A/N:
Responses to review(s)-
Tornado-kun: ^_^ I figured that Kuja would have a completely different back story for KH and why not make him a halfway decent person? (Knowing him though, he's still probably a bit of an arrogant narcissist...:p) I also had had plans for including Seymour in this story, but never figured out a way to incorporate him. Thanks for all of your input so far, btw! It's really been a great help!
###
Riku remembered the first time he had woken and found himself in another world. The darkness had taken him to the chapel of Hollow Bastion, and he had opened his eyes to find himself staring at the arched ceiling of a dark stone room. A woman with elegantly cold features and dressed in black and purple had peered down at him, a knowing little smile on her face.
Hollow Bastion had been the first outside world he had ever explored after that night of fate, and he had become very familiar with its layout and chambers. Walking through the castle again with only his own thoughts for company, he marveled at places he remembered as having lain under a heavy coat of dust and ruin, now repaired and refurnished to suit its returned occupants. There hadn't been much time for him to reminisce before. But now, with Sora, Kairi, and Sei separated from him...
Separated. Riku halted mid-step. Why had they been separated? It wasn't even as if this were the first time. Five years ago they had been separated when the Heartless had taken Destiny Islands. Sora had been sent to Traverse Town, to be accompanied by Donald and Goofy in his journeys. Kairi as well, although they hadn't know it back then. As for himself, he had been transported to this castle. Funny, he thought bitterly, how everything had worked out so well.
On a whim, Riku summoned the Oblivion keyblade into his hand. Its metal felt cool and reassuring. It was a beautiful, graceful weapon, really. It was also colored nearly entirely black, from the tip of its elaborate blade to the crown-shaped key chain that hung from its silver handle. Sora had found the key chain in the ruins of Ansem's laboratory shortly after sealing the keyhole that had emerged within the chamber. When he had tried the key chain, it had proved to enhance his keyblade to become quite a powerful weapon, only matched in strength by the Oathkeeper.
And yet...Riku realized that he had never seen Sora use the black keyblade before in battle.
~So why don'tcha ever use that black keychain anymore, Sora?
Goofy, Sora and Donald had been standing at the final rest point before the battle with Ansem, prepping for the impending encounter with potions and ethers as well as choosing useful accessories. Sora had been sorting through his keychains, the bright charms spilled out on the ground. Looking up, he gave a sheepish little laugh before answering Goofy.
~Heh...oh, I dunno...
He swung the Oathkeeper in a wide, practice arc, the blade flashing silver in the strange, shimmering lights that brightened the cavern.
~It's just...it's a really powerful keychain and everything, but something about it makes me uncomfortable. I don't know what it is, but...
He twirled the handle of the keyblade around his hand, biting his bottom lip broodingly. Then he shook away his thoughts, displaying a toothy grin for his two friends.
~Anyway, I should use Kairi's lucky charm for this final fight. You know...just because
The Oblivion's key chain lay in the palm of Riku's hand, and he stared at it for a long moment. In the beginning, they had thought that only one keyblade existed, but now it seemed there were at least two, if not more. Sora had his first keyblade, of course, hidden beneath the trappings of the Oathkeeper, while Riku had always assumed his Oblivion was in truth Mickey's kingdom key. Tightening his fingers around the edges of the crown, Riku tugged firmly, willing the key chain to detach. When the chain's hold on Oblivion's handle did not loosen Riku pulled harder. Still nothing changed, even when he was pulling with as much strength as his arms could muster.
~Dammit, why won't this thing come off?
Riku released the key chain with a scowl and dismissed his keyblade. This occurrence probably meant nothing. At least, he thought with a mental sigh, he hoped it didn't. With nothing else but his own bleak broodings to accompany him, he began walking forward again.
~my liege...
Riku halted abruptly, and his head shot up, his eyes darting back and forth from behind his blindfold as he searched the corridor.
A voice... voices??
It sounded almost like a chorus of voices, dry as autumn leaves and dissipating smoke. He was not so far buried in his own thoughts to not become alarmed at /that/.
~we have come for you...my liege...
