AN: Hee hee, another little shorty for ya! O and sorry about taking so long on this one. I was busy with guests and stuff! XD lol u notice how my weekends are crazy and busy yet the weeks are sooooo dull? This is what the lack of school does to ya! *Mariah: does what?* I dunno, random comment by me....
Disclaimers: I don't own anything. And I don't think I ever will. But that doesn't mean I don't' want to! *Mariha, Natia, Naomi and Alee are huddled in the 'Yea we were made up by the author' corner*
Escape From Kingdom Hearts
Finally, after Goofy and Donald settled their debate, the trio revealed Hollow Bastion. As the group walked up the steps from The Rising Falls to the castle above bearing the giant symbol of the heartless on it's front.
This world used to be the main source of the heartless, and the home of Ansem. He was the king of this world and experimented with the heartless so eventually his heart was devoured by darkness. But Sora had gotten rid of him for good after sealing the heart of the world and stopping Ansem from releasing its power. This was also the former home of Kairi before she mysteriously appeared on his island. Not to mention Cloud, Arieth, Yuffie, Leon and Cid's home world. Now, they were the only ones who chose to live in the pretty much, deserted castle, along with Belle, one the Princesses of Heart, and her companion Beast.
"Hurry up Sora!" yelled the voice Sora couldn't seem to avoid, Donald.
"Calm down," said Sora dryly, "It's no like Cid is going to go anywhere in the next 5 minutes!"
Donald frowned and snorted in annoyance. Then he turned on his heal with a 'Humph!' to continue up to the castle gates. Score one for me, thought Sora with grin of triumph.
They continued into the castle and soon found Cid lounging in the library along with Leon and Yuffie.
"Sora?" said Cid in amazement when he notice the boy walk into the library, "Is that you?"
"What's up?" asked Sora smiling.
"What? How did you -" began Yuffie but was rendered speechless.
"Yea, it's nice to see you too," said Sora sarcastically, why were they all goggling at him? Yuffie scowled at him.
"Sora, it's great to see you," said Leon coolly as usual.
"Well, at least someone has the decency to say hello," said Sora hinting to Yuffie while glaring at her.
"Ya, ya, ride the joy train for all its worth," muttered Yuffie under her breath.
"What did you say!" said Sora threateningly waving a fist in the air.
"Now, now kind, no fighting," said Cid and stepped in between the two.
Sora and Yuffie glared at each other for a moment then turned away with a little humph. Cid sighed and shook his head and Sora quickly stuck his tongue out at Yuffie before Cid noticed.
"Well anyways, Sora, how did you get here?" asked Leon to change the subject.
"We just used our gummi ship to get here," replied Sora, temporarily forgetting about Yuffie.
"But after you sealed the last world, you should have gone home and all the worlds would be completely isolated from each other again," explained Arieth.
"O yea," said Sora like it was an unimportant thing that had slipped his mind. Then a thought hit him, "Then my job must not be done, you know, as the Keyblade Master. There must be something more I need to do."
"O, and what would that be?" asked Leon.
"Well, for starters, I need to save my friend Riku who was trapped in Kingdom Hearts," replied Sora.
"What!" cried Cid, "Isn't he that kid who got you into this mess? Did HE almost unlock the heart of this very world by using you're friend Kairi?"
"It wasn't him, it was Ansem who was controlling him!" Sora sprang to Riku's defense.
"Whoa, calm down there," said Cid, "I didn't mean to offend you or anything."
"S'ok," replied Sora.
"So what do ya need?" asked Cid.
"O, well we got this gummi," started Sora, looking around, "Donald?"
"Right," said Donald. He held out the gummi block so Cid could see it.
"Ah, let's see here," said Cid taking the block in his hand to get a closer look. "I'll have to take a closer look at it," he said finally, "I never seen this kind of gummi before."
"Ok," said Sora, "So how long will it take?"
"Might take a while," replied Cid, "But you can go ahead and explore the castle while you waiting. We were able to clean it up a bit since you last came here."
"Ok," said Sora, "I need a break from flying in the gummi ship anyways." He gave Donald and Goofy a little hinting glare.
"Smell ya later squirt," said Yuffie.
