Greetings, prospective readers, and welcome my latest creation, a reboot of my old Kingdom Hearts project, entitled "Brothers." You see, I posted this endeavor here on fanfiction some time ago, but when I caught wind of certain developments, plus the impending release of KHIII, I decided to hold back and see where, as Luxord would likely put it, the dice fell after they were cast.
All right, here's the game plan. Naturally, this follows the Final Mix version of Kingdom Hearts II, so that means Sora, Roxas, Donald, and Goofy will be going toe-to-toe with the Absent Silhouettes, Terra aka the Lingering Sentiment or Lingering Will or whatever you want to call it. However, we will not be doing the Data Battles, the battle with Sephiroth, Mushroom XIII, or the Cavern of Remembrance, although I may end up doing those in a sort of "bonus feature" type set of one-shots. Additionally, I have plans to incorporate certain portions of the Kingdom Hearts II manga. Yes, that is a thing and you can get all four volumes of it from the Google Play store (not certain about iTunes or Amazon) for like, $30. Money well spent, and it makes Kairi look a bit less like the damsel in distress the games make her out to be, like how she actually TRIED to escape Organization XIII's clutches by tricking the Dusks guarding her cell into opening it. Granted, Dusks aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, but dammit, at least she TRIED to escape, that's what matters. Plus, unlike in the Kingdom Hearts canon, both Roxas and Sora will finally get to, as the song goes, kiss da girl. Although, I'm just gonna go ahead and confirm that Sora and Kairi are already very much an official couple, and have actually locked lips during the events of KH1.
Speaking of Atlantica… I very much plan to do that world. However, rest assured, it will NOT be what I call "Kingdom Hearts: The Musical." It will follow the story of that world from the game, yes, but it will be a proper world with kicking names and taking ass, or something like that. Similarly, I plan on giving Sora, Donald, and Goofy modified versions of their KHIII Caribbean outfits when they get to that world, because why the Hell not? I will also be having Donald and Goofy take on human forms in the Land of Dragons and Port Royal, as those two worlds don't really seem like the kind of place where you'd see anthropomorphic ducks and dogs, things like Mushu and the Cursed Pirates notwithstanding.
Now, before I forget, let me just go ahead and confirm a couple of things, right here, right now. First off, Roxas won't be getting any Drive Forms, mainly because Yen Sid and the Good Fairies didn't know that Roxas would be turning up, although he, Naminé, and Kairi will get them in later installments based on the games. Also, I very much plan on still having that fight from Final Mix that was supposed to be against Roxas for control of Sora's body… but, since Roxas is a separate entity again, that battle will instead take place against a certain Replica that starts with an X.
Now then, without further ado, let us start the game!
Chapter I
Two Become One, Then Two Again
"Sora!" warbled a very scratchy sounding male voice.
"Sora, wake up!" called a second male voice that seemed to belong to somebody who wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.
Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix OST: Sora's Theme
Donald Duck and Goofy looked on nervously, thinking that there was something wrong when the pod containing one of their dearest friends did not do anything in response to their calls, when suddenly, they heard machinery coming to life. Seconds later, the pod flashed for an instant, and then opened up like a flower setting into bloom, until it revealed a drowsy young man of around fourteen wearing a much too small red, blue, and white outfit with large yellow shoes rubbing the last fringes of sleep from his eyes before stretching with a yawn. When his eyes came to rest on some of the people in front of him, he immediately jumped out of the pod, stumbling into Donald and Goofy's arms when he landed, clearly not quite used to movement after sleeping for so long, and smiled brightly as he hugged the two who caught him.
"Donald! Goofy!" cheered Sora once he was upright again.
The three then danced about in a circle, all happy to see each other again, until a long yawn brought the celebration to a pause so they could all look to Sora's shoulder just in time to see none other than Jiminy Cricket climbing out of the hood on Sora's jacket.
"That was some nap," said Jiminy as he jumped down onto the floor.
"You mean, we were asleep?" asked Sora
"I guess we musta been, or I don't think we'd be so drowsy," replied Jiminy with a small shrug.
"When do ya think we went to sleep?" asked Goofy.
"Uhh…" Donald started to say only to helplessly shrug.
"Let's see…" Sora muttered as he began to recall what he and the others had recently done, hoping it might help them figure out what had happened to put them all to sleep. "We found Kairi… defeated Ansem… restored peace to the worlds… oh yeah, and then we went to look for Riku and the king. I think that's right so far… and then…"
The four were silent once again, each of them trying to remember but drawing up nothing but a blank. Clearly, whoever or whatever had put them to sleep, they had done one heck of a number on their memories.
Thankfully, Goofy thought of something that might shed some light on the subject. "What does your journal say, Jiminy?" he asked the small cricket who had been chronicling their adventures.
Pulling the thick leather book out of one of his pockets, Jiminy flipped it open to the section where the answers to their question
"Gee, there's only one sentence…" revealed Jiminy. "'Thank Naminé.' Hmm… I wonder who that is?"
