Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, then lots of stuff would happen, then it would no longer be rated E…don't sue me please!
Kingdom to Come
Chapter Three: Meetings
As both the mysterious man and the unwilling teenager slaughtered the attacking black mob, a slim girl expertly watched the battle from above a building. Lucky for her, that boy jumped in before the heartless got to her first. Hey, she was unprepared-that cursed moogle was bothering her again! Besides, she was sure that she could've gotten out of that rut by herself anyway.
Defending her "super-expert-number-one-ninja" title from herself, she watched the remaining heartless dissipate into the air. She couldn't see what the pretty-boy fought with, but something about his style and length of the weapon caught her eye. It sure wasn't a showpiece sword, that's for sure. The ninja quietly whistled, of course not enough that Squall could hear her (that would be an insult to her hiding skills), and made a mental note about it later.
Oh, wait…if there was a later. Geez, what was Squall's problem? That kid just helped him kick shadow butt!
And on the ground, Riku was thinking in a similar fashion. What did he do to piss this guy off?
"You shouldn't be toying with dangerous things like that, kid." The stoic man gestured to the Keyblade. Riku growled lowly, both from the insult and sheer defense for the weapon.
"What are you talking about?" He sneered back, moving into an attacking stance. The leather-clad adult swung the gun-blade through the air.
"In other words, I'm asking you to give it to me."
He said that like it as if I had an option, Riku's mind sarcastically spat. The silver haired boy glared daggers at the man.
"Say please!" Riku cried out as he sprinted towards the guy. It may have not been the best course of action, but he didn't really care. Metal grinded against metal and halted.
"Listen, you brat! I need you to get away from this key!" The seemingly stoic man barked, making Riku pause in a small confusion. That small pause was enough to push the silver haired boy back and whack him on the head with the blunt of his gunblade.
Stumbling back, Riku gave him a feral glare. His vision doubled from the impact and it was becoming increasingly hard to balance. His grip tightened on the weapon in his hands before quietly passing out on the cold, hard pavement.
He stood before the collapsed kid, eyeing the blade that shimmered in the perpetual night of Traverse town. If this was Sora, then he secretly wondered how the Kingdom ruled before…
"I think you overdid it, Squall," A feminine voice he knew so well expressed behind him. Squall shifted his gaze over to the dark haired ninja.
"I mean, damn! I heard the crack of his skull from all the way from the top of the building!" She exclaimed, half in amusement, half in concern. Taking a few steps towards their fallen "comrade", her eyes widened at the sight of the Keyblade.
"It's Leon," He corrected icily to the thief. "And get Aerith. Things were worse than I thought."
"Uh…right." Without breaking her gaze at the boy and his unusual weapon, she slipped into the night.
Everything melded into darkness, Riku realized. Colors, shapes, even his own thoughts and feeling meshed into one giant blob of dark mass. Maybe that was his mind playing tricks on him…after all, whatever happened with that guy didn't go over too well.
He peered down at the floor-a green, soft meadow of grass had appeared sometime- and regained some sense. Riku blinked at the new scenery that invaded his sight.
"Riku!" A high-pitched squeal cried out and suddenly he was tackled to the ground. He didn't need to be told who that was.
What he didn't understand was why he didn't feel the contact with the ground, or the silly brunette that sat ontop of him.
"Ah, hello to you too, Selphie." His voice carried through, but he didn't really say it. His mouth twitched into a half grin, half smirk against his own will. It was like his body was on autopilot.
Selphie grinned and cocked her head to the side. Oh, he knew that look. It was that curious I-know-something-you-know-but-you-need-to-tell-me-anyway smirk.
"Sooo…" She eluded with that annoying grin, " I heard you and Sora-sama were pretty close a couple weeks ago."
Riku frowned both mentally and physically. The first thing that confused him was Selphie's add-on to Sora's name. The other was what she was talking about in the first place. Him and Sora? Together? His thoughts shifted to that one sweet and torturous dream, but that didn't have any relevance to this…whatever it was.
Was this a dream?
"Who told you that?" His body spoke for him, but it didn't sound nearly as convincing, even to himself. If Selphie was Selphie, she would pick that up immediately. In which it seemed she did.
"A birdie." Her grin turned evil for a few seconds, then her expression turned to a dreamy state.
"Oh, it seemed like only yesterday that you came! There you were, all confused and dazed, and Sora ran right up and tackled you from behind. What a cute sight!"
