A/N: This chapter is going to be one for the record books folks. That's all I can say.
Warnings: This is the longest chapter in the story so far since it was sitting at about 5,000 words pre-author's note additions. Also...you guys aren't ready for this chapter on any level. Not even a little bit. Personally it's my favorite chapter in the story right now, and I can't wait to see how you guys react to it.
Disclaimer: We don't have time for this today.
Song Title: A track from the Kingdom Hearts II OST I believe you guys are all familiar with.
Sinister Shadows
DATA RECOVERY PROCESSING
Recovery Status: 20%
View data?
...
Understood. Processing request.
Entry 7A-125 detected
Location: The Mysterious Tower
Time: 10 hours after the disappearance
King Mickey's stride was slow as he made his way across the grounds toward the cobblestone steps of Yen Sid's tower. He had returned home briefly about three hours prior to relay the news of Sora's death to Queen Minnie. The two of them cried together for a little while and then she sent him away to continue his mission to spread the news to Sora's other friends in various worlds. Given the vast number of worlds visited and the amount of friends made, trying to inform everyone of what happened was proving difficult. On some level, it was debatable whether it was even necessary to spread the information. Mickey himself wasn't sure. If anything, it just seemed like a way for everyone to feel useful or just be out of the way so those closest to Sora could grieve in peace.
And so, the mouse king was at his second stop, walking at a snail's pace as a means to get his thoughts together.
However, while walking he just happened to look up at the starlit sky...
A star blinked out.
Mickey stopped walking.
"Huh? Was that...?"
A second star disappeared before he could even finish the question.
In the next second, the king was racing for the front door to the tower. When he glanced at the sky again, he could have sworn another star was going out.
"Master Yen Sid!" he shouted, shoving the doors open before continuing his frantic pace up the winding stairs. It took Mickey less than a minute to reach the door to his teacher's study, and though it was rude to do so, he pushed his way into the room without knocking.
Panting, Mickey's quickly glanced around the room. Surprisingly, Master Yen Sid wasn't in his usual seat at the center of the room.
More shocking was the sight of Maleficent sitting on the window seat. Her cold, dark gaze drifted slowly from the sky to peer cautiously at him. Pete was kneeling on the floor a little ways off, his attention momentarily diverted from the multitude of books scattered about the floor.
Mickey was too stunned to speak for a moment. If not for his loud entrance, the two occupants of the room wouldn't have noticed him at all since both of them clearly had other things on their minds.
"Well, well," Maleficent began, a cruel smirk gracing her features as she took in the sight of the king. "What a pleasant surprise."
Aware of the sarcasm evident in her tone, Mickey summoned his keyblade and took a defensive stance.
"Where's Master Yen Sid?"
Pete glanced between the evil enchantress and the king, looking uncomfortable rather than smug. "Now I know we're not pals or nothin', but believe me when I tell ya...you don't wanna know. It ain't pretty."
"Be silent, you fool." Maleficent commanded, all pretense of politeness gone. "The King was kind enough to grace us with his presence. Why not give him the answers he doth crave?"
Pete shook his head, his attention staying on the open books on the floor as Maleficent rose from the window seat. With her dark robes billowing about, she reached for the magic staff leaning against the wall and strode gracefully toward the center of the room.
Mickey watched each movement carefully, anticipating an attack from the wretched woman. However, Maleficent caught him slightly off guard when she came to an abrupt halt near Master Yen Sid's table.
"It would seem in his old age, your master's defenses have decreased dramatically," she muttered, gesturing sharply with her staff toward the floor. The movement caused Mickey to tense, not because of its speed but because of what he saw in the space she indicated.
Though the rest of his body was hidden by the table, Mickey saw Master Yen Sid's hand lying limply against the floor. A thin trail of red liquid dripped continuously from it, staining the carpet.
Mickey swallowed to counteract the sudden dryness overtaking his throat.
"Maleficent. W-what did you do?"
The enchantress sighed, covering the master's hand with the folds of her cloak. "Nothing actually. Rather, I didn't take the old fool's life by my own hand. On the contrary...it was the result of an...unfortunate accident."
The mouse king glared fiercely at her as a rush of adrenaline pumped through his heart.
"I'm only going to ask you one more time, Maleficent." he muttered, almost growling. "What did you do?"
With a flourish she turned her back on the mouse king, her gaze on Pete. "I sent the bumbling idiot here to take back something your master stole from my personal library many years ago. I gave him specific instructions not to open the book..."
