Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories
Chapter 28: Castle Oblivion part XXVIII
Panicked running. That's what the group of Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy and Mickey, were doing as they rushed forward. Each of them having watched Sora be drawn into a portal of darkness, leading them to immediately rush to and through the next set of doors. While fighting through the hordes of Heartless that awaited them in this memory, it was only then they realized that Riku's replica was no where to be seen. However, it was too late to turn back as they hurried through the doorway that opened following their victory.
Stepping through this portal, the five found themselves in a new room of the castle. There actually being a table off to one side, along with several chairs around it. Directly in the center, was a white pedestal with beautiful engravings across the surface, whilst a large orb rested atop of it. Yet there were no signs of anyone in the room, leading for everyone to simply rush toward the next set of double doors. Before they could open this entry way however, a voice suddenly spoke up from behind the group.
"Leaving so soon?" Axel questioned while raising a brow, him leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
"You..." Riku started, summoning his weapon and glaring at the red-haired man; "...what did you do with Sora?!" he demanded firmly.
Axel smiled and chuckled in response, before offering a shrug of his shoulders. "I haven't done anything with her. Marluxia is the one who decided to go rogue." he answered, yet took on a wider smile following his words.
"Then again...he started doing his own thing a while ago." the red-haired man added silently, almost to himself.
As they listened though, the five stared at Axel with untrusting gazes. None of them sure if they could, or even should trust what he was saying. But the man eventually just looked back to them in amusement, yet slowly glanced toward the door they had been moving toward. "You can go on through and find her, but probably be too late to do anything to help. Or..." he began, turning his gaze toward the table and chairs.
"...you can save her." Axel finished in a somewhat more serious tone.
The moment the others followed his eyes, they immediately saw Namine sitting in one of the chairs. While the blond hadn't been there previously, it was as if she was in fact sitting there the whole time. Her head was tilted down, as she faced away from the five. But just from her body language, she almost appeared weak and limp in the chair. Quickly approaching Namine, the group began looking her over to determine what might be wrong.
"She used up a lot of power in her attempt to save Sora from...well...a certain someone. But not only did she fail, she is also on the verge of disappearing as a result. So, I did the only responsible thing I could think of, and took her away before Marluxia could notice." he claimed with a slow shrug of his shoulders as he spoke.
"He probably would have destroyed her if he found out she wasn't going to be of any further use." the man added, letting out a breath and looking toward the doors ahead as if directing his gaze at the pink-haired individual himself.
"But while I merely prevented that from happening, it's up to all of you to save her in the end." Axel finished, turning his gaze toward the others once more.
A silence filled the room as the five turned to each other, as though asking what they should do in this situation. But as Kairi looked at Namine, she could feel a slight tug in her heart. As if somehow sensing a connection between them, despite not knowing what that could be. Yet she quickly turned to Axel once more and spoke up in a firm tone; "How can we help her?" she questioned, making a brief gesture to the blond with her hand.
Hearing her inquiry, the red-haired man smiled a bit wider before holding a hand out, a small flame igniting within it. "You need only offer her a portion of you power. And between the five of you, it'll be a cakewalk." he declared while closing his fist, extinguishing the flame.
"But you will need to be at the forefront of said power." Axel continued, turning his hand and extending a finger to point at Kairi.
"Unless you're the one to channel the energy it into Namine...it won't work." he finished before lowering his hand and crossing both arms once more.
Though there was a moment of wanting to question further, Kairi simply shook her head and turned back to Namine. "Alright...lets do this you guys." she stated, gently taking both of the blond's hands into her own.
"Are you sure about this Kairi? It could be a trap." Riku whispered to her, keeping his voice low in order to try and make sure Axel couldn't hear.
Yet before he could continue to make this case, he immediately paused upon seeing his auburn-haired friend's expression. Her looking very determined to save Namine, regardless of the possible risk. With a heavily sigh of defeat, Riku nodded his head slowly to Kairi. "Alright...lets do this." he muttered while placing a hand to her shoulder.
Mickey glanced between them briefly before pulling his own hand upon Kairi's other shoulder. Though, his gaze slowly shifted toward Axel, trying to gauge the man's reaction. At the same time, Donald and Goofy put one of their own hands upon her back. Once they all took a moment to focus their powers into Kairi, said teen closed her eyes and actually began to glow a bright white. This aura almost vibrating the air as it slowly funneled into Namine.
Whose breathing began to pick up, which only then made the five realize that she was barely breathing to begin with. But as this power continued to flow into her form, Namine's eyes fluttered open in surprise. Her looking around to everyone as she appeared as her normal self, yet there was a confusion in her expression. "W-What happened?" she uttered out softly.
"It's alright Namine, it's over now." Kairi responded, offering a soft and encouraging smile to the blond.
Whom turned to her with a blinking gaze, to which Namine gained a faint smile in response. However, this slowly faded as she looked from one person to the next; "Where's Sora?" she asked in a worried tone, seeming to recall the reason for how she became like this in the first place.
As each of the room's occupants shifted their eyes over toward the doors leading forward, a deep sense of dread suddenly washed through them. A torrent of darkness filled the area in the form of fast moving black wisps, which made everyone wince slightly out of reflex. All the while, an echoing scream began projecting from beyond the doors, it shaking the very air as each of the seven gained a haunted expression. The sheer weight and agony in the scream made all of them shiver, before tensing up as a result.
