Chapter 6: The Invasion

Looking around, Link thought back to his trip through the portal and could sum it up pretty much in one word: intense. He couldn't see anything, nor could he hear anything, he just felt wind. An incredible wind rushed over his body as he was whisked through the darkness, giving him the sensation of falling, but at the same time flying. The only thing that disturbed him was that, thinking back, he never saw Sora; but, then again, he wasn't an expert on travel much himself.

Glancing around the worn path Link saw nothing but a desolate landscape that stretched as far as the eye could see. Gray dirt and the occasional shrubbery were all that he could see under the dark sky. The sky was encompassed by dark clouds that blanketed this gray world in darkness. Squinting his eyes to see in the distance, Link looked up along the path and thought he could make out smoke billowing up towards the clouds. Link turned around and glanced back to where the path came from and noticed that the beaten path he traveled on started right where he was standing.

That's strange, Link thought, what kind of path stops in the middle of nowhere? Where am I? Where is Sora, I can't see him anywhere: maybe he's in Traverse Town. It seems I have no choice but to head towards the smoke clouds, Traverse Town should be right ahead.

As Link approached the town he could see that the main gates were surrounded by heavily armed guards who seemed none to happy to see him. Traverse Town sure isn't a friendly place. As Link walked closer towards the gate he could tell something was wrong: more and more guards were flocking to the gates. The guards seemed to be in a frenzy and the tension in the air as Link reached the gate was palpable.

"Hello, is this Traverse Town?" Link asked. As the guards just stared, Link decided to try to negotiate his way in.

"I am Link of Hyrule. I was wondering if you could let me into your town. I need to speak with Sora."

Links cried out in surprise as he felt a sharp prick on the side of his neck and felt a wave of nausea overtake him.

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As Sora thought back to his trip through the portal he could only truly describe that kind of a journey in one word: intense. Wind like he had never felt before engulfed his entire being and overtook him. He couldn't see anything due to the blinding light that surrounded him. Unlike his sight, he had completely lost his sense of hearing as he traveled through the light. Wind like he had never felt before engulfed his entire being and gave him the sensation of falling and flying.

But now all that was over and Sora had work to do. First thing on list was to talk to Merlin and see if he had any star calendars; he needed to know when the next full moon was on Hollow Bastion. Glancing around Sora realized that he was back where he started: the alleyway in the First District that he was transported to four years ago when the heartless first appeared.

Wanting to get to Merlin's house quickly, Sora walked to the door to the Third District with his head down so as not to attract any attention or see someone who would recognize him. Seeing as there was no one watching the door, and he hadn't passed anyone as far as he could tell, Sora leaned into the door and pushed. The door moved about one inch before it stopped as if something was behind it.

Well thats strange; either the door is locked, even though it moved, or there was something behind it. I guess I can just take the long way around.

Sora slowly turned around and, risking his anonymity, looked in the direction of the stairs leading accessory shop and beyond to the Second District. Feeling a sense of foreboding come upon him, Sora noticed that there were no people, anywhere. Sora slowly started to walk towards the accessory shop, not fully knowing what to expect. Ascending the stairs, Sora saw that the door was cracked open, but no light was coming from inside. Sora walked up to the door, pushed it halfway open, and turned the light on inside.

In the light, Sora could tell that the door to the accessory shop had been forced open as chunks of wood were missing around the area where the doorknob should have been. Sora called forth his keyblade as he surveyed the shocking destruction inside of the accessory shop: chairs, tables, even the counter lay scattered in pieces across the floor of the shop. The only thing that remained intact was the ladder that led upstairs to the synth shop. Without actually walking into the accessory shop, Sora turned and headed for the Second District, he didn't need to head upstairs to know what he was going to see. But nothing he had seen before could have prepared him for what he witnessed in the Second District.

On top of the massive heaps of rubble that lay strewn across the ground, bodies of about two dozen people lay there as well. Sora stared in shock before rushing to the bodies and checking them for signs of life; but each body carried the same dark, omen of death. Oh God, they weren't prepared, they couldn't have known, I should've been here, I could've helped.