"That was only because-"
"I don't care what made it happen. I swear it was love at first sight!" The girl sighed, allowing him to push her off and stand. He could see a giant stone wall in the background, so high that he couldn't see the end and so long that it disappeared into the horizon. He couldn't tell much detail, but he supposed that was due to his eyes focusing on Selphie.
A defeated sigh emitted from his lips and Riku would've hit himself if he had the chance. How can he-or his other mind-give in so easy? Well, not that it would matter with Selphie.
"Yes, it happened. I don't think it was that long ago, though." Funny, now his mouth twitched oddly, as if it were trying to suppress a grin.
The hyper brunette squealed and clapped her hands, instantly gripping onto Riku's legs. He fell from the loss of balance, but he didn't hit the ground. Instead, he kept falling.
And everything returned to darkness.
As for Kairi and Selphie, the sun could never be brighter, although that was partially because it was near afternoon. Selphie managed to drag both Tidus and Wakka out of their homes during the wee hours in the morning. Somehow, the hyper girl also got them to the gateway island. Kairi had never felt so tired.
"Ah, we did all want to see the ocean some day, didn't we?" Tidus stated with his boyish grin and his hands interlocked behind his head.
"Ya man; it's wonderful. But it kinda makes ya homesick, you know?" Wakka replied, gazing at the endless blue. He had his blitz ball safely lodged under his arm.
"You're forgetting guys," Selphie piped from behind. Kairi just stared at the trio.
"This is our home now." The girl continued. It was a cryptic statement coming from Selphie, Kairi mused. Cryptic, but true. The boys nodded in response.
"Yeah. I guess it is…" The blonde mused with a tad bit of wonder. A small silence washed over them, letting each mind to settle their recent predicament. No one wanted to hear the real reason they were here. They knew it already; in fact, they prepared extensively for this. But it was so hard to understand. This was a world they knew all their waking lives, yet it felt so new to them. This was the impassable borderline from their Kingdom, yet this was the only place they knew.
Kairi silently thanked her magic, the Kingdom, and the knowledge of her past life.
"So Princess, what's going on?" One of the boys broke the silence. She didn't recognize who said it, since she wasn't expecting it so fast, but that didn't matter. All eyes were on her.
"Something's happened here, and I'm not quite sure what it was." Kairi lamely stated. Selphie rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. The girl smiled good naturedly, but she couldn't mask the nervousness completely.
"We know that already, silly!"
"What I mean is that something went wrong with one of the worlds. And I'm guessing it has to do with ours…"
Another silence, although tenser, filled the air. Tidus ripped it away with a direct, painful, very blunt statement.
"But our Kingdom was destroyed."
Everyone winced.
"Yes," Kairi rasped through her suddenly dry mouth, "But not everyone made it here."
And instantly, the trio's eyes flashed. Yes, they've all realized it now.
"Where's Sora?" Selphie gasped before the rest of them could ask. Kairi shook her head.
"It's too late now. He took him through the door. I sent Riku through to try to catch up."
"What!" The three rang out in chorus, and Kairi winced. Yes, her lack of sleep really didn't help.
"Do you know how dangerous-"
"Nooo! Kairi! How could you do-"
"Riku hasn't even finished his training, ya!-"
Everyone was talking at once, drowning out the last of her patience. The anxiety over the last few hours finally snapped and her habits came delved out from the recesses of her mind. Her back straightened as a chill crawled up her spine. Her head snapped up to attention.
"Silence!" The princess demanded, and the air became a tad bit colder, filled with the regalty of the princess' voice. The three immediately stopped and let out a sheepish "yes, princess". Kairi sighed. For them, the adventure just started.
Hours passed by before Riku awoke.
He knew he was awake this time, at least. He was laying on something soft, which he might have figured was a bed. And the mumbling noises grew louder as seconds passed by.
Riku mentally crossed his fingers and hoped to find his bedroom ceiling.
"Garrh! Wake up already! Hey, Squall, can't I just slap him awake?"
That particular sentence snapped Riku's eyes wide open, making him take in the sight of a scrawny girl with short black hair. He meant to retort, but only ended up groaning from the pain shooting through his head.
"Careful now," Another woman from the odd room warned. Her voice reminded him of a gentle mother talking to a baby. Riku waited for the dizziness to pass and sat up.
"Who are you?" It may have not been the most important question at the moment, but it was a decent one. The scrawny one smirked.
