Auron and Brother led the group out into Luca, an apparently abandoned world followed by Donald and Goofy, and finally by Rikku and Sora. Rikku's cheek was pressed against Sora's muscular arm. Sora looked down at Rikku fondly, but had to brush his hair back now and then. After six years of not having the time to cut it, his wild hair had grown spiky and fell well over his eyes if he looked down. Rikku didn't seem to mind, and took every opportunity to brush the hair out of his handsome face so she could see his eyes.
"Ohh brother" Donald groaned, rolling his eyes. The two lovers had been together for a grand total of two days, smiling at each other and holding hands, which was senseless aboard an airship. Goofy looked down at his feather friend and laughed, his voice echoing through the empty halls and corridors. Brother and Auron stopped and looked around. When the other four caught up, they assessed where they were.
"We're in the old lobby of the Luca Sphere Pool" Brother said, arms crossed with a scowl on his face. Sora shouted, then listened to the echo.
"What are we here for?" Sora asked. "Why is it empty?" The absence of people and bodies was completely unnerving. Actually, the whole world seemed to have absolutely no living creatures at all.
"The Heartless didn't do a surprise attack like many people think. The officials of Bevelle, the Al Bhed leaders, the Guado elders and the Ronso elders all had terrible premonitions, but most ignored the warnings." Auron sighed and walked down a hallway. Confused, the rest followed the red coated man until they found themselves in a vast stadium. The seats were all folded back up and everything was clean besides a few layers of dust. Auron stood in an aisle and looked into the sky, thinking of the Sphere Pool. "Sora, do you remember this place?" Auron asked. Sora opened his mouth to object, then looked around.
Suddenly, the seats were filled and bursting with color, with people, with life. He looked above and there was the sphere pool. All around, people were yelling joyously as a team scored a goal. Homemade banners were held, displaying the names of their favorite teams and players.
"Say hi to Papa Sora, can you say hi to Papa?" a woman asked. Sora turned quickly to face the woman whose voice he heard so clearly. The one person he ached to see when he returned home, but had been already dead.
"Mother..." he whispered. There, to his right was his mother, 16 years ago, holding an infant on one arm and a two year old boy in the other. Sora's eyes widened as he saw his toddler self in his mother's arms, waving his chubby arms at his father. His father waved back, then swam back into the game.
"Ouch! Tidus! Don't pull!" his mother scolded the baby. Tidus's face wrinkled up to burst into tears, but Sora reached out and tickled his foot.
"Be goo Ti'us!" said the two-year old Sora to his baby brother. Tidus giggled and kicked out, then all three looked into the sphere pool.
"Sora?" Rikku tightened her grip on Sora's hand, and the happy colors, people and noises were sucked away. Sora reeled from this and leaned on Rikku. Auron was staring at him, as if he were satisfied with something.
"What did you do?" Sora asked, and was surprised at how dry and raspy his voice sounded. He was dimly aware of the others, but there only seemed to be him and Auron in the stadium. Sora knew Auron was going to answer, but the floor shook and Auron stumbled backwards as the ground below him began to split from the rest of the stadium.
"Auron!" was the last thing the Ex-Guardian heard before he disappeared into the void; the voices of two Al Bhed youths, a Yevonite boy and two of the King's Guardians.
Sora ran to the area where Auron fell, but suddenly a hoard of Heartless swarmed from the bottom of the rounded Sphere Pool Stadium and charged at the travelers. Sora grabbed his KeyBlade amulet and felt it grow into the full sized KeyBlade in his hand. He heard Rikku and Brother shout out their battle cries and Donald and Goofy's own challenges. Sora, however, was silent. He had learned years ago not to waste his breath at calling out battle cries and challenges and kept it as energy for the length of the battle. There was time to gloat after you won.
What seemed like an eternity of fighting, yelling, dodging and blocking, a light suddenly appeared from where the Heartless were pouring out. Everyone, even the Heartless, stopped to look. Then the air was filled with the squealing cries of the Shadows, Soldiers and Requiems, then the roar of the largers, then the beating of a retreat on the chests of the Large Bodies. Soon, all of the Heartless were gone, sans the Soldier Sora had dueled with in Kilika. It was still looking at the light source, tilting it's head as if it were trying to understand, then turned to Sora.
Sora's head snapped back as the Soldier stared into his eyes, and soon images flooded his head.