Numbly, Sora walked into the Third Dirstrict, keyblade dragging on the ground behind him, where he witnessed much of the same. Walking through the shattered door, Sora didn't even turn his head as he walked past the house where Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith lived. Shuffling down the rampway into the courtyard, Sora knew then what was obstructing the doorway. Huge pillars of stone around the door had collapsed and feel behind the door. Sora continued on his way to Merlin's house.

In front of the doorway, Sora noticed that Merlin had changed the spell on his door, for now there was a bolt of lightning engraved on the door. Sora stared at it a second before stepping back and crouching in concentration as he built up his mana to release a spell of the magnitude he had in mind. All the rage that Sora experienced at witnessing the events of today built up within him and helped to fuel the power behind the Thundaga spell that was coming. Thunder clouds began to build overhead as Sora continued to build mana, increasing the power of the spell. With a cry of rage-the likes of which had never been heard before in Traverse Town-Sora pointed his keyblade towards the door and released all of the energy, rage, and frustration in a spell of awe-inspiring power. A bolt of blinding light crashed upon the door and completely destroyed any semblance of what was once a doorway, for all that stood left was an opening about four times his height and just as wide.

Thinking that maybe he had overdone it a bit, Sora walked into Merlin's cave once again, unprepared for what was next. A battle cry rung out as a figure came crashing down upon him, bringing their sword down from over their head. Sora raised his keyblade horizontally over his head to prevent his untimely demise, and while he deflected the attack, Sora could not stay on his feet as the power of the blow knocked him to the ground. Seeing the sword close up, Sora saw what seemed to be a giant gun at the base of the unusually large sword. Getting a glimpse at his attacker, Sora noticed that is was Leon! He was alive! Maybe that meant that his friends were all right after all.

In the excitement of finding Leon alive, Sora almost forgot the circumstances in which he found Leon and rolled just in time as his gunblade came stabbing at the ground where his head was. "Leon, it's me, Sora!" Sora shouted, but to no avail, Leon just kept coming and coming. Sora backed away further and further, trying his best to deflect Leons blows, but his swordsmanship was no where near the level of Leons.

What' s wrong with him, he wont stop, it's like he's possessed. I can't hold out much longer like this. At that moment, Sora fell backwards into the water as he had reached the "moat" surrounding Merlin's house.

"Leon! That's enough!" Merlin bellowed. Sora, drenched, stood up as he saw Merlin staring at Leon with an anger in his eyes he had never thought possible the kind hearted sorceror. Leon glared defiantly at Merlin but did nothing; Sora clambored onto shore and just stared, confused.

"I don't need to listen to you old man! You've done nothing for me! And neither has he!" Leon said, looking at Sora when he said that last part. "I'm out of here, you're going to have to go along without me. I'm going to find her myself! You hear me: I DON'T NEED YOU!" Leon trembled with rage as he spat and glared at both of them, then proceeded to walk out of Merlin's cave. Sora turned to Merlin's house as he saw Aerith fall to her knees on the opposite shore in tears. As Merlin stared after Leon, Sora saw the anger fade, replaced with compassion and sorrow. Merlin sighed and beckoned Sora to follow him back to the house.

As the two made it to the other shore, Aerith stood up and hugged him close. "Oh Sora, I'm so glad you're ok." Sora just nodded as the three of them proceeded into Merlin's house. Merlin sat on a chair beside the table in the center of his house as Sora and Aerith followed suit. After a momentary, uncomfortable silence, Sora spoke up:

"Um...what was Leon talking about?"

"That," Merlin stated matter-of-factly, "we'll explain in a moment."

"I don't understand Merlin, what is happening, why, how have the heartless returned?"

"Fear not Sora, I will answer all your questions to best of my knowledge in time, but lets just take them one at a time, shall we?"

"Ok."

At this point Aerith spoke up, "Merlin, I would like to explain what happened."

Merling stared questioningly at her for a second, then nodded and replied, "Go ahead."

