Chapter 9 - Interim

The castle grounds were so beautiful; snow-covered, talonlike mountains, a tired sun spreading dying light down in a gorgeous display. Kydran looked to his left; beside him, the raincoated figure stood, hood raised to hide his visage.

"Still he is in your thoughts."

Kydran looked back at the panorama before him. Yes; his thoughts always drifted back to that other boy. Despite that, the overpowering need to find him had faded. Now he was with this black-clad being with no name. Nobody. The boy's fingers found their way to the chain around his neck, trailed down to the heart-shaped pendant. He had had the pendant coming into the castle. He wondered, vaguely, if it had anything to do with Sora's crown-shaped pendant.

"He is looking for you."

"I don't care," replied Kydran flatly, but the raincoated being saw through the bluff with little effort.

The young man had attained new clothing, as well as having been cleaned and groomed. The being had given that to him. He wore black baggy pants, leather straps all about them, a black flare-sleeved t-shirt, leather vest. And the one thing he had possessed upon entering this realm, one that Sora had not noticed: a silver chain about his neck, at the end of which a heart-shaped pendant dangled.

"That is good. It is better you don't. He means only to harm you."

"...what? No, Sora wouldn't hurt me."

"Are you so sure?"

"I... no, he's not like that. That's not Sora."

"His purpose is to destroy creatures of darkness."

The raincoated figure turned away from the rooftop edge the two had been standing on, and stepped briskly away.

"Wait!" called Kydran, moving after him. "How do you know all this? You said you don't live here."

"No, I do not. But I know what happened long before you came here."

"Then you know what happened to my memory!"

"I do. I said I would help you, did I not?"

"Yeah."

"Be patient. I have many things to show you."

Sora burst out of the Gallery and into the Gardens, looking frantically around. As familiar as this place was becoming to him (which was unusually fast), he felt lost. He was alone, utterly, in this huge castle, and had been for hours. What was that rumble? When it had happened, Sora had sensed a pounding in his head, a dull thrum that ached and ached. It had faded already, but had disturbed him.

He slowed, looking around, from ground to air to the tops of the castle. He swallowed hard, and his blue eyes shifted to the ground. He had been mean to Kydran. Why wouldn't he run off?

Sora had thought perhaps Kydran would have gone to the second floor of the Gallery, and he hadn't paid much attention to the artwork there in his search for his smelly companion, but what he had seen disturbed him. Everything was gray, dark, smoggy, unpleasant. He would have been happy to forget what was there.

The boy found nothing in the Gardens, but proceeded forward, toward the gates opposite the Gallery, on the other side of the Gardens. He arrived there swiftly, his fear of being completely alone driving him now.

The huge doorways led into a room that was entirely unlit, even when he entered it. The twin doors closed about him, shutting off all light. He turned and felt for the doorway, but it was not there. His heart began to pound, his breath quickening. The Keyblade Master was now genuinely afraid.

A silky, masculine voice emitted from within the inky blackness.

"I suppose now you wish you had not lost your temper."

"...Kydran?"

"If that's the name he gave you."

"Kydran, I'm sorry I-"

His apology was cut short by a burst of mean laughter from this voice. Sora glared in the direction of the sound, feeling his pride becoming injured.

"Don't kid yourself. I know how you really feel. They all feel the same way. I've seen it so many times."

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll understand. Very soon, you'll understand. He will, too. But I want to see the looks on your faces. I'll be sure to keep that memory with me..."

"Kydran! Show yourself!"

But there was no response. Sora waited in the darkness, waited for the voice, who he could only assume to be Kydran's (it was his voice, right?) to say something more. No sound came. The boy took a deep breath and continued to feel around, and his hands made contact with what felt like wall. He gave it a solid push, and the door gave way. He entered into the Gardens again.

He looked at his hand. It was shaking violently; his heart was still pounding. That voice had an edge to it, something that told Sora that the person that voice belonged to could have killed him without thinking twice, with no remorse whatsoever.

Sora stumbled, dazed, toward the fountain in the center of the Gardens, still unable to free himself from the memory of that voice. Kydran's voice.

He sat down, and waited, and thought.

Kydran was just as dazed at that moment when he found Sora again. The Keyblade Master was still deep in thought, at the fountain, when Kydran approached.

"...Sora?"

The young man leapt up from his place and faced Kydran, his eyes wild. He was in what Kydran figured was a defensive stance, a reaction trained from... wherever they came from before, he supposed. The black-clad boy's arms folded, and he frowned. Why was he so jumpy?