His and Tidus's father, Jecht, was running towards them from the Sphere Pool, his arms waving frantically.
"Git the kids outta here!" he bellowed. People who were yelling at him for abandoning the game paused in confusion. "Som'thins gonna happen, somehtin big!" he yelled, trying to make his way to his family. Sora turned to look at his mother, clutching her two children.
"Jecht---"
"Go! Everyone go or you'll all be destroyed!" he screamed. Sora's mother turned slowly, then ran. Jecht turned to Auron, who appeared at least 30 years younger, when it was barely 20 years before.
"They'll be safe once they are gone." He said calmly, standing in an aisle while people were screaming and running to their various vehicles to go home.
"And whose gonna protect them? You? The King won't let you be a guardian no more with that arm!" Jech said, pointing at Auron's wound. Auron frowned.
"I can get them as far as Besaid." Auron replied crossly. Jecht nodded and then shook his head. Heartless were slowly coming from the center of the Stadium.
"Just—don't hang around. I want my kids to remember me as much as possible. Not their transporter." Jecht said offhandedly. Sora blinked, realizing that Jecht meant to protect them there: by sacrificing his life to keep some of the Heartless from following the fleeing people. Auron turned and left, walking right through Sora.
As soon as the phantom guardian was gone, Sora was aware that the Heartless stopped coming. He turned to look into the Sphere arena and saw Auron limping out of the cracked sphere pool. At the rim, he stopped, turned, and extended his good arm back into the unknown. His arm stiffened as something grabbed hold of his arm, then struggled to bring him arm out. Sora ran to Auron, along with Brother, Goofy and Donald and together they helped the tired guardian pull out a hooded figure.
"King Mickey!"
King Mickey pulled away his hood and looked around at his taller defenders against the Heartless. Sora smiled down at the King as best he could, but could not feel turely happy to see him. The King didn't smile, but turned towards the Sphere Pool Arena and nodded, and two hooded figures climbed out. Their faces were completly hidden, but Sora thought he saw a shock of light brown hair protrude from the hood of the shorter man.
"Sora," Auron was staring at Sora through his good eye. Sora started back at him, completly confused. Donald and Goofy were obviously confused at the newcomers and tried to talk to them, but the men were silent. Sora nodded slowly, gave Rikku a small wave and followed Auron and the two men, who followed the King.
"Where are we going?" Sora asked, looking at half destroyed ships that were still in the harbor. One of the figures turned to look at Sora, then turned away before Sora could see his face.
"Here." Auron said, stopping abruptly. Sora, who was looking at the faded designs on the walls and columns, walked right into Auron. Auron seemed vexed at this, but he looked at King Mickey, who had turned to look at them.
"What the hell is this all about?" a voice snapped, coming out from the shadows. Sora turned around and felt anger well up inside his chest as he saw his old best friend. Riku frowned at Sora, and stopped his advancement.
"We do not need you both to get over your differences, but we do need your co-oporation with us," King Mickey said, with a tone of irritation in his slightly high-pitched voice.
"We aren't supposed to work together in this?" Sora asked, completely taken back by this piece of information. Mickey turned to look at Sora.
"We need you two to be as separate as possible, which is why these two are here," Mickey waved his hands to the two figures, who seemed to keep a distance from each other. "They are a part of you, each created when the Heartless were born, and were waiting for the two of you to enter the battle before becoming your other halves." He explained.
"Sora, the reason you have been drifting towards the side of the Heartless while Riku has been drifting towards the Light, is because you two were actually destined to take different roles, but Kairi's introduction into your world changed everything. Even the fates assumed that Riku would be the rightful KeyBlade wielder, so while you were children, these two shifted on this assumption. This is also why Riku was solely looking for Kairi in the beginning. If it weren't for Donald and Goofy, you Sora would have joined the Heartless, but since you didn't, it caused to both of you to be 'straddled'." The King took a deep breath, as if he were to unleash a burden on the two.
"There is a process for you two to undertake for you to separate the Good and Evil within yourselves, so during battle there are no 'Battles of the Heart'...taking place." The King paused, as if he accidently let something slip. The boys didn't notice.
"That means....if we do this, I can be the KeyBlade Guardian?" Riku asked slowly. The King nodded and Riku glanced over at Sora, who looked crestfallen.