Before Sora could get back at Yuffie, Donald and Goofy shoved him out of the library into the hall.
~*~
Mariha opened her eyes. She sat up then felt something in her hand. She raised both hands, cupped together. A think stream of light went the length of her hands together then rested itself in her hands and diminished its glow.
What's this, she thought, A feather?
She stared at it for a moment, Then this means Alee is real!
Mariha looked to her side where Riku was sitting against a tree. He wasn't sleeping but looking into the sky, deep in thought. He hadn't noticed her get up.
Mariha looked at Riku and thought about he had saved her in that horrible nightmare. Would he really do that for her? She didn't really want to know; she didn't want to find out if that dream was real. But she smiled and hugged the feather to her heart. Suddenly, it turned into light again and shot into her necklace. It formed a flat light yellow circle, like a coin, and placed itself behind the blue star.
During all of this, Riku still hadn't noticed Mariha. She crawled over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Riku?"
He turned and looked at her. His face was blank, emotionless, and he didn't say a word.
"Riku," Mariha said again.
Riku then snapped out of his trance and looked at her in surprise.
"Hey, when did you wake-up?" he said.
Mariha made a puzzled frown, how could he have not noticed her? "A little while ago," she said.
Riku put a hand to his head. "Must have zoned out for a second," he said with a sigh.
"You ok?"
"Yea, just need to clear my head."
"Ok," said Mariha, "Let's start by getting out of this creepy forest."
Riku nodded in agreement. They soon got up and started walking again. As they went, Riku kept stumbling over stumps and roots. Mariha could plainly seem that he was tired, but he just said he had gotten a bit dizzy. Of course Mariha didn't buy his story but left him.
Ah, he'll be fine, he always is, thought Mariha, He's too stubborn to accept my help anyway.
As they went on, Riku seemed to be getting better. Finally, they came to the edge of the forest and before them was a wide, flat dark desert.
"Alright!" Mariha, "This is perfect!"
Riku didn't see how a long, dry desert was perfect for anything, but Mariha's cheerfulness affected him. He couldn't help but feel a surge of happiness come on from watching Mariha gazing excitedly out over the land. Especially because he didn't know if she would be her normal self again, after that thing in the castle.
Ansem is messing with her, he thought. He knew it. He hadn't gotten a wink of sleep because he knew that Ansem was just waiting to toy with Mariha's head again, I know what he's doing. He wants me, but why does he care so much as to get just me?
He sure didn't seem to care that much when he lost Mariha as his follower. He wanted Riku for something, something only Riku could give him, but what was it?
"Coming Riku?" said Mariha and smiled wide.
"Huh, o, be right there," he said, "You go ahead."
Mariha just shrugged and ran a little ways ahead into the desert. Riku watched as she looked up at the dark sky and spun around and around, arms wide. He laughed and went down to meet with her.
Before he got to her, he glanced back at the forest.
"Riku!" called Mariah. He turned and walked in Mariha's direction, but instead of stopping beside her, he kept walking right past her.
"Hey..." she said quietly.
Riku just kept walking. He couldn't get it out of his head. He had the feeling they hadn't seen the last of Ansem. He'd be back, and soon no doubt.
How can I cheer him up, Mariha thought to herself, I got it!
She ran up behind Riku, put a hand on his shoulder and spun him around quickly, catching him by surprise and almost causing him to loose balance and fall over.
"What are you -" he stammered as she grabbed his hands.
Mariha laughed to cut him off.
"Come on! I know what you want," she said.
"Huh?"
Mariha laughed again and grinned wide. Then she turned his hands palm side up and placed something in his hands. She moved her hands away so he could see the Tela Crystal now sitting in his hands.
"Remember this?" she said, "You promised me you'd take me to Destiny Islands remember?"
Riku smiled a little, "Yea, I remember."
"Great lets go!" she said and took the crystal out of his hands. She then grabbed his wrist and started dragging him over to a wide-open space, far from the hill of stones they were following.
"Wha -now?" said Riku in surprise.
"Yea silly! The sooner the better," she replied and stopped pulling, releasing his wrist at the same time, "I hate it here."
Riku nodded, "Me too."
"Right," said Mariha, "Now, we have to hold the crystal in between our hand."
