Part Six: The Nonexistant
Sora opened his eyes, he was laying on a bed. Darkness pressed on his eyes, the pain that had seized him was gone. But their was a dull sting to his pride for collapsing. Sora swung his legs off the bed and carefully stood up. The room spun for a second then settled into place. Quietly Sora went to the door of the room and eased it open. Behind it there was a small living area, a table and some chairs against the wall. There was a couch and a rug. Four people were sitting at the table, they looked up when Sora slid into the room.
They stood. "Well Sora glad to see you're alive." Said one grinning at Sora, his white blond hair falling into icy blue eyes. Sora recognized him as the man who had wielded Oathkeeper and Oblivion. "We've been very rude so far and haven't even told you our names." He held out a gloved hand. "I'm Lycole" Sora shook his hand. "That's Terra" he said pointing to the woman. She had glittering green eyes, and dark hair that had pale streaks in it. "And that's Caliga," he pointed to the blindfolded man. Who nodded at the introduction. "And Lutian, I'm told you already know." Lycole moved away and Sora saw that there was another man standing behind him. Sora did indeed know him, it was the stranger from his dream. Sora nodded, his eyes locked on Lutian.
"Come here and sit down." Terra said, Sora did so, still slightly shocked and wondering if he was still dreaming.
"I suppose you want an explanation?" Lycole said sitting down too.
Sora nodded and swallowed. "That would be nice." He said dryly.
Lycole grinned but only half heartedly. "Well Sora, you are no longer in the Present World. You're in the World Between, it's a forgotten world you might say, a dyeing world. This is where the shell of a person is sent, we are mere shadows of the beings we once were."
"You see there are three parts to a person really." Terra said, "the heart, the body, and oh you could call it the outer shell. Or some people prefer to call it the soul. You can't harm the shell because it doesn't exist with in the world, only within the person it's attached to."
"This Ansem," Lutian said, "has devised a way to control our shells. He has made us come together in what he calls the Thirteenth Order. Kevaul too is a shell."
Sora looked at him. "He told me he wasn't of the Nonexistent"
Lutian shrugged. "Perhaps that is what he believes, but I am positive that he is of the Nonexistent, as we are."
"So Ansem must have your bodies too, right?" Sora said guessing why he had such power over them. Lutian nodded. "So what happened to your hearts?" Sora asked.
"We don't know" Caliga said quietly, he was standing at the other side of the table leaning against the wall. "Eventually we were able to fight off the power he had over us. But now we've lost contact with our bodies completely. So I'm not sure if we can return or not."
"But if you're shells how come you've still got all your memories?"
"But we don't, not really." Lycole said sadly, "who we were, what we did. Life just kind of slips away after a while. The most I really remember of my life is my name."
"Once I lost my heart." Sora said softly, "I fell into this huge black void. I started to forget things too."
"Ah that was when you arrived on these shores before. But something pulled you back, we were here when that happened." Terra said.
Sora looked out the window. The beach was spread out before the little house. "It is strange" Lutian said noticing where he was looking. "That you came to this particular place. The World Between is made up of many different folds and crevices. This place is made up of bits of our memories."
"Those bits we remember," Caliga said, "Like the city, that was where we lived. I believe it was called Twilight Town. The beach and the grasslands I'm not sure about."
Sora got up, the others watched him cautiously. "I need to think about all this" he said, "Thanks for telling me about all this though." They nodded and Sora went to the door and walked out. The light the of the ever apparent moon shed on him felt almost like another substance to Sora.
Shoving his hands in his pockets Sora walked along the beach. Passing through the shadows of the great stone arches. Suddenly something glittering caught Sora's eye, it was a glass bottle. Sora bent to pick it up, inside the bottle was a crinkled note. Carefully Sora withdrew the brittle piece of paper. Smoothing it out, he read the curly black words that seemed to glitter in the moonlight.
Ones born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts, ravage all worlds and bring desolation. Seize all hearts and consummate the great heart. All hearts to be one, one heart to encompass all. Realize the destiny: the realm of Kingdom Hearts. The great darkness sealed within the great heart. Progeny of darkness, come back to the eternal darkness. For the heart of light shall unseal the path. Seven hearts, one Keyhole, one key to the door. The door of darkness tied by two keys. The door of darkness to seal the light. None shall pass but shadows, returning to the darkness. Ones born of the heart and darkness, hunger for every heart until the dark door opens.
Sora recognized the words, they had been written in the computer at the End of the World Prison. "Seven hearts" he whispered, "One Keyhole, one Key." Sora wheeled around and ran back toward the shack.
Yuffie slowly opened her eyes, every inch of her body stung. With a groan she sat up and looked around. She was sitting bluff, below stretched an ocean. She turned and saw Leon laying a ways away.
She went over and shook him. "Hey Squall! Wake up!"
Leon opened his eyes and looked up to glare at Yuffie. "It's Leon"
Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Whatever, look where we are"
Leon sat up and looked around, his dark eyes surveying everything. "The last thing I remember was Ansem firing a spell at us."
Yuffie's eyes went wide, "do you think we're dead?"