"Some journal that is," Donald grumbled in annoyance.
"W-well, what do ya say we find out where we are?" suggested Jiminy, ignoring Donald's jab.
"Sounds like a plan to me," said Sora as he and the others began to make their way towards the room's only exit. That is, until something inside Sora surged painfully, bringing the hero of the Keyblade to his knees and causing Goofy, Donald, and Jiminy to cast concerned looks at him.
"Sora, uh, are you okay?" asked Goofy, concern evident in his voice.
"I… I'm fine!" Sora grunted in pain, when in truth he felt as though he was anything but fine. It almost felt as though his heart, no, his very being, was being forcefully ripped in two. As Sora's pain reached its peak, a glowing silhouette of what seemed to be another person began to separate from him. Finally, when the pain became almost unbearable and the glowing silhouette was almost completely separated, Sora blacked out and knew no more once again, just as the glowing silhouette became a completely separate person with short blonde hair wearing a white jacket with a black hoodie underneath, khaki pants, and black and white sneakers, much to Jiminy, Donald and Goofy's shock and awe.
"Uh… what just happened?" asked Goofy to no one in particular.
"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it's something screwy… and hey, doesn't that guy look just like Ven? You know, the one we met ten or eleven years back, who was fighting that Vanitas guy when they struck each other down, and whose heart never came back?" asked Donald as he indicated the blonde who had just seperated from Sora.
"Hmm… you know, he actually DOES look just like Ven… but, somethin' tells me that he's not, though, because if he was, then why'd he pop outta Sora like that? Shouldn't he have just gone back to his body?" pondered Goofy thoughtfully. "Then again, Ven's body has been hidden away somewhere for the last ten years, and he's supposedly been asleepin' all that time… maybe he doesn't have a body to go back to anymore."
"Well, let's see if we can't get these two up and see what's going on," suggested Jiminy.
Donald nodded and pulled out his magician's stave, before realizing it was his standard-issue stave, which definitely wasn't the last stave he'd remembered using. "Wah! Where's Save the Queen?!"
Goofy checked his pack and realized that his most powerful shield, Save the King, was missing as well. "Well, golly gee willikers, what happened to our weapons?!" cried Goofy.
"I think it's best we save that for another time, fellas. Right now, we need to wake these two up!" said Jiminy.
"Right," said Donald with a nod before casting his healing spell, causing the two boys on the ground to begin to stir.
A Few Moments Later...
Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix OST: Roxas' Theme
As consciousness slowly and unexpectedly returned to him, the blonde young man on the ground, who was named Roxas Seiiki, began to realize that he felt… different somehow. A loud thumping reached his ears from somewhere… inside him.
The Nobody gasped, his eyes flying open when he realized what the thumping actually was: a heartbeat. Somehow, in some way, by rejoining himself with Sora, he had managed to acquire his very own, beating heart. Which meant…
Naminé was right… I didn't disappear… I'm whole… which means… I exist. I finally, truly, completely, exist… thought Roxas as tears began to well up in his eyes as he placed his hand over his chest, where he could feel the steady rhythm of existence and life pounding against it.
Speaking of eyes, he felt four sets of them upon him. Looking in the direction he sensed the eyes coming from, he saw four figures he immediately recognized from the dreams he'd been having lately gazing down upon him.
"Why are you crying?" asked Goofy, concern evident in his voice.
"I'm not, I'm fine." Roxas said, wiping his eyes as he spoke before pulling himself into a sitting position.
"You got a name?" asked Donald.
"Yeah. I'm Roxas. Roxas Seiiki. And who are you guys?" Roxas asked the four individuals gathered before him with a small smile, although he full-well knew the answer, thanks to Naminé chaining Sora's memories back together having been affecting him as well.
"Donald Duck," warbled Donald with a smile on his face.
"Name's Goofy!" Goofy declared proudly.
"Cricket's the name. Jiminy Cricket at your service!" said Jiminy.
"I'm Sora Hikari, but something tells me you know that already," said Sora, rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke. "So… any particular reason you separated yourself from my body, Roxas?"
Roxas chuckled. "Right. Seems I have some explaining to do… but first, let's get out of this place," said Roxas as he pulled himself up off the ground and started heading towards the exit to the room.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy all cast glances at each other, clearly unsure what to make of this… somehow familiar-looking stranger who had inexplicably spawned from the chosen wielder of the Kingdom Key.
"Well, he certainly seems eager to get out of here," said Sora.
"Do you guys think we can trust him?" asked Donald.
"All I know is I don't wanna fall asleep again, so I say we follow him," said Goofy, marching towards the exit.
Seeing no other option at the moment, Sora and Donald followed Goofy and Roxas out of the room and out of the mansion.
A Short While Later…
Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix OST: Lazy Afternoons
As Roxas, Sora, Donald, and Goofy made their way out of the forest and into the town proper, the blonde felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him. Everything was exactly the way he remembered it before he had joined himself with Sora in order to become complete and awaken the Keybearer of the Kingdom Key.
