-o- CHAPTER EIGHT -o-


the coliseum


Goliath and Scrooge had a great deal of catching up to do, more conversation between strangers than I felt I could bear. Even the parts of the conversation that were about me felt alien. Still not the slightest bit tired, I feigned a few yawns and insisted fervently that I could walk myself home. The streets were quieter and darker than when we had arrived, as the bars closed and citizens had ambled home.

Despite my confident stride through the dark streets, once I entered the shadowy path that led to the castle entrance, I couldn't help the paranoid sensation that someone was watching me. As I quickened my pace, I grew increasingly certain that I could hear footsteps, and even a faint and horrific groan.

I unsheathed my Keyblade, and gasped when it's faint light cast an inhuman shadow on the gravel path. A Heartless. I'd seen them before, even struck a few down, but somehow that didn't make me any less terrified. This was the first time I'd faced one alone.

The mouthless creature hissed and leapt toward me, it's stench unbearably putrid, spindly fingers grasping my throat. I lost control of my Keyblade and stumbled backwards. The Heartless climbed on top of me, choking me. I could almost hear Riku scolding me to never lose focus, and see Sora frowning at my lack of caution.

I reached out helplessly, unable to summon the mental energy to call back my blade. My peripheral vision darkened as my breaths grew stunted, the hands constricting my throat tighter. I was dizzy. I felt consciousness slipping.

A flash of sudden flames whizzed over me, and I felt a wave of relief as the Heartless released its grip and oxygen returned to my lungs. By the time I stood up, all that remained of the creature was the shimmering ghost of a heart, ascending to wherever it was that hearts went.

I looked around frantically, expecting to see Goliath, or even Sora for some reason, but the alleyway seemed abandoned. No foes or friends in sight. Except… just around the corner, I could have sworn I saw a pop of vibrant red color shift in the blackness.

My heart still pounding and throat still aching from the attack, I moved quickly around an empty building toward what I thought was a hint of movement. I walked on and saw nothing, but did I hear footsteps? Voices? I hurried to a jog, following an almost imperceptible hunch, when I heard a door click shut. I stopped in front of a lightless building on the rocky path, its windows barred with yellow caution tape and plywood. I looked up its two humble stories, and then up the hill beyond where the castle was perched. These might have been servants' quarters, I reasoned, back when the kingdom was thriving.

I pressed my ear to the door. Was this the door my rescuer had entered? Had I really seen anyone at all? Heard a door shut? My stomach turned at the name and face that came to mind, a tall and familiar figure with unmistakable hair… but it couldn't be. The odds were absurd.

I heard nothing beyond the door. My heightened senses relaxed somewhat, and my thundering heart rate stabilized. Gingerly, I touched my sore neck, wondering where I might scrounge up a Potion back in the castle.

I must have been in shock from the attack. There was no one else around, no one who could have intervened. I walked quickly back towards the castle, sprinting for the last few hundred feet, hoping there were no more Heartless around, either.

-o-o-o-

A ferocious animal roar cut through the quiet of the following morning, shaking me from my fragile sleep. My dreams had been plagued by the rotting smell of Heartless flesh and the teasing hues that reminded me of Axel. Bleary-eyed, I stood up and peered out the window. On the terrace, Sora was wrestling with an enormous full-grown lion. Typical.

Groggily, I dressed myself, feeling like my evening at the pub with Goliath and Scrooge had only just ended. I felt strange, looking at the unfamiliar walls of my guest room. This castle had once been my home. I had played here with a little boy named Cale, while witches and my parents were assassinated before my eyes, and I remembered nothing. I suddenly wished we weren't leaving soon, so that I could spend more time trying to collect the pieces of my past. And then I remembered Leon's offer, that I could someday return here and be queen...

Too weird to think about, I scolded myself. Too early in the morning, too. I tried to forget about all the overwhelming knowledge yesterday had brought me, and wandered onto the terrace to investigate the source of all the roaring.

Upon closer inspection, I could hear Sora and the lion laughing playfully as they sparred.

"It's great to see you again, Simba," Sora beamed, pulling the lion into a hearty embrace.

The lion spoke, surprising me only at first. We were such a long way from home, I remembered, where the creatures were so different. "Good to see you too," said Simba, bowing his head. "I'd almost forgotten what you looked like as a human. It suits you... you were one ugly lion!"

"Um, you were a lion?" I interjected, suddenly thinking maybe I was still dreaming.

Sora only shrugged. "'Course. I thought I told you about that... Anyway, what do you mean ugly?"

The two of them chuckled until a cool, husky voice cut through their laughter. "If you two are done flirting, now would be the appropriate time for introductions, Simba."

The voice came from a young woman standing to the side. Her demeanor was so still and stoic that I had hardly even noticed her. The effect of her voice, and her poised appearance, was chilling. A curtain of silk raven bangs covered most of her pale face, so that I could only see one of her dark, intense eyes. She seemed a little older than Sora and I, but only by a year or two.

