It was so dark. And cold. The lonely planet, as large as it was, was almost invisible against the darkness. There was no sun to warm or light it, and even on the ship as they began to land, it seemed like a cold breath had settled a permanent chill over everyone. Sora and Kairi were the first to get off the ship. They had their arms tight around each other, trying to block out the cold. Kairi shivered. Sora adjusted his arms around her, looking out towards the pitch black horizon.
"This must be what a planet is like once the Heartless have gotten hold of its heart" he observed quietly. Rikku and Gippal were off next. Rikku hugged herself, shivering a little.
"I don't like this place." She said, looking uncomfortable. Gippal came up behind her and started to rub her arms, trying to warm her up a little. Yuna and Tidus came a moment later, huddled together, followed closely by Baralai and Paine. Slowly, each of the couples parted. Their efforts to keep warm weren't going to work. The air itself wasn't cold, but the unending darkness chilled the soul. Kairi was holding her charm tight in her fist, her finger nails digging into her palm. Sora was looking out into the distance, trying to find the horizon. He squinted. There didn't seem to be one. The dark ground just melted into the dark sky. This cold feeling, he knew he had it once before, but where? Suddenly, the image of Riku disappearing into the darkness flashed before his eyes. He gasped. That was the time he'd felt darkness like this before. Kairi spun to face him, hearing his gasp.
"Are you okay?" She asked, sounding worried. Her fist loosened a little. Though one would think that it would have been an impossibility, as Kairi's hand was still fairly tight, the charm managed to slip through her fingers, as if it wanted to fall way from her. She felt the weight dropping in the black ribbon that held it. Her fingers tighten again, just keeping her from dropping it. Oddly enough, though the ribbon had never shown any sign of weakness, it tore easily away as if it was tissue paper. The charm dropped. Kairi grabbed at it, but missed. It hit the ground, and though no one had been expecting anything of great consequence to happen, a huge explosion rocked the planet to its core, throwing everyone back from it. Panic and surprise struck Kairi, and her first reaction was to cover her face with her hands, trying to tame her beating heart before she lost control of herself. Suddenly, she realized that she was thrown much too far to have a safe landing, that she would be seriously injured once she hit the rocky ground. Bracing herself for the fall, she stopped very suddenly. Something raked at her back and arms. She covered her head as she slowed with a crunch in something very high up and rather sharp. She came to a sudden stop as she hit something oddly soft, fuzzy and a bit wet. Once she was sure she came to a full stop, she let herself breathe again. Her heart had jumped into her throat and she didn't realize how hard she was fighting to keep control of herself. Lifting her head a little, she tried to get her bearings. Her eyes widened. She was caught in an enormous tree, and she had hit a very large peach in the shape of a cat's head. There was a pear just below that looked like a boot. And a bunch of bananas in a flower shape to her left. Her panic wasn't leaving her and she knew that if she didn't calm down soon she'd be in a bit of trouble, but that definitely didn't stop her from staring at her surroundings. She yelped, her panic heightening when the crack of a breaking branch signaled her fall. Her support dropped out from under her and she tumbled through the branches towards the ground. The branches slowed her enough that she hit the ground with a thud, but no injuries to speak of. She curled herself up in a little ball, holding her head in her hands, forcing her ragged breath to slow. No no no! Kairi, calm down! Calm! Don't let it control you! She thought frantically. She tried desperately, but she knew it was too late. She was too panicked. Even as she tried to calm herself, her fear of loosing her control made her even more frantic, which it turn caused her grasp on her mind to loosen just that little bit more.
"Kairi!" Sora's voice rang out from somewhere in the distance. That calmed her a little. She started to regain her control a little. Her breathing slowed further. You can do this. Her mind said resolutely. She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself to keep her cool, to regain her control.
"No need to panic." She murmured, almost relieved sounding. After a few moments, she heard footsteps coming towards her. She looked up, letting her eyes open. She was curled up in a little enclosure, surrounded by a little white picket fence. There was a quaint little cottage to her left, and the tree, she knew, was behind her. There was a little cobblestone path leading into the little garden where she lay from what she assumed was the front of the cottage. Sora appeared from around the front, running down the path towards her. She shut her eyes instantly, dropping her head back to the soft grass on the ground.
"Kai? Kai, what's wrong?" He asked urgently, sitting down next to her. She felt his hand on her back and didn't reply. "Kai… tell me what's wrong…" he said quietly. She felt his hand under her chin and he tilted her head up to face him. Before she could stop herself, she opened her eyes. Sora faltered. He stared openly for a moment. Kairi bit back tears when she saw the look on his face.
"…I'm sorry." she whispered, looking at the ground. "I guess…I should have told you." she said, sounding ashamed.
"What happened?" He asked, his voice raw with shock.