She took her his hand with one of her own and directed it so the crystal wouldn't fall out of their hands. Riku didn't object so Mariha gave him a final glance and then closed her eyes.
"Hold on," she said.
The black sand around them then began to blow around them, surrounding them. Riku could feel a warm energy from the crystal. It flowed thought his arm and he shuddered. It filled his body, then his mind. Within the blink of an eye he was flying through a colourful vortex of bright lights.
Colours of all shades swirled together, never mixing, as far as the eye could see. Riku and Mariha were zooming through a shinning tunnel. The, in the distance, Riku could barely see a door at the end of the vortex. It filled Riku's mind with visions of his home. That door, it was the same one that resided in the Secret Place Sora and he had discovered as kids. That door would open up to his home!
In his excitement he didn't realize that he was squeezing harder and harder on the crystal. Finally, it couldn't take the pressure and shattered into dust. Riku cried out when he realized what he had done. No, it wouldn't work now, would it? Riku looked over at Mariha, her eyes were now on his. The energy within him began to fade.
"No please Riku! Hold on!" cried Mariha.
"What?" replied Riku. His hand wasn't slipping from hers or anything. Then he looked at his other hand. He almost cried out in alarm when he saw that is the energy faded, so did he! He could already see through his opposite arm.
"Hold on, we need to keep going. I need to tap into my life energy," said Mariha and focused again.
Life what, thought Riku.
"No Mariha!" he called in alarm. She was going to use her own life's energy to keep going, "It'll kill you!"
Mariha ignored him.
"Mariha answer me! You have to stop now!" Riku said now getting desperate.
He could slowly feel the energy coming back into him. He looked at his hand; it was whole again.
"Mariha! You have to stop!"
"No, I have to get you home," she panted.
"It'll kill you, your draining out your own life!"
"At least it'll get you home," she argued thought she could barely speak now.
Riku shook his head, "No it's not worth it! Me going home isn't worth you life!"
Riku brought his other hand over and rested it on her forehead. He flinched when he touched it. He could feel it. He could feel the pain of his life being sucked out of him. It was going to Mariha.
"What are you doing?" she called, voice stronger now.
Riku barely had the energy to speak now.
"Stop... now..." he managed to say.
"But we might not have even left Kingdom Hearts yet," Mariha replied.
Riku passed out.
"No Riku!"
The colours disappeared. They were out of the vortex. As soon as the last hint of the tunnel vanished, Riku's eyes burst open and he was gasping for air.
"I'm so sorry!" cried Mariha holding him up with his arm around her shoulder.
Riku coughed a bit but managed to find his voice, "Don't worry, I'll be fine."
He stood up himself and took one big breath.
"I don't just mean that," she said looking to the ground, "I wasn't able to send you home."
"Hey, it was my fault. I didn't realize that I was crushing the crystal in my excitement," he said and when Mariha looked up at him he smiled at her, "Like I said before, nothing is worth loosing a friend like you."
"Thanks," she said.
"Right well," stared Riku looking around, "Guess that 'Plan B' will come into effect after all. Operation: Find the light."
Mariha giggled. "Roger Captain," she said putting on voice.
Riku glared at her for a moment but Mariha kept laughing. Riku stuck his tongue out at her before laughing himself then realized that this was so goofy!
"Ok then," said Mariha after their laughing fit had died down, "Lets get to it. We only have five more days to find this light."
"Right," replied Riku.
They walked in a random direction then tried to figure out where they were.
"Are we still in Kingdom Hearts?" asked Riku.
"I have no idea," replied Mariha.
Riku sighed and looked down. He wasn't watching where he was going so he didn't see the large thing until he bumped right into it and almost fell back.
"Hey! Watch where you're -" began Riku but stopped as soon as he saw what he ran into. It was a largebody heartless.
Riku and Mariha were frozen in their tracks as they were soon surrounded by heartless, too many to fight off.
"Something tells me we're still in Kingdom Hearts," whispered Mariha.
AN: Uh oh! What's going to happen? Heh heh, I'll leave you to ponder that for a while.. maybe a second or two... ok that's enough time so tell me, what happeneds? *jks* i already kno wut's gonna happen! :P yea, i'm prolly VERY annoying right now, but the lack of sleep by only getting 4 hours of it last night is making me insane... again *cough* well, R&R then!
