'Twas Between Us
Chapter 6
Reunion At Last
The new Kingdom Hearts was nearly complete. It hung over the Castle That Never Was, bathing the world in its pale light. All the while, clouds of pink lights, these gleaming hearts, continuously raced up and into the heart-shaped moon. The Keyblade bearer was in the World That Never Was and fought through the hoards of Organization XIII-controlled Heartless, releasing their hearts to then add to the Nobodies' collection. The vapid Dusk eyelessly watched these lights. This was it. The fruition of Organization XIII's long coveted goal. Kingdom Hearts would give every Nobody a new heart and they would be able to upheave the standing order of the world and form their own existence.
Yet the vapid Dusk felt hollow. Not even standing in the colorless rays of their Kingdom Hearts seemed to stir anything inside of it. The lesser Nobody told itself that this was simply because it lacked a heart and this was precisely the reason why it was helping Organization XIII, so it could feel again.
A thin, glittering laser shot from one of the outside balconies of the castle and struck the surface of Kingdom Hearts. An empty chill went down the Dusk's leathery back as it was reminded of an unsettled feeling, something about that laser reminded it of being the data version of Twilight Town, when it saw another Dusk get broken down into data by a laser beam. A jerk of invisible strings jolted the Dusk and the Superior's silent but overwhelming command nearly crushed the lesser Nobody, "An intruder seeks to dismantle our Kingdom Hearts. Detain him and bring him to me."
Yes Superior, the vapid Dusk answered, though its already ghostly speech could not be heard by the leader of Organization XIII anyways.
The lesser Nobody pinned its arms to its sides and slithered through the air as a twisting shape, jerking drilling through the air and swimming above the outside platforms of the castle.
Vapid! A croak called from a balcony.
The vapid Dusk twisted backwards, head swerving to the edge. A small, inky body clung to the railing. Black, crooked antenna twitched rapidly and beady yellow eyes glowed tremendously. They somehow brightened when they met the Dusk's eyeless face. The Shadow Heartless rattled, Vapid!
Sn-Snippet?
The little Heartless tipped forward and tumbled onto the balcony. It scuttled on its hands and feet in speedy succession, like a racing bug. It reached the vapid Dusk and stood up. The Shadow snippet outstretched its claws and clamped its crooked arms around the Nobody's stick-thin waist. The Nobody's form was much less solid than the Heartless' body, so it flattened much like a deflated balloon, but the Shadow snippet hugged it anyways. The vapid Dusk still stood froze in shock, even as it was hugged. Yet, the motion was surprisingly warm, despite the Heartless having a body of cold darkness and the Nobody having a hollow body that shouldn't even feel. Despite everything, the vapid Dusk draped its leathery arms around the little Heartless and returned the hug.
Between them, the Shadow snippet murmured and purred, Found you. Found you finally.
You remembered me? The vapid Dusk wondered breathlessly.
The little Heartless chirped, Yes! Ss-sibling. Vapid.
The lesser Nobody had its back to Kingdom Hearts, which still had the intrusive laser burying into it. The vapid Dusk did not look back at the fabricated Kingdom Hearts, focusing instead of the precious snippet of a Shadow in its arms.
Somewhere in the castle, the Keyblade bearer was still destroying any and all Heartless and Nobodies in his way. The vapid Dusk wrapped its bound fingers around the Heartless's crooked hand, guiding it away. We must leave, away from the fighting.
The air felt far emptier than before. The vapid Dusk's head snapped up. Another Nobody hung in the air nearby. It was not as high level as one of the XIII, but it was still a Sorcerer, far above the rank of a Dusk. The Sorcerer's body was less of one and more of a grey, hooded robe with no face and its sleeves sealed together over its chest.
A hollow and tolling sound emitted from the Sorcerer, This Heartless has deviated from the directive of the Organization.
The Sorcerer's body twitched like sending a jolt through liquid metal. A red, translucent cube formed and shot towards the little Heartless. The vapid Dusk shoved the Heartless out of the way and the cube punched the empty air.
The Dusk and the Sorcerer met invisible gazes. A strange sound, a plea, rang from the Dusk, Wait! Please just let us leave.
The Sorcerer's head twitched ever slightly. Its voice was hollow and unfeeling, Traitors only die.
More cubes formed and boxed around the pair. The Heartless went to swipe at the boxes, but the Dusk yanked it away, ringing urgently, Hide!