The speakers sounded pressing and eager. The way they spoke was odd though... were there any words at all? Riku found that, although his mind was interpreting words and meaning, he was not hearing any real language.
"Who's there?" he cried out.
There was a faint shift in the shadows along the corridor and the familiar sound of Heartless bodies moving along the stone. He froze as numbing cold washed over his body.
There was something waiting.
There were voices calling...him...
Riku ran down the halls towards the source of that call, his surroundings passing in a blur. Distantly he noticed the golden eyes and dark shapes of Heartless watching him from the shadows, but he ignored them as the summons grew stronger. Suddenly he /needed/ to reach the source of the call, needed it with every fiber of his being. He barely noticed that the chill within his heart had become a cold fire of consuming ice that had spread throughout his body. It had become beyond him to care.
He stumbled over a fallen beam in his path, and only then began to realize where he had brought himself. Somehow, he had made his way into the heart of Hollow Bastion---the ruins of Ansem's laboratories. His shoes crunched on splintered wood and broken glass as he stepped straight through the hall into the main chamber.
~destati...tendi la mano
Riku walked into the midst of an ocean of darkness without the slightest change in stance or expression. Only when he extended his hand and the Oblivion fell into his grasp did the slightest glimmer of a smile touch his lips.
Surely this was how things had been meant to be all along.
The darkness converged upon him in a wave. Slowly, the thick tendrils coiled into nothingness. When the final remnants of the darkness had disappeared, Riku was gone.
###
Two teenagers stood on the stone steps, one hand clasped in the other's as they stared up at the doors of the cathedral. Both were breathing hard, having practically run the entire way from Gheppetto's shop in the first district to the chapel.
~Don't pretend you don't know the meaning of the true paradise...
Sora opened the door, taking the first step into the empty chapel as Kairi followed quietly behind him.
It seemed that Mickey had been right after all. Disgustingly secretive though he had been, the mouse king had revealed only the truth when he had told the pair to simply "keep going" and that by doing so they would somehow find their missing companions. The moment they had stepped out into the dusty light of Gheppetto's shop, both had felt the strange tug within their hearts, a feeling that had drawn them outside and then split as if leading towards two different destinations. At first they couldn't make any sense of this new sensation, but then it was as if they simply /knew/.
"One of them is Riku," Sora had whispered out loud as they paused on the pavement outside the shop. "The other is Sei..."
He had stared out into the distant skies, his mottled eyes a strange reflection of the heavens.
"Our hearts have been connected..."
Kairi shivered as they walked through the dark chapel, something numbingly cold passing through her chest briefly before fading into shadow. There had been little time for discussion on the way, but now in the gloom she took a moment to think about everything that had happened to them.
"What the Nobodies asked us...what do you think they were talking about?"
Sora's eyes seemed to flicker eerily in the dark as he looked back at her.
"The meaning of the true paradise..." she whispered. Why did this sound familiar to her?
Sora smiled bitterly. "Whatever they meant, it wasn't much better than what King Mickey has so helpfully told us." Frustration added sarcasm to the young man's voice.
He slumped into the seat of one of the long wooden aisles of benches, crossing his arms over his chest. The chain links of his necklace clinked with the movement, and his crown pendant gleamed in the light. "What does the king think he can accomplish by hiding so much from us? Who does he think he is, playing with us like this?"
Kairi quietly sat down beside him. She could tell that beneath the surface Sora's mind was in turmoil. He was angry with the king, disappointed that this figure whose subjects seemed to hold in such high regard had been so much more a puzzle than of any real help. The Nobodies were just as bad in their own way, popping up as they pleased and meddling in the affairs of this world to achieve their own mysterious ends. Most of all, he felt so helpless. Regardless of whatever he tried to do, everything around him seemed to be so completely out of his control, and spiraling more and more so with every passing moment.
Kairi bit her lip.
"Sora...what are we going to do once we find Riku?"
Sora stared straight ahead at the altar, but his arms tightened perceptibly around his chest. She instantly regretted asking the question once it was out of her mouth, but it was too late by then.