Disclaimers: I don't own anything. And I don't think I ever will. But that doesn't mean I don't' want to! *Mariha, Natia, Naomi and Alee are huddled in the 'Yea we were made up by the author' corner*
Escape From Kingdom Hearts
Finally, after Goofy and Donald settled their debate, the trio revealed Hollow Bastion. As the group walked up the steps from The Rising Falls to the castle above bearing the giant symbol of the heartless on it's front.
This world used to be the main source of the heartless, and the home of Ansem. He was the king of this world and experimented with the heartless so eventually his heart was devoured by darkness. But Sora had gotten rid of him for good after sealing the heart of the world and stopping Ansem from releasing its power. This was also the former home of Kairi before she mysteriously appeared on his island. Not to mention Cloud, Arieth, Yuffie, Leon and Cid's home world. Now, they were the only ones who chose to live in the pretty much, deserted castle, along with Belle, one the Princesses of Heart, and her companion Beast.
"Hurry up Sora!" yelled the voice Sora couldn't seem to avoid, Donald.
"Calm down," said Sora dryly, "It's no like Cid is going to go anywhere in the next 5 minutes!"
Donald frowned and snorted in annoyance. Then he turned on his heal with a 'Humph!' to continue up to the castle gates. Score one for me, thought Sora with grin of triumph.
They continued into the castle and soon found Cid lounging in the library along with Leon and Yuffie.
"Sora?" said Cid in amazement when he notice the boy walk into the library, "Is that you?"
"What's up?" asked Sora smiling.
"What? How did you -" began Yuffie but was rendered speechless.
"Yea, it's nice to see you too," said Sora sarcastically, why were they all goggling at him? Yuffie scowled at him.
"Sora, it's great to see you," said Leon coolly as usual.
"Well, at least someone has the decency to say hello," said Sora hinting to Yuffie while glaring at her.
"Ya, ya, ride the joy train for all its worth," muttered Yuffie under her breath.
"What did you say!" said Sora threateningly waving a fist in the air.
"Now, now kind, no fighting," said Cid and stepped in between the two.
Sora and Yuffie glared at each other for a moment then turned away with a little humph. Cid sighed and shook his head and Sora quickly stuck his tongue out at Yuffie before Cid noticed.
"Well anyways, Sora, how did you get here?" asked Leon to change the subject.
"We just used our gummi ship to get here," replied Sora, temporarily forgetting about Yuffie.
"But after you sealed the last world, you should have gone home and all the worlds would be completely isolated from each other again," explained Arieth.
"O yea," said Sora like it was an unimportant thing that had slipped his mind. Then a thought hit him, "Then my job must not be done, you know, as the Keyblade Master. There must be something more I need to do."
"O, and what would that be?" asked Leon.
"Well, for starters, I need to save my friend Riku who was trapped in Kingdom Hearts," replied Sora.
"What!" cried Cid, "Isn't he that kid who got you into this mess? Did HE almost unlock the heart of this very world by using you're friend Kairi?"
"It wasn't him, it was Ansem who was controlling him!" Sora sprang to Riku's defense.
"Whoa, calm down there," said Cid, "I didn't mean to offend you or anything."
"S'ok," replied Sora.
"So what do ya need?" asked Cid.
"O, well we got this gummi," started Sora, looking around, "Donald?"
"Right," said Donald. He held out the gummi block so Cid could see it.
"Ah, let's see here," said Cid taking the block in his hand to get a closer look. "I'll have to take a closer look at it," he said finally, "I never seen this kind of gummi before."
"Ok," said Sora, "So how long will it take?"
"Might take a while," replied Cid, "But you can go ahead and explore the castle while you waiting. We were able to clean it up a bit since you last came here."
"Ok," said Sora, "I need a break from flying in the gummi ship anyways." He gave Donald and Goofy a little hinting glare.
"Smell ya later squirt," said Yuffie.
Before Sora could get back at Yuffie, Donald and Goofy shoved him out of the library into the hall.