The Heartless flattened itself into a shadow on the ground, and the Dusk twisted out of the way of the boxes, which then snapped together, where it would have crushed them. The Dusk twisted and drilled through the air, while the Sorcerer's cubes darted after it. The cubes slammed together, forming complicated geometric shapes that tried to choke the Dusk. But the Dusk moved too fluidly, jerking to safety at the last second each time.
The Dusk was close enough to the Sorcerer that it snapped its legs to the side, stabbing its shoulder with its feet. The Sorcerer jolted and slid its body backwards, trailing after itself as streams of metal liquid. When the Sorcerer reformed, settling back into its normal shape, there was a single puncture mark in its shoulder. The hole was black and empty. Dozens and dozens of cubes formed and started slamming together. The Dusk evaded the first few, but its feet was caught between another pair. The Dusk yanked to a stop and a torrent of cubes smashed into it repeatedly. The translucent cubes allowed a full view of the Dusk being violently jerked and crunched repeatedly, while the Sorcerer hung as still as a bell in a tower with no one to ring it.
Black claws shot up from the ground, tangling at the ends of the Sorcerer's robe. The Sorcerer was yanked down and warbled in surprise. The cubes split apart and the Dusk dripped free, crumpling to the ground as a stringy doll. The Sorcerer's faceless hood cricked to the side, eyelessly seeing the Heartless sticking halfway out of the ground, hissing and ripping into its robe. The Sorcerer twisted itself into a spiral, fully uprooting the Heartless, and it summoned a cube to smack into the inky form.
The Heartless tumbled across the ground, scrambling up as a tangle of claws and hisses. More cubes formed around it, building a higher and higher wall to soon crash down.
A flash of bright light punched the abyssal sky from the balcony of the intruder's laser, and an explosion ripped from the moon. Everything was blinded in light for a moment. Then it could be seen, the fabricated Kingdom Hearts exploded, leaving a pinkish, gaping hole in its center with blackened edges, while glittering hearts rained free.
The Sorcerer's body pulsated and its head twitched, rolling around uncertainly. It wavered, its body deflated as it slipped away, fleeing without direction as a liquid streak of grey.
The air flittered with the sensation of light and the little Heartless cocked its head upwards, briefly caught by the dazzling glitters of hundreds of hearts plummeting from the sky. But the distraction was momentary; the vapid Dusk still laid crumpled like an empty suit.
Vah-pid! The little Heartless croaked and scurried over. It dug its hands under the Dusk, whose body moved limply as a balloon with minimal air inside.
The lesser Nobody's head twitched, in a kind of weak, chuckling motion. I should have fled. It would have been safer…if you had gotten destroyed by anything other than a Keyblade, you would have…come back from darkness. But I—was afraid you wouldn't, or that you would forget me if you did come back. I—I wasn't thinking.
The Heartless clutched the Dusk, Y-You return to d-darkness. Yuh-you come back. To muh-me.
The vapid Dusk shook its head, I am not meant to be. I am nothing, so I will return to nothing, never to come back.
At this, the antenna of the Heartless stirred wildly, confused and scared. The Heartless didn't seem to fully understand and clutched the Nobody more, tangling its hands around the Dusk's stringy body, so they couldn't be pulled away.
Around them, glowing pink hearts struck the metallic ground with glassy clinks. The hearts only remained for a moment before being cradled in light and wandering off like fireflies, towards home. The Heartless ignored these hearts. One heart landed by the Dusk's leathery hand. Its bound fingers stirred from the ground and touched the round head of the Heartless.
A surprisingly warm but sad laughing sound left the Dusk, I'm sorry, Snippet. Thank you so much for finding me.
The Nobody's broken body started unraveling as ghostly white, grey and black threads.
N-nuh-no!
The Dusk fell to dust and then not even the dust remained. The Shadow scratched at the floor where the Nobody had been, scrambling for even a scrap. Nothing, no traces. The little Heartless scurried in circles around the spot and its head twitched rapidly, searching for any kind of sign. Nothing, no trail. There was nobody there anymore.
Scratchy croaks ripped from the small inky body, and it was as close as the Heartless could get to sobbing. It curled up like a dead insect, but its still trembled and uttered creaking moans.