Simba dipped his head sheepishly. "Sorry, got caught up there. Sora, I'd like you to meet Lulu, the finest young black mage her world has to offer. Lulu, this is Sora, the Keyblade Bearer."

Lulu reached Sora's outstretched hand, gazing at him as if she didn't really need to be told who he was at all. They had only begun their polite exchange when another party slid up beside her.

"Well, he's one of the Keyblade Bearers," Riku interjected, wriggling in front of Sora with his hand at the ready. He smiled at her so broadly I had to fight not to giggle. "I'm Riku, the, uh, black sheep of the Keyblade Bearer family, if you will."

Lulu gave Riku a vague nod, barely making eye contact before sweeping her eyes over me. Riku waited, watching her carefully, and after an embarrassing moment of lingering, he tucked back his unshaken hand.

"And her?" Lulu asked, piercing me with her shrewd gaze. "Also a Keyblade Bearer?"

"Um, sort of," I answered nervously.

She grinned coldly. "Sort of?"

"No, I am... I am a Keyblade Bearer, I just haven't really much before. Haven't beared, that is. I mean bore. I mean... right. Right. Anyway. I'm Kairi."

Clearly, not getting much sleep at night wasn't doing a whole hell of a lot for my diction.

Lulu hardly seemed satisfied with my answer, but her thoughts were hard to read. She simply nodded distractedly, glancing discerningly at each of us once more.

"Kairi, Riku, Sora," she repeated.

"Donald and Goofy too!" came a fast approaching call. Goofy waved merrily as he and Donald jogged toward the terrace. "Pleasure to meet ya."

Donald nodded enthusiastically toward Lulu. "King Mickey's told us all about you," he said. "Heard you got a mean Firaga spell. Maybe we can swap some tips..."

"They'll be plenty of time for that at the Coliseum," said Leon's voice. He joined the quickly crowding terrace with Aerith, Yuffie, and Launchpad McQuack beside him. I was stunned to realize that he, too, would be joining our party. "Now that we're all here, I'd say we start making some headway."

"I thought we were going to Disney Castle to meet with the King," said Riku, folding his arms.

Leon turned to Donald, who had that increasingly nervous look on his face. I remembered what Launchpad had said the night before about the fight between Donald and Scrooge. Just how much was piling up on Donald's shoulders? Why the secrecy and misinformation about Mickey?

"The king's been held up," Donald answered firmly. "It's not safe to approach Disney Castle right now. Instead, we'll make camp at the Coliseum and train as a team until the king can meet us."

"Training?" Riku questioned. "All this urgency and panic, and you just want us for more training? Just yesterday you were whining about losing a whole day of travel, and now suddenly we have ample free time to squeeze in some extra training? I thought this was war. What gives, Donald?"

The pristine white feathers of the duck's face were quickly reddening. "This is war. And like any war, this one is dangerous and unpredictable. The King's Thirteen is a special unit, and we have to move with special care. There are going to be a lot of bumps along the way, and without warp drive, every journey we make is that much riskier. And since there are thirteen of you, we aren't going to get very far with someone back-talking every order you're given, are we? Either you're in or you're out, whatever change of plans may happen."

He lowered his brow at Riku, and slowly gazed at the rest of us. As he spoke, Chip and Dale gently glided the gummi ship toward the castle, hovering just above the terrace and lowering a ramp to provide access. Donald raised his voice over the noise of the engines.

"Anyone else have anything to say? Now's the time. If you don't think you can stick with this mission, without insubordination, now is the time to turn back."

The engines rumbled over us, and the door to the gummi ship was wide open at the end of the extended ramp. Donald's wide and intense blue eyes challenged each of us. No one spoke. Riku's face was unreadable.

Donald bowed his head. "Good then. Let's put some interspace behind us."

The mixed bag of heroes assembled on the terrace of the castle marched determinedly up the ramp and piled into the gummi ship. The silence continued as we settled into seats, making some makeshift arrangements as necessary, and the ship gradually launched into the atmosphere. I watched the image of Radiant Garden, a world of memories I'd never known, fade into a tiny speck.

-o-o-o-

Eventually, the now considerably more crowded gummi ship docked outside the monolithic stone gate that circled the enormous stadium of the Olympic Coliseum. One by one we filed off the ship, a strange assortment to behold: the duck and the dog leading the convoy, the Radiant Garden trio marching determinedly behind them, Sora and Riku hauling Goliath in his stone form, then the lion, the dark enchantress, the jovial Launchpad, myself, and two chipmunks scurrying behind it all. We entered the stadium, which shocked me with its enormity. Sora had mentioned this place only vaguely, always sugarcoating the details of the actual fighting he did there, but somehow in my head it always looked like a marble version of our high school gymnasium. This place, however, was easily the size of our high school five times over. The sprawling battle space had been equipped with an elaborate training set-up: obstacle courses, weapon simulations, and of course, a giant center ring for sparring.