Despite this only lasting for a few seconds, it almost felt like hours as they all felt the deep pain in what they just heard. Once they finally managed to snap themselves out of their mental pause, they each turned to one another. Not even saying a word, the group simply rushed for the door. Namine keeping pace with the others, as she somehow appeared to be the most affected from hearing the scream. 'Please be okay...' she thought to herself as they all ran through the doors, save for Axel.
Said red-haired man gazing toward these doors, which slowly closed behind the group. His own features clearly showing his surprise, but also revealed what could only be seen as regret. "That..." he started after a few moments of silence, yet quickly shook his head briefly to try and think clearer.
"That was...kinda scary." Axel muttered as his eyes drifted down to one of his gloved hands, it shaking ever so slightly.
"Man...that girl is definitely something else." the man whispered to himself, before swiftly disappearing in a corridor of darkness.
All the while, the group rushed up the stairs that would bring them to the castle's final room. But just before they reached the top step, a percussion wave pulsed out from directly ahead. It causing the five to fall backward, to which they all landed hard on their backs at the base of the stairs. Letting out somewhat pain-filled groans, they each began helping one another up. As they began going up the stairs once more, they did so with a bit more care. The second they reached the top however, a pressure suddenly lifted from the air.
This sudden release making the group pause in confusion, as none of them even noticed the pressure until it was gone. Which lead the six to inwardly question just what this pressure was, and even for many of them to turning to one another for a possible answer. Yet the big question on their minds was; 'Was the pressure being caused by Sora's enemy? Or by Sora herself?'
Though, they quickly pushed these questions to the side, as they quickly began moving once more. Each of them simply hoping that Sora was still okay. As Riku put his hand on one of the door's handles though, each of the six were suddenly blown backward. A vast amount of darkness radiated outward in a bubble that knocked many of them to the floor a few meters away. Riku immediately moved up to guard both Kairi and Namine, while Goofy stepped in front of Donald and Mickey with his shield up. The two standing firm against the constant flow of dark power, both narrowing their eyes and grinding their teeth.
"I hope this isn't something Sora is facing." the silver-haired boy strained out as he shielded his eyes with his weapon.
"I don't think it is." Namine said while she and Kairi used magic to block the darkness flowing over them.
"How do you know?" the auburn-haired teen asked with a blinking gaze, looking at the other girl curiously.
"Cause this feels like Sora's power." Namine responded, looking to the doors ahead through all the black wisps flooding around them.
Within moments however, the darkness almost appeared to be sucked back toward the door. There being an actual vacuum-like effect, as some of the six were thrust forward slightly. "Then what the heck is she even doing?" Riku questioned in a confused tone.
He then turned back to the others to make sure they were okay, taking stock of everyone with a quick glance. Seeing that each of them were at least still there, the silver-haired boy then helped Kairi and Namine to their feet. "Lets try this again." he muttered silently with a heavy sigh.
The two girls nodded their heads in agreement as everyone slowly turned their attention back toward the doors. Riku approached them once more, to which he cautiously grasped one of the handles. With a quick glace at the others from over his shoulder, he slowly pushed the door open. This revealing the massively destroyed hall, with the many gouges throughout the walls, ceiling and floor. But on the far side, was a slowly approaching Sora. Her looking bruised, exhausted, and was still bleeding from multiple wounds on her body.
While he breathed out a sigh in relief that his friend was alive, he immediately pushed the doors fully open to allow the others to come in as well. This sudden movement caught Sora's attention, making her blink a few times at the group rushing closer. But even before they could reach her, the brown-haired girl just offered a weak smile and fell forward. Sora's eyes rolled back as her lids closed, to which she simply passed out mid-step, hitting the floor limply.
"SORA!" they all called out while rushing up to the girl.
Whom, while still breathing, seemed almost lifeless on the ground. Sora appearing to be sleeping, yet there was no response to any attempts to wake her up. As they carried the teen into the hallway and set her down, both Kairi and Donald healed all of the girl's wounds and bruises. But as Mickey and Namine began trying to figure out what was wrong through magic, they came up with nothing. The group spending over an hour scanning Sora with all the powers at their disposal, yet there was simply no answer for the girl's comatose state.
A long silence quickly filled the hall, as none of them had any ideas for what to do next. Worse still, it caused all of them to start thinking of the worst-case scenario for what was wrong with Sora. However, this quiet was eventually broken by Riku as he shook his head and cleared his throat. "Whatever is going on with her...we should at least get Sora out of here." he suggested while kneeling down beside his brown-haired friend, ready to pick her up.
"Do you think Merlin or Yen Sid would know what's wrong?" Kairi asked as she looking to the others, still clearly unable to let go of whatever this problem was.
"There is a possibility." Mickey said with a nod of his head in response, seeming to come to a bit of a consensus to leave.
"That's unnecessary." a voice suddenly spoke up from the side.
Well, I was thinking that I would end this part with this chapter, but I decided to extend it a little bit further. Not because I wanna end it on an even 30 or anything. 0.o It's because I figured I could have a bit more of a set up for the next part. Especially since it's the next thing I'll be reworking after this. So stay tuned just a little bit longer for this part, then we'll be officially start on the remake of 358/2 Days. Anyway, let me know what you thought of this chapter. Until next time.