Hello hello everybody! Okay, I'm extremely sorry about the…um how long was it? (looks at calendar and nearly faints) Well! No more waiting for you guys! I will make an excuse list but it'll be at the end, 'k?

And in case you're wondering, this will start of in Kari's point of view. Enjoy!

The Legend of Kingdom Hearts

Chapter 17 Would You Just SHUT UP And Get On With It?

The author tries to deepen the plot of the story by giving you some badly plotted exposition, mostly of stuff you know already. Add that there's pretty much no action and the characters talk too much and you've got yourself the chapter in a nutshell, which is quite a waste. The author sucks. Blame the holidays. And ACT pretests.

What to do?

A dull pain in my head awoke me. Opening my eyes, I thought I had gone blind. There was nothing. Nothing…except the dark.

-Just let it consume you.-

With some difficulty I stood. For some reason my entire body felt shaky and made it difficult. The dull pain in my head began throbbing suddenly.

"Ouch," I said as I put a hand to my head. The sentence echoed eerily around me. I had just noticed I was alone.

"Link? Zelda? Sora?" I called out. Only echoes came back. "Kail? Yuna? Somebody, anybody?!"

Just more echoes.

-There's no use trying, you know.-

I collapsed on the ground in confusion. Where are they? Where am I? The darkness provided me with no answer.

"I don't want to be alone…"

-In the end, you'll end up alone anyway-

I tried looking around for the source of the voice unsuccessfully. Instinctively, Excalibur came out into my hand. "Who are you?" I shouted.

-The voice inside of you. The one who you've been pushing out of mind for quite sometime. I hold your dark secrets, all those unwanted memories.-

A figure came out of the darkness. Even with a hazy outline I could tell who it was: the one person I did not want to see right now.

"Dad?!" I cried out.

Charles Brandling's figure became a little clearer. His face was emotionless and cold and in his hand was an exact replica of my weapon. He began walking towards me slowly, the sword pointing straight at my heart. Too horrified to move, I stared at him with my mouth open.

-Your past haunts you still. And it will always, until the day you die. There's no way to stop it, so give in. Let your despair cover you in a cloak of darkness.-

Unwillingly, I closed my eyes and rested my head on my legs. The Voice was right. My past couldn't be changed. Those terrible memories were mine, and mine to spend eternity with.

-Look upon your killer like a good girl. He would like a glimpse of your face before he sends you to oblivion.-

A strange power forced me to look up. Dad was only a few feet away from me now. I could see everything on his figure now; the gleaming sword, his dark eyes staring at his victim, his silver hair. Wait!

The figure in front of me began laughing a cold-hearted laugh. Along with his silver hair, I noticed his eyes started changing as well, from dark to amber. This guy wasn't my dad!

The form, in a deeper voice, said, "Time to die." He laughed again as I tried weakly to pick Excalibur up in defense.

He stopped. Right behind him light was suddenly streaming everywhere. It engulfed me as well, but I felt better for some reason. Like I was being healed or something.

His laugh turned into a grunt of pain as he stooped over a little. His sword dissipated as did his body slowly. After a little, he disappeared entirely, only leaving a shout behind that was magnified by the echoes. For a little, that was all I could hear.

Two figures emerged from the light. My head was still killing me, making it hard to see. I could see one was a girl and the other a boy. The only other things I could see were their eyes. The girl's seemed green, brown, and yet blue all at once. The boy's were coal-ish with flecks of brown.

"Well, Mikau, it took you long enough to get us here!" criticized the girl.

"Excuse me!" replied the boy. "Getting inside someone's mind isn't exactly a piece of cake, you know!"

"Whatever."

So I'm inside my mind?

The girl turned towards me. "Hello there! We would've gotten here earlier, but idiot here kept getting us lost in other people's minds," she said jabbing a finger in Mikau's direction. He said nothing but scowled.