Except, this Twilight Town is the real deal, not some computer simulation, thought Roxas, a small, sad smile on his face before he was pulled out of his thoughts by Sora shouting.
"Hey, guys! Come and have a look at this!" the spiky brunette called to his companions, waving over to them from a corner that Roxas recalled leading to the town's Tram Commons. Upon rounding said corner, both Roxas and Sora's faces lit up with bright smiles at the sight before them.
"It's a festival!" the Nobody and his original persona exclaimed at the same time before they both took off running at the same time in giddy excitement, much to Donald's annoyance.
"Come on, Goofy, we have to go after 'em-" Donald started to say, only to find that Goofy had somehow gotten himself some cotton candy, a festival mask, and was currently playing one of the games they had at the festival.
Heaving a frustrated sigh, Donald marched off through the crowd of people at the festival in frustration, looking for Sora and Roxas among the throng of people at the festival. However, he had only been at it for a few moments when he found his attention diverted by something else.
"Why you little- how are you gonna fix this?! Your elbow rammed into me, and now look! You made me mess up!" barked a rough and bossy voice from nearby, causing Donald to turn his head in the voice's direction to find two people getting into a fight nearby. From the looks of things, it seemed to have been caused when one of the aggressors, a young man with wavy blonde hair wearing a pair of camouflage print pants, a gray vest with a black muscle shirt and a necklace with a wooden pendant underneath, and black and gray sneakers, had accidentally bumped into the second person, who likewise had blonde hair tucked underneath a black beanie, and wore a white, sleeveless jacket that reached down to his ankles with a blue and white crop-top vest underneath, although it now had the addition of what looked like frosting and sprinkles from the nearby cookie decoration booth, and dark baggy pants that were tucked into his black combat boots.
As the fight continued to escalate, Donald started to make his way over towards the two boys in the hopes of keeping them from coming to blows, only for a familiar voice to stop him in his tracks.
"Stop it!" called Sora as he and Roxas approached the two quarreling boys. Sora was wearing what looked like a carnival mask and carrying small water balloon of some kind, and a thing of cotton candy, while Roxas had a stuffed toy version of Mog the Moogle, the star from a cartoon chronicling his time travelling misadventures using an "artefact" known as Etro's Gate recognizable by the pink crystal atop the Moogle's antenna where the usual red pompom was on most Moogles, a fedora that was in the same style as the rest of his outfit and actually worked out nicely with said outfit, and a skyblue bar of what looked like some kind of ice cream in an unfamiliar flavor.
"What's your problem?" snapped the boy in the black beanie.
"My problem is that you're making an issue out of something that was clearly an accident, so quit fighting and grow up already!" Sora said as he removed his mask and shot an annoyed look at the boy in the black beanie. Roxas, for his part, couldn't help but roll his eyes. Whether this was because he was having a case of the Mondays after having been asleep for a year and some change, or he was actually irritated by what was going on between the two guys before him, the fact remained that his original persona was beating a dead horse by trying to get Seifer Villiers and Hayner Estheim to get along and stop fighting.
This fact was quickly proven when the boy in the beanie, Seifer, turned his glare on Sora and grabbed a hold of him from the front of his much-too-small jacket. "Maybe I would consider listening to some snot nosed outsider if he could actually find some clothes in his size!" spat Seifer.
Sora glared at Seifer intensely for a few moments while Donald, having been rejoined by Goofy while this exchange was taking place, made their way towards the scuffle that was taking place. However, before either the magician or the knight could get close enough to intervene, Sora proceeded to throw his water balloon in his face, disorienting Seifer long enough for the spiky haired brunette to sock Seifer in the face before his cotton candy into his mouth and snapping his carnival mask off his thumb, stinging the boy in the black beanie in the face as it made contact.
Needless to say, it took a few moments for Seifer to come to his senses after the onslaught. Once he had, and after he had spat out the cotton candy in his mouth, Seifer stormed off from the three boys while snarling, "You'll pay for this!"
As Sora watched Seifer storm off with an expression that clearly read that Seifer was more than welcome to put it on his tab and Donald and Goofy finished making their way towards Sora and Roxas, the boy Seifer had been quarreling with prior to Sora's intervention, Hayner, took the opportunity to speak up.
"Dude… that was awesome! Way to go!" he laughed as Sora and Roxas turned to look at him, the latter with a small sad smile as he looked at his best friend from another life.
"Agreed. You must have nerves of steel to even try to humiliate Seifer like that, let alone stand up to him," said another male voice from nearby, causing Sora and Roxas to turn in the voice's direction, and for the latter's smile to turn even sadder somehow.
Approaching the three boys with their own trinkets from the carnival was a heavyweight boy with black hair wearing a red jersey with a white t-shirt underneath, blue jeans, blue and white shoes, and a black headband with gray lining. Alongside the chubby boy was a girl with brown hair wearing an orange tanktop with a white floral pattern, khaki-colored capris, orange socks, and cream-and-yellow shoes with black laces.
