Part Two: Awakening
"Sora!" Kairi cried and ran to him. Throwing her arms around her old friend's shoulders. He looked slightly taken aback, but then he hugged her too.
When Kairi drew away she was laughing and wiping happy tears from her eyes. Sora had only a half smile on his face and his eyes were darkened with worry. He was taller and wore different clothes than when they had parted last. But then she had grown too. But it was still his face, his eyes, and his smile.
"I thought I'd take a break from fighting." Sora said with a grin.
Kairi frowned. "I don't believe you," she breathed looking him in the eye. "If you just wanted a break. Sora if you could have come back anytime, in the past two years. Why didn't you?"
He sighed. "Because I couldn't come back anytime I wanted. Traveling between the worlds without a ship is only a skill I just discovered." He frowned suddenly and muttered, "Between worlds…could that be it?"
"What?" Kairi asked, confused.
Sora shook his head. "Never mind, anyway I came here because I needed to talk to someone who has known me for a long time and won't doubt what I say. Even if it sounds crazy."
Kairi looked at him. "It would be easier to give you my opinion if I knew exactly what you want tell me." She said pointedly.
Sora sighed again. "I…I've been dreaming." He said hesitantly. "Dreaming of a crossroads in the middle of nowhere. I heard the voice again too." He looked away from her.
"Let's go walk along the beach." She said avoiding commenting on what he'd said. Sora nodded and walked with her out of the cave. He paused at the mouth of the tunnel and looked at the door for a moment, then followed Kairi out. They'd been walking for a few minutes when Kairi said quietly, "I've been dreaming too."
Sora looked at her, surprised. "Really, about what?"
"It was a boy" Kairi said, "He looked like you only different. He was blond, but Sora he looked enough like you to be you brother!"
Sora wasn't sure how to react to the bit of news, so he said. "What else was there?"
"Well I saw him and three others sitting on a ledge of a high building in a city. Then I saw him running after silver creature. Then he was in this place of darkness, pillars and glass. He had to choose a weapon of three and give up another. He had to fight this huge creature. Then-what's the matter?" Sora had stopped he was staring at Kairi. His lips twitched then he laughed. "What's so funny?" Kairi demanded.
"I know that place." Sora said still grinning. "Though the heartless I fought were different from those you describe. I remember I vanquished the darkside then was swallowed by the darkness. I woke up here on the shore, and you were there. I tried to tell you about it but you smacked me and asked if I was still dreaming." He laughed harder apparently some great joke to him.
But it slightly horrified Kairi. "Sora" she breathed, "what is that place?"
"I believe it is the place of awakening where a Keyblade Wielder is taught what they need to know of fighting and the shape of their own heart. I don't know" he said and trudged on.
"What was your dream?" Kairi asked, catching up with him. He told her about the crossroads, the strange man in the black coat, and of what the voice had said.
Kairi nibbled a thumbnail. "You must have a choice coming, one that will cost you something."
Sora shook his head. "What choice doesn't cost you something? Every choice as a consequ-"
"Yo Sora! Where've you been?" a voice cried out. Kairi and Sora looked up to see Tidas and Wakaa running toward them. It had been Wakaa who had shouted.
"Hey Sora, do you feel lucky? How about a duel?" Tidas asked excitedly. Kairi had been about to protest, but Sora grinned.
"If you insist." He said with a shrug and pulled the Keyblade out from behind his shoulder. Something strange had risen in Sora's eyes. He seemed separate from the world around him, but one with the blade in his hand. Tidas gulped, Sora held the blade with an ease that he envied. Sora had obviously not been doing nothing in the two years he had been gone.
Sora lunged the Keyblade darting out in a quick attack. Tidas blocked it and sent his staff whirling through the air aiming and Sora's head. Sora ducked it easily, and darted in for a new attack. Before Tidas knew it his staff was torn from his hands by a vicious blow from the Keyblade. He stared wide-eyed and panting at Sora, who's breath had not even quickened. Victory glittered in Sora's eyes. He had become someone entirely different then when he had left two years before.
Suddenly Sora's head swiveled around, his eyes narrowed as he looked at the sky. "Oh no" he breathed. The others looked up. Streaks of light were falling from the sky. "I have to go, I have to get to Hollow Bastion." Sora said and took a firmer grip on the Keyblade.
"No" Kairi said grabbing his arm. Ignoring the puzzled looks on Tidas's and Wakaa's faces. "You only just got here, after two years Sora." Sora looked at her, and she saw fear in his gaze. Not once in the whole of the adventure before had he been afraid. Kairi dropped her hand still looking into her friend's eyes.
"You must understand something Kairi." Sora said quietly, "the battle with Ansem that restored the worlds, that was only the beginning. It's my battle and I have to fight it, because no one else can."
"But what if you don't come back?" Kairi squeaked, her eyes filling with tears.
Sora placed a gloved hand over her heart. "My voice is always with you, and you will hear it if you listen." He withdrew his hand. Sora leapt away from Kairi and whirled the Keyblade through the air. There was a flash of light and he was gone.
In the highest tower of Hollow Bastion there was a room above the chapel. A man dwelled here sitting in a high backed chair. He was wrapped from head to toe in red and black. Another man stood in the room swathed in a long black coat.
"It is not good to let them know of our plans, Ansem." The black coat was saying. He then turned and left the room.
Ansem stood his one visible eye gazing out the window. There were four of the Thirteenth Order he could feel slipping away. Slipping away from his power, he could not have that. Ansem turned to his table where two weapons sat. An evil grin twisted his face.
Sora landed hard on cold stone. Just from the feeling of it, He knew he was in Hollow Bastion. He was also aware of the weight on his back. "Guys?" Sora said dryly, "why does this seem familiar?" he asked Donald and Goofy, who were lying on top of him. Suddenly an all too familiar tingle ran down his Sora's back. "Heartless!" he shouted. Donald and Goofy jumped to attention. Sora scrambled to his feet, drawing the Keyblade as shadows rose out of the ground. Something else then caught his attention, a man wearing a full-length black coat standing on a ledge a ways away.
Sora ran forward knocking heartless away from him with wide sweeps of the Keyblade. He could here Donald and Goofy attacking heartless behind him but didn't really pay any mind to it. His focus was entirely on the black-cloaked figure. Sora leapt at the figure just as the man turned to face him, raising his hands to lower his hood.
Sora screeched to a halt. Falling backward and sitting down hard. Spiky blond hair fell into the deep blue eyes that gazed down at him. "Cloud?" Sora cried in surprise.