Kokoro

I sat with my arms around my right leg and my chin resting on my knee as Sora talked with a queen about a girl named Alice being innocent. Innocent about what, I didn't know. I arrived right after she had accused Alice. Sora was being the hero, despite his new friend's protests. That queen is so damn ugly, I thought as I looked at her.

He never liked you. Riku's words kept ringing in my mind. Was he telling me the truth? Is the future Riku trustworthy? Does Sora really like Kairi more? Does Sora love her? Do I love him? So many questions zoomed through my head, and it required all my concentration to keep them down to a minimum. That's why when the girl appeared in front of me I was so surprised.

"BOO!"

"Wah!" I cried. A girl with magenta shorts and a black long-sleeved shirt popped out of nowhere. An orchid-colored necklace hung around her neck, and she had fairly long jet-black hair. I felt like I had a heart attack. Luckily this attack had distracted my mind from Riku's rantings. "Who are you?" I exclaimed.

"I've got a proposition for you."

"That doesn't answer my question," I said.

"I'm Naomi. Now, the proposition: Join Maleficent or face the consequences."

"And if I don't?" I had no idea that the card guards of the queen, the queen, Alice, and Sora's new friends were looking at us. Sora, the idiot that he was, was still trying to talk the queen out of killing Alice.

"You die."

"Fine, then. Just try to kill me," I said, and immediately a sword appeared in her hand. I jumped down from my perch, now not caring about the audience. Naomi followed, and swung her sword even though I was far out of reach. The sword seemed to magically lengthen, and became thin like a whip. As fast as she swung it, a scratch appeared on my arm.

She swung it again but this time I blocked it with the Oblivion Zero. The sword-whip twisted around the shaft of my Keyblade, and she tried to pull it out of my hands. Seeing her trick, I pulled on the Oblivion Zero, and being the stronger one I pulled it out of her hands. Quickly I dismissed the Oblivion, and lunged toward her. I was able to knock her over and grabbed her throat.

I summoned the Oblivion Zero into my hand, and prepared to strike. Naomi turned into pure darkness and seeped into the ground. I looked at her sword-whip and it, too turned to darkness and followed her shadow to the common shadows. Sora finally noticed me kneeling on the ground and ran over, his two new friends not far behind. "Kokoro, what are you doing?" he asked. I simply ignored him. "Why are you ignoring me?" he demanded.

I got up and ran through a nearby hole in the hedge maze. Sora followed me, but a hand – Naomi's I presumed – reached up from the ground and tripped him. I quickly raced out of the maze and into a huge forest. Well, it was huge to me, having been shrunk by a weird potion Riku gave me before I arrived here. As I looked around, Naomi jumped at me from a tree and held me like I had held her before.

"The shoe is on the other foot, huh?" she said with a smirk. Her sword came at me, and I prepared for the worst, but it never came. Sora blocked the blow, and returned the smirk. Naomi punched him into a tree, and his head smacked the trunk. I used Riku's technique, the one where he curls up on the ground and then kicks up, to kick Naomi and get up. I followed with a punch, and she fled in the same way, by seeping into the ground.

Sora got up after his friends poured another of those green miracle potions on his head. I've really got to get one of those, I thought. "Are you okay?" he asked me.

He never liked you. Riku's voice rang in my head. He hates you. Sora only had eyes for Kairi. I grabbed my head in pain. "Shut up!" I yelled to no one in particular.

"Kokoro, are you okay!" he shouted, and kneeled down to my level. My head felt like someone was pounding a million hammers in my head. Riku came out of the shadows.

"Sora!" Riku yelled. "Don't touch her!"

"What have you done to her?" Sora asked, while clenching his fists.

"Nothing. She just knows the truth. Who you really are. What you're really doing. She knows you're a traitor!" Riku yelled, and then said to me, "Kokoro, someone is waiting for you."

I stood up and followed Riku, leaving Sora shocked and dumbfounded. "My brother?" I asked hopefully.

"Yes, your brother," he answered.

"Wait," I said, halting us both.

"What?" asked Riku, and he started walking towards the shadows.

"Which Riku are you?" I asked, still skeptical. "Are you the present or future Riku?" We walked into a large black room, where a large white circle was in the middle with several small white circles slowly circling it.

"Future? You met the future me?" Riku said in slight excitement.

"Yeah. So if you're asking about the future you then you must be the present Riku."

"I guess so."

I handed Riku my necklace. "Wear this so I know who you are." Riku put on the necklace, and fingered it a bit. "Take care of it. That's all I have to remember by brother by."

"What happened?" asked Riku.

"To me and my brother?" Riku nodded. "I don't really remember my home, but what I do remember is us being in an orphanage. A few years passed, and a family was found that would adopt both of us. For celebration we went on a big cruise. While my brother and I played on the deck with a girl that he liked, something from below the water hit the boat. My brother slid to the other side of the boat, hit his head, and fell into the water. I tried walking over to where he fell off, but the boat swayed more and I fell off too. A couple of hours later I landed on the Destiny Islands, where you found me," I took a deep breath after telling my story.

"Too bad for you," Riku said sarcastically.

"Hey, that was rude!" I said back. We stopped walking. Riku looked down.

"You haven't seen what I've seen. People come and go for no reason. They're hearts are taken and turned into something horrible."

"Riku, I'm sorry. I've never seen someone die," I said softly.

"Die? Oh, they're not dead. Their heart's true darkness is turned to the Heartless. Their souls live on inside them, but the darkness takes over," he looked up again. A rustle was heard in the deep shadow.

"Wait, be quiet," I whispered, and walked over to the corner where I heard the sound. I grabbed someone's arm and pulled them into the light. It was Naomi. I threw her to the ground, and was going to attack, if it wasn't for Riku.

"Now just wait a sec," Riku said. He helped Naomi up. "What's your name?" he asked kindly.

"I'm Naomi," she said, brushing she shoulders off. Is he falling for her? They started a conversation and talked for a few minutes.

"Hate to interrupt, but could you take me to my brother?" I asked Riku. Naomi scowled.

"Oh, yes. Follow me," Riku said, leading me to one of the small circles. "Stand on one of the small white circles and say your brother's name," he explained.

I stood on a small circle and took a deep breath. "Cloud," I said, and the large circle glowed a bright white.