"So, I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that the two of you are new around here, right?" asked the heavyweight boy.
"More or less," Roxas replied, his friendly smile still not reaching all the way up to his face. While it was nice to know that Hayner, Pence, and Olette did in fact exist in the real Twilight Town, it was still a painful reminder that, until this moment, the three of them had never actually met until now.
"Cool. I'm Pence Dragoon, by the way," the heavyweight boy, Pence, introduced himself.
"Hayner Estheim, nice to meet ya," Hayner said with a curt nod before looking over at Roxas, an odd thought coming into mind as he looked at him. "You know, you look kinda familiar… have I seen you around before?"
"Maybe in passing, but… I can honestly say that this is the first time that I've ever met any of you face-to-face like this," replied Roxas.
After thinking about it for a moment, Hayner shrugged as he turned to leave. "Right, well, whatever. I'd love to stay and do a meet-and-greet, but I got stuff to do right now, so I'll catch ya later."
And with that, Hayner walked, unaware of the disapproving look that the lone female of the group was giving him before she spoke up.
"Sorry about him. Hayner's not really such a bad guy, but he does take time to really warm up to people. My name's Olette Juniper. Hey, did you two finish up the summer homework yet? Independent studies are the worst, huh?" asked Olette.
"Tell me about it," Roxas grumbled while Sora, Donald, and Goofy all just exchanged confused looks with one another, not sure what they were talking about.
"So, what're your names?" asked Pence.
"I'm Roxas Seiiki, and these are my friends, Sora Hikari, Donald Duck, and Goofy… actually, I'm not sure what Goofy's last name is," admitted Roxas.
"Well, for reference, it's actually Goof, but it gets to be kinda a mouthful sometimes, so I prefer to just go by Goofy," explained Goofy.
Upon hearing those names, Pence and Olette's eyes lit up in recognition. "We actually just met someone who was looking for people named Sora, Donald, and Goofy… he didn't say anything about a Roxas, though…" said Olette.
Sora raised an eyebrow in confusion at this information. "For me, Donald, and Goofy?" he asked the two teens standing in front of him.
"Yeah, and he sure seemed like he was in a hurry," confirmed Pence. "He had this black hooded coat on, so I couldn't see his face, but he had these big round ears and was probably about as tall as my waist."
Hearing that the person Pence and Olette had bumped into that was looking for his original persona and his companions was wearing a black coat with a hood that concealed his face would have made Roxas think that someone from Organization XIII was after them, if it wasn't for the "big round ears" and the hooded individual's height. Roxas may only have a few bits and piece from his time as the thirteenth member of Organization XIII and holder of the title "The Key of Destiny," but he knew for a fact that none of his former associates had such traits, unless there had been a Number XIV that he didn't know about…
Roxas felt something ping in his mind at the thought of there being a fourteenth member of Organization XIII… why did it feel like there actually had been a "Number XIV" among the Organization's ranks at one point? And why did the thought make him feel so sad, angry, and guilty, as though he had lost someone he cared about like a sibling to some horrible tragedy caused by his own hand…?
Sora, Donald, and Goofy, meanwhile, had their own thoughts come to mind about this black-clad individual, namely because of the fact that ears like those could only belong to the one person in all the worlds that could possibly have been looking for them.
"The king!" Donald exclaimed in excitement.
"Yep! It's gotta be him!" agreed Goofy.
"Where'd you see him?" asked Sora.
"At the station," replied Pence.
"Got it, thanks a bunch!" said Roxas as he, Sora, Donald, and Goofy started to make their way through the festival in search of the station Pence and Olette had mentioned, only for Roxas to stop and turn around towards Pence and Olette. "Hey, if you guys are still looking for a topic for your assignment, I overheard a few folks here at the festival mentioning something called 'the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town.' Maybe you could look into that?"
Pence and Olette thought Roxas' suggestion over a few moments before they both grinned in excitement. "That's a great idea, Roxas!" said Pence.
"And even if these 'Wonders' don't turn out to be all that wonderful, we could still make it sound good if we write about all the work we did!" added Olette. "Thanks, Roxas!"
"No problem. I should probably go and catch up with the others," said Roxas as he turned on his heel and took off after Sora, Donald, and Goofy.
A Short While Later...
When the quartet arrived at Station Heights, they immediately sensed something was wrong, judging the fact that the station looked as though it was completely abandoned, although it might have just been closed for the festival. But, sure enough, their first instinct was quickly proven to be correct when several strange white creatures appeared out of thin air, wriggling and moving about on the ground like one of those inflatable people you'd see at car dealerships, as well as through the air.
Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix OST: Tension Rising
"Wah! What are these things?! Some new kinda Heartless?" cried Donald as he pulled out his stave.