"This is Aerith," She jabbed her thumb towards the pink clad lady with interesting colored eyes. She bowed her head in greeting with a warm smile.
"That jerk over there is Squall-"
"-Leon-"
"-Leon, " She rolled her eyes at his cold correction as he only shook his head.
"And I'm the great ninja Yuffie!" The girl said with pride. He remembered her!
"You're the girl I saved from those monsters!" He declared and crossed his arms. Yuffie faltered and glared indignantly at him.
"Yeah, well I could've saved myself. Even if you are Sora, don't doubt my ninja skills!"
It took a few seconds for Riku to process her sentence before replying darkly.
"I'm not Sora."
He didn't know what startled them. Yuffie's eyes widened, just a Aerith's smile turned into a frown. Leon didn't show any real sign of surprise, but he did raise an eyebrow. The thick tension in the room strangled him.
"Then you must be Koro!" The young girl cried.
"My name is Riku!" The silver the aqua eyed one snapped. There was another pause between them, before Yuffie snorted.
"You can't be!"
"And why not?" He sneered. The ninja leaned over him and stared him straight in the eyes. Her face set itself in an intimidating stance as she placed her hands over her hips.
"Because you have Sora's Keyblade. If you really were Riku, you'd have a black Keyblade with a red hilt and we'd all be dead."
She peered into his never-wavering gaze as if she were searching through his soul. Within an instant, Yuffie reached into her pouch and had the edge of her Kunai against his throat. Riku made sure to keep very still.
"Yuffie!" Aerith gasped in horror and pulled Yuffie's arms back. The ninja struggled to escape from the older lady's grasp, still glaring at him like a hawk.
"Let me go! If he's Riku, then we should kill him on the spot before anything happens!"
"We don't know anything for sure!" Aerith pleaded.
"Yuffie! Calm down." Leon wrapped his large hands around her skinny arms, effectively subduing the girl. She stopped struggling and went semi-limp.
"You better not harm Sora," She spat viciously, and Riku's hairs stood on the back of his neck. Regardless of Leon holding her back, and her small appearance, she still looked lethal. " Don't you lay one finger on him, or so help me for all creation, I'll hunt you down, slit your throat, and hang you from piano wire. "
That same fierce look equaled the one who took Sora.
"Who's Koro?" He asked quietly, but still sharp. He could understand completely about the protective streak when it came to Sora. He, in fact, was also a victim of the feeling. But this girl had never been to the islands that he knew of, much less know Sora. He would've told something about them, wouldn't he?
"Koro…in Ansem's report, our liege Sora had a little brother. He was one of the guardians to the Kingdom and the King, along with his older sister Kairi." Aerith explained once she was confident enough to let go of the ninja.
"Did Koro have blonde hair? And light blue eyes?"
"Ansem never described anyone in detail other than overall age, personality, and ability." Leon added with his stoic voice.
Riku delved into his memory for anything he could refer to. When whoever it was took Sora, he was able summon monsters, didn't he? The dark symbol on their heads contrasted the pale armor as their elastic bodies twisted abnormally. Their name was locked in his head.
"What about Flailers?"
"The Flailers could only be summoned by one with another Keyblade, called the Oathkeeper. Koro owned it."
Riku decided enough was enough and pushed himself off the bed. Yuffie growled as he walked pass to the doorway that Leon was previously blocking.
"Where are you going?"
"I need to find Donald and Goofy. They can help me." Riku gave them a small wave and pushed the door open.
And met face-to-face with his comrades. He crossed his arms and gave them a look.
"Hey, Riku!" Goofy grinned, well, goofily. Donald tapped his foot impatiently.
"Don't run away like that again!" The duck spurted out. Like it would make a difference…and it wasn't like they needed to keep tabs on him like a child. If they really wanted to keep him, they'd better catch up.
"Where would Koro be?" He asked roughly. Dammit, he wanted to take Sora, go back home, and start the adventure like it was supposed to be.
"Koro?" Goofy repeated, It was odd; even though Riku didn't know Goofy that much, he knew that the narrowed look was not normal.
"Why would ya wanna know a thing like that?"
"Because," He replied to the large dog. Goofy looked comical with his serious expression, but this wasn't the time to laugh. "Wherever he is, that's where Sora will be."
A/N: Stopping here again, well…'cause I have way too much stuff going on at the moment. Sorry for the lack of quality, but that's what happens when you have 5 school projects dumped on you at once
Anyway, R&R! Your reviews keep me motivated!
