I don't own Kingdom Hearts or its characters. Kiara is mine to don't take her ( really shoulda just made it one long chapter and only have to put this thing once..)(or there's copy and paste I guess)
In the other room Leon and the others were discussing what to do next.
"We still have no idea who's behind the heartless."
"We can beat back the heartless. What about Kuja?" asked Leon. "You said he brought his world here to assimilate with another world right?"
"Yes, but all the people in the world have to die first. That's why he has the Invincible; to extinguish all life for the preservation of Terra," said Zidane.
"And he told the queen that he'd destroy worlds until she chooses a world for him," said Donald.
"And she'll choose Hollow Bastion for sure," commented Aeris.
"Not if we can put Kairi back on the throne," said Kiara as she came in.
"And why is that?"
"Mickey is no King," she stated.
"Why you!" Donald used Thundaga on Kiara but it seemed to just get absorbed into her hair. She the flipped her head slightly so that her hair hit the door behind her. The door crumbled.
Kiara put up a new door with the wave of her hand. "As I was saying; Mickey is not the King. The Mouse line has served at steward to Kairi's family for generations. But with the death of Bastion and the assumed death of his only heir Mickey stole the crown," continued Kiara in her usual monotone.
"But what would be the purpose of me being crowned? I just don't get it." Kairi sighed.
"Power would shift back to Kingdom Hearts and with the proper ruler and the right council we could rid ourselves of Kuja and the heartless for good."
"Kingdom Hearts?"
"Maleficent's memory spell did do its job," frowned Kiara. "Hollow Bastion was not always named as such. Hollow Bastion was the original Kingdom Hearts. Maleficent renamed the world after she killed Bastion and Bastion sent the door away."
"If she used a forget spell, why do you remember?" asked Yuffie.
"I'm not the only one who remembers, but that other will remain anonymous," said Kiara. "She cast the spell after she locked me up. And it would have been extremely foolish to erase the memory of the one person who knew where the object of her search was."
"Then why did Kairi forget?" asked Goofy.
"Her memory block was because of me, not Maleficent."
"So our plan is to fly Kairi to Hollow Bastion, raise an army and kill the leader of the heartless and Kuja," clarified Cid. "Alright but still leaves us with one problem. Who's leading the heartless?"
"They'll be at Hollow Bastion," said Cloud with his eyes still closed. "And I'll kill them."
The troop stayed another day to rest before boarding Cid's large gummi ship. Cloud and Kiara stayed far apart and Riku was still unconscious. With the warp gummi damaged it was a three day trip even with the warp rift. Riku woke on the second day.
Riku cracked open his eyes and looked to his left. Sora was curled up in the bed side chair.
"I'm still dreaming," whispered Riku and stared at the ceiling.
Sora woke the moment Riku moved.
"Hey."
"Hi."
"Are you feeling alright?"
"A little stiff."
Riku sat up and swung his legs over the edge.
"The last time I sat on a bed my feet didn't touch the ground," laughed Riku softly.
Sora leaned over and poked Riku's cheek.
"Hey, what was that for?" asked Riku and batted his friends had away playfully.
"So I'm not dreaming.." gaped Sora.
Riku reached over and poked Sora, "Guess I'm not dreaming either."
They sat in silence for a moment.
"You grew," commented Riku.
"Yeah, five ten," Sora grinned.
The both stood to see if Riku was still taller. They came eye to eye so they turned back to back to get a better judgment. Sora felt Riku go slightly on his tiptoes so he did the same. Riku stood higher and Sora got taller.
"So now it's a challenge to determine who has bigger feet," said Riku.
Sora laughed and stepped on the backs of Riku's heels.
"I win," he smiled.
Riku lifted his right foot and Sora toppled onto the bed.
"I win. You should know that, I always win."
Kairi ran into the room and saw Riku on the floor with Sora over him tickling the silver haired boy to death it seemed.
"Well aren't you quick to recover," she said.
Sora stood and helped Riku up, both still trying to calm down. Kairi walked over and hugged the silver haired boy.
"I'm glad you're ok," Kairi whispered and buried her face in the white fabric of Riku's shirt.
Riku looked over at Sora worriedly. He placed his hands on Kairi's shoulders and pushed her pack softly.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Kairi silly. I haven't changed that much."
Riku glanced at Sora helplessly and then turned back to Kairi.