"They sure don't look like any kinda Heartless I've ever seen," said Goofy as he pulled out his shield, ready for a fight.
"Well, whatever these things are, they don't look like they're here to make friends," said Sora as he summoned his Keyblade, known as the Kingdom Key, into his hand. "And in that case, they picked the wrong crew to mess with!"
"You said it!" said Roxas, summoning forth his twin Keyblades, Oathkeeper in his right, and Oblivion in his left, giving both weapons a twirl for effect, a feat that did not go unnoticed by Sora.
"You can use two Keyblades?! Why can't I use two Keyblades?" said Sora before he tried summoning a second Keyblade, but to no avail, just before one of the strange white creatures lunged at him, forcing him to block the attack.
"Fight now, compare abilities later!" said Roxas as he struck down two of the strange creatures, one with each Keyblade.
The group of four heroes valiantly fought back as best as they could against their strange attackers, and although the four warriors had managed to take down as many of the strange enemies as they could, but due to the somewhat sorry shape they were in, with Roxas having just been separated from Sora after merging with him to make them both of them whole once more, while Sora himself had not only just gone through an extremely painful separation process, but had only just woken up from a long slumber much like Donald and Goofy, it wasn't long before they were on their last legs.
Roxas collapsed onto one knee, using one of his Keyblades as a crutch to hold himself up as sweat poured off him like a waterfall. Donald and Goofy, meanwhile, had passed out and collapsed onto the ground as Sora did the same, although unlike his animal companions, he was still somewhat conscious.
The strange white creatures before the defeated heroes stood wriggling back and forth as though they were doing some sort of dance for a few moments before one of them lunged at Sora, who raised his Keyblade in a desperate attempt to defend himself.
However, before the attack could make contact, a small figure in black dropped down from above, and made quick work of each of the strange creatures. It was difficult to really keep track of this figure's movements, even though both Roxas and Sora had managed their eyes open so that they could watch, but it was still easy to see when he jumped and spun around the creatures before ending them with each strike of his blade. The last two creatures fell when the mystery figure jumped up into the air, and struck them both down before somersaulting around and landing on his feet again, with his back facing the group and his arms spread out like he was ready for another fight. Since their rescuer had finally stopped moving, and there did not seem to be any more enemies coming to attack them, Sora, Roxas, and the now-conscious Donald and Goofy, finally managed to get a good look at said individual, and even though he was mostly obscured by the hood of the black coat he was wearing, which Roxas recognized as the standard issue attire for Organization XIII, they were still able to figure out who he was when they took notice of his more obvious features. The first was his rather large, round ears, while the second was the fact that he was wielding a Keyblade that looked almost exactly like the Kingdom Key, except with a golden blade and a silver guard.
"Your Majesty?!" Donald exclaimed as he and Goofy pounced on top of Sora and pinned the boy to the ground as they tried to get a better look at the King of Disney Castle.
"Shh!" King Mickey hushed Donald. "You gotta board the train and leave town! There's someone waiting for you, he'll help get you up to speed on what's going on in the worlds. The train knows the way there," the mouse explained before pulling out a pink pouch. "Here, this is for Sora. I can't go back with you guys just yet. I've got some unfinished business to take care of first."
Roxas let out a gasp of recognition at the sight of the pouch the king was holding out to Sora, recognizing it as the one the pickpocket in the Organization outfit had pilfered off of him in the virtual Twilight Town. "How'd you get that-?" Roxas started to say, only for the king to have already started running off towards the town.
"The King… was that really him?" asked Sora.
"Yep, I know it was!" cheered Goofy.
"Now we know he's okay!" warbled Donald happily.
Roxas, meanwhile, had noticed that Sora had crossed his arms in thought. "You okay, Sora? You suddenly look like you've got a lot of questions on your mind," he asked his original persona.
"Well, it's just that…" Sora started to say before he turned to Donald and Goofy. "The King was locked in the Realm of Darkness with Riku when we defeated Ansem and sealed the Door to Darkness, right?"
"Uh-huh," confirmed Goofy with a nod.
"But, we just saw him… and if the King is here, then that must mean Riku's here too!" exclaimed Sora, excitement in his voice.
"Yeah, he's gotta be!" warbled Donald.
Roxas gave a frown as he looked towards the ground. One of the few, faded memories he had of his tenure in Organization XIII was facing and defeating someone named "Riku" in combat after having combined forces with him against the Heartless and Nobodies that the Organization had sent after him after he turned on them, even if the exact reason why he had betrayed Organization XIII was a bit muddled in his memory in regards as to whether it had something to do with Kingdom Hearts, Sora himself, or both. At least, that's what his memories seemed to indicate, as the last bit of the battle he could remember was Riku on the ground, demanding to know why he had the Keyblade, to which Roxas had told him to shut up before swinging Oathkeeper at him. He just hoped that when Sora found out that tidbit, he didn't assume that by "defeating" Riku, he had struck Riku down… or that Roxas eventually found out that he actually had struck Riku down.
