"So… you lost," Axel says smugly, hands folded into his arms.
A majority of the group gives axel a deadpan look, Riku looks at him irritable as well as Kairi.
"Really Axel? You're doing this now?" Kairi says.
Axel huffs "I mean, a loss is a loss Kairi and I'm keeping a score."
Kairi shakes her head and mutters "boys" under her breath.
She turns to the table containing a hologram of the small red-clothed sora slumbering in the orb as JARVIS scans him.
To say that Kairi was overjoyed with news about sora was an understatement. Foregoing even her shoes she ran as she could to meet up in the new tech meeting room of Yen Sids.
She had been surprised and shocked, letting out some tears as she saw the miniature sora slumbering in his orb barely fitting the palms of her hands.
Roxas and Ventus soon trailed behind Kairi crowding her and Riku to look at the orb. Ventus seemed to be genuinely happy even calling soras name to try to rouse him from his slumber. Roxas as relived as he looked also seemed nervous and irritated but in a fond kind of way.
"This guy is always taking the back seat slumbering, leave some sleep for the some of us" He chuckles.
Everyone seemed to crack a little at the comment. Albeit it had been a year after the war everyone had been suffering some way or another; physically, emotionally, or both. Insomnia and PTSD had been high on everyone's lists.
Master Yen Sid strolls into the room with Magician Merlin trailing behind him. They take their respective seats on each end of the table and soon everyone else follows.
They discuss what they knew so far; Sora missing for a year, Kairi's lost memories, Rikus encounters with mysterious beings across the world of slumber. Now they are waiting for JARVIS's diagnosis to complete.
"Master Yen Sid, My diagnosis has been complete and It is as we had partially hypothesized. Sora, or better subbed as S.S.01, Sora Specicimen - o - one is one-fourth of the whole sora. It seems that this sora is one-fourth part of his heart. This brings to the assumption that soras heart had been split into four parts. Perhaps if you find the other pieces of him we may piece his heart back together to complete sora as a whole."
Master Yen Sid scratched at his beard incomprehension. The tension in the room cut as Axel exclaims "Great! We finally have a lead here guys. Stop looking so glum now we gotta find him and put him together like a nice sandwich. Easy peasy lemon needy!"
The group laughs, getting Merlin to chuckle and Even Master Yen Sid to Smirk a bit.
"Wha- What's so funny!" Axel says looking around blushing with a smirk.
Roxas laughs "It's 'lemon squeezy' you ding dong."
Yen Sid claps his hands in attention.
"Now, Riku has brought us valuable information. There seems that there is a much darker force working in the world of slumber so I want all of you to be very careful. If anything strange happens please report to me as soon as possible. Now Jarvis please tell us about the strange creature that Master Riku was able to acquire photos of."
"It seems that the creature is a container for hearts, once overwhelmed they break from the form of the original heart holder they appear their true form. This device seems a protective container for hearts although they don't seem practical if they just roll out of the device after a few hits and render them nonfunctional."
The group gives each sound of agreement or understanding.
"Master Riku, please relay to us again what happened to make these heart holders immobile?" Yen Sid asks.
Riku blushes and looks to the side. "Um… I" He fumbles with his words. Kairi holds his hand in reassurance and smiles. He smiles back at her and she nods.
"Well… as long as I know Sora… He had been the light in the darkness for me… and now for many others. He is our courage and he gave us strength. This red version of himself… He was so angry… so, so Angry I had never seen Sora so angry before… but then I remembered in our last War… He had the same look. It was a glimpse of Soras anger at an enemy… How long have we been belittling Sora? How many times had he been manipulated, used, and stripped away of his power and will? I can guarantee that not one of us in this room would be able to size up to sora… We would be shattered… now imagine if we were in Sora's shoes…"
Kairi gasps in shock, Tears are rolling down her cheeks wetting her hands. The room is obscenely quiet, so quiet you could cut the air with a knife.
"Now he feels worthless, Broken into so many small fragments. He's never had someone there for him, not truly." says Riku.
"What are you talking about?! We have always been by his side! I and Xion had always protected Soras Heart! Even when we physically hadn't been there he always had someone besides him! Donald and Goofy! The king, You Riku! Ventus!
Let's not forget our friends from all the different worlds!
So he shouldn't be feeling the way he is! He's just being an inconvenience!" Roxas says.
The group is shocked by Roxas's proclaims, Even Roxas himself seemed to be surprised. He covers his face with his hand in shock.
"No... That's… that's not what I want to say…" Roxas mutters.
Kairi slams the palm of her hands on the table.
"What do you know Roxas!" She growls. "No one knows how Sora really feels! As short as I have been with him… He never let out his true self. He never showed it to me because he knew it would hurt me and the others. Do you know who Sora didn't have? Who he needed the most?"
The group fell into intense silence waiting for an answer.
"Kairi please… calm down child…" Yen Sid tries to calm down Kairi.
"NO! Let me finish! Sora didn't have HIMSELF. He always gave himself so much to so many others! I'm tired of seeing him running himself to the ground like this… He deserves better…"
Everyone is silent lamenting and thinking about what Kairi had said.