"I've never met a Kairi in my life."
Kairi was shocked. She stepped back and ran from the room. Sora took his spot in the chair.
"How could you forget Kairi?"
"I didn't forget. I never knew her so I could forget her," huffed Riku and sat on the bed.
"See it'd be one thing if you'd just forgot about people during five years of isolation, but you seem like you really never met her," mused Sora, and his guilt came back full force. "What, um.. what happened during the last five years?"
"Hm…." Riku leaned forward and laced his fingers in his hair.
"Riku?"
"I don't know…."
Sora slumped forward, "It's all my fault…. I could've prevented this…. Riku I'm so sorry."
"For what?"
"Forget it. You'll remember some time," Sora smiled forlornly.
The room door opened again and Aeris and Kiara walked in with Kairi following close behind.
"So you are awake, I'm glad," said Aeris.
Riku leaned over to Sora," Do I know them too?"
"Yeah."
"Kairi told us you're having a bit of a memory problem," Aeris continued. "She thought maybe we could do something."
"Mm…. Ok."
Aeris placed a hand on Riku's hair and closed her eyes. Two minutes crept by.
"I can't find anything wrong," Aeris sighed and stepped back.
"Then why.." began Sora
"Maybe it's not a matter of the mind but of the heart," said Kiara from her place against the wall.
"What are you saying?" asked Kairi.
"The heartless probably took most of his heart, and the bit they left.. is you," she looked at Sora.
"So he'll never remember me?" Kairi sniffled.
Aeris gave her a hug, "All we have to do is kill the heartless that took Riku's heart."
"But there were so many heartless," Sora said as he looked at his brooding friend. "How will we know which ones to kill?"
"We'll just have to kill them all," said Kiara and walked out.
Kairi soon followed with Aeris.
"Hungry?"
"Starving."
Sora led Riku to the kitchen.
"So what do you want?" Sora asked.
"Depends on what there is."
"Anything," Sora patted a small microwave-looking device. "So what are you in the mood for?"
"A cheese burger."
"You have to chance to eat anything you want and you choose a cheese burger?" Sora punched a few buttons and the machine flashed. "But whatever." Sora passed Riku his choice food and put in a different code and sat down with his food.
"Cheese cake?"
"You betcha!" smiled Sora.
They ate quickly and decided to walk around the ship.
"So.. I'm really the only thing you remember?" asked Sora.
"Yup," Riku tucked some of his bangs behind his ear.
Yuffie came running down the hallway.
"Enemy gummis, come on."
They ran with the green clad ninja to the gunner seats. The three took their spots and pulled down the targeting system and activated the guns. Riku was the first one set up and firing.
"Well he obviously remembers something else," thought Sora.
"I've never seen so many!" exclaimed Yuffie.
"Considering the circumstances I'm not surprised," Sora replied.
Kiara and Leon soon joined them.
"They've put up more barricades," Leon said.
"So that's why I'm getting air sick," laughed Yuffie.
"This is bad guys,' said Cid over the communication system. "We're taking heavy damage. We'll have to bail soon if this keeps up."
"Roger Eagle One," replied Leon and nodded toward Yuffie.
"Got it."
Yuffie ran off to ready the escape pods.
"You two should go too," suggested Leon.
"You'll manage?"
"Of course."
"Lets go Riku."
The two synchronously jumped over the backs of their chairs and ran after Yuffie.
"So who were they?" asked Riku as they ran.
"The guy was Leon, the girl with the silver hair was Kiara, she's the girl from earlier."
"And I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie," she said as they entered the pod room. "Aeris, Kairi, and Zidane already left."
"So three to a pod?" asked Riku as he watched Donald and Goofy wait impatiently for the next shuttle to load into the launcher.
"No, four, but Donald and Goofy wanted to go together," replied Yuffie.
"And how many pods?"
"Two left."
Cloud came in.
"Well it's time for me to go," Yuffie smiled.
Cloud, Yuffie, Donald, and Goofy boarded the pod and it locked up. Yuffie waved before she was catapulted out with the others.
"What's wrong Sora?" Riku asked.
"There's one pod left."
"Yeah, just enough for the two of us and, um, the other two gunners.'
"There's still Cid," said Sora.
"Oh…."
"Everyone ready?" asked Cid as he came in with Kiara and Leon. "Don't worry, we'll fit."