"I tripped and the bookcase fell over," Pete explained, scratching the back of his head, though his gaze stayed on the task before him. "Then that Yen Sid bloke rushed in while I was scrambling to find the right book and book it out of here. I panicked...and then these black figures jumped out and...and..."
Mickey's attention fell toward the books Pete was still searching through. "What book was it?"
"A tome of grim fairytales, in which rest powerful, deadly curses," Maleficent answered, surprisingly forthcoming with the information. "When in full control of the darkness, one can harness the book's power and bend the curses within to their will."
"Well it's no wonder Master Yen Sid took it from ya," Mickey stated, widening his stance as he mentally prepared to attack. "A book like that in your hands would cause all kinds of trouble."
Maleficent chuckled darkly. "Your Majesty, how much did you really know about your former master?"
Mickey answered by making a mad dash toward her, his rage having reached its boiling point.
"All I know is that you killed him!"
The mouse king leapt into the air with his keyblade raised high above his head.
The enchantress, looking less than amused, deflected the oncoming attack with her staff. Mickey flipped backward once in the air, landing in a crouch by the door before bolting into another sporadic sprint.
This time, Maleficent retaliated with a dark wind spell that tore through most of the room. Mickey tried to defend against this with an aeroga shield while in midair, but the force of the dark magic colliding with his own sent him flying.
"Wooooah!"
His back collided harshly with the ceiling. He gasped out sharply as the old plaster cracked in response to the impact, then gasped again when gravity forcefully dragged his tiny body to the floor.
After landing with a rough bounce, Mickey rolled onto his back. He remained still for a long moment, his bones aching with each breath he tried to take.
It was safe to say the wind had been thoroughly knocked out of him.
While Maleficent hadn't moved much during the short battle, the strain of using such powerful magic left the enchantress feeling a little breathless too. For a few seconds she leaned against her staff, watching as loose papers floated gently to the floor. She noticed Pete shivering a bit in the corner also, but after one fierce look from her, he snapped out of it and returned to his search.
"Were you not paying attention before?" she droned, irritated. "Yen Sid was struck down by another, and, had you shown some degree of patience, perhaps I would have shared their identity with you, you wretched rodent!"
Pete rushed to her side, a white book decorated in intricate crimson flower patterns. "I think I finally found it! This is the book she and those other figures came out of, right?"
Mickey barely lifted his head from the floor. "She?"
Maleficent snatched the book from his hands. "Yes. This is the one. Unfortunately, it is useless to me without the magic of the Intoner you so foolishly released."
"Can't we just...I dunno...seal her back in or get rid of her altogether?"
Rolling onto his stomach, Mickey made an attempt to get to his knees.
"It is not a simple matter to destroy an Intoner," Maleficent declared, sparing one last glance at the mouse king and his struggle to stand. Then, with another flourish of her cape she waved her staff in a circular motion toward the window behind them. A dark corridor appeared seconds later.
"Only a dragon is capable of such a feat," she continued. "As it stands, I can no longer take that form."
"Wait!" Mickey called, finally staggering to his feet. "Maleficent! Pete!"
"Sorry, gotta bounce," Pete stated, a little bit of his smugness returning as Maleficent disappeared through the portal. "You snooze you lose."
Mickey started to chase after them as Pete ran inside, but the portal faded long before he could reach it. He was alone now.
More than that, he was alone with a body.
The body of the great Master Yen Sid.
Mickey, shaken by this second tragedy, sunk to his knees and wept. Bad enough that Sora was gone, but now his trusted teacher and friend was gone too.
On top of all that, the mouse king was certain he'd seen the light of other worlds going out again.
"How am I supposed to tell everyone?" he wondered hopelessly, squeezing his eyes shut. "How are we going to overcome this?"
For the first time ever, Mickey couldn't think of an answer.
Entry 7A-125 - Complete
"How can this be happening? The world's are supposed to be safe now."
Aqua muttered this as she dove down from the roof. Two Fire Core Heartless followed her descent to the ground, but she made quick work of them with a well-timed blizzara command and a couple slashes. Once through eliminating them, she picked up Sora's necklace from the patio table and darted back into the house with a scowl of determination plastered on her face.
In the kitchen, Lightning was sporting a similar scowl toward the ceiling dripping with half-cooked pancake batter.
"Well, there goes breakfast," she thought, more annoyed than frightened by the continuous screeching that had initially startled her, thus creating the mess she would inevitably have to clean. With a sigh she turned off the cook top and began her trek out of the room to investigate where the blasted noise was coming from.