Roxas was pulled out of his thoughts by Donald asking Sora what he was going to do now.
"Well, I'm gonna go look for Riku. Then he and I can go back to the islands together. Kairi's there waiting for us," replied Sora.
"Well, I've got nowhere else to go, honestly speaking, so how about I tag along with you?" said Roxas.
"Works for me. The more the merrier," said Sora before returning his attention to Donald and Goofy. "What about you guys? What are you two gonna do?"
Donald and Goofy both groaned a little in response. "Gawrsh, Sora. Do ya have to ask?" asked Goofy, his tone of voice indicating that the answer to Sora's question should be obvious, even if he had just woken up from a long slumber.
While Donald and Goofy might have expected a serious answer or even a joke from Sora or Roxas, the only reaction the two Keyblade Wielders could give was to uncontrollably laugh at the two, much to Donald's annoyance.
"Hey! What's so funny?!" the duck sorcerer demanded as he jumped up and down in anger.
"Sorry, it… it's just… your faces!" said Sora as he clutched his chest in an attempt to control his chuckles.
"That's gotta be one of the silliest things I've ever seen," said Roxas as he kept laughing right along with Sora.
That prompted Donald and Goofy to turn to look at each other, and while they did see that their expressions were meant to look as though they were deadpan or indignant, they had instead come out looking completely ridiculous, causing them to join the Keybearers in laughing at their silly expressions. Eventually, the laughter did have to die down so they could make their next move.
"Well guys, looks like we're sticking together for one more journey," said Sora, looking at the assembled quartet as a whole. "And this time with another friend joining us… so…where are we going again?"
"We hafta board the train," replied Goofy.
"Yeah, just like the King just told us two seconds ago," said Roxas with an amused smile on his face as he spoke.
Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix OST: Lazy Afternoons
"Oh, yeah," said Sora with a smile that did not seem the least bit sheepish, drawing a tired sigh from Donald while Roxas could not help but roll his eyes a little before the four of them entered the train station.
The minute the group walked inside, Roxas instantly caught sight of the Ghost Train waiting at the platform. As they looked at the extravagant-looking train, the four of them somehow knew that it was the train that the King was talking about, the one that would take them to whoever it was that was waiting for them and would bring them up to speed on what was going on in the worlds.
"I'll get us our tickets," said Sora as he approached the teller booth, only to stop when he heard someone shouting to wait, prompting the group to turn around to see Hayner, Pence, and Olette rushing to catch up with them.
"What're you guys doing here?" asked Roxas, a confused expression on his face as the three friends
"We came to see you off. It… just seemed like something we oughta do," explained Pence.
"Oh… really? Thanks," said Roxas, a small, sad smile on his face as he looked at his friends from another life. It felt good to know that the real versions of his old friends were every bit the good people he remembered them to be, but at the same time, he felt really sad because of it, and the fact they had never truly met before today.
"Hey, Roxas…" Hayner started to say, only to find himself unable to finish for some strange reason.
"What's up?" asked Roxas as he looked over at Hayner, a curious expression on his face as he looked at his best friend from another life.
Hayner seemed to struggle with how to phrase what he was about to say, only to fall short of the mark and ultimately reply with, "Nothing. Forget about it."
"If you're sure," Roxas said with a shrug. If Hayner truly was the real version of his best friend from the virtual Twilight Town, then it was a safe bet that whatever was on his mind would come out eventually.
The sound of a boarding alarm rang throughout the station caused the group to snap to attention. Ghost Train or not, there was no telling if it would wait for them forever or not, but it was a safe bet to assume that it wouldn't.
"You should hurry and get your tickets," Olette prompted Sora and the others.
Sora nodded and returned his attention to the teller and made to buy their tickets. Upon seeing the pink munny pouch in Sora's hands, Olette let out a confused gasp, pulling everyone's attention over to her as she pulled out her own pouch, as if to make sure that it was still there.
Upon seeing that both Sora and Olete somehow had the exact same munny pouch, a wave of confusion spread through both parties and their friends.
"They're the same…" the knight said with a thoughtful expression while Roxas fidgeted in his spot, knowing full well the reason as to why there were two of the exact same, hand-made, munny pouches.
Sora, while he was confused about this situation as well, decided to shrug it off for the time being. "Four tickets please," the spiky brunette told the teller.
As Sora and the teller bartered, Roxas looked up at the platform and quickly became overcome with a sense of foreboding. As his original persona approached him with their tickets, Roxas could quickly tell that Sora was sharing the exact same feeling that he was.
"You know, Sora… I… can't really help but shake the feeling that… I'm never gonna see this town again…" Roxas revealed to Sora with a sad expression on his face.
"You know… I don't really get why myself, considering I've never even heard of this world before, let alone visited it, but… I actually kinda feel the same way…" revealed Sora before another boarding alarm sounded, prompting Sora and Roxas to snap out of their moments of contemplation and made them realize they needed to skedaddle.