Sora and Riku got in the pod, then Leon and Cid.
"The four of us barely fit,' commented Leon, trying to not be so close to Sora.
"I'm sure Kiara doesn't take up that much room," Cid extended his hand to the girl and helped her in. he hit a button and the pod door slammed shut, knocking Kiara forward. She landed softly on Riku's lap.
"See, she fits," Cid smiled and they launched.
Kiara stood and noticed there was an upper rack to store things and she climbed in here. Cid watched out the window as his precious ship was destroyed.
"Everyone ok?" Cloud radioed.
"Yeah, we're safe," said Aeris.
"Same here," said Cid.
"If we stay out of the main stream we should be able to get to Hollow Bastion by tomorrow night," commented Leon.
"Sounds good," agreed Cloud. "We'll split up for now. Spike Blade out."
"See you guys there," said Aeris and disconnected.
Two hours later found most of pod three's crew asleep. Riku had pillowed his head on Sora's shoulder who in turn used the other boy's head as his own pillow. Leon had his head tilted forward in silent sleep while Cid took care of the nighttime driving.
"Hey, would you mind passing me a bottle of water from up there?" Cid asked softly and held his hand over his head. The hand soon held his wanted object. "Thanks."
Kiara repositioned herself so she could see out the rear facing windows. Small asteroids floated by, some alarmingly close to the small round gummi ship.
"When's the last time you slept?"
Kiara rolled onto her back to think.
"Two weeks."
"Talk about a bad case of insomnia," whistled Cid. "You should really try to at least attempt to sleep tonight."
Kiara growled and rolled to not face the opening to her ring compartment.
When morning came Leon took over the driving while Cid slept.
"So what kind of food do we have around here?" asked Sora, knocking on the ceiling above him. Consequently hitting it hard enough to jar a water bottle onto its side, which rolled into Kiara's back.
Three apples pelted Sora in the head.
"Owe.." the brunette clutched his forehead.
"Apples? Apples don't keep well," commented Riku.
"They're fresh, don't worry," said Leon and began to eat his.
Around mid-day everyone took a nap while Kiara drove. When they woke Hollow Bastion was in sight.
"It's gotten worse," sighed Cid as he guided the pod to the dock, or what was left of it.
"Hey Kiara, what side of Hollow Bastion are you from?" asked Leon.
"Top Side. You guys are from East Side, I know," she replied.
Pod one was already there and two was close coming in.
"Look at all the heartless," gaped Aeris.
"Do you.. Do you think Dagger could be here?" asked Zidane.
"I don't think so," answered Cloud.
"Where are we now?" asked Riku.
"South Side," replied Yuffie. "Soldier territory."
"Hey, where'd Kiara go?" wondered Donald.
"Hm?"
Everyone looked around. Sora spotted her walking down the long brittle flight of stairs. They all followed. The heartless attacked them almost instantly. Riku summoned the Oblivion as second nature and started hacking away at the heartless like the others. The heartless were no match for their power and crumbled beneath them.
"Now where?" asked Goofy.
"Up. To the castle," said Kiara.
Sora looked up at the icy ledges and cringed, "We can't make it up that."
Kiara leapt effortlessly onto the first ledge as did Cloud, Zidane, and Riku.
"Show offs," scoffed Sora.
Riku knelt and extended his hand, "Come on Sora."
The troop assisted each other in scaling the wall except Kiara who stood at the top keeping and eye out for potential dangers. They had just reached the top when an arrow shot over Kiara's head, slicing the ribbon that held her hair up, making her silver hair fall free. After that a few humans below in front of Kiara started screaming and scrambling about.
"Sephiroth! Sephiroth's still alive!" they yelled. "Tell his majesty!"
Cloud looked around. He walked slowly to Kiara who turned to face him.
"You do look the same," Cloud tucked Kiara's loose hair behind her left ear. "His eyes are brighter though." He skidded down the slope to the scurrying enemies and cleaved them in half with his buster sword.
Aeris stepped up to the silver haired girl, "Can we take a detour through East Side? We're all really worried."
"We have to," Kiara pointed to an ice wall that blocked their passage and slid down to assist Cloud with the heartless and their human controllers.
They reached East Side after that with few problems.
"Tifa!"
Aeris knelt by the black haired girl and roller her over. She had thought Tifa was just lying on her right arm but in fact the arm was missing and blood leaked from the opening.