~*~
Mariha opened her eyes. She sat up then felt something in her hand. She raised both hands, cupped together. A think stream of light went the length of her hands together then rested itself in her hands and diminished its glow.
What's this, she thought, A feather?
She stared at it for a moment, Then this means Alee is real!
Mariha looked to her side where Riku was sitting against a tree. He wasn't sleeping but looking into the sky, deep in thought. He hadn't noticed her get up.
Mariha looked at Riku and thought about he had saved her in that horrible nightmare. Would he really do that for her? She didn't really want to know; she didn't want to find out if that dream was real. But she smiled and hugged the feather to her heart. Suddenly, it turned into light again and shot into her necklace. It formed a flat light yellow circle, like a coin, and placed itself behind the blue star.
During all of this, Riku still hadn't noticed Mariha. She crawled over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Riku?"
He turned and looked at her. His face was blank, emotionless, and he didn't say a word.
"Riku," Mariha said again.
Riku then snapped out of his trance and looked at her in surprise.
"Hey, when did you wake-up?" he said.
Mariha made a puzzled frown, how could he have not noticed her? "A little while ago," she said.
Riku put a hand to his head. "Must have zoned out for a second," he said with a sigh.
"You ok?"
"Yea, just need to clear my head."
"Ok," said Mariha, "Let's start by getting out of this creepy forest."
Riku nodded in agreement. They soon got up and started walking again. As they went, Riku kept stumbling over stumps and roots. Mariha could plainly seem that he was tired, but he just said he had gotten a bit dizzy. Of course Mariha didn't buy his story but left him.
Ah, he'll be fine, he always is, thought Mariha, He's too stubborn to accept my help anyway.
As they went on, Riku seemed to be getting better. Finally, they came to the edge of the forest and before them was a wide, flat dark desert.
"Alright!" Mariha, "This is perfect!"
Riku didn't see how a long, dry desert was perfect for anything, but Mariha's cheerfulness affected him. He couldn't help but feel a surge of happiness come on from watching Mariha gazing excitedly out over the land. Especially because he didn't know if she would be her normal self again, after that thing in the castle.
Ansem is messing with her, he thought. He knew it. He hadn't gotten a wink of sleep because he knew that Ansem was just waiting to toy with Mariha's head again, I know what he's doing. He wants me, but why does he care so much as to get just me?
He sure didn't seem to care that much when he lost Mariha as his follower. He wanted Riku for something, something only Riku could give him, but what was it?
"Coming Riku?" said Mariha and smiled wide.
"Huh, o, be right there," he said, "You go ahead."
Mariha just shrugged and ran a little ways ahead into the desert. Riku watched as she looked up at the dark sky and spun around and around, arms wide. He laughed and went down to meet with her.
Before he got to her, he glanced back at the forest.
"Riku!" called Mariah. He turned and walked in Mariha's direction, but instead of stopping beside her, he kept walking right past her.
"Hey..." she said quietly.
Riku just kept walking. He couldn't get it out of his head. He had the feeling they hadn't seen the last of Ansem. He'd be back, and soon no doubt.
How can I cheer him up, Mariha thought to herself, I got it!
She ran up behind Riku, put a hand on his shoulder and spun him around quickly, catching him by surprise and almost causing him to loose balance and fall over.
"What are you -" he stammered as she grabbed his hands.
Mariha laughed to cut him off.
"Come on! I know what you want," she said.
"Huh?"
Mariha laughed again and grinned wide. Then she turned his hands palm side up and placed something in his hands. She moved her hands away so he could see the Tela Crystal now sitting in his hands.
"Remember this?" she said, "You promised me you'd take me to Destiny Islands remember?"
Riku smiled a little, "Yea, I remember."
"Great lets go!" she said and took the crystal out of his hands. She then grabbed his wrist and started dragging him over to a wide-open space, far from the hill of stones they were following.
"Wha -now?" said Riku in surprise.
"Yea silly! The sooner the better," she replied and stopped pulling, releasing his wrist at the same time, "I hate it here."
Riku nodded, "Me too."
"Right," said Mariha, "Now, we have to hold the crystal in between our hand."
She took her his hand with one of her own and directed it so the crystal wouldn't fall out of their hands. Riku didn't object so Mariha gave him a final glance and then closed her eyes.