A tangible vacancy entered the air as a trio of Dusks slipped around the corner. Their blank faces locked onto the snippet of a Shadow and its deviant demeanor. Their faces zipped open with a hiss as their gaping mouths opened. The Dusks surrounded the little Heartless, taking measured steps in a continuous circle as their bodies pulsated irregularly. Like a rhythmic heartbeat, one of the Dusks would whip its arm and stab the Heartless. The Shadow would jerk and utter a hiss but do little else.
Light washed over the air like a tide.
The Dusks froze and their heads twisted impossibly around. One Dusk was smacked in the face by a Keyblade of blooming flowers and a pinkish-orange pillar of sunset. The petals cut as blades and caused the Nobody's body to burst apart as bubbles. The other Dusks whipped around hurriedly, trying to get out of range. The red-haired girl in a pink dress managed to catch another Dusk with her Keyblade. The third danced, hoping from one pointed to the other. It whipped its hand out, clipping her shoulder. She yelped in pain and swung her Keyblade. Its blade caught on the Nobody's chest and cut through, breaking it open and dispersing it.
This left Kairi standing over a little snippet of a Shadow. The Heartless didn't stir at her approach, simply remaining curled up and shaking in a way like it was crying. The Heartless seemed aware and this was a familiar sight to her. Kairi's face softened and she knelt down beside the Heartless, asking gently, "Why are you sad?"
Muh-my s-sib-sibling. My f-fr-friend is gone. Gone f-for-ee-ever!
It was hard to say if Kairi could hear or understand the noises the Heartless made. But it was clear she understood what it meant.
"I'm sorry," she said. Kairi put her hand on its cool, round head. Her touch was light and warm. The Heartless still shuddered but it nudged its head into her palm. She steadily stroked its inky head and murmured like sea foam, "Things will be okay, I promise."
The Heartless steadily stopped shaking. It still would not lift itself from the ground, and so Kairi simply sat beside it, practically cradling its head in her lap.
A weak little noise filtered from the Heartless, Where do I go?
"You should go back home. There's probably people waiting for you," Kairi answered simply.
H-how? H-home?
Kairi glanced at her Keyblade and said, "I'll help you get back home." The darkness needed to be dispelled and that would free the heart. The light from the Keyblade could do that, but Kairi didn't want to stab the Heartless. She decided she would do it a bit differently. Kairi pet the Heartless and said, "Get some rest. Think of home while you sleep, and you'll get to where you belong."
The Heartless had no way of closing its unblinking yellow eyes, but it settled more, now tucked in like a tired pup. Kairi very lightly rested the Keyblade on the Heartless and put her other hand on its inky body. She took a deep breath.
Kairi called to the light through her heart. She let it flow into her and Keyblade, onto the Heartless. The light seeped in and washed over its dark form, unlocking and unweaving it. The Heartless steadily shrunk and dissipated, like sand in water. As the blackened dust drifted away, a pink heart was freed and it floated away like a balloon. Since the false Kingdom Hearts was destroyed, this heart was unhindered as drifted through the sky. Kairi asked the light to help guide it back home.
"Kairi?" a high-pitched, whistling voice called. A large-eared mouse brandishing a golden key had emerged from around the corner. King Mickey asked, "Are'ya alright?"
"I'm fine," Kairi answered. She scooped up her Keyblade and got to her feet.
He nodded, "Okay. Let's meet back up with Sora an' the others."
Keyblades in hand, Kairi and King Mickey hurried up the stairs, heading for the broken Kingdom Hearts, to stop the leader of Organization XIII from trapping anymore hearts.
Where is this? It's…so warm.
You made it!
You're here too? But…where are we?
It's where we're meant to be.
Together?
Yes. Our heart is whole again.
"I'm home."
END
CatCrescent: For anyone who might be wondering about the ending, I took a lot of inspiration from the concept of 'recompletion' that the Nobody and Heartless were simply two halves of the same whole, so destroying them results in the return of the person whose heart fell to darkness in the first place. It was also fun writing Kairi. She struck me as being a very gentle and loving person, being a Princess of Heart notwithstanding.
This was also a great blast to the past for me, reminding me of the things that I enjoy about Kingdom Hearts. I hope that you guys have enjoyed reading this as well! It's been so touching to see all the kudos, bookmarks and comments. I'd love to hear your thoughts and what you enjoy about Kingdom Hearts as well. And, once again, thank you very much for reading.