Chapter 6 guys! Wahoo! Any way I've been having trouble with my laptop lately. A few days ago I was gonna post 3 chapters for each fanfic I have when, out of nowhere, my laptop just flat out dies. It's brand new and yet I'm already having trouble after 4 months. I got used to the fact that something's wrong with the batteries and that it quits at either 75% or 50% battery life, but last week it not only died- it erased most of my data and all of the applications. So right now I can't use my touchpad coz the program for it was removed. For the next few days everything will go out of schedule and I don't know if I'll be able to post the Halloween release fanfic I promised on time...

VI ~ Changed Hearts

Merlin's House…

I move away a bit as the bearded old man leans in to take a better look at me- a little bit uncomfortable at the odd closeness. "Uh…" He hums to himself, "Interesting… I've heard a heart can be fractured… but to be conscious already with three fragments…" The whole time, since those three brought me here, I've been hearing odd things like 'heartless', 'nobodies', and a group called organization XIII on the way. I thought the first two things I heard were descriptions about who these organization guys are (which sounds a little rude), but then I realized that Heartless is actually the name of the creatures that attacked me.

"Tell me dear," the old man starts. "What exactly do you remember? Like your name and what-not." I tried to think hard on it, but when nothing came into my mind, I look up and shook my head. "Welp! I'm all out of ideas!" the old man shouts as he raises his hands up in the air in defeat. I blink in shock when I see him accidentally creat lightning bolts coming out of his hands. A kind looking lady walks up to me and bends down to my level, asking me, "Are you sure there isn't anything you remember?" I lower my head and closed my eyes, trying one last time to dig deeper into my memories.

There was a sudden flash of an island at the back of my mind, and on the shores of the beach were three small children. All three of them turn to smile at me, one of the three runs up to me and grabs my hand. When I open my eyes, I spot the boy from earlier silently making his way out the door. I shot up and walk past the woman, shocking everyone in the house at my sudden action.

Borough…

Sora sat himself on the short step not too far from Merlin's house, not wanting to listen anymore on how much Akari remembers. She has gone through so much even before they met, so he couldn't really blame her for forgetting. "Sora?" He almost jumped when he heard Akari's voice. Hesitant at first, he slowly looks over his shoulder as she walks up and sit beside him, hugging herself as she stared off into space. "I just wanted to... you know... thank your for saving me earlier," she said, referring to that time in the tunnels. "No problem..." he answers in a nervous tone, unsure how to act around her.

There was an awkward silence between the two. Akari felt weird around Sora because he knew more things about her than she does, and Sora was nervous on what to say to her since she barely remembers anything about him and every thing they've done together. She only views him as a stranger that saved her life- not her best friend. He sighs and ruffles head, completely at a loss on what to do or say to her now at this point. As much as he wants to talk to her about what's happened and tell her how much he miss, it wouldn't feel right for either of them if he were to suddenly to talk about things she doesn't remember.

"Say," she spoke up as she looks up at the blue sky, "what was the name of that island?" "Island...? WHAT!?" Sora jumps up on his feet and faces the girl in shock, nearly catching the girl off guard at his sudden reaction. Akari nods and goes back to looking at the sky, saying, "Before I woke up, I remember seeing an ocean, bright blue skies, and then there was this island... not the big one but the one that was like a giant play ground for the kids." They both sat there, Sora listening how Akari continued to describe Destiny Island bit by bit, though most of the places she talked about were places where the four of them used to hang out.

Unbeknowst to the two, all of their friends watch from the doorway as Sora continues to listen to Akari. "You think they'll be alright?" Aerith asks. Leon nods, telling his friend in confidence, "That girl has been through so much, even before any of us were born she has been fighting this war longer than any of us could imagine. As long as her protector is with her, I think those two will be alright as long as they has each other."

Mysterious Tower...

After he finishes explaining to the two every single detail of their mission, Yen Sid dismisses the two so their can prepare to depart. "Yes! A solo mission! Good bye punisher and hello sweet freedom!" Jade pumps her fist up in the air and cheers, ignoring the deadly look Aura was giving her. Aura raises a hand and swiftly slaps the back of her sister's head. "Ow! What was that for!?" screams the bluenette as she jumps back and covers her head in pain. One look from her older sibling told her everything.

Aura scowls the girl in a dark tone dripping in venom with every word, "Don't forget the purpose for Master Yen Sid to send us off on different paths. He wouldn't send someone off with an attitude like yours. I wouldn't even if my life depended on it." That struck Jade hard on her pride. "You don't have to say it like that!" Aura ignores this and continues, "Just remember the mission and stay safe. Especially with the kind of world you're going to." "Yes mom I know... don't punch strangers in the face without asking for their names first," Jade immediately answers back in sarcasm.

She opens her mouth to say something, but Aura just gives out a long exasperated sigh and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Master Jade! Master Jade!" a voice cries out from the end of the hall. Right as both sisters turn to face the direction of where the voice came from, a bright yellow object runs right past between the two and crashes behind their backs. "Choco?" both girls said as they watch the yellow bird wobble back on its feet. "Your ride... is ready..." Choco answers before falling back on the ground. This was Aura's cue to depart.