"Irvine!"
Leon ran over to the light-brown haired man in a modern type cowboy outfit. He was leaning against a wooded shack with his gun still gripped tightly in his hand.
"Irvine, look at me!" Leon shook the man hard till his eyes cracked open.
"Squall? You're back,' Irvine coughed.
"What's wrong?" Leon asked. "What happened?"
"Right after you left the heartless attacked. There were too many for us."
"It's ok, it's ok."
Leon stayed with Irvine and did his best to soothe him as he slipped away.
"What happened? He seemed fine," asked Cid.
"I saw his hand and noticed he wasn't holding his gun because he wanted to. The metal of the gun and his skin melted together, and then I noticed his pony tail was redder than his bangs," sighed Leon.
"So they're all.." Yuffie choked back a sob.
"I'm afraid so," replied Sora looking around.
"This is awful," Kairi murmured and latched onto Sora's arm.
Cloud ventured over to the docking area and began looking for something. He saw masse of dead people strewn and piled in front of a metal house like they had died protecting it. Cloud apologized to each person he stepped on by name, seeing as how he knew them all. He had to knock a few bodies out of the way so he could get to the doorknob and through the door. The metal slab creaked open and let a little light into the small one roomed house. There was a sink and a stove on the same wall as the door and then a bed parallel to it on the opposite wall. Cloud walked over to the bed and crouched down.
"I don't suppose you're just sleeping are you?"
Cloud brushed back silvery bangs from a too pale face. The blonde sighed and grabbed the prone figures hand and rested his head on it.
"I'll get your heart back, I promise," Cloud said and left the house.
"You fell in love with my brother, cute."
Cloud turned and saw Kiara sitting on top of the house he was previously occupying.
"What are you talking about?" asked Cloud. "Sephiroth has no family."
Kiara raised an eyebrow at his reply and jumped down.
"The others are ready to move out," she said and walked away.
Cloud glanced one more time at the house and followed.
"Did you find him?" asked Leon, separating the dead from the people who had lost their hearts but still had a chance of surviving.
"He's still in one piece," replied Cloud. "Lets go. This is a job for later."
The closer they got to the castle the more heartless tried to stop them. They were about to open the great doors to the castle when five Wizards and a Defender popped up. During the small skirmish Donald and Goofy disappeared.
"Where do you think they went?" asked Zidane.
"Maybe they got scared," whispered Kairi.
"I know I am," Zidane thought.
They went inside to the giant lobby. Water trickled from a fountain and pooled out of a crack in the basin onto the marble floor.
"You three go check the Library, the rest of us will head up to the throne room," said Leon.
Aeris, Yuffie, and Cid walked up the stairs and to the right while the others went up and straight.
"Do you remember any of this?" Sora asked.
Riku looked around, "None of it."
"This is where I woke up," commented Kairi.
"Yup. Right there," Sora pointed.
"Come on you three," commanded Kiara and walked through ha portal.
"You know, I was just thinking,' said Kairi. "All the heartless that attacked Riku already died. So why isn't Riku's heart back if what Aeris said was true?"
"We just don't know. I asked Cloud the same question earlier," replied Leon and passed through the portal.
The others stopped to ponder their thoughts a little more before stepping through. They popped out in a dark room right as a blood-curdling cry emitted from deeper in the pitch-black room.
"That sounded like Aeris!"
Ok, I understand some of this may be confusing and I'm sorry for that, and any errors you find. I'm not the best typer around. I type fast but not well ^_^;; Well any way. Just to clear a few things up. Sora and Riku are not going together! Absolutely no way. But and you now know there is a little chemistry between Sephiroth and Cloud, sorry to any of you who don't agree but don't worry their relationship does not impact this story, it's just.. there. And in Chapter 1 the Silver haired man who was mistaken fro a woman was not Riku, it was Kuja. Sorry for that confusion. And he will be back by the way, patience. My mind only works so fast. If there are any other questions feel free to e-mail me at Maxwells_Mistress@hotmail.com or submit a review. Oh did I mention I like getting reviews, good or bad. I'll do my best to get chapter five up by Monday but I'm swamped with work right now with the semester ending and I need to catch up on some things so I'm sorry if the next chapters are you for have long waiting periods but I'll do my best to get them up. Thanks for reading!