"Kairi…" Riku says softly. He holds her arm comfortingly.
"...Kairi… I'm sorry… I don't know what had come over me… I want to say that i do know even a portion of soras hurt but… None of us really can. Sora, He protected me, Xion, and even Ventus within his heart but also he held a barrier so high we couldn't reach his heart if we wanted to. It was amazing when Riku had been able to reach so far into Soras heart." Says Roxas.
"Yeah… you should be sorry Roxas," Xion says with a nervous flicker in her eyes and a twitch upwards of her mouth trying to be snide.
Axel just chokes on his water at Xions attempt, laughing.
Merlin reaches into his briefcase and takes out a big blank book and settles it on the table.
"Well, fellas I believe we have made progress in finding Sora a way home! Now, I want to propose to place the sleeping form of Sora into this book. Perhaps this sora is not able to wake up in our current world because it is not his role yet to proceed."
"Man, can you stop talking in riddles!" Axel says as he crosses his arms across his chest and leans his chair all the way back.
"Merlin… please, what do you mean?" asks Riku.
"Right… this 'sora' is an element and a character of a story in its still drafting stages. He is still malleable. Lack of better wording this sora is an asset, a part of a four-type element of a protagonist! Now because he is one part of a four-element he is equal 1:4 ratio of a person! Neither I nor anyone has the power to write the story or the role of the element or asset in our world. That's not how the real world works!
Now, if my hypothesis is correct we theoretically could place this asset of 'Sora' into this book, You see in soras travels, Sora had met his Poo Bear and his friends, Characters in a book that we're able to come to life within the book because sora was able to connect his heart with the characters inside the book!
Now I hope to send this part of sora inside the book we may be able to write simple guides and connect with this Sora."
"Okay. Do it now." Riku blurts out before he could hold himself.
Any chance to bring sora back home, even one step, it made his heart leap out of his chest.
Merlin just lets out an easy chuckle. He opens the first page of the book and writes some simple guides to the story.
"This is a story of a young hero of the name of Sora, Loyal to his friends and Duty, He is Brave and true. A boy widely known worlds wide and remembered by his dear friends and savior. His heart split into four equal parts after an unforeseeable War had been waged and he fought heroically but at a cost.
Now after a year of research and search his Loyal best friend Riku who had been raised on the same island had encountered and now finally the first piece of his Best friend Sora-Red.
Now, Sora lives peacefully within the world that is shaped around his dreams and desires. He waits for the rest of the pieces of himself to come back to create a whole and complete Sora so he may rise once more!" Merlin adds happily.
Finishing up his draft he asks for the small red Sora in his orb slumbering to be given to him. He places the Sora on the pages of the book. Sora starts to sink into the book disappearing completely within a white mist that had formed over the book. The book shines brightly and hovers high above Merlins' hands. There, on the cover is a drawing of Sora Looking over the horizon of a beautiful sunset of a beach sucking on a blue ice cream pop. The outside of the drawing, the book cover of the book the cover pages were a constant changing of colors. Greens, Reds, Blues, Purples, Yellows always interchanging Mandela.
They look in awe and glee as the book settles down book open. A page I filled with nature cutouts like a popup book. In one section there is a beach with the small Sora there.
"Now, Master Riku and Trainee Kairi…will you please do the honors of giving us a proper report of this unorthodox situation?" Merlin flashes a grin at them both.
Kairi smiles. "Absolutely! Someone gotta knock some sense back into his sleepy head!" She says grinning.
Yen Sid cards his fingers through his beard thinking patently. His face is solemn as always but there had been a sense of anxiety about it.
"Please be careful you two… Keep on guard and most importantly… don't take too long… There will be much to do and learn from this 'Sora'..." Yen Sid says.
"Right, now let's go" Riku responds by facing the book and summoning his keyblade. He lifts up brave hart and shoots a beam towards the book, unlocking it. It sucks both himself and Kairi into the book.
-o-
Their body is weightless, a transferring world of Delica and interference colors as they hold each other's hands as they travel to their destination in the book.
"...Say Riku?" Kairi asks.
"Hmm?" Riku says without looking slightly behind him, eager to meet any part of sora. A part of sora today is better than no Sora.
"...What if… What if he had changed Riku?"
Riku is silent.
"Who? I sure hope you aren't talking about Sora. A little bruise isn't going to change that big doofuses hard head Kairi… Besides anything 'new' we find about sora isn't exactly new… there are just things… we haven't known about Sora… Things that Sora intentionally hid away from us…"
Kairi falls silent as she watches ahead.
A big white flash of light blinds them.
The warm sea breeze softly caresses their face and hair. Sending them a bit wayward.
They see Sora ways into the smaller plateau of the play island.
They approach him carefully, carefully, and expectantly.
"Sora…" Kairi mutters.
Sora turns his head towards the two. His eyes are glazed over. His expression is blank.
"Sora?" Riku says more firmly. Riku grabs onto Soras hand.
"Sora please, It's me - and Kairi is here too. Your safe here."
'Riku… This is RIkus voice. This warm feeling against my palm… this is the stronghold of Riku… Riku!'