She caught a glimpse of Aqua yanking her door open while simultaneously struggling to tug a black thigh-high sock over her knee. Lightning stopped moving upon seeing the girl and started to ask if she was feeling better, but Aqua wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention, which was admittedly a slam to the older woman's pride but not enough to warrant a response. Instead she shrugged coolly and stalked to her original destination while Aqua shoved her way into Donald and Goofy's room.
Immediately upon bursting in, the blue-haired master glanced between the two characters and found herself irritatingly bewildered at how either of them could possibly sleep through the sound of literally hundreds of Heartless swarming like mutant bees not even half a mile away from the house.
It was unbelievable. Truly.
With a groan, Aqua ran over to Donald's side first and made an attempt to gently shake him awake, but the bird simply turned his back on her while mumbling something about picnics and Daisy. After a couple seconds of that she moved on to Goofy, attempting the same tactic, albeit more roughly, but ended up with the same result minus the talk about Daisy.
"Okay, that's it," she whispered, inhaling deeply as she summoned her keyblade again. Holding it vertically in front of herself, she called out, "Thunder!"
Two weak bolts of lightning erupted from the tip of the keyblade.
"Bwaaaaaaaah!"
"Owwwwoww!"
Drastic times call for drastic measures.
Donald was the first to recover, his resistance to thunder magic higher than Goofy's. "Hey! What's the big idea!?"
"There are Heartless attacking the island," Aqua explained quickly, her gaze on Goofy as he shook himself out of a dizzy spell. "We have to get rid of them and fast."
Without another word, the blue-haired girl bolted out of the room, though she could have sworn she heard Donald say something akin to, "That doesn't explain why you had to shock us." Whether the wise crack was given or not wasn't something Aqua cared about in the end though, so she kept trucking ahead.
As she ran into the living room, she caught sight of Lightning peering outside through the blinds covering a window.
The pink haired woman shook her head at the sight of the Heartless funnel cloud. "That does not look good."
"Lightning! Where's Riku's room?"
"Upstairs. Second door on the left, but watch out for the..."
"Thanks."
Aqua was halfway up the stairs before Lightning could say another word.
The older woman let out a huff of breath, turning back to the window. "She's going to find out the hard way."
This was going to be an eventful day for all of them. That much was clear.
"First I hear Sora's voice, then his necklace appears out of nowhere, and now there's a giant swarm of Heartless," Aqua thought distractedly, unable to properly process the sequence of events rapidly spiraling out of control as she traversed the steps two at a time. "How did I hear his voice? And did he hear my voice too? Where did the necklace come from? Did someone leave it there? If so, who? And why are there Heartless..."
Aqua was too lost in her mental list of questions to notice the sharp corner that led to the lone hallway at the top of the stairs. This wouldn't have been an issue if Riku hadn't been rounding said corner the second she reached the top of the steps.
"Gah!"
The blue-haired master only managed to catch a glimpse of Riku's shocked expression before the full force of his body weight slammed into her, knocking them both off balance.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me..."
Lightning continued to stare at the swarm outside despite the loud shouting and banging that reverberated through the house while the two keyblade masters tumbled down the stairs. There was silence for a couple seconds once the banging stopped, but it was soon followed by moans of pain.
"Just so you know," she called over her shoulder. "I'm not playing doctor twice in one week."
Riku got to his knees, shaking his head once before turning his attention to Aqua. "You okay?"
Aqua gripped her head, only now noticing that she was still wearing the potion bandages. She quickly took them off, then staggered to her feet just as Goofy and Donald rushed into the room.
"I'm fine," she answered a second later, though she wasn't sure if it was the truth or not given the myriad of surprises being thrown at her today, one of which she really wanted to spill the beans on but couldn't thanks to the immediate issue outside.
Donald waddled closer, deciding to use a low power heal spell on Aqua. "Sounds like we got a Heartless problem to solve."
Lightning visibly twitched at the declaration.
"Right." Riku answered, taking the hand Aqua extended to help him stand. "Let's get going."
"Wait."
Everyone waited for Lighting to speak, but when she didn't after half a minute had passed, Riku let out a small sigh and turned to face Aqua, Donald, and Goofy.
"Go on without me. I'll catch up."
Goofy glanced between him and Lightning. "Gawrsh, are you sure?"
"Yeah," Riku answered. "I talked to Kairi a couple minutes ago. She said she's already on her way over, but I'm worried she's going to run into major trouble out there. Give her some back-up for me."
Aqua raised a brow at this. "Kairi is already out there? Fighting? Alone?"