"And...I can lose Rikku...?" Sora aske, deflated. The King paused, but nodded to confirm.
"It is very risky, but needed. Because of the risk, I ask–implore you to do this." the King said, bowing before the two boys. After a moment of trying to glare each other down, they nodded.
"Ohh brother" Donald groaned, rolling his eyes. The two lovers had been together for a grand total of two days, smiling at each other and holding hands, which was senseless aboard an airship. Goofy looked down at his feather friend and laughed, his voice echoing through the empty halls and corridors. Brother and Auron stopped and looked around. When the other four caught up, they assessed where they were.
"We're in the old lobby of the Luca Sphere Pool" Brother said, arms crossed with a scowl on his face. Sora shouted, then listened to the echo.
"What are we here for?" Sora asked. "Why is it empty?" The absence of people and bodies was completely unnerving. Actually, the whole world seemed to have absolutely no living creatures at all.
"The Heartless didn't do a surprise attack like many people think. The officials of Bevelle, the Al Bhed leaders, the Guado elders and the Ronso elders all had terrible premonitions, but most ignored the warnings." Auron sighed and walked down a hallway. Confused, the rest followed the red coated man until they found themselves in a vast stadium. The seats were all folded back up and everything was clean besides a few layers of dust. Auron stood in an aisle and looked into the sky, thinking of the Sphere Pool. "Sora, do you remember this place?" Auron asked. Sora opened his mouth to object, then looked around.
Suddenly, the seats were filled and bursting with color, with people, with life. He looked above and there was the sphere pool. All around, people were yelling joyously as a team scored a goal. Homemade banners were held, displaying the names of their favorite teams and players.
"Say hi to Papa Sora, can you say hi to Papa?" a woman asked. Sora turned quickly to face the woman whose voice he heard so clearly. The one person he ached to see when he returned home, but had been already dead.
"Mother..." he whispered. There, to his right was his mother, 16 years ago, holding an infant on one arm and a two year old boy in the other. Sora's eyes widened as he saw his toddler self in his mother's arms, waving his chubby arms at his father. His father waved back, then swam back into the game.
"Ouch! Tidus! Don't pull!" his mother scolded the baby. Tidus's face wrinkled up to burst into tears, but Sora reached out and tickled his foot.
"Be goo Ti'us!" said the two-year old Sora to his baby brother. Tidus giggled and kicked out, then all three looked into the sphere pool.
"Sora?" Rikku tightened her grip on Sora's hand, and the happy colors, people and noises were sucked away. Sora reeled from this and leaned on Rikku. Auron was staring at him, as if he were satisfied with something.
"What did you do?" Sora asked, and was surprised at how dry and raspy his voice sounded. He was dimly aware of the others, but there only seemed to be him and Auron in the stadium. Sora knew Auron was going to answer, but the floor shook and Auron stumbled backwards as the ground below him began to split from the rest of the stadium.
"Auron!" was the last thing the Ex-Guardian heard before he disappeared into the void; the voices of two Al Bhed youths, a Yevonite boy and two of the King's Guardians.
Sora ran to the area where Auron fell, but suddenly a hoard of Heartless swarmed from the bottom of the rounded Sphere Pool Stadium and charged at the travelers. Sora grabbed his KeyBlade amulet and felt it grow into the full sized KeyBlade in his hand. He heard Rikku and Brother shout out their battle cries and Donald and Goofy's own challenges. Sora, however, was silent. He had learned years ago not to waste his breath at calling out battle cries and challenges and kept it as energy for the length of the battle. There was time to gloat after you won.
What seemed like an eternity of fighting, yelling, dodging and blocking, a light suddenly appeared from where the Heartless were pouring out. Everyone, even the Heartless, stopped to look. Then the air was filled with the squealing cries of the Shadows, Soldiers and Requiems, then the roar of the largers, then the beating of a retreat on the chests of the Large Bodies. Soon, all of the Heartless were gone, sans the Soldier Sora had dueled with in Kilika. It was still looking at the light source, tilting it's head as if it were trying to understand, then turned to Sora.
Sora's head snapped back as the Soldier stared into his eyes, and soon images flooded his head.
His and Tidus's father, Jecht, was running towards them from the Sphere Pool, his arms waving frantically.