Jade groans when she hears this, asking Aura, "How come I'm only allowed to go to one world while you can go to five?" Aura extends her arm out from under her cloak, creating a corridor of light. "Pffft... show off..." "Just be careful," Aura tells her sister then steps into the corridor. She huffs and crosses her arms, but not before eyeing the corridor of light that was still beside her. Glancing around to see if anyone was nearby to watch, she tiptoes over to the corridor as Choco shakes his head and recovers then curiously watches Jade reaching her hand out.

Right as Jade was about to successfully stiff her hand in, Aura's hand pops out from the corridor only to shove the girl back. "What the-" "Don't. You .Dare." This sent shivers down her spine after the corridor finally disappears.

Gummi Ship...

"Wow!" I took small steps into the ship after being beamed (me: I have no idea how they get into the gummi ship. :/ The only thing that came into mind was Star Trek.) from where we stood. It was hard to say good bye to everyone back in Hollow Bastion. They were so nice to me even though I just met them, but Sora told me earlier that once I get most of my memories I won't be as sad anymore. I don't know what he meant when he said that. 'But...' I secretly smile to myself as I placed a hand on the glass window, 'I believe him.'

"Oh! And one more thing Akari-" I turn only to see all three boys leaning close to me making the most funniest faces I'm ever seen. "You have to smile like this!" I stare at the three with wide eyes before breaking into a laughing fit, clutching my stomach as I wipe the tear coming from my eye. "What's with those faces? You three look so silly!" I laugh. "The ship runs on smiles! So until we arrive at the next world, you have to smile the whole entire trip!" Sora ends up laughing next when he see's my face twist into horror. "I can't smile that long! Unless I'm Sora then there is no way I can smile for that long!"

Even though I've known them for a short amount of time, I can tell Sora is the type of person who can't stop smiling once he's happy. Eventually, they somehow got me to smile long enough for them to prepare for take off. That's when I noticed one small detail about the ship. "Um... guys? Where do I sit?" I ask, noticing how there were only three seats. "Hahaha... sorry... we had the fourth one uninstalled... but we'll put it back immediately after we land!" Donald yelps on the last part right before I would ask about the fourth seat. "Alright I guess..." I eyed the two animals as the frantically huddle up.

Sora pats my shoulder, offering with a big smile, "Don't worry! You can sit on my seat if you like. I'll just stay in the front and drive the gummi ship." "NO!" I was taken aback at Donald and Goofy's cries. "You'll crash us again! There is no way I'll EVER let you drive again!" Donald yells. I watch in the sidelines with Goofy as Donald and Sora start to argue, and by the looks of how well Goofy was- this probably wasn't an uncommon thing. "How long does this usually last," I whisper over to Goofy so we won't end up get caught up in the fight.

He whispers back, "Well... usually Donald would blow up and march back to his seat..." And just as Goofy said, Donald finally blew up by throwing his hat to the ground and marches back to his seat. We both shrug at this and went to our prospective places, something that felt oddly familiar to me when I went up to calm Sora down. "You alright there porcupine head?" I joke a bit, hoping it would help him forget what happened. He huffs, saying, "Donald doesn't know what he's talking about! I didn't crash the gummi ship! I just parked it the wrong way! He's no better at flying when we're getting attack by heartless."

I had no idea how to react to this. All I could do his pat his shoulder. I didn't even notice we took off until the ground start to shift around under my feet, causing me to lose balance and fall against Sora's body, both of us falling onto his seat. "Sorry! We had a little turbulence there!" Goofy apologizes from the front. I didn't even notice how close I was to Sora until I decided to look up. I pull away and apologize, hiding my red cheeks, "Sorry! It was an accident!" "N-No problem!" he answers back, probably just as embarrassed as I was. For a second I thought things would stay awkward until I noticed the change of view out the window.

I dash off to the window and gaze out the window in awe, my eyes practically sparkling at the number of stars that surrounds us. I don't know why, but I turn and called over to Sora, "This is amazing Sora! You have to come see this!"

Sora was surprised at first but then ends up smiling, walking over to Akari's side as she turns her attention back to the stars. A brief image of Akari appeared at the back of his mind, mirroring the exact same action Akari here did one year ago.

"Sora you have to come see this! I've never seen this many stars before!"

"Sora? Will I really get my memories back?" she blurts out.

"Something on your mind?"
"Well I've been thinking... what will happen if I never get them all in time?"

He actually never though about that. Merlin told them to quickly find her heart fragments, never about there being a time limit. Sora takes her hand in his, catching her by surprise as he swore to her, "I swear... even if you don't remember everything, I'll help you make new memories."

Garden of Assemblage...

Searching for whatever data that was inside the computer, the white hooded stranger stares hard the blue screen. For a brief moment she seemed pleased at the data that was shown on the screen only for a large text to appear: ACCESS DENIED. Frustrated, she slams her fist on the machine before pulling away. "You collected all this data... yet," she looks up at all the panels that surrounded her from above, "you collected this much on those poor heartless beings and not the purest of all hearts." Behind her turned back was someone dressed in the same white cloak as her, staring and waiting for her to notice.

She moves to leave but then comes to a stop, finally sensing the presence of the other intruder. She was about to summon her weapon only for her world to turn black the moment the turns around.

"You can't run forever."

To Be Continued