Now that the light was not so brilliant, I could see a little better. The girl was wearing a light blue shirt under a white coat. She had on some grey slacks and some type of footwear I've never seen before. (A/N: Remember, Kari comes from a time in which sneakers and such weren't developed yet) Her hair was shoulder length blonde with some tan mixed in.

The boy had spiky red hair that seemed to be on fire. He wore a simple black t-shirt with a skull on the front. He had dark colored jeans and the same kind of footwear as the girl only with an orange check on the side. He currently had his hands in his pockets.

The girl smiled at me and took out her hand. "Nice to meet you!"

Uncertainly, I took it. I wasn't sure about these two. After all, who would immediately trust people who just appeared out of nowhere saying that you were currently in your mind and that they had some kind of powers to enter it?

"Um, I'm Kari," I introduced.

Mikau took one hand out of his pocket and shook mine as well before inserting it back.

"This is Mikau the goofball," the blonde said. "He can be quite the arrogant one sometimes, but he's a good friend of mine."

"Could you hurry this up?" inquired Mikau. "I'm not sure how long this power lasts, and I don't want to find out what happens if the time expires while we're still here."

"Oh alright."

She began digging though her pockets for something. After a few seconds, she tossed me an item. Upon examination, it was an orange orb. I didn't notice a second one until it made contact with my face.

"Sorry!" the girl apologized. Mikau began snickering.

Eyes watering a little, I stared at a glowing sphere the size of my fist in my hand. It was glowing a faint red.

"What are these?"

"They're abilities," said Mikau. "The orange is for you and the red is for Sora." He suddenly put a hand to his head and grunted in pain. "Shit. We've got to go!"

"Just great!" pouted the girl. "Well it was nice seeing you! Oh, and before I forget to tell you, get to Traverse Town ASAP."

"Wha-?" I muttered.

"I'll show you guys how to work those items out. Ask Cid about the Fire Door in the Third District."

"Wait!" Too late. The light had flickered out and I was alone again.

I was very confused. First I'm in the dark about what's going on. Then this voice starts telling me that I should give up on life and let the darkness consume me (whatever that means). Then some psycho who looks like my dad comes out of nowhere with the same weapon as me and tries to kill me. Some light comes out and he disappears, leaving me with two complete strangers with powers to enter someone's mind. Then these people give me two "magical objects", tell me to meet them in Traverse Town, and just went up and gone. Today can't get any weirder than this.

Sheathing my sword, I stood there and continued staring at the place where my "dad" had appeared. I shivered a little.

"For the love of the goddesses, why me?" I shouted.

Instead of the usual echoes, I could've sworn someone said, "Because you're a fucking main character and stuff is supposed to happen to you! Plus, I had to have something that would last a couple of pages so the reviewers would be happy! …Crap."

Normal PoV

In an instant, as if something had knocked her upside the head, she fell to the ground; that was the effect of memory loss – you know - lost by physical contact with the head.

AN: These next scenes are happening at the same time as Kari's dilemma.

Yuna collapsed from tiredness. She hadn't used the spell in a while so it was quite draining. The gang ran to help her.

"That was quite splendid!" Zelda congratulated her. Link and Sora patted her on the back enthusiastically.

"Thanks," Yuna replied.

"What was that spell?" asked Link.

"It's a spell called Holy. It's a spell that works best on the undead and the darkness, such as the Heartless," she explained. "Seeing as Griever was part darkness, Holy worked quite well."

"You can say that again!" Sora told her. "He was completely obliterated!"

Zelda noticed something. "Where's Kail?"

At a corner, Kail was picking up Kari's limp body. She had a large cut on her head from Griever's attack that was bleeding. He put a hand to her arm and stood silently. He could feel a pulse. Relief filled his face as he began walking over towards the group.

"How is she?" inquired Zelda and Yuna.

"She's fine. Just unconscious," was his reply. They sighed a breath a relief.

Mumbling could be heard from Kari. Everyone looked as she began muttering in a scared tone: "Link? ....Zelda? ….Sora? …. Kail? ….Yuna? Somebody, anybody?!"

"We're right here!" the entire group said. Kari gave no other signs