Inverted Sky: KH Chain of Memories
Chapter 6: Castle Oblivion part VI
The entrance doors to the castle slowly slid open from the outside. Upon which, a series of individuals made their way inside with a bit of awe to the surrounding hall. This group being made up of Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy and King Mickey. As all of them walked further in, they carefully examined their surroundings. But while doing so, each of the five quickly turned toward the doors when they suddenly slammed shut. Immediately following the resulting echo, the group rapidly summoned their weapons and readied for a possible battle.
Kairi actually having a mage staff of her own, as she held it with two hands instead of one, like Donald usually did. After a few moments of tension though, they saw a swirl of darkness in the center of the hall. Revealing Marluxia standing there with a small smile on his features; "Well well...the mouse king and his lackeys have arrived. To what do we owe this pleasure?" Marluxia asked as he seemed oddly aware of their eventual arrival.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Riku demanded, narrowing his eyes while pointing his weapon toward the man.
"You'll see soon enough, but for now..." the pink-haired man began while placing a hand over his chest and offering a cordial bow.
"...I hope you'll enjoy your stay in Castle Oblivion." he continued with an overly respectful tone that ended up sounding as though he was mocking them.
"Just make sure you go the right way...as who knows if Sora is on the top floor, or the bottom." Marluxia finished before instantly disappearing as quickly as he arrived.
However, each of the five gasped briefly at the mention of Sora's name, to which they then turned toward Mickey. Whom nodded his head slowly while glancing between the others; "It looks like the girl we saw last night was telling the truth, Sora really is here." he said in a determined voice.
"Yeah...though I'm wondering just who she was, at least we have confirmation." Riku whispered while looking down thoughtfully.
"Now we just have to find Sora and get her out of here." Goofy added with a small smile on his features.
"But didn't you hear what he said? She could be on the top or bottom floor." Donald claimed, letting out a sigh and tapping one of his webbed feet on the ground.
"True...we have no way of knowing where she is." Kairi uttered out somewhat sadly while looking to the only other door in the hall.
After a few seconds of musing things over though, Mickey broke the silence. "We'll have to split up." he started, glancing between each of the others for a moment.
"Donald...Goofy, you two go with Kairi to the top floor. Riku and I will head to the bottom." the mouse continued, turning his gaze to each individual when saying their name.
"I get the feeling there will be something or someone important at both locations regardless, so it's best to find out what they are." he finished, earning a slow nod in response from the others.
Though there appeared to be a bit of apprehension from the silver-haired boy in splitting up with Kairi, he ended up accepting this regardless. "Alright...lets go...with any luck, we'll meet back here at the same time." Riku stated with a small smile, yet there was an odd determination in his eyes and tone.
Each of them knowing that the teen was feeling guilty about everything he did previously. And now with Sora missing, he was very driven to bring her back as a means of atoning. Despite this though, Kairi placed a hand on his shoulder and offered a soft smile. "Don't push yourself too hard, you can't help anyone if you aren't at one hundred percent...remember that." she said in gentle tone, yet there was still a bit of firmness to it.
Riku blinked a few times to her words, but as he was about to tell her he'd be fine, the girl's gaze became a bit more pleading. Her knowing better than to trust him with something like this, at least not before he actually gives his word. In seeing this, the silver-haired teen just gained a faint smile and nodded his head. "Alright, I won't push myself...I promise." he claimed, to which Kairi gave a returning nod in response.
"Good luck." she said as the group slowly approached the double doors that lead further into the castle.
"You too." Riku whispered back, to which he and Kairi took each handle and pulled the doors open.
A bright light shined from within, causing each of them to shield their eyes while walking through. However, it soon faded and they were able to see clearly once more, leading for their eyes to blink a few times. Not only were they in a new hallway, but they were in two different hallways. Kairi, Donald and Goofy were each on the next floor leading up. All while Riku and Mickey both appeared in the next floor leading down.
"Huh...that's actually kind of impressive." Axel commented while watching the two groups through the crystal.
Each of the five looking around surprised that they were already separated, which just made the red-haired man smirk lightly while looking to Vexen across from him. "How did you do that?" he asked curiously with a tilt of his head.
"Hmph, I doubt you'd truly understand. But if you must know...I altered the exit location during the third of a second delay it took for them to cross the threshold of the door." Vexen explained with a wave of his hand, making it seem as though it was a simple matter.