"I panicked." She replied, still staring at the ground. He tilted her head back up so she faced him again. Her irises, instead of their usual deep shade of blue-purple, they were dark red, almost blood colour. Her top had a large rip across her back, and a deep cut underneath. Her arms and shoulders were covered in cuts. But despite her injuries, the colour of her eyes was what most alarmed him. She moved slightly so she was sitting cross-legged and looked back at the ground. She gasped and slapped her hand over her ankle. Sora gave her a determined look and gently lifted her hand. Beneath the woven branches and leaves of her tattoo, the heartless insignia burned, almost glowing. The insignia was not put into the tattoo; she'd gotten it to hide the sign emblazoned there. He stared at it.
"Will wonders never cease." He said, almost hurtfully. Kairi grabbed his arm.
"Let me explain!" She asked desperately. He nodded, looking rather hurt himself. She cleared her throat, waiting until she was sure she would speak without bursting into tears. "When…when my heart got stolen, I was supposed to become a heartless like them, but I fought it. If I hadn't, you wouldn't have been able to save me. Even though I did fight it, there's still some Heartless inside me. Most of the time I can control it, but when I panic…" Her voice trailed off. Sora watched her, looking worried.
"Kai…"
"I know I should have told you, but I didn't and I'm sorry, just please don't be mad…" she begged, looking up at him. He smiled sadly.
"Kai, I love you and I can't be mad at you for more than five seconds." He replied. She tried to smile, though wasn't very successful. There was a long silence. "Are you going to be okay?" He asked finally. Kairi nodded.
"I will now." She replied, still looking upset. Sora frowned.
"I mean, you don't look very happy…" he observed. She half-smiled at him. Grinning, Sora wrapped his arms around her waist. "I never did get to finish comforting you underneath that tree…" he whispered. Kairi started to smile, sincerely this time.
"And look at that, we managed to find ourselves under another tree together. Just the two of us." she replied.
"There are not just two, indeed, I am here, and I am not just another tree." A bass, booming voice said from behind them. Both Kairi and Sora yelped, scrambling away from the voice and trying to stand up. Kairi was on her feet first and stared openly. Sora was up a moment later and joined Kairi in just staring. They'd certainly never seen anything like that before. There were a pair of footsteps running towards them on the cobblestone path, but they ignored it. Rikku came around the corner and sprinted towards them, shouting.
"I found you! Hey Sora! Kairi!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, grinning as she approached them. They didn't react, just stayed facing away from her.
"No need to yell." A loud, low voice told her. She stopped abruptly, searching for the source of the voice. She didn't need to look very far. Indeed, it was the biggest thing in sight. Surprised, she cried out,
"THE TREE HAS A FACE!"
………………
Yuna landed with a soft thump. Her eyes snapped open as she fell back, landing on what felt like moss. Looking around, she found that it was. This wasn't here before…she thought, a bit confused. But then, nothing she saw had been. She was in a small, grassy enclosure. There was a gate with a large sign overtop, labled 'Coral'. Just beyond that was a little cottage, built into the side of a hill. She was sitting on the mossy roof of a wooden shed. It was rather small, and so with relative ease, she jumped off the roof, landing in the long grass of the enclosure. A thud not far away drew her attention. Looking over, she saw that Tidus had jumped from the roof of the little cottage and was walking towards her.
"Where'd all this come from?" He asked when he got closer to her. She met him beneath the gate and shrugged.
"I have no idea. This is a coral though." She said, pointing to the sign above their heads. Looking up, Tidus nodded.
"Huh. So it is. I wonder where everyone else is?" He asked. Yuna shrugged.
"Around here somewhere I guess." she replied. There was a distant crunch. The pair looked at each other. "What was that?" Yuna asked after a moment. Tidus took her hand.
"Let's go see." With that, they walked around the back of the house. At the back, there was this door leading into a mound underground. The mound had multiple smokestacks sticking out of it. Tidus raised his eyebrows, silently asking Yuna if she wanted to check it out. She nodded and tried to open the door. It was locked. She knocked. After a long wait, they had decided no one was there. Turning to leave, they heard a creak. They looked back to see a rather disheveled looking Paine emerging from the underground door. A moment later, Baralai stepped out. Yuna and Tidus both burst out laughing. Baralai said nothing, watching them helplessly. Paine glared at them, her cheeks going red.
"What's so funny?" she asked sharply. Yuna had almost collapsed in her laughter and was holding Tidus' shoulder for support. Tidus opened his mouth to answer, but only started to laugh even harder, both of them collapsing into a heap on the ground. Paine turned even redder. A scream drew their attention. Tidus and Yuna scrambled to their feet. As Paine and Baralai ran to see what was wrong, they followed, still chuckling. They'd barely taken two steps when Gippal dropped out of what seemed to be nowhere, almost on top of them. He didn't land very gracefully, but rather hard. A vine dropped on top of him a moment later. He stood up, brushing himself off and kicking the vine out of the way. Seeing the confused looks on Tidus and Yuna's faces, he smirked.
"Stupid vines don't make very good ropes." He said simply. They grinned at him. Straightening up, he looked around. "So, what's going on? Who screamed?" He asked. Tidus shrugged.
