6H:Hello everyone, and welcome back!
Anaretsu:meh...
6H:Wasn't the last chapter sad?
Anaretsu:No.
6H:Forget you, baka!
Kingdom Hearts-Shattered Fragments
Fragment 65-Sentimental
"Thanks again for towing us all the way back to Traverse Town." Ryu said after he and Aru got on board.
"Hey, it's no problem!" Donald replied.
"What d'ya think's wrong with it?" Goofy asked.
"The computer might be busted. Or it could be something else...I don't know. Heartless must've sabatoged it while we were in the castle."
"Anyway, go and get some rest. Sora and Kairi are in the back room. Your friend Aru is already there, sleeping no doubt." Donald said.
"I'm not really in the mood to sleep."
"Well, in the mood or not, you gotta get your rest! There's going to be some tougher battles from here on out." Goofy told him.
"Actually, now I just want to pilot a ship. That usually relaxes me and helps me take my mind off other things. You guys can go and get some rest, and then you can take over again later. I figure I owe you anyway." Ryu said. Donald sighed and hopped out of the pilot seat.
"Be my guest. Come on, Goofy!" The two left, and Ryu stood in the cockpit, alone. He sighed, looking down at the controls. It was nice to be able to bury himself in a machine again. He let himself be taken over by his piloting instincts and steered the ship into space.
Sora glared at Riku as the two circled around each other. Sora gripped his hand tighter on his keyblade, keeping his guard up, his eyes never leaving Riku. Suddenly, the silver haired boy lunged forward at him. Sora went to strike, but something got in the way.
He felt cold blood splatter on his face. The figure caught between the two keyblades came into view. It was Cedeile.
"Sora...I'll be waiting for you...at the last world..." and with that, Cedeile fell forward, dissolving completely before hitting the ground. Sora stared at where she would have fallen in disbelief.
"Did you forget about me, Sora?" a voice sneered. He looked up just as the dark keyblade came down on him.
"No!" He yelled, springing upright. He calmed himself, letting his breathing go back to normal. Looking around, he saw he was in the back room of gummi ship. Goofy and Donald were snoring, each slumped into a seat. Aru was slumped against the window, hardly moving or making a sound, her eyes peacfully closed. Sora looked at the chair next to him, where Kairi was...or should have been, at least. All that was there was a yellow blanket. He sighed. 'She must've gotton up.' He leaned back into his seat, looking up at the glass ceiling and watching the stars go by.
'Cedeile...it's all my fault...' he thought. 'I should've been stronger...'
Ryu hardly heard the doors open behind him as Kairi entered the room. She stood towards in the back for a few moments, staring at the back of his seat, and then came forward, sitting herself down next to him.
"Hi." she said. He didn't look at her, but slightly tilted his head, acknowledging her presence. "You seem upset, Ryosuke..."
"...Can you not call me by my full name? 'Ryu' is just fine."
"Well, I don't know you so well, and Aru said that only your friends call you that."
"Yeah...but you say my name just like..." he stopped, turning away from her. The last thing he wanted to do was have this girl see he was still upset.
"I see..." she said, understandingly. "Don't give up hope, Ryu. Cedeile's not gone forever." she said, placing a reassuring hand on his arm. He turned to her.
"How can you be so sure? I saw it with my own eyes, Kairi-two keyblades were rammed through her. No one could've survived that." he said, somewhat quietly.
"Yes, that might be true, if the keyblades were ordinary weapons, like your sword." he looked at her, confused. "What I mean is, the dark keyblade held the power to unlock hearts, and Sora's keyblade has the power to lock them." He turned back front, putting his full attention into piloting.
"So what are you doing up?"
"I'm trying to help you guys out the best I can. I've been useless up till now, and I know you guys have been through some tough times..." She trailed off. Her words made his mind wander across memories he didn't really want to remember right now.
"Uh...yeah..." he responded. "But...it was fun." he added, suddenly. "We always had fun wherever we went. She could be such an idiot sometimes, it made me laugh, and then she would smile and call herself stupid or something, like she had meant to do it. At the beginning I didn't like her because she got on my nerves. No, the very first time I saw her, I mistakenly thought she would be a normal, typical girl who didn't like fighting and was always thinking about guys like most girls do, but then I got to know her and started to think she was annoying, and then...without meaning to, I started to open up to her about everything...and...I don't know, I just started to be a normal kid again instead of being so hard and callous." Kairi nodded.