A middle-aged, overweight satyr stood with his hands on hips, barking orders at three others who were putting the last of the stones in place around the center ring. An attractive olive-skinned boy and a young woman with dark hair carried one giant stone together, while the third assistant, a towering man dressed in leather armor, carried four all by himself.

"Easy, now, let 'em down easy... especially you, Herc," commanded the gravelly voice of the satyr.

Sora, Donald and Goofy smiled warmly at the sight of these strangers and hurried towards them, while I was still soaking everything in.

"Mulan! Aladdin!" said Goofy, waving to his old acquaintances. "Glad to see you made it safely."

Sora dashed over as well, sharing a similarly enthusiastic reunion. "Hercules! Phil! Didn't think we'd be seeing each other so soon!"

I felt my sneakers cautiously planting themselves in the dusty floor of the stadium, watching Sora and his cloud of fellow heros exchange joyful welcomes. I started thinking to myself, geez, was there anyone Sora didn't know? How many worlds had he seen? How many countless people had he met? I was entering Sora's adventure now, and for some reason I was pretty irritated by it.

"Guys, I want you to meet Kairi," I heard Sora say, and suddenly I realized he was motioning me over. Slowly, I tried to wipe the sulkiness from my face and transition into a smile, while I reluctantly moved toward them. I was more than a little surprised and embarrassed when he took hold of my hand when I approached. "Kairi, this is Mulan and Aladdin, two of my old friends."

The two of them beamed knowingly at me. "Heard alot about you," said Mulan, sneaking a glance at Aladdin, whom I imagined she knew had heard alot about me, too. "It's nice to actually meet you. I was beginning to think Sora made you up."

"Yeah," Aladdin agreed. "It's nice to finally meet the infamous girlfriend."

Aladdin and Mulan chuckled together over their private joke, and Sora's cheeks went pink.

"Kind of weird to see you guys in the same place," he said. "It's going to be interesting, all of us from so many Worlds, fighting together..."

"Alright, alright, let's have everyone take a seat, we've got a lot of ground to cover!" Donald yelled over the scattered chatter. He flapped his winged arms to assemble us, and steadily, we filed into the first two rows of the stadium seating so that Donald, Goofy, Phil, and Hercules could address us.

"Sorry if that was awkward back there," Sora said softly to me as we sat next to each other. "I mean, with the... 'girlfriend' thing and all. I never told them you were my girlfriend, I think they just kind of assumed... Not that I'm assuming or anything."

He was blushing, but I was blushing even harder. I guess I was his girlfriend, right? Apparently other people, people I'd never even met, already thought of me that way: Sora's girlfriend. Again I felt this inexplicable sense of irritation. But I saw Sora's expectant eyes, and pushed the feeling away. Forced a smile.

"It's okay," I told him, giving his hand a squeeze. "It wasn't awkward. It's just going to take some getting used to. Being... your girlfriend."

"Hey! Zip it, lovebirds!" squawked Donald. "We've got serious things to talk about."

My red face grew redder, now feeling the weight of every other pair of eyes on me. It felt like I was back at the island, begging the boys to teach me to fight only to be completely dismissed. None of them thought I was good for more than being Sora's girlfriend, either. Did Donald think I wasn't serious? Because I was. I let go of Sora's hand, fidgeting in my seat and waiting impatiently for the embarrassment to fade.

"Now most of you know why you've been called here," Donald continued. "King Mickey is organizing armies all over the worlds. He is breaking a long-standing policy of 'world order,' which kept worlds closed off from each other and unaware of the Doors and Darkness and Light. He is reaching out to ordinary citizens, so that we can all fight Maleficent's threat together. Her army is growing fast. You are all here because you are the best and strongest your worlds have to offer. You will take on a special mission for the King. He is on his way here to brief you. In the meantime, you'll train with Philoctetes."

The surly satyr rolled his eyes. "Call me Phil," he said. "You're all in luck, because we have state of the art facilities here. Not to mention, until his unit in the Grecian army deploys, you'll have the one and only Hercules here to help, too."

Donald nodded and continued. "Goofy and I will be returning to Disney Castle to start training the new armies."

"You're not coming with us?" Sora said in alarm. I could feel his heart tremble as he sat next to me.

"Not this time," Donald said, softly. "But the remaining thirteen of you have an important mission."

"What, exactly?"

"The King will tell you in good time. Now, Phil is going to tell you a little bit about the training program he's got for in store for you..."

"Is Phil one of the King's Thirteen?" Riku asked.

Phil chuckled. "'Fraid not, kid. I'm a trainer, not a fighter. I make the hero, the hero makes history."

"Well then who's missing? Without Donald or Goofy, there's only twelve of us."

A moment of quiet fell over the group... I hadn't thought to do the math, and clearly no one else had, either. But Riku didn't miss a beat. And it was awfully suspicious.

"Well, uh... King Mickey didn't tell us who the last member was. He'll be bringing them when he comes."

There were vague nods among our team that indicated acceptance of this glaring hole, but Riku's brow remained curled in suspicion. Maybe I imagined it, but I could have sworn I heard him faintly mutter, "If he comes..."