Leon withdrew a small dagger from his belt and nicked his palm with the blade. Blood came out of the cut, but it was dark, almost black looking. Leon looked up at Yuffie as he replaced the dagger. "No we're still alive, but the question is where." They were silent for a moment, wondering where on earth they were.
Sora came skidding through the door to the cabin, the note clutched tightly in one hand. Caliga was laying on the couch, his full length stretched along it. He'd removed his blindfold, the small ribbon of cloth was clutched tightly in his hand. He sat up as Sora entered, and opened his eyes. There was just black under the eyelids, it made Sora shiver to see it.
"I can see you, you know" Caliga said getting up, "though not seeing as you might think. I can see your life force, and your heart." He retied the blindfold as Lycole came down the stairs.
"Hey Sora. What's up you look bothered."
"Where's Terra and Lutian?" he asked quickly.
"I'm not sure they kinda just rushed out. Why?" Sora walked over to him and handed him the piece of paper.
"Does any of this sound familiar to you?" he asked. Lycole read the passage, speaking it aloud for Caliga's benefit.
Slowly Lycole lowered the paper. "This is a prophecy" he said. His voice shocked. "And it came to you?" Sora nodded. Lycole looked at Caliga, "So that's what the dream meant."
"Must be" the other replied. Caliga moved forward to take the paper. He ran his fingers over the words.
"What?" asked Sora puzzled.
"I had a dream, that the final barer would come and that we must fight at his side. We had to help him fight his way into Kingdom hearts." Caliga heaved a sigh. "I'm prepared to do that, are you?" he said addressing Lycole.
"Always" Lycole replied dawning his coat. Caliga did the same. They left the shack, and walked swiftly toward the city.
"Couldn't we wait till it stops raining?" Sora asked eyeing the rolling clouds above the buildings in the distance.
Lycole gave him a hard look. "It's always raining in the city." He replied.
Riku and Kairi stared at Mickey. "So it was you all along?" Riku asked. The king nodded. "You could have said something" Riku grumbled.
"I wanted to get my point across" Mickey said raising and eyebrow. "And I did didn't I?" Riku gave a growl in reply.
Kairi looked from Mickey to Riku and back. "What?" She asked confused.
Riku waved a hand at her. "It's nothing, never mind about it." Suddenly a dark aura surrounded Riku. It was dark intertwined with strands of light. Riku gasped and then his features became obscured by the darkness. Kairi screamed and ran forward, but Mickey grabbed her arm. For such a little thing, the mouse was quite strong.
The twisting mass of darkness and light that was Riku grew taller. Then it began to dwindle sliding down his body to sink into the ground. Kairi stared in wide eyed astonishment.
Riku was taller, he wore different clothes, and his face was older. Riku beamed at Kairi, "someone released my body, and I found it again." He then looked at Mickey, "that's what you were waiting for wasn't it?" The king nodded smiling.
Mickey turned to Kairi. "Now do you think you could get us out of here?"
Kairi blinked, "What?"
"You have the power to get us out of here. We need to jump realms, we have to get to the World in Between. That's where Sora is, we need to get to him."
A jolt went through both Kairi and Riku. "He's still alive?" Riku asked.
"In a manner of speaking." The king replied.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kairi demanded.
But Riku was thinking hard. "It has something to do with the door doesn't it?" Mickey nodded.
"What door?" Kairi asked, suspicious
But Riku shook his head. "Never mind, do you think you can get us out of here?"
Kairi looked down and closed her eyes. Not really knowing what to do, she fell into a deep trance. Falling down within herself, without knowing she did so. Kairi withdrew an ancient power from her heart. Her mind wove it into a great net around herself, Riku, and Mickey.
To Riku and Micky everything had faded to a dull grayish white. Then Kairi rose into the air, a spark of light glimmering at her heart. Her arms were thrown out her head back, she moved them with the power of her heart from the Endless Abyss. Something barred her way making her falter. It was doubt she didn't really believe she could do it.
"She's faltering" Mickey cried. "Kairi you've got to go through with it."
Riku seized Kairi's hand, and projected and image into her mind. They were at the paopu tree. Riku was leaning against it, Sora and Kairi sitting on top of the leaning trunk. The light of the dying sun sinking below the horizon cast red and gold around them. They said nothing to each other, and just watched the sun falling, and night beginning to stretch dark creepers across the sky.
"Remember this?" Riku thought furiously to Kairi, "Remember what we're fighting for?"
"Yes…" Came a faint reply. Kairi's eyes flew open. The swirling grays around them vanished. A cascade of water fell onto them, Kairi fell with it. Riku caught her and steadied her on her feet. They looked around them, they were standing in a dark, rain-drenched city. There were flickering neon signs here and there, but one board caught Kairi's eye. She gulped and poked Riku, he turned and she pointed.
There was a collection of boards at the top of one building that had images racing across it. She saw her face and Riku's distinctly.
"What is that?" Riku murmured staring entranced at the images.
Kairi knew what they were, though she couldn't say how. "They're memories…Sora's memories."
"Yes that's what they look like." Riku said quietly. "Then he's here, isn't he Mickey?" there was no answer. Kairi and Riku turned, the king was nowhere in sight.