"Git the kids outta here!" he bellowed. People who were yelling at him for abandoning the game paused in confusion. "Som'thins gonna happen, somehtin big!" he yelled, trying to make his way to his family. Sora turned to look at his mother, clutching her two children.
"Jecht---"
"Go! Everyone go or you'll all be destroyed!" he screamed. Sora's mother turned slowly, then ran. Jecht turned to Auron, who appeared at least 30 years younger, when it was barely 20 years before.
"They'll be safe once they are gone." He said calmly, standing in an aisle while people were screaming and running to their various vehicles to go home.
"And whose gonna protect them? You? The King won't let you be a guardian no more with that arm!" Jech said, pointing at Auron's wound. Auron frowned.
"I can get them as far as Besaid." Auron replied crossly. Jecht nodded and then shook his head. Heartless were slowly coming from the center of the Stadium.
"Just—don't hang around. I want my kids to remember me as much as possible. Not their transporter." Jecht said offhandedly. Sora blinked, realizing that Jecht meant to protect them there: by sacrificing his life to keep some of the Heartless from following the fleeing people. Auron turned and left, walking right through Sora.
As soon as the phantom guardian was gone, Sora was aware that the Heartless stopped coming. He turned to look into the Sphere arena and saw Auron limping out of the cracked sphere pool. At the rim, he stopped, turned, and extended his good arm back into the unknown. His arm stiffened as something grabbed hold of his arm, then struggled to bring him arm out. Sora ran to Auron, along with Brother, Goofy and Donald and together they helped the tired guardian pull out a hooded figure.
"King Mickey!"
King Mickey pulled away his hood and looked around at his taller defenders against the Heartless. Sora smiled down at the King as best he could, but could not feel turely happy to see him. The King didn't smile, but turned towards the Sphere Pool Arena and nodded, and two hooded figures climbed out. Their faces were completly hidden, but Sora thought he saw a shock of light brown hair protrude from the hood of the shorter man.
"Sora," Auron was staring at Sora through his good eye. Sora started back at him, completly confused. Donald and Goofy were obviously confused at the newcomers and tried to talk to them, but the men were silent. Sora nodded slowly, gave Rikku a small wave and followed Auron and the two men, who followed the King.
"Where are we going?" Sora asked, looking at half destroyed ships that were still in the harbor. One of the figures turned to look at Sora, then turned away before Sora could see his face.
"Here." Auron said, stopping abruptly. Sora, who was looking at the faded designs on the walls and columns, walked right into Auron. Auron seemed vexed at this, but he looked at King Mickey, who had turned to look at them.
"What the hell is this all about?" a voice snapped, coming out from the shadows. Sora turned around and felt anger well up inside his chest as he saw his old best friend. Riku frowned at Sora, and stopped his advancement.
"We do not need you both to get over your differences, but we do need your co-oporation with us," King Mickey said, with a tone of irritation in his slightly high-pitched voice.
"We aren't supposed to work together in this?" Sora asked, completely taken back by this piece of information. Mickey turned to look at Sora.
"We need you two to be as separate as possible, which is why these two are here," Mickey waved his hands to the two figures, who seemed to keep a distance from each other. "They are a part of you, each created when the Heartless were born, and were waiting for the two of you to enter the battle before becoming your other halves." He explained.
"Sora, the reason you have been drifting towards the side of the Heartless while Riku has been drifting towards the Light, is because you two were actually destined to take different roles, but Kairi's introduction into your world changed everything. Even the fates assumed that Riku would be the rightful KeyBlade wielder, so while you were children, these two shifted on this assumption. This is also why Riku was solely looking for Kairi in the beginning. If it weren't for Donald and Goofy, you Sora would have joined the Heartless, but since you didn't, it caused to both of you to be 'straddled'." The King took a deep breath, as if he were to unleash a burden on the two.
"There is a process for you two to undertake for you to separate the Good and Evil within yourselves, so during battle there are no 'Battles of the Heart'...taking place." The King paused, as if he accidently let something slip. The boys didn't notice.
"That means....if we do this, I can be the KeyBlade Guardian?" Riku asked slowly. The King nodded and Riku glanced over at Sora, who looked crestfallen.
"And...I can lose Rikku...?" Sora aske, deflated. The King paused, but nodded to confirm.
"It is very risky, but needed. Because of the risk, I ask–implore you to do this." the King said, bowing before the two boys. After a moment of trying to glare each other down, they nodded.