"Kydran! Get away from me!"

"What?"

At this, Sora's tension seemed to fade.

"It wasn't you, was it?"

"...huh?" Kydran voiced, appearing very baffled. Did Sora know about the man in black? No, he couldn't. That would be impossible.

"The voice, in the dark room! Was it you?"

"Dark room? Sora, are you okay? Really, man, you should get a grip."

The boy in the red jumpsuit still appeared suspicious, but certainly less hostile. Sora took a deep breath, and offered a nervous smile.

"It's alright. I was just a little worried. Where did you go? And where did you get those clothes? You don't smell so bad, either."

"I took a look around the Gardens, and then went digging through the closet in our room to find something to wear. We're just about the same size," responded Kydran, lying easily through his teeth. He held his arms out so Sora could take a look.

"Weird. I didn't see those in there."

"Well, anyway, you were right. It was dumb to split up. I don't think we're alone in this castle, either."

"It's okay. You said you ran into somebody in a dark room?" asked Kydran, frowning. He had been with the robed man the entire time; this other person could not have been himself. Or the robed man. "And he sounded like me?"

"Yeah. I don't wanna go back over there. Not alone."

"It's fine. I'm not really interested in any more exploring today. Let's go back to the dining hall, see if there's some grub there, and then go to the room. There's something I wanna try."

Their meal had been good. A pair of large hamburgers for the both of them, with hefty sides of fries and two glasses of milk. The dinner conversation consisted primarily of Kydran telling jokes (dirty and otherwise) and Sora spraying milk out of his nose. Kydran's normally pale face had become somewhat bright and joyful, and he had an honest smile, stretching from ear to ear.

Afterward, the both of them proceeded through the strange, shack-like corridor into the room. Kydran moved to the center of the room, stretched and yawned, and then turned to Sora, who was moving in and out of the doorway, his brow furrowed.

"What's up?"

"Before now, even if you were in a room and I wasn't, it would go dark. But it won't now."

"That's strange," commented Kydran, already on his way to the windowsill over the bed.

"I wonder if it had anything to do with that quake earlier?" offered Sora, who closed the bedroom door and moved to the edge of the bed. "Did you feel it, too?"

"Nuh-uh," responded the ebon-haired boy. He started work on opening the windowsill.

"What're you doing?"

"There's a beach outside. From outside the castle, it's autumn, or winter. Cold. In the Gardens, it's warm. I wonder if this is summer... or if it's even real."

Sora hadn't realized this; he had simply felt at home in that room, and had not given the window a second thought. His expression communicated his loss for words, though it did not last long. Kydran threw the window up and climbed through it.

He fell for quite a ways, and landed hard on his feet. Losing his balance, he stumbled forward and landed face-first in the sand. Sora's aerodynamic yellow clown shoes, however, provided him with a slower descent, so he landed neatly beside Kydran and extended a hand to help him up. Kydran got to his feet, and the both of them surveyed the area.

The pictures in the Gallery did the islands no justice.

The bright azure waters sparkled like countless diamonds in the tropical sun, and the air smelled sweetly of the sea. Gorgeous white sands met the ocean, the land was lush with palm trees, and a warm breeze flowed about the pair of boys, both of whom were completely entranced.

"I don't get it," muttered Kydran, though it was not in displeasure. "How can this place exist? We're in the middle of a damned castle!"

"Who cares? Hanging out here is way better than that huge old place. Come on, maybe we can find something to play with, like some swords or something. Or we can built a raft! I wonder where this ocean leads to?"

"Sora, don't you understand? That's an ocean. There wasn't an ocean anywhere in sight when we arrived!"

Unfortunately, Sora was not listening. He was already charging toward some sort of little shack not far from where they stood. Kydran looked up, to the place they had fallen from.

There was a window in the rock face.

He shook his head, took a deep breath, and followed after Sora.

The days that followed were wonderful. Kydran felt, deep within, that he had found a true friend in Sora. The two knew perfectly well that they were not alone in the castle, but that was okay. They had each other. Still, the robed one came to Kydran, each day, every week revealing one more thing to him, each week gaining his trust, each week showing him one more vital truth.

After a while, neither of the boys cared to remember their old memories. Sora was happy where he was, and Kydran was learning much from the enigmatic man, gaining power through his small 'gifts', remaining all the while suspicious of his motives. He knew it would not last, but how long, he wasn't sure.

Nobody in the castle truly knew, but the events that would follow would change the destiny of the Eight forever.