Aerith cleared her throat and placed both her hands on Soras as she looked at him and started talking: "Sora, you have to understand that Leon is really upset, he's not himself. You see, when the heartless came, they took most of the people from Traverse Town; even though there were a few killed, compared to the number of people who were taken, the number of casualties is nominal. When you defeated Ansem and locked the heartless away Sora, Traverse Town turning into a thriving town and hasn't stopped growing. The current population of Traverse Town is up to about 400 and counting. We even added another district strictly for housing.

"Back to the heartless: they came earlier today through portals that appeared out of nowhere. Hundreds upon hundreds of shadows stormed through Traverse Town attacking everyone: men, women, and children, no one was safe. The people resisted as best they could, but what kind of preparation did they have for this kind of warfare: none. Eventually the people of Traverse Town began to disappear as the heartless carried them off, one by one, into the portals. We tried to stop them, but you have to understand, there were so many of them, there was nothing we could do Sora, we couldn't do anything." Aerith paused as tears started to well up.

"It's ok Aerith," Sora stated, "I understand, there was nothing you could do, so what happened next?"

"We fought them off as best we could, but we got trapped in the alley in front of Merlins house. We could see the heartless carrying unconscious people into the portals, but there were so many in front of us we couldn't help the people; and for every shadow we killed, two more appeared in its place it seemed. We were trying our best when we all heard a little girl scream as she was being carried away. At that moment Yuffie ran through the sea of heartless to save her, but she was overwhelmed; the heartless took her as well. We tried as hard as we could, but neither Leon nor myself could find a window of opportunity large enough for us to get to her.

"As the last of the people were taken into the portal a huge heartless warrior came out of the portal, surveyed the scene, glared at us, and walked back into the portal. I think he headed the invasion, for when he returned into the portal, it closed behind him. I believe that he had the power to open and close the portals that were used in todays invasion.

"When we destroyed the heartless who were left behind, and there weren't many, Leon went ballistic, destroying everything in sight, for he had seen something in Yuffie that he hadn't seen in a woman in a long time. He had just never got the chance to tell her that, and he resented himself for it, as well as you. He believes that you could have prevented this, and since you weren't here, you as good as let it happen."

Sora hung his head as he thought about what Aerith was saying. Leon's right, I should have been here sooner, I might have been able to stop this. "Leon' right," Sora said, "I should have been here."

"No Sora!" Aerith retaliated, "What could you have done against hundreds of heartless?"

"I...I...I don't know."

At this point, Merlin interjected, "Sora, you have done all you could in getting here, just let that be enough."

"But it's not enough, is it," Sora replied, starting to get angry, "It wasn't enough to save all those people, it wasn't enough to save Yuffie, nor was it enough to save Kairi!"

Merlin nodded silently, "Which brings us to the reason you are here, I'm sure."

Sora nodded, "Listen, Merlin, I'm sorry for getting angry at you, I'm just a little upset. You see, Kairi was kidnapped about two days ago from Destiny Island by heartless you took her through a portal which I believe are similar to the ones you described Aerith. I went through the portal where I landed in another world. There I met Link, and the two of us...oh my god, I forgot about Link! I don't know where the portal took him!"

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Link blinked bleary-eyed as he tried to recall where he was. Currently, he was strapped down to a table spread eagle staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. Link could feel straps holding him down at the wrists, ankles, waist, chest, and neck. The strap against his neck was so tight that he could not even turn his neck, but testing the straps, he could tell that they weren't going anywhere. Still, Link struggled hard as he could to free himself, but to no avail.

"Going somewhere?" Link heard a familiar dark voice that he recognized as that of Siris, the heartless warrior, ask him.

"Going to kill you when I get out of here!" Link said in a fury.

Siris bellowed a dark laugh that as disturbing as it was frightening, "Temper, temper. I can't have the future general of my armies have such a nasty temper. We are going to have to break that out of you, but we can do that just before we beat the obedience into you."

"I'll never serve you," Link shouted, but as he did, he felt the strap around his neck tighten and the air constricted out of him. Link fought it, but the harder he struggled, the tigher the strap got, until he thought he was going to die, here, suffocating.

"You'll do what you're told, believe me, I've got big plans for you," Link heard him whisper in his ear right before he went unconscious.