"I don't know. I guess..." He faltered and then gathered his words back again before he lost what little resolve he had. "I guess we'll just have to see, won't we?"
There was pain in his voice. Kairi could feel it too---every time she thought of their silver-haired friend, a dull, cold ache seemed to fill up her chest. She couldn't tell if this was simply her own feelings or if it had to do with the strange, unexplainable connection that had awoken within their hearts.
She tried thinking of Sei, waiting to see what sort of feeling her heart would give her from that. It was better this time, a cooler, calmer sensation in her chest. If she waited, though, something darker seemed to move beneath that deceptively tranquil surface...
"Sei," she murmured. "I wonder if Sei's doing okay?"
At the mention of the man, a strange expression crossed Sora's face---sardonic, sad, and pitying all at once.
"I trust he's doing fine. He knows how to take care of himself," he answered.
"I hope so," she whispered.
Kairi leaned back into the bench, her back pressing against her hands. She was staring at the little alcove where she and Sei had once spoken after a fleeting prayer. Somewhere underneath those amber eyes was a sage whose heart had been stolen by darkness, but she didn't like to dwell on the memory of a man she hadn't even known. Who she knew was /Sei/...a young man who had grown closer to her than she had first imagined possible, as both an ally in battle and as a friend.
"We should go now," Sora said after a silent moment had passed. "No sense in staying here any longer."
"You're right," Kairi said, standing up with him. "They're probably waiting for us, after all..."
They crossed half the room before she remembered.
"Oh!" Kairi stopped and reached into her bag. "After everything that's happened, I completely forgot to give Mickey this package...!"
After a moment of rummaging, she finally drew out the paper-wrapped package that Mohmoki had delivered to her. Sora inspected the parcel in her hand suspiciously.
"Package?"
"Yeah, a moogle gave it to me---he told me that it was for the King. You can open it if you want, though. Mohmoki said it'd be all right if we wanted to take a look."
Sora carefully took the package and tugged the knots of the strings undone. The dome of the sphere shone like a bright jewel among its crinkled wrappings. He lifted it from the paper, and then---it was hard to tell whether in experimentation or simply on a whim---he pushed a button.
"Sora!!" Kairi cried in consternation. "What do you think you're doing? You don't even know what it---"
"...We talked for countless hours, but one story in particular caught my interest: that of a key called the 'Keyblade.'"
"--is?"
Kairi stopped short, her eyes widening as a smooth, male voice seemed to fill the room.
"The Keyblade is said to hold phenomenal power. One legend says its wielder saved the world, while another says that he wrought chaos and ruin upon it..."
"Ansem...?" Sora breathed in disbelief.
Ansem's voice faded away, and the voice changed to that of a young boy's.
"...I won't disappear yet...until I meet Sora and Kairi one more time..."
A bright light burst from the center of the sphere, filling the entire room until...
A door stands before the white path, gleaming in the darkness. A silver-haired boy watches as the face with sky-blue eyes slowly disappears beyond the opening.
Gone. His hand lingers on the smooth panels a moment longer before he collapses to the earth, unable to fight the steady fall of tears that stain the sand...
A child stands on the beach over a small, redheaded girl sprawled in the sand. He stares at her curiously, pressing the palms of his small hands on his knees. A few moments pass before she rouses with a groan, gingerly sitting up and letting her knees fold underneath her...
Two boys play in the surf, dusted in the pale light of morning. One has copper-colored hair and the other has steel-toned locks, but otherwise they are identical in every physical aspect: yellow-tan skin and lithe, thin builds with perhaps a little too much ungainly arm and leg that doubtless they will grow into. They are twins with crystal-gray eyes, laughing as another turquoise wave tumbles about their knees.
They stumble back to land, completely soaked in seawater, and flop to the earth, careless of the sand that sticks to their skin and their clothes. Copper-hair closes his eyes for a moment, basking in the warm light. He opens them again when he hears his companion shifting into a sitting position beside him. His twin wraps his arms around his legs, staring out into the distance. He seems so...sad? Copper-hair scoots closer, a concerned expression on his face, but his twin does not move or look away from the distant waves.
