Disclaimer: I still don't own Kingdom Hearts…*sigh* Therefore I cannot be held responsible for the torment I put these characters through…Heh.
Author's Notes: First of all, I apologize for the long delay between updates. School became really demanding for sometime and I had no time to write any of the fic, let alone post a new chapter. This chapter was unfinished for so long I was wondering if I would ever get it done. So, in the future, if there are long periods between updates, it's because other things have come up. But you can be assured that I will get chapters out as fast as I can. I am also sorry about that extra line in the previous chapter. Silly program, it is a tad temper mental and I think it has something against me. I hope this chapter works out okay…Oh yes, and a big thank you goes out to all those who reviewed chapter 2:
Attagirl, juzlovnsora, Chris the Anime Guy, Angelface04 and khfreak1, Zero the Experiment, Nessiegirl and GaMeBrEaKeR.
IMPORTANT: Please read the author's note at the end of this chapter, as it contains some important information about the fic. {I would put it at the top, but it's long enough already and I know you want to get to the fic! ^_^}
Kingdom Hearts II
Chapter 3 – Broken Boarders
Even though no more dreams haunted Sora's sleep that night, he certainly felt that he had had a restless night the next morning. The ache in his chest had finally subsided and now, the only feeling he was left with to remember the whole incident was an empty place where Kari's presence had once been, and should have still been.
He splashed some cold water on his face and gazed at his reflection in the small mirror. His once bright eyes barely shined anymore, and there were bags underneath them to complete the haunted look of his pale complexion.
Sighing inwardly, he tied on his sneakers, and then left the room. Donald and Goofy were sitting at the kitchen table, heads down, eating their breakfast in silence. However, they both looked up at him when he walked into the room and Sora tried to smile reassuringly, but failed.
"Are you feeling alright, Sora?" Mindy asked. She bustled over to him from where she had been cooking and began checking him for any signs of his recent affliction.
"I'm fine," he replied. It felt a little weird to have someone fawn over him like he was a child. He did appreciate it though; it felt nice to be looked after.
"As long as you're sure," she said, clucking her tongue. "I packed you some supplies for your trip. Just some basic provisions, like bread, fruit and some dried meats. Hope fully it will last you long enough to get to wherever it is you're going." The hint in her tone was unmistakable; she wanted to know where they were going in such a hurry.
"I want to find Kari," Sora explained simply. "She made me promise to…uhh, give her keychain back." He had to be careful, because, even though Mindy had a right to know, he did not want to worry her with the fact that Kairi had been taken.
"She can't have gone far, even if she did get her boat to town, then she would probably stay there," Mindy said. She abruptly turned and continued with the potatoes she had been peeling earlier. When she spoke again, Sora's heart ached some more, because he could hear the sadness in her tone. "By the way, Sora, there was a letter addressed to you that I found. You were holding it when I found you, so I kept it for you while you rested." She went over to him and gave him the letter. He could see the tears brimming in her eyes.
"Maybe she does know the truth," Sora thought with a pang of regret. He didn't want Mindy to have to suffer for a promise Sora couldn't keep.
Donald stood up and spoke for the first time. "We should go now," he said simply, then dragged Goofy off to the boat, along with the basket of supplies.
"Thanks for everything Mindy," Sora said softly. On an impulse, he walked over and embraced her like he would his own mother.
"Anytime Sora. Just remember; you'll find her."
~*~*~
As the three companions sped away from the island, Sora never looked back. To him, there was no point. He only needed to look forward, because that was where he was headed.
"So, what should we do first?" Goofy asked.
Donald rolled his eyes. "We haven't even reached the mainland yet! Besides, where else can we go? The walls between worlds are up, remember? That means to far-distance travelling!"
The boat suddenly jerked to a halt, sending Goofy and Donald flying into Sora.
"Sora!" Donald yelled. "What's the big idea?"
Sora quickly untangled himself from the other two and bounded to his feet. "If we can't get to other world, how come we could get to Destiny Islands?" he demanded. This caused Donald's jaw to drop and Goofy to scratch his head.
"Well, if we were able to get to another world," Goofy began slowly, "then does that mean the walls are down?"
~*~*~
The rest of the boat ride was carried out in complete silence. Each of the three friends was trying to think of some way that they could explain everything that had happened in the last 24 hours.
When they arrived on the mainland, they paid the man munny worth two days of rentals, and a little but extra to quieten his wrath a little.
"Where to now?" Donald asked wearily.
"We should go look for Kairi…If the walls are down, then the King will most likely be in the same spot," Goofy answered. He paused, gulped, and then added, "With the heartless."
"Sora, what do you think?" Donald asked softly.
"Let's go find the King," Sora said suddenly, without a second thought. Goofy and Donald looked at him in puzzlement for a brief second, and then smiled weakly.
"Alright, that's settled then, now all we need to do is find a way out of this place," Donald said.
They looked around the large city and let out a collective sigh, because finding a way out looked to be no easy task. The widespread city was full of tall buildings, wide roads and an immense variety of shops. Even though it was dusk and the number of people in the streets had thinned out significantly, come noon the next day it would be crowded and busy.
"Excuse me," Goofy said to a young woman walking by.