After giving Donald and Goofy their tickets, Sora and Roxas exchanged very brief good-byes with the gang from Twilight Town before starting to board the train out of town, only to stop in his tracks as Hayner called out to them.
"Hey, Roxas… you sure we haven't met before?" he asked the blonde, a thoughtful expression on his face as he spoke.
As much as the blonde wanted to say yes, Roxas knew that it was not a good idea to give that answer, or explain the reasons behind it, lest his old friends think he was crazy. "Pretty sure we haven't. But, if we did… I get the feeling we probably would've been best friends. Why do you ask?" Roxas said with a puzzled expression on his face.
Hayner thought about it for a few moments, trying to figure out what to say once again before ultimately giving a shrug and replying with a simple "I dunno."
Assuming that was the end of it, Roxas and Sora turned to board the train only to stop when they heard Pence's voice.
"Hey, Sora. Are you okay? You're…" the heavyweight boy asked, concern evident in his voice as he pointed at Sora's face.
Following Pence's finger, the spiky brunette reached up and found that he had a tear running down his face.
"Weird," said Sora as he examined his wet finger tips. "Don't know where that came from…"
I do, though… thought Roxas as he fought to keep his own tears from falling.
"Come on. Pull it together," said Hayner as Sora rubbed his face with his sleeve to clean up his face.
"Right," Sora smiled back with a nod. He then turned to the Twilight Town trio as he started to board the train, and waved as he said, "Well…we'll see ya."
Roxas spared one last wave to the three friends before boarding the train as well, and they all watched on opposite sides as the door slid closed. With a faint hiss of steam, the train slowly departed from the station, and then began racing off down the tracks, leaving the station behind.
As the train continued down the tracks, Donald and Goofy watched the city and the countryside go by through the windows while Sora hovered near the entrance of the train, a depressed expression on his face as he looked out the window, something that Roxas was quick to pick up on.
"You okay?" Roxas asked his original persona, concern evident in his voice.
"Yeah, I'm okay, it's just…" Sora said as he pulled out a small blue crystal sphere that Roxas immediately recognized, although he opted not to say it. "I'm sad. I don't know why, but… it feels like I'm leaving Destiny Islands behind, except Riku, Kairi, Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie are still there, and I might never see them again…"
Roxas nodded in understanding. "You know… I actually feel the same way… Twilight Town, Hayner, Pence, Olette… they all remind me of somewhere I called home for what feels like the longest time, where my best friends and I went on so many adventures… well, at least, what adventures could be found in a town like that…" he said, his own voice laced with sadness, something that Donald and Goofy were quick to pick up on.
"We'll be back," said Donald, reassuring both of the boys present.
"Yeah, we can go visit Hayner and those guys again!" Goofy added on.
"Yeah… you're right," said Sora, before returning to his seat and gazing intently at Roxas. "But, in the meantime… Roxas, I think you've got some explaining to do. You know, about the whole separating from my body thing."
Roxas sighed. "I know, and I promise I will explain everything to you later, just as soon as we get to wherever it is that King Mickey sent us off to… because something tells me that whoever it is that's waiting for us there will need to hear my story as much as you guys do…"
Meanwhile…
Two solitary figures sat in the relative gloom of the ruined Parlor of the Old Mansion deep in the woods of Twilight Town. One of them was clad in the hooded black leather coat, black pants, black boots, and black leather gloves that were the standard issue attire for the leadership of Organization XIII, while the second man, who was sitting in an old chair, was wearing a long, red cape with a quadrate cross cut taken out at the chest that was outlined with yellow at the edges, a black shirt with a white symbol on it, grey, segmented armor over his sides and abdomen, a long, black cloth lined with yellow, with several decorative straps pinned onto it, his face concealed by red bandages that wrapped around his head, through which only a single, piecing orange eye shone through.
"They've left," the hooded man, known only as Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, said in his deep, baritone voice.
"And it seems that against all odds, rhyme, or reason, Roxas has become a separate entity once more…" muttered the man in the red bandages, known as 'Darkness in Zero,' or DiZ for short. "Perhaps he was right after all… his heart, as remarkable and impossible that is it is that a Nobody of all things was able to somehow cultivate one of his own, truly does belong to him… perhaps Roxas having a heart has something to do with Sora having been a Heartless for such a short span of time… or perhaps it is tied with the reason why Roxas looks nothing like Sora, despite clearly being his Nobody… then again, hearts, what they are, why they are, how they are… there's no true way of knowing anything about the heart… I learned that the hard way a long time ago…"
"That is one theory… it could also have something to do with how, even as a mere Shadow Heartless, Sora still seemed to maintain some sense of his own identity… perhaps that led to Roxas and maybe even Naminé to develop their own identities… regardless, now that they've left Twilight Town, I should be on my way as well," said Ansem as he opened a Corridor of Darkness.
DiZ nodded solemnly as Ansem proceeded to enter through the portal. "We shall meet again…" he said.