"Promise me you'll never change."
A figure with light-brown hair and dressed in a white shirt and brownish-pink skirt approaches them from behind. The silver twin breaks off abruptly as the pair turn to face the newcomer...
The images are suddenly gone, and Kairi blinked, finding herself gazing once more around an empty room. Sora was still holding the sphere, staring mesmerized at the golden words that appeared within its crystalline depths before dissolving away into golden dust.
~The Records of Fate
###
They were standing on the fishing docks of the village, a group of four congregated on the far end of the last pier. Beneath them rocked a row of small boats---the sort that would have been ideal for paddling the short distance from the mainland to the small island just off the coastline. Sei had fully intended to borrow one of these boats to do just that. Preferably /alone/.
He decided to repeat his words again, as if maybe that would somehow break through the unbelievable obstinacy of this little girl.
"I assure you, it isn't necessary for you to accompany me. Really, I appreciate all the help you've given me so far, but I wouldn't want my own silly tourist-type fancies to bother you."
Selphie merely smiled all the more widely at him.
"Oh, it's no bother at all. You're new here, and I've got nothing better to do. Tidus and Yuna say they're free this morning too."
Sei turned his gaze towards the pair standing just behind Selphie. They waved and smiled at him rather sheepishly. Wakka was absent from the gathering, having been called away by his brother to attend to other errands in the village. Sei looked back at Selphie with a very bland expression on his face, the vaguest twitch of his eyebrows the only indications of any irritation he might have been feeling.
"We'll be happy to take you on tour," Selphie continued. "'Specially since it's been, like, ages since we've had a chance to go back to our little island---right Tidus?"
Tidus mumbled something unintelligible, and Selphie chattered on.
"It'll be fun, the four of us going out there for an hour or so."
Sei's lips pressed into a thin smile, weighing up his chances of shaking off this mad specimen of squirrel-girl.
"All right," he said evenly. "If you insist upon on it."
A smirk might have crossed her lips, but she had soon covered it with a chipper smile.
"All right!"
Tidus walked up along the side of the dock and stopped beside Sei.
"These boats can only hold two passengers at a time," he said. "You can hop into that one with me, and the girls can go in the one next to it."
Sei shot him a look of gratitude, not hiding the relief he felt at being saved from being partnered with Selphie. Tidus smiled, highly amused by what was going on.
"So we're off then?"
Sei stepped gingerly into the vessel first. Tidus followed after him and then untied the line that attached the boat to the dock.
"You okay over there, Yuna? Selphie?" Tidus called.
Selphie propped her crutches to the side, settling herself properly beside Yuna.
"We're fine, Tidus!" Yuna replied.
They set off, moving fairly quickly once Sei had gotten used to maneuvering the boat with Tidus through the water. In the other boat, broken-leg or no, Selphie was also managing well with Yuna.
Sei squinted through the glare of the sunlight across the ripples of the waves. On the shores of the little splotch of forested land they were approaching, he could see two rough wooden shacks, one the beach and then one built up in the trees. On the far right side he could make out a little lump that might have been the paopu island. An expression of fond nostalgia came across Tidus' face as they neared the island.
"We used to go out here all the time," he said, pausing briefly to stare at the island. "When we were kids and had more time on our hands than was probably good for us."
"It must have been nice, having an island haven all to yourselves," Sei remarked.
"Yeah, it was."
After a moment Tidus frowned a little, as if debating something inside his mind.
"How do you know them?" he asked. The question had almost been blurted out, as if he had been thinking about it for a while already. They stopped in the middle of the water, the boat rocking with the movement of the waves as Sei turned a bewildered gaze to meet Tidus' almost accusing stare.
"Riku...Sora...Kairi...how do you know them?" Tidus demanded.
Sei's face became expressionless---his infamous "enigmatic" mode. Tidus didn't know Sei so well as to recognize the look, but he could tell that he'd run against a wall that probably wasn't going to come down easily.