"That's Cedeile for you. She may seem like a jerk or just really stupid at first, but then you realize that it's all an act and you start to like her. When I first got to Destiny Islands, about seven years ago, I had lost all my memory and was scared, but while I was waiting at the mayor's house, she came in through the window and started to talk to me. She was curious about me. And I was perplexed by her- she wasn't like me at all. I was so young, I thought she was a boy..." Kairi laughed softly. "Anyway, it seems you really care about her."
"Why would you say that?" Ryu asked, unerved.
"The way you talk about her. And I can tell you're thinking about her now." Kairi responded, her violet eyes seemed all knowing.
"I just...I swore I'd neve let anyone die on me ever again. Not after...not after Seiki..." he said quietly, clenching his teeth to keep his emotions under control.
"Seiki?"
"My older brother...he died when I was eight."
"Big brother!"
"Promise me, Ryosuke...that you'll be the best fragment hunter..."
"I will!"
"And...that you'll find all the fragments...p-promise me..."
"I swear it! I won't let you down, Seiki!" Ryu clenched his eyes shut, trying to block out the horrible memory.
"Oh...how sad. It must've been awful."
"Yes, and it still is." he responded. "My family was devestated, but they have all almost moved on...except me." His fingers turned white from gripping the controls to hard. "But...then I found out Cedeile went through the same thing, and-I don't know-but I realised how stupid I was for not being able to get over it! Then again, it wasn't my mom or dad or my siblings that caused Seiki to die! It was all my fault-because I wasn't strong! And it's the same reason why Cedeile is-"
"She's not dead, though." Kairi interupted. "Don't you get it? She didn't die! And Riku's still out there too-he may be hardly alive, but he is!" Ryu stopped the ship and fully turned to face her.
"What makes you so sure?" he asked her.
"I'm the seventh princess of heart...I have the purest heart out of all the princesses. I have...strange powers that not even I know of. I just know Cedeile isn't dead." She looked out at the stars in front of the ship and sighed, turning back to him. "Ryu, if you really want to claim what is precious to you, you have to decide what it is first." She got up and walked out of the cockpit and back to the back room. Ryu turned back to the controls, and then set the ship on autopilot to Traverse Town. Leaning back in his chair, he looked at the glass that made up the window in front of him.
"To claim what is precious...I have to decide what it is...huh..."
Kairi rentered the back room to find everyone still asleep. She went to go back to sleep in her own spot when she heard a sob. Looking around at all of them, she found they were still asleep. She made herself comfortable in her seat and pulled the blanket over her when she heard it again, coming from next to her. She looked over to see Sora, tossing and turning in his sleep. Unsure of what to do, she listened to him mumble and then almost fell over backwards when he sprung up and cried out.
"Cedeile!" he yelled. He was cover in cold sweat and his breathing was panicked. He looked over at Kairi when he noticedshe wasback.
"Where did you go?" he asked, still shaken up.
"Oh, I had a nice talk with Ryu." she responded, smiling. Her face turned serious. "Did you have a bad dream?" she asked. He nodded.
"I can't sleep without re-seeing the battle in my head. There must've been something I could do different...but no matter what, I always end up killing Cedeile. And it feels so real, Kairi...even Cedeile's blood on my face and hands..." He leaned forward and collapsed into her arm, holding onto her tightly.
"But Sora, there wasn't any blood to begin with." she responded. "It's only a dream, Sora...but try to remember the real battle...did Cedeile ever bleed?" she asked. Sora calmed himself down again and released her, thinking.
"There...wasn't..." he anwsered. "She said she would be waiting at the last world..."
"Is that where you'll go next?" she asked as he stood up. "Yeah. After Traverse Town, I'm going to find this 'last world,' and then I'll look for her." Kairi smiled gently.
"I know you'll bring her back. Her and Riku..." Aru listen to the whole conversation from the corner, still pretending to be asleep. She smiled to herself. Clutching the black chain that hung through her small fingers, she slightly sighed to herself.
'Riku...if we found you again, would you come back with us?'
6H:The end of this chapter!
Anaretsu: I was hopeing it was the end of the story.
6H:Nope! A quick stop back to Traverse Town and then it's off again to Hallow Bastion and then to the last world! Stay tuned for further details on how to blow up Arkansas! (no offense to people from Arkansas intended)