"Leave it to us!" Donald replied, raising his magic staff high in the air. "Let's get a move on!"
With a collective nod of agreement, Goofy and Aqua quickly followed Donald to the door. Lightning, having finally moved away from the window, opened it for him with a soft yet forlorn smile on her face.
"Go get em' Daffy."
"IT'S DONALD!"
"Whatever."
The grumbling duck waddled his way out with Goofy trailing easily behind him. Aqua paused in the doorway, bowing forward slightly.
"Thank you for your hospitality and for nursing me back to health."
Lightning nodded, her focus on Riku. "Sure. Anytime."
Once the trio was gone, the pink-haired woman closed the door.
"I don't like the looks of those...Heartless," she declared slowly, a small hint of worry showing in her otherwise fierce gaze.
Riku took a few steps forward, his tone understanding. "I know, but it's my job to take them out."
Lightning remained stationed in front of the door, reluctant to let him face the monsters. Even though she knew he was perfectly capable of defeating them, the possibilities of what could happen if she let him continue on this path were immensely frightening to her.
A parent's greatest fear, aside from the death of their child, is watching that child go down the same dark road they walked on, and having no power to stop it.
Riku understood this. His mother was an incredibly strong woman, but she had her limits too. She'd suffered through many tragedies throughout her life. He experienced one of them with her, and was still living with the effects of it to this day.
However, there were several pieces of his mother's story he had no clue about and probably never would.
Lightning Farron was an enigma, even to her own child sometimes.
But Riku knew his mother loved him. He knew beneath the general apathy she exhibited was a woman terrified of losing everything again.
As it stood, he was all she had left in the world.
Even so, regardless of the looming consequences, he had a duty to carry out the role given to him. He was a keyblade master now. There was no turning back from his responsibilities, and even if he could abandon them, he wouldn't.
His mother taught him the importance of honoring his commitments.
He would see every battle through to the end, just as his mother had done before him.
"Kids grow up too fast," Lightning muttered softly, a humorless laugh escaping her. "Teach them in the way they should go, and when they grow old they won't depart from it."
"What was that?"
She shook her head. "Nothing for you to concern yourself with." With a sigh, Lightning stepped away from the door and opened it for him. "Go. You have an enemy to defeat, don't you?'
Riku nodded, his gaze on the Heartless swarm in the distance. "Thanks, Mom."
Without another word he took off, passing by her in a blur. Lightning took a few steps outside, her gaze following him as he summoned a giant silver keyblade. The wind howled about, shaking through the surrounding palm trees while the monstrous shrieking continued to echo through the air.
Crossing her arms in front of her chest, the pink-haired woman shifted her cold gaze to the Heartless swarm in the sky once more. For her, it was a familiar and chilling sight.
"I'm getting far too old for this."
Down the street from Riku's house, Aqua, Donald, and Goofy dashed their way past several shadows scurrying across the pavement.
Aqua smacked one of them into the air with a grunt, causing the small shadow to dissipate into wispy black smoke.
"Fire!" Donald yelled while Goofy spun rapidly in a circle nearby, colliding into several more shadows. The fight continued on this way, with Donald casting spells, Goofy slamming his shield into enemies, and Aqua fighting with a mixture of magic and melee attacks with her master's keyblade.
Despite having never fought together before, the three of them worked seamlessly together. Sometimes when Aqua wasn't fully prepared to block an oncoming attack, Goofy would step in with his shield to protect her. Likewise, when she performed certain spells on tougher enemies like the Neoshadows and Large Bodies, Donald would back up her spells with his own magic, allowing them to do double damage.
However, though their teamwork was great, the speed at which they were taking out enemies was slow. Every time they defeated a wave of Heartless another wave double the size would take its place. They weren't going to get to Kairi at all this way.
"We need to cover more ground," Aqua called out, retaliating against another shadow with a quick aero spell. "Kairi needs us."
Donald sent out a flurry of meteors, shouting, "We can handle these small fry."
"Yeah," Goofy added, ceasing in his spinning for a few seconds. "You go on ahead and meet up with Kairi."
"Are you sure?"
Goofy laughed heartily. "Hyuck! Of course! We promised Sora that if anything happened to him, the two of us would carry on and keep fighting."
"And that's exactly what we're gonna do," Donald added, sending out another fire spell. "Go help Kairi."
Aqua nodded, then activated a fearsome thundaga spell. It shot out from her keyblade and surrounded them, taking out a large number of the enemies.
"There," she called over her shoulder. "That should help out some."