"Ri…ku?... This…" Sora lifts the hand in his hand and squeezes hard.
"Sora!" Kairi yelps as she holds soras' other hand, mimicking Riku.
"I…I… I'm Sora? I…" Sora shakes his head. "Yes… yes, that's right… You're my best friends… Riku and Kairi…" He looks up to smiles at his two best friends and potential lover.
The glaze in his eyes starts to fade a little.
"Am I really here? This isn't a dream right?" Sora questions as he smiles.
"I hope it isn't," Riku says while he is chuckling.
They spend a good amount of time overlooking information. Kairi 3/4th of the conservation says that she had training with Aqua early in the morning and leaves the boys.
"Huh, It feels weird only being ¼ of a whole," Sora says as he places his hand on his chest.
Riku just smiles as he looks at the choppy waves of the ocean.
"...I'm just glad to finally find a part of you… no matter how small…" Riku replies.
Sora frowns "are you trying to tell me that I'm insignificant?" Sora asks in a considering tone.
"Sora… No. We love every part of you that makes you well you Sora. Right now you are so held together by anger but when you group back together with the rest of yourself… you'll be laughing and clinking Tea with Donald and goofy and the others." He says with fondness.
The frown lessens on Soras face but it still held on his face. Disappointment.
"Riku…" He closes his eyes and holds his hands harder to his chest. "I- no… There are no excuses for my behavior and… a lot of my gut feelings tell me you're right and I should trust you" He says as he looks up smiling at Riku.
"As much as I love my half-pints I feel like there is this unresolved jealousy within me. After all, we never got to the conclusion to our race…"
Riku looks at Sora in amusement and asks "Race? What race?" He says challengingly.
"Ah, you know. Our usual banter on the other side of the island. last one… doesn't get a paopou fruit!" Sora says as he sprints to the door that leads to another side of the Play Islands.
Laughter and ease of heart are heard throughout the air as the boys play.
-o-
"Master Yen Sid?" Kairi knocks on the door of his study. When she hears a faint 'come in' she pushes the heavy mahogany wood to enter.
"I heard that you wanted to see me?" She says as she gently closes the door behind her and takes a seat in front of his desk.
"Yes my dear." Master Yen Sid strokes his beard. "I have of important matters to speak to you of.
I have concerns and questions about this 'Sora' Riku had brought back with him. I am suspicious of him and what he could potentially do to our Master and friend Riku."
Kairi, listing she leans in anticipation and fear.
"What do you mean Master Yen Sid? Sora may be broken… but he is still sora! Albeit a little angry…"
Stroking his beard he closes his eyes as he lets out a steady stream of Air out of his nose and massages his temples.
"Kairi dear… That is the problem. There is much to be discovered about this Sora, This may not be a genuine part of sora and until we can find the rest of himself then we can complete a full scan to ultimately judge whether it is truly Sora.
I did not want to alarm you but I have reason to believe that Sora has changed… He has changed just like any other of us had after the war, yet it worries me because he had not been monitored. He had been missing for more than a year.
There is no definite way to tell what had happened after he had disappeared from the islands that fateful day.
After all, we had never claimed physical proof of Master Xenoarts defeat that day and or the complete analysis of the organization 13 or Vanitas."
Master Yen Sid places his aged hand onto Kairis' on the desk.
"My dear, I worry for the future of my children who hold their keyblades… we had lost so many of them before… I can not afford to lose anyone else lest something right under our nose! You had seen all of those abandoned keyblades on the war ground… all of those unfortunate Masters and students… never to be reunited and perished. I am only one old man much beyond his years… trying to protect his disciples… and his friends."
Yen Sid retracts his hands and places them back on his lap.
"Well… I understand Master Yen Sid but what does all of this have to do with Sora?"
She says as she feels a swell of anger bubble up within her.
'Is he trying to tell me that Sora is dangerous?!"
"I have suspicion to believe that Sora has not yet shown his true potential in his current plight. He is an unstable individual. All I am asking is for you to keep an eye out for our Beloved Master Riku and a closer eye on Sora. You will not know what this Sora is planning or if he has an intriguing way to manipulate Riku."
Kairi grits her teeth. Trying to push the anger down her throat.
'It is true we don't know much about this Sora yet and only Riku had met this Sora first…'
"What do I do if any such situations occur?" Kairi says, cooly.
Yen sid pushes a box towards Kairi. He prompts her to open said wooden box. Inside lies a tiny clear glass ball on the same chain of a Wooden key. A bracelet.
"If such situations occur you will be able to use this charm to trap and seal Sora within these charms."
"...I need time to think," Kairi says as she shoves the wooden box back.
"Trainee Kairi…"
Kairi and Yensid speak on other topics as well but ultimately Kair is given the charm bracelet nonetheless.
As Yen Sid watches from his Window of the leaving form of Kairi he smirks as he strokes his beard.
-o-
A door is closed and locked. The glowing book resting on the table emits warmth and trust.
The book is opened and a new section is written.
'Here lies the boy who is forevermore linked and locked by his master. Mind-body and heart..."