"I'm sorry," Tidus said quietly. "It's just...I've been thinking a lot lately. About other worlds. About what happened five years ago, and what this island's been like since then...when Riku and Sora disappeared, you know."
"I've had some really weird dreams since that night---always about darkness and shadows, all around me and inescapable except for buttery yellow orbs that float in the void and are suddenly eyes. When I look through those eyes---and I'm seeing so many worlds, so many places it is completely unbelievable! ---I think...they want something, don't they? Something inside all of us..."
Tidus trailed off, staring into the wind almost vacantly. When his eyes snapped back to focus and he seemed to recover himself, he tried to hide any uncertainties with a smile on his face.
"I must sound crazy, don't I? I mean, I'm not even sure why I'm telling you all this, except...you're the only person I know now who could even probably /begin/ to explain to me what this is all about."
There was silence as Sei took a moment to digest all this.
It took an exceptionally strong heart to remember all of that which Tidus had just told him from his time as a Heartless. Tidus didn't know he had been a Heartless of course, didn't realize that that night five years ago had been a time when his world had been swallowed by darkness. This was all very strange indeed. Sei studied Tidus keenly, wondering exactly what sort of people had he had found himself with anyway? Tidus shifted in his seat, feeling oddly uncomfortable under Sei's unblinking gaze. For the first time, it really occurred to him that there was something terribly strange, something he just couldn't figure out, about the man.
By this time Sei had made up his mind.
The boat began to move again as the two rowed towards the island. Selphie shouted back at them from ahead, asking why they had fallen behind. And Sei began with the night of Fate.
###
After the sound of those voices and the roar of the wind and the ocean, it seemed too quiet in the cathedral.
"I don't understand," Kairi whispered. "The Records of Fate...what does it mean?"
Sora stared at the sphere a moment longer, as if by waiting the answer would come to them within its glass depths. When nothing appeared, he gave up waiting and wrapped it up again.
"I hope I didn't do something too terrible by not giving that to the King."
Sora tightened the knot of the string and then gave the sphere back to Kairi.
"It's too late to think about that now," Sora said. "I'm more concerned about finding Riku and Sei before anything else happens--we can go back to visit the king about this later."
Kairi stowed the package back in her bag and buckled it shut, but there was doubt on her face. If her actions were the cause of disaster in the future, she'd never forgive herself for it. Too much was at stake for her to be so careless.
They crossed the chapel and climbed the old stairs up to the storage room. Things were just as they had left them last---but, then again, it really had only been two days since they had last left the cathedral. The portal and Kairi's heartkey lit the room briefly before they stepped out into the bright sun.
By the side of the road, in the shade of the trees, a very familiar trio idled, accompanied by their chocobo mounts. Glenn and Eries sat in the grass, playing a game with a set of small stone throwing pieces. Beatrix had her back to the newcomers and was taking a drink from a round bottle strapped to her hip. Eries was the first to notice Kairi and Sora, and she gave a small squeak of surprise at the sight of them. She and Glenn stood up quickly, their game abandoned.
"Ah! Captain..." Eries stumbled.
"--The keyblade master and princess have arrived," Glenn cut in quickly.
Beatrix turned to face the newcomers, capping her bottle and letting it fall to her side.
"Finally!" she exclaimed. "Leonhart sent us here over an hour ago to see if any of you would turn up!"
"Has something happened at the castle?" Sora asked sharply.
Beatrix nodded. "Riku was found alone down in the canyon by waterfalls, and we assumed your group had been separated. He has been in our care since then."
She strode up to a chocobo and pulled out a small device from a saddlebag hitched to its side. The bird turned its head to study its rider's movements with inquisitive black eyes. Beatrix stroked its feathered side absently as she fumbled with the device with her other hand.
"I'll report immediately that you've arrived."
Kairi sat down on the grass, pulling her legs close to her as Beatrix punched several of the buttons on the apparatus and began speaking into it.
"Highwind? The keyblade master and Kairi are here. Yes I know, but---Goddess Cid! What in---"
Cid grumbled something from the other line, and Beatrix snorted in response. "Hah! Fat lot of good that does us---"
Pause. Beatrix looked to the side as Sora walked up to her and asked if he could talk to Cid.