Goofy and Donald both gave her a quick thumbs up. "Thanks, Aqua."
She glanced at the two of them, wanting desperately to share the good news about Sora with them, but now wasn't the time to do so.
"Be careful you two." With that said, she took off into a sprint down the street, leaving Sora's most trusted comrades behind.
As she ran, she could feel the weight of the necklace inside of her pocket.
"Heartless first," she thought, cutting down another shadow while rounding a street corner. A blast of searing flames from a Fire Core flew past, just barely missing her when she cartwheeled out of the way. She cast another thundaga spell to take care of them then cast blizzard on the road.
"This will be much faster," she thought, jumping onto the icy pathway as her flowmotion abilities kicked in, allowing her to slide along the ice at high speed through the neighborhood. Along the way she sent a flurry of energy blasts toward oncoming flying enemies and tossed her blade like it was a boomerang at others all while making sure she casted enough blizzard spells to keep her fast travel going.
"They're all over the place."
Rounding another corner, Aqua stopped casting blizzard and skid to a halt along the ice path once she caught sight of Kairi at the end of a cul-de-sac. At least ten Water Cores had caught her in a wide encirclement.
"Kairi!"
The girl turned abruptly. "Aqua?"
That second of distraction was all it took for one of the Heartless to launch a water whip straight toward Kairi's face.
Aqua started to make a motion to cast a blizzard spell to freeze the vicious attack, but stopped casting when the red-head leaned back, ducking away from the water whip at a speed so quick it was practically unnatural.
She would have contemplated this strange development further, but a second Water Core was approaching swiftly from behind. The blue-haired warrior stayed still for a moment to let the new enemy think it had the upper hand before cartwheeling out of range at the last second. Then, with an elegant spin, she pivoted on her heel and slammed the edge of her blade against the monster. It screeched out in anguish then disappeared in the way all Heartless do once they're destroyed.
Kairi also made quick work of the Heartless attacking her, hacking and slashing enemies with a finesse that didn't match the girl's level of experience. Despite the training she'd received before the final battle with Xehanort, the Princess of Heart had an unfortunate tendency to freeze up in close-quarter combat.
This physical response wasn't due to fear. Rather, Kairi lacked a natural fighting instinct. She had to think before she moved.
And, in a real battle, there's no time to think. Fighting has to be second nature.
For Riku and Sora, adjusting to the role thrown at them was as easy as breathing.
Kairi wasn't a warrior in the same way they were. She tried her best for the sake of the worlds and for her dearest friends, but it didn't work out well, hence Sora's mishandling of the Power of Waking and supposed demise.
Aqua knew better now. Sora was most definitely alive. She didn't have a clue where he was or how to explain how she knew he was alive to anyone just yet, but she heard his voice clear as day. That was all the evidence she needed.
And as the blue-haired master fought her own wave of elemental enemies, she began to note how at ease the younger girl had become with melee attacks. In addition, she wasn't using any of her magical abilities against the Heartless at all. If Aqua was remembering correctly, that was supposed to be the red-head's specialty.
Even more suspicious, every time Kairi was vulnerable to an oncoming attack, she would weave out of danger and strike back long before Aqua could warn her or make a move to protect her.
She was fighting as if she'd been doing it all her life, and that was an uncanny thing to witness, especially since Kairi hadn't been capable of maneuvering this way two weeks ago...
Which begs the question...
"When did she learn to fight like that?"
Entry 7A-122 Decoded
Location: Destiny Islands
Time: 1:00 a.m.; Six hours after the disappearance
The mysterious figure wearing the familiar black cloak made famous by Organization XIII stared down at the crown-shaped pendant in his hand in silent contemplation.
"There are pieces of Sora's heart inside. The rest are scattered." The figure closed his eyes and concentrated on getting a feel for where the other pieces could be and ended up with a headache as multiple locations came to mind, including the play island where he currently stood.
How it happened was a mystery, but Sora had gotten himself into a messy situation with his heart.
And Roxas had absolutely no idea how to go about fixing it.
Finding the crown necklace was a start. Someone had cast a spell on it recently, which somehow enabled it to hold on to a few fragments of Sora's heart. The rest definitely existed out there, he could feel that much, but deciphering exact locations and whether the pieces were physical or conceptual went beyond what Roxas was capable of figuring out on his own.
Behind him, Roxas heard the sound of another dark corridor opening. On instinct he summoned his two keyblades: Oathkeeper and Oblivion.
"Hey! Calm down. It's just me."
