Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories
Chapter 30: Twilight Town
Kairi, Riku, Donald, Goofy and Mickey all stepped outside a mansion in the middle of a forest. The group looking around curiously for a moment, as some of them recognized this place from one of the memory worlds in Castle Oblivion. But they all quickly and collectively saw the sun beginning to set from beyond the canopy. Which lead for the mouse king to then call for his Gummi ship, as he and Kairi were splitting up from the rest of the group. The two receiving hugs of farewell from the others, as there was no certain point in time they knew all of them would be together again.
Mickey was returning to Master Yen Sid. Of whom he was to report everything to, as well as to begin making future plans. Kairi decided to return to her training with Merlin. With all that she had learned and experienced, she was even more determined than ever to grow stronger. Meanwhile, the other three would stay behind in this mansion, as promised. Not only keeping watch over Sora, but also acting as spies for DiZ against Organization XIII.
Just before the mouse and auburn-haired teen were teleported to the Gummi ship, Kairi looked to the large window on the mansion's second floor. Where of which, Namine stood with a waving hand and soft smile of farewell. Her job being to fulfill her own promise, reconstructing Sora's memories to the way they were, from before she arrived in Castle Oblivion. Yet as Kairi returned this gesture with her own, both she and Mickey disappeared in a flash of light.
Looking up into the sky, Namine took in and let out a deep breath. Her eyes drifting back down to the remaining three outside, each of whom also split up. Riku going off to make a perimeter search, while Donald and Goofy headed back inside the mansion. Though the blond gazed out the window for a few moments, her eyes never seemed to focus on anything. Musings of what she had done, and what she now had to do, filled her mind.
But she eventually snapped herself out of these thoughts after a few long minutes. Her slowly turning around and faced the room, determined to begin her work. Unbeknownst to her, a few teens hiking through the woods briefly noticed her ghostly visage before she disappeared further inside. "Whoa...I think we might have just found another mystery to add to the list." one of them spoke before they all rushed back into the forest.
Namine herself simply looked around the decrepit and dusty room, letting out an almost sad sigh. Despite there being a table, a few chairs, and even a fireplace, everything was old and in ruin. But the blond simply brushed off one of the more stable chairs and sat down, closed both eyes as she did. While she remained stalwart in her desire to fix what she had done, she still couldn't help but feel a mild pang of regret. As the moment she returned the girl's memories to normal, Sora would also forget about her as a result.
"It's for the best." she whispered to herself, beginning to focus on using the power of manipulating Sora's memories.
Unlike all other times previous however, Namine was linking the memories together, instead of breaking them apart. During the process, the blond's powers radiated from her in a faintly dull aura of white light. Which had a strange rippling effect throughout the room, causing it to become several shades brighter than normal. And further unbeknownst to her, this would continue occurring each day. Slowly morphing the room to take on the appearance of something similar to Castle Oblivion.
Namine never truly understood how or why this happened, but deep in her subconscious, it was clearly a punishment. That castle came to represent all of her regret and shame, so she unconsciously materialized it as a means of making sure she wouldn't ever forget.
At the same time, Axel let out a heavy breath as he walked down a long hallway of pure grey. There being a cold and detached feeling that surged through this place, as if it was never meant to be. Yet the man merely looked to each of the doors on either side, appearing to mentally count each one. Axel then came to a stop in front of a particular door, which didn't appear any different from the others in the hall. However, the man actually gained a faint smile on his features, as he knocked on the door's surface.
"Hey Roxas~! You up~? We got a mission to go on~!" he called out, his tone being strangely friendly, even more so than what he showed to Sora.
"Yeah yeah, I'm up." a voice said from the other side of the door, which opened a few seconds later.
This revealed a young teen with spiky golden blond hair, blue eyes, and a small smile curling his lips. Him wearing the same black coat as the other Organization members, yet his was a bit more baggy. Though, as the boy looked to Axel, he let out a sigh and shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, lets go." he said while stepping out and closing the door behind him.
All the while, the red-haired man just stared at the teen in silence as he watched Roxas walk down the hallway ahead of him. 'They are a lot alike.' he mused to himself silently as a softer smile appeared on his face.
However, Roxas soon paused when realizing the man wasn't walking with him, to which he turned toward Axel. "Everything alright?" he asked with a tilt of his head and raised brow.
The man himself blinked a few times, seeming lost in thought for a moment before nodding his head. "Yeah...I just thought you might have a bit of bed hair, but then I remembered that your hair always looks like that." he commented in a chuckle, quickly catching up to the teen.
Roxas huffed briefly in response as the two started heading down the hallway together. "What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded in a jokingly upset tone.
"Oh nothing...Mr. Bed hair." Axel hummed out, laughing as he did.
Though the blond huffed once more to him, the two then shared a chuckle while continuing on their way. "Oh, by the way...I heard we're supposed to have the newbie join us, you ready for this?" Axel questioned with a glance to the teen, whom nodded confidently in response.
"Of course, I've been meaning to talk to her some more." Roxas stated as another small smile curled his lips.
And there you have it, the end of my remake for Chain of Memories. It still wasn't perfect, but I felt like it was much truer to the characters than what I previously had. But I just hope all of you enjoyed it. Let me know your thoughts in a review, and I'll see you next week for the first chapter of my remake for 358/2 Days. (I was going to post it today along with this one, but I came up with something different at the last minute, so I'll be delaying it till next week.) Until next time.