"I'll have to check up on that. But before we get into that, here's the keyblade master, and he wants to speak to you--"
Beatrix waited and then handed the communicator over to Sora. The young man listened for a minute as Cid related to the young man him everything that had happened at the castle since that morning. Sora's face paled as he heard more and more about Riku and the circumstances arising up at the castle. Then---
"What do you mean you can't find him?!?"
###
It was much cooler in the Secret Place than outside. Much darker too, with a damp, almost mysterious air. Light filtered in through little spaces between the rocks and the dirt and the tree roots, so Sei wasn't completely blind as he crawled through the little tunnel into the cavern. A child could have easily walked upright through the opening, but Sei was much too tall for that presently. Thankfully the cave itself was quite large, tall enough that he could stand up with his head just brushing the ceiling.
Sei pulled back a stray strand of hair as he looked around at the cavern. The room smelled strongly of wet soil, stone, and wood, and there was a certain earthy comfort about this place. The sketches on the walls added innocence to that comfort. Sei smiled as he knelt down and gently touched the crude chalk drawings, trying to imagine the small hands that had created them and the stories the children had spun while they etched their pictures into the walls. Then, after a few minutes of quiet had passed, he turned towards the door.
It was just as he remembered it. At first glance, the door seemed ordinary enough, even with the strange gold signs ornamenting its worn panels. It almost seemed impossible that just through that door could lie something as important as this world's own heart.
He pressed his palms against the cool wood, studying it. The door was still vulnerable to the darkness, he realized with dismay---no one had ever had a chance to lock the world's keyhole. He sighed, dropping his head a little and thinking about the keyblades. Well, he supposed there was no use worrying over that which he had no control of. He took a few steps back. With a last cursory glance around the room, he ducked down through the entrance of the Secret Place.
Outside, the island trio was sitting in the shade by a pool near the Secret Place. They looked up when Sei emerged, brushing dirt from the knees of his pants.
"Hey," Tidus greeted, raising a hand. "Find anything interesting?"
Sei smiled. "A few things, I think."
He walked across the path to stand beside the group. Tidus scooted over to make room for the man at the edge of the pool, and Sei settled down beside the Blitzer.
"I just finishing telling them what you told me," Tidus said, "About the Heartless and the keyblades and the other worlds."
Sei nodded, propping himself up on his hands.
"It's...well...it's quite a lot to believe, really. All of it sounds almost like a fairy story, or one of those adventures we'd make up as kids," he admitted.
"But I believe you. I mean, I guess it all just makes sense in a way."
Yuna and Selphie nodded in agreement. A new sort of respect seemed to be in the faces of the three as they looked at him. Even, Sei noted in surprise, on Selphie, who seemed oddly determined to say something. Her lips were pressed tightly together, and she was staring fiercely at Sei.
"I'm sorry." Right away she gave a kind of guilty laugh, putting a hand to her head in an embarrassed fashion. "I think I was being a bit of a pain in the arse to you before, wasn't I?"
Sei had never been a stickler for these kinds of things, and he tried to wave it off.
"No harm done."
He must have said it a little too stiffly though because Selphie suddenly burst out laughing.
"So," she said when she had regained control of herself again.
She stuck out her hand, grinning. "I guess I'll just start over. Friends?"
Sei accepted her hand. Selphie laughed again.
"Yeah!" She shifted onto one knee, grabbing her crutches with a ruefull grin. "Heehee...I'm sorry. I get a little excited sometimes. So how about that tour we promised you now?"
"All right," Sei assented.
The group had begun to stand up when Yuna gave a cry of horror. Sei swore as he caught sight of what she had seen, and Selphie gave a shocked yelp. Dark shapes had begun to form around them, solidifying into inky black bodies with butter-yellow eyes. Sharp claws crunched on the gravel as the creatures took a few steps forward.
The Heartless had come.
###
A/N:
Those first bits about Sora and the keychains was just my way of exploiting/explaining the fact that Oblivion was not an optional weapon in Final Mix.