"Hold on," she said.
The black sand around them then began to blow around them, surrounding them. Riku could feel a warm energy from the crystal. It flowed thought his arm and he shuddered. It filled his body, then his mind. Within the blink of an eye he was flying through a colourful vortex of bright lights.
Colours of all shades swirled together, never mixing, as far as the eye could see. Riku and Mariha were zooming through a shinning tunnel. The, in the distance, Riku could barely see a door at the end of the vortex. It filled Riku's mind with visions of his home. That door, it was the same one that resided in the Secret Place Sora and he had discovered as kids. That door would open up to his home!
In his excitement he didn't realize that he was squeezing harder and harder on the crystal. Finally, it couldn't take the pressure and shattered into dust. Riku cried out when he realized what he had done. No, it wouldn't work now, would it? Riku looked over at Mariha, her eyes were now on his. The energy within him began to fade.
"No please Riku! Hold on!" cried Mariha.
"What?" replied Riku. His hand wasn't slipping from hers or anything. Then he looked at his other hand. He almost cried out in alarm when he saw that is the energy faded, so did he! He could already see through his opposite arm.
"Hold on, we need to keep going. I need to tap into my life energy," said Mariha and focused again.
Life what, thought Riku.
"No Mariha!" he called in alarm. She was going to use her own life's energy to keep going, "It'll kill you!"
Mariha ignored him.
"Mariha answer me! You have to stop now!" Riku said now getting desperate.
He could slowly feel the energy coming back into him. He looked at his hand; it was whole again.
"Mariha! You have to stop!"
"No, I have to get you home," she panted.
"It'll kill you, your draining out your own life!"
"At least it'll get you home," she argued thought she could barely speak now.
Riku shook his head, "No it's not worth it! Me going home isn't worth you life!"
Riku brought his other hand over and rested it on her forehead. He flinched when he touched it. He could feel it. He could feel the pain of his life being sucked out of him. It was going to Mariha.
"What are you doing?" she called, voice stronger now.
Riku barely had the energy to speak now.
"Stop... now..." he managed to say.
"But we might not have even left Kingdom Hearts yet," Mariha replied.
Riku passed out.
"No Riku!"
The colours disappeared. They were out of the vortex. As soon as the last hint of the tunnel vanished, Riku's eyes burst open and he was gasping for air.
"I'm so sorry!" cried Mariha holding him up with his arm around her shoulder.
Riku coughed a bit but managed to find his voice, "Don't worry, I'll be fine."
He stood up himself and took one big breath.
"I don't just mean that," she said looking to the ground, "I wasn't able to send you home."
"Hey, it was my fault. I didn't realize that I was crushing the crystal in my excitement," he said and when Mariha looked up at him he smiled at her, "Like I said before, nothing is worth loosing a friend like you."
"Thanks," she said.
"Right well," stared Riku looking around, "Guess that 'Plan B' will come into effect after all. Operation: Find the light."
Mariha giggled. "Roger Captain," she said putting on voice.
Riku glared at her for a moment but Mariha kept laughing. Riku stuck his tongue out at her before laughing himself then realized that this was so goofy!
"Ok then," said Mariha after their laughing fit had died down, "Lets get to it. We only have five more days to find this light."
"Right," replied Riku.
They walked in a random direction then tried to figure out where they were.
"Are we still in Kingdom Hearts?" asked Riku.
"I have no idea," replied Mariha.
Riku sighed and looked down. He wasn't watching where he was going so he didn't see the large thing until he bumped right into it and almost fell back.
"Hey! Watch where you're -" began Riku but stopped as soon as he saw what he ran into. It was a largebody heartless.
Riku and Mariha were frozen in their tracks as they were soon surrounded by heartless, too many to fight off.
"Something tells me we're still in Kingdom Hearts," whispered Mariha.
AN: Uh oh! What's going to happen? Heh heh, I'll leave you to ponder that for a while.. maybe a second or two... ok that's enough time so tell me, what happeneds? *jks* i already kno wut's gonna happen! :P yea, i'm prolly VERY annoying right now, but the lack of sleep by only getting 4 hours of it last night is making me insane... again *cough* well, R&R then!