"Couldn't tell you." He answered.
"We were going to see, but then you, ahem, dropped in on us." Yuna added. Gippal rolled his eyes.
………………
The five not in the orchard arrived on time to see Rikku on the ground, scrambling to get away from the tree, and Sora and Kairi standing between her and the tree, looking like they didn't know whether to laugh at her or scream with her. The tree was chuckling. Wait a minute. The tree was chuckling? That definitely wasn't something you saw everyday.
"Indeed I have a face, little girl. I am Trent." It said kindly. There was silence for a moment as they took in what they saw before them. Suddenly, Rikku jumped to her feet.
"This is it!" She cried. "This is the tree the King told us about!" She had her weapons out, pointing them menacingly at Trent. Kairi crossed her arms.
"Maybe. But he doesn't seem to be that Heartless. Besides, if he was, this all would have been way too easy." She said. Sora nodded.
"Besides, the King told us the tree was a goddess. Trent's a guy." He paused, looking at the tree. "…right?" he asked. The tree chuckled again.
"Yes. It seems to me that you are looking for the Mana Tree." He said. "Like you said…" he looked at Kairi, "she will be much harder to find than I." Yuna frowned.
"Then how do we get started looking?" She asked. Trent seemed to stretch, the branches creaking with age.
"If I were you, I would speak to Bud and Lisa first. They would be most happy to allow you to say here as long as you need I imagine. Then, speak to the Sproutling." He said. Baralai made a face.
"The what?" He asked, sounding confused.
"The Sproutling." Trent replied patiently. "They may seem like children, but they are older than even I, and they are connected to the Tree herself." He explained.
"So, where would we find Bud and Lisa?" Tidus asked. Trent didn't reply, he just smiled. Then, a little voice came from behind them, just around the corner
"Bud! What are you doing? I can hear that racket all the way in the hous-." She stopped talking abruptly when she rounded the corner and saw the eight people standing there. She was a young girl, looking only about 10 or so, with long brown hair held up in a ponytail and a large broom in one hand. She stared at each of them in turn for a moment, until her eyes landed on Kairi. Her jaw dropped. Kairi looked down at herself, wondering what she was staring at. She realized that she was still holding half of her ribbon (the other half must have been pulled out of her hand in the confusion), and that, oddly enough, the charm had found its way back on. Or at least, she thought it was the charm. Instead of its old shape, it was now a little mailbox, with tiny wings. Whatever it was, it must have had great meaning to this girl. Suddenly, without warning, the 10-year-old ran at Kairi and tackled her in a hug, giggling. Surprised, Kairi stumbled, off balance, and fell over, sending both girls tumbling. Kairi sat up, rubbing her head, and the girl blushed, turning suddenly bashful.
"Sorry…" she mumbled. Kairi couldn't help but grin as she held up the charm.
"I take it you know what this is?" she asked. The girl looked up and nodded.
"It's the artifact. You freed us." She answered. "Trent told us all about it."
"Us?" Paine asked suddenly. The girl looked up at her, smiling.
"Yup, me and my brother Bud."
"So you're Lisa?" Yuna asked, bending over to her. Lisa smiled even wider, nodding.
"How did you know?" She asked, more curious than anything.
"Trent told us!" Rikku exclaimed. Gippal smirked.
"Yeh, after he scared the hell out of us." He muttered. She elbowed him and, to everyone's surprise, he shut up.
"We're looking for the Mana Tree." Baralai told Lisa. She frowned, thinking.
"Well, I don't know where to find her… but you can stay here while you look! But only if you let me and Bud tag along sometimes." She offered with a grin. Sora grinned back.
"No problem." He replied. "Now, you know where we can find a Sproutling thingy?" he asked. Kairi hid a grin, Lisa almost laughed aloud.
"Sure, she's out front." She answered, giggling. With that, she stood up and started back towards the front of the house. A moment later, they heard the door open, and Lisa began to shout.
"HEY BUD! THERE'S PEOPLE-." They didn't get to hear the rest, as the door was shut and they could no longer hear her. Kairi started towards the front a moment later, taking Sora's hand.
"Come on, let's go find the Sproutling thingy." She said, teasing him. Sora's only reaction was to stick his tongue out at her. She stuck her tongue out back at him and giggled. Paine rolled her eyes. Sora and Kairi were the first two to reach the front. They looked around for this 'Sproutling'. It took them a moment to see her, as she blended in so well with the bushes. Catching sight of her visitors, the Sproutling skipped out onto the cobblestone. They had stopped dead and were watching the little Sproutling as she approached, smiling widely. Sora nudged Kairi.
"This place just keeps getting weirder…"
……………….
So so so, into the last leg of the fic! Well, don't fret, for it will be a very long leg :P Read and Review, I love my reviewers all! A special note to Mandy: don't you worry about Riku! He won't be playing too huge of a part in this fic, but I am planning on a sequel, and believe me, he won't be left in the dark for long!