Axel however, simply smirked a bit wider with a nod of his head. "Not bad...I guess you really are here for a reason." he commented while shrugging his shoulders.
"What was that?" the platinum-blond demanded in a growl, yet he just huffed and headed toward the exit of the room.
"Hmph! I don't have time to waste on you, I have real work to do." he claimed before disappearing in a corridor of darkness, instead of actually using the door.
The red-haired man chuckled softly while looking in the direction the man left, to which he just shrugged his shoulders. "Well...I guess I better go and do my job as well." he said, his gaze shifting back to the crystal ball.
Upon which, the image seemed to be focused on Kairi and her group. "I wonder how I should handle these three." he muttered silently before he also vanished in a swirl of dark energy.
At the same time, the auburn-haired girl let out a sigh while glancing between Donald and Goofy. "Well...it isn't how I thought we would separate, but I guess it happened anyway." she said silently with a sigh.
"Yeah...I was kinda hopin' that we'd get to have more of a 'goodbye' and 'good luck' moment." Goofy agreed while nodding slowly.
"Well...at least one of us did." Donald muttered in a huff, glancing toward Kairi.
Whom blinked a few times before pouting a bit; "It just felt like the right time." she claimed quickly.
Yet after a moment, each of the three laughed lightly as it already felt like they were becoming friends. "Well, since we're gonna be traveling together, would you mind if I asked a few questions about your adventures with Sora? I never really got the chance to talk about it with her, so I'd like to hear about it from the both of you." Kairi said, her smile slowly widening as she glanced between the two.
Both of whom had smiles of their own as they nodded in response; "Of course~! We can tell ya all about our adventures together." Goofy declared happily.
"Yeah...even though she had the habit of wandering off." Donald added with a bit of a huff, yet he chuckled soon after as even these moments were fond memories.
"Aw~, now isn't this nice?" Axel hummed out from the side, leading for the group to immediately turn toward him with their weapons drawn once more.
"Now now...no need to be hostile." he claimed while casually walking out into the middle of the hall.
"The name's Axel...and I'm merely here to help you catch up to Sora." the red-haired man continued, making a quick gesture behind him with a thumb.
In hearing this, Kairi's eyes widened briefly as she stepped forward. "So Sora is on the top floor?" she asked quickly, almost seeming surprised by this 'stroke of luck'.
"She's not there yet, but she's on her way." Axel responded, gaining a small smile as he glanced to each of the three.
"So if you're looking to catch up, you'll be needing some help." he continued while flipping a blue card up from his sleeve before throwing it to Kairi.
As she caught it, she looked down at the image of what she knew to be Traverse Town. The teen blinked a few times before looking to Axel with a suspicious gaze; "And what exactly will this do?" she questioned while narrowing her eyes slightly.
"You'll have to use it to find out." was all Axel hummed out before disappearing just as quickly as he came.
All the while, Riku and Mickey stood against Lexaeus with their Keyblades drawn. Yet the large man merely kept his arms crossed as he gazed between the two in an almost unimpressed manner. "You have both come here seeking Sora." he started in a silent voice while stepping to the side to show the next door.
"She is indeed heading to the bottom of this castle, but you will only catch up to her by using the darkness within your hearts. It is how she is reaching the lowest level, and it is the only means for you to do the same." Lexaeus claimed while pulling a card from a sleeve and tossing it toward the pair.
As Riku caught it however, his eyes never left the man. "And you expect us to believe that?" he stated firmly as he obviously wasn't trusting any of this.
"Whether you choose to believe me or not is up to you, but you will need to progress one way...or another." Lexaeus stated, him smirking ever so slightly in knowing that neither of them could really refuse.
"I shall leave you to your decision." were his last words before vanishing in a corridor of darkness.
Mickey looked down thoughtfully while rubbing his chin, to which Riku simply growled silently in frustration before looking to the card. Him then blinking rapidly for a moment as he saw the obvious depiction of Destiny Islands. "What is 'this' all about?"
Alright, I did manage to get through chapters 6-10, so you can read all these chapters at your leisure. I've also decided to have more parts with Riku and Mickey, so there will likely end up being more chapters for this part. But I really wanted to actually show some of Riku's growth, as I originally had a lot of it 'off-screen'. I'm hoping to get 11-15 done next week, as I would like to do 5 chapters per update. Anyway, I hope all of you enjoy. Until next time.