Recognizing the voice, Roxas allowed the weapons to disappear from his hands. "Xion? What are you doing here?"
"I was part of Sora's heart too you know. And you were acting really strange earlier, so I decided to follow you."
Roxas almost laughed at this but kept still and waited for Xion to stroll up beside him. She was also wearing her Organization coat, but the hood was pulled down, revealing her short black hair and familiar face. With a playful gesture she yanked his hood from off his head so she could see him more clearly.
"Oof! Hey, not so rough!" he chided, laughing a bit in spite of himself.
"Sorry," she replied, her smile far more gentle than Roxas had expected it to be. He was a little confused by her expression and how the twinkle in her eyes made him feel internally. It was a weird fluttery sensation that circulated through his chest.
He knew he had a heart now, but he still wasn't fully aware of all the different emotions he was capable of feeling. He had an understanding of the most important ones, but little things like how his cheeks heated up when Xion stared tenderly at him tended to throw the former Nobody off a little.
Turning away so she wouldn't see him blushing, he muttered, "S-so you felt it too, huh? When he disappeared before? How his heart just shattered?"
Xion gave a nod, her gaze on the waves as they rolled to and fro. A low peal of thunder rumbled in the distance.
"Yes. I did."
Roxas hummed his acknowledgement, a scowl now taking over his features as he looked toward the folded tree trunk. "Did you also notice something off with Kairi?"
"Huh?" she questioned, blinking in obvious surprise. "No. Why? Did you?"
"Right away," he mumbled, closing his fingers over the pendant in his hand. "I exist because Sora turned himself into a Heartless to save her. And because of that...she and I have a special link to one another."
Xion tensed a little at this. "You do?"
Hearing the apprehension in her voice, Roxas placed one of his hands on her shoulder. "When I lost my memory and was stuck in the digital Twilight Town, Kairi and I were able to talk briefly. Not really sure how it happened and she was just a voice in my head at the time...but...from that point forward it's always been easy for me to sense her. Even if I can't tell exactly where she is."
"So, what does that mean?"
Roxas let out a small sigh. "I felt Kairi disappear the second it happened. I knew before we met up with Sora and the others that she was gone. And...her light hasn't returned. Believe me, I went looking for it just as Sora did."
Xion brought up her hand and rested it against his on her shoulder. "Roxas..."
"I wouldn't exist without Kairi," he cut in. "Neither would you."
Her grip on his hand tightened ever so slightly.
"But...Kairi is back now. Right?"
It took an excruciatingly long time for him to answer the question, and when he did, Xion wished wholeheartedly that she hadn't asked.
"I wasn't sure before because she looked and acted almost exactly the way Kairi would," Roxas began, his gaze narrowing on the sand. "But...I'm sure now."
Silence took hold again for only an instant, but for the two of them, it seemed to stretch on for eternity.
"The girl Sora brought back isn't Kairi."
Entry 7A-122 - Complete
"What? WHAT!?"
The mysterious figure read over the last few lines of Entry 7A-122 in complete bewilderment, certain something had to be off in the data somehow because the information was so far out of left field that mankind hasn't begun to invent a term to describe the measure of distance one would need to classify how far out of left field it was. It would be much easier to make sense of everything if all the entries were neatly in place like they had been before somebody wrecked the whole system, but such was not the case.
With a longsuffering sigh, the person moved on from that mess to review Entry 7A-125. So far, this was the most intriguing entry since the keyword selected for the search was "Kairi". If anything, this entry shouldn't have been recovered until much later...
"Unless...hmm."
Green eyes searched frantically through the words written in Entry 7A-125, looking for any hints or clues.
Eventually those eyes settled on one word.
Intoner...why does that word sound so familiar?
Rolling away from the sterile white desk housing the computer recovering lost documents, the mysterious figure moved to another database nearby and booted up the system.
One way or another, I'll find the connection.
A/N: Well, this chapter was something else wasn't it? I told you guys you weren't ready for this one. Thank you for reading! I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and that you'll be excited for the next one. It may take me a little longer to update this time around though. This is mainly because chapter 9 is not complete yet. I ran into a bit of a snag while writing it, so I'm currently a bit stuck on it. The ideas are there but the placement of certain plot points is where I'm struggling at the moment. Not sure how to arrange the pieces just yet. However, I'm sure that problem will remedy itself soon and that the updates will return to their usual speed once I get a bulk of chapters written again. Thank you all again for taking an interest in this story. Whether you review or not, I appreciate you reading all the same. Thank you and God bless you all.