink of tears. "All that hard work, gone! What am I going to tell the Queen?"
"Now, now calm down Jiminy." Goofy said trying to comfort his friend. "I'm sure that there's a good reason why all your hard work is gone. Did you use invisible ink?"
"No!"
Sora rolled his eyes. "I bet it was this castle, it seems to be taking everything."
"I bet if we keep going through this castle, we'll keep forgetting things." Donald pointed out, starting to look nervous. "We should go back."
Sora thought about it for a moment, part of him did want to go back but the drive to find his friend Riku here was strong. If there was a chance then he needed to take it no matter what, mind control and all.
"Oh no, you don't!." Sora tugged on Donald's shoulder before he could head back. "We started this, we're gonna see this through."
Donald shook his head sighing "I don't like this. What if we forget who we are, or why were here, and what if we forget who were looking for? What if we forget the king?"
"Okay first off, I only understood half of that." Sora said causing Donald to groan. "And second, we need to do this, Riku could be here, I'm not going to leave only to find out we could have found Riku way earlier, if we didn't turn back in the first place."
"Sora's right." Goofy interjected. "No point in turning back now, I say we press forward...Onward."
Despite the bravado, Sora himself was worried. Leon and the others already forgot him, would he forget Kairi and Riku? No, no he couldn't let himself believe that. He had a mission to find him, that sort of bond was too strong to easily be broken.
Sora looked at the card Axel had given him and wondered to what it would lead him too. There was only one way to find out.
Like Goofy said...Onward.
"Also fella's there is still one good thing." Sora said looking at his companions with a smile. "I might have lost some of my moves, but at least I can still summon the Keyblade. I'm still a Keyblade Master and that's never changing."
"Well…" Goofy sighed, "I hope we don't forget those who are important to us too"
"Like the boys"
"Like Max"