Once he fully immersed himself in the Dark Corridor, Ansem emerged in Twilight Town's Sunset Terrace, where he found two people waiting there for him. Or, more accurately, two Nobodies waiting for him.
"Well, I guess that's that," said Axel, a tall, wiry thin young man in his late teens with a large, bushy mop of spiky red hair clad in the usual attire of Organization XIII. Joining him was a girl with pale skin, soft blue eyes, platinum blonde hair that reached down to the middle of her back wearing a lacy white dress and a pair of flip-flops with a sketchpad on her lap, and an older man who seemed to be in his late twenties or early thirties that was wearing the Organization's attire, however, his hood kept them from seeing his face.
"It's time for you two to get going," said Ansem.
"Get going to where, exactly? It's not like we have homes to return to. Two of us don't exist, remember?" Axel pointed out.
"Yes, it's true… we may not have homes… but, there is someplace I want to go… and someone I want to see…" the blonde girl, Naminé, said sadly, never mind the fact that she supposedly didn't have a heart, and therefore no actual feelings of her own.
But… if I really don't have a heart and no real emotions, then… why do I love him like I do? Is it because I'm Kairi's Nobody and Roxas is Sora's, meaning that I would feel the same love for Roxas that Kairi does for Sora? But… what I feel for Roxas is far too real to be imitated… and wouldn't I love Sora and not Roxas if my feelings were based on what Kairi remembers each emotion to feel like? thought Naminé.
"Same here…" Axel said, sadness evident in his voice, likewise regardless of the fact that he didn't technically have a heart. "Assuming there's any chance of you letting us go. I know you're supposed to get rid of us, but…"
A look of panic and terror crossed Naminé's face at this information. "DiZ… wants to get rid of me?" she said, panic in her voice as she spoke.
Ansem allowed himself a small smile. Sometimes he couldn't tell if these Nobodies actually DID have hearts or not, because these reactions of theirs seemed far too genuine to be mere imitations. Regardless, however, Ansem had already made up his mind in regards to what to do with these two.
"Go," Ansem said.
Ansem's doubt about Nobodies being incapable of feeling emotions quickly increased when he heard both Naminé and Axel make noises of surprise. "Are you sure about that?" the fiery redhead asked the hooded figure.
"I owe you both," said Ansem. "Castle Oblivion. You helped us. Now, go."
Axel tsked before he spoke and opened a Dark Corridor. "You don't have to tell me twice," he said as Naminé picked up her belongings, gave Ansem a quick nod in thanks, and quickly scurried off into the Corridor with Axel following right behind her, leaving Ansem on the alone on the hilltop as the portal closed.
Elsewhere In Twilight Town…
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Final Mix OST: Ventus' Theme
ickey's mind was racing at about a thousand miles an hour as he made his way through the festival. He had gotten word from Riku that Sora, Donald, and Goofy were about to wake up and had made his way to Twilight Town in order to pick them up and get them to Master Yen Sid so he could get them up to speed, but he hadn't expected that that fourth person who was with them… that boy who looked just like a dear friend he had made eleven years ago, and one who was now trapped in an eternal slumber, or so he had thought at the time…
"The boy's heart is sleeping."
"When will he wake?"
"I could not say… it is almost as though his heart has left. Should it return, he may very well wake, but should it not, then he may sleep like this for all eternity."
"I'll keep him safe until he wakes. Forever if I have to."
"I will tell you what your friend needs right now. It is not your protection. He needs you to believe. You see, Ventus' heart hangs in the balance. It sleeps in the place between light and darkness. From all I can perceive, that means he will be looking for a friend…"
Mickey gasped in shock as something clicked for him. Ventus had never been looking for a friend… he had already found one, and had possibly found that friend much, much earlier than any of them had realized, because now that he thought about it, that Vanitas creature, who, according to Aqua, who had in turn heard it from Ven and Terra, had been created from every last drop of darkness in Ven's heart, and he had sounded quite a bit like an insane, cruel, vicious, and flat-out evil version of the wielder of the Kingdom Key.
As soon as the current situation with Organization XIII was dealt with, they needed to delve into the Dark World once more and bring back that which had been lost there. Because while he now had a pretty solid hunch on where Ven's heart had gone, there was only one person who knew where the rest of Ven was.
And thus concludes the opening chapter! I gotta say, I'm really looking forward to tinkering with this wonderful little experiment and seeing how things play out with it! Now then, allow me to clarify that I am fully aware that Villiers is not actually Seifer's last name in Final Fantasy VIII. However, you can't tell me that his outfit in KHII isn't the exact same one that Snow Villiers wears in Final Fantasy XIII-1. Therefore, in this AU, Seifer's last name shall be Villiers.
In any case, if you liked what you saw here, then be sure to fav, follow, and review, and join us next time as Roxas helps provide what few answers he has, or rather, what few answers that he actually remembers at the moment, in regards to the riddle of the Nobodies and Organization XIII!