"Are you lost?" she asked kindly. She re-adjusted the bundle in her arms and Sora saw that she was carrying a sleeping infant.
"Could you tell us where we are? And maybe how to get to…uhm…" Goofy trailed off, unsure as to where exactly they were going.
"Hollow Bastion," Sora filled in instinctively.
"Well, fist off, you are in a place called Seashine City. Hollow Bastion is east of Traverse Town. But you can only access both places by Gummi Ship. If you take the train here to Twilight Town, you should be able to find someone that can help you."
"Where is this train?" Donald asked, finally feeling better about the luck they seemed to be having.
"Follow this road in that direction," she said, pointing behind them, "and turn left onto a road called Trail Street. Keep following it and you will come to the station." She glanced up at large clock tower and smiled. "If you hurry, you can make the eight o'clock train!"
"Thanks for your help," Sora said.
She smiled at them, adjusted her bundle once more, then continued on her way.
~*~*~
"Are we too late for the eight o'clock train to Twilight Town?" Sora asked the man in the ticket booth. The man glanced at his wrist watch, and then shook his head.
"Nah, you should be able to make it. How many tickets do you want?" the man asked.
Sora heaved a sigh of relief and paid for three tickets. Dragging Goofy and Donald with him, he ran through the gate and out onto the loading deck.
The train was about 10 cars long and painted bright yellow. The three friends boarded the 4th car, took their seats and anxiously waited for the train to leave.
"Sora, why did you tell that woman we wanted to go to Hollow Bastion?" Donald demanded.
"That's where Ansem was last time," Sora began, "and even if we can't find anything there, at least we can speak to the princesses and get their help."
"Good idea Sora," Goofy said. He was about to say something else, but was interrupted by the sudden rumbling that announced the train was leaving.
The three of them peered out the windows and watched the landscape roll by in the dying sunlight. Pretty soon, they left the busy streets of Seashine City and were now travelling through rolling hills and wooded areas.
Gazing out at the horizon, Sora watched the last rays of sunlight fall into darkness and started looking for stars. For a second, Sora was sure he could see something near the train tracks up ahead, but he shook his head and decided he was just being paranoid.
All of a sudden, the train lurched to a halt, sending the companions tumbling from their seats. Before anyone could say anything, the lights went out and they were left in complete darkness.
"What's going on?" Goofy asked, getting up off the floor of the train car.
"I don't-"
"Shhh," Sora cut Donald off with a wave of his hand. The three of them listened in silence as they heard thuds, shouts and screams from further up the train. All around them, too, they could hear strange noises…that sounded all too familiar…
"Heartless!" Donald cried as the first one materialized up from the floor.
Sora summoned the Keyblade and almost instantly was surrounded by the little black, bug-eyed creatures. Swinging his Keyblade around, he got rid of several, them jumped back to avoid another one, that had just appeared from beneath his feet.
Glancing back, he saw Donald and Goofy easily disposing of the Heartless with their respective weapons. Sora rolled to the side as best he could, but was having difficulty fighting off all the heartless inside of the train car. Spotting the door, he made a run for it and ran out onto the field the train had stopped next to.
Instantly, he was surrounded by a number of Heartless, so many that he could not count them. One by one he got rid of them by swinging the key shaped blade. Goofy and Donald joined him outside and together, the three of them did their best to keep the Heartless at bay.
A million questions were running through Sora's mind and he was finding it increasingly more difficult to concentrate. After narrowly avoiding the claws of one Heartless, he was too distracted and did not avoid the hit of another.
The Heartless struck him behind the knee and the impact was enough to send Sora to his knees. All of the Heartless remaining took this opportunity and lunged towards Sora.
Goofy and Donald tried to break through the mass of black creatures, but were unable to reach Sora. As Sora fought desperately to free his sword arm, he realized he was in total darkness, since there were so many Heartless surrounding him.
Suddenly, Sora's Keyblade began to glow with a bright blue light. The Heartless screamed and fell back, allowing Sora to get up off the ground, where he had been pinned.
Growing in intensity, the light enveloped Sora, Goofy and Donald in a protective dome that demolished any Heartless it touched. It slowly expanded and within a few minutes had destroyed all the Heartless in the area.
The light faded, leaving the Oathkeeper keychain glimmering slightly. It blinked weakly a few times, and then went out.
Author's Endnote: I figured that was a good place to end it! At least I didn't really leave a cliff-hanger…Anyways, this chapter was a long one, so I hope no one got annoyed or anything…I don't have any particular length set for chapters, so expect some long ones, and maybe some shorter ones in the future. Oh yes, now, about the things I wanted to say;
First off, a lot of you have made comments about how unfortunate it is for Sora that he always gets into these kinds of dark situations. This fic is set about one year after the game, so Sora is about 15/16 years old. That means angsty stuff…It will be a rough ride, but I am hoping he will come out alright in the end…Actually, I think he may have to…which leads me to my next point.
I was playing the game yesterday and thinking about fics I have written in the past and I came up with a sequel to this one. Crazy, I know. The plus side of this is that it will KIND OF involve Kairi and Sora travelling together…which would be nice. Let me know if you are interested and I will get some stuff down so I can start it as soon as I am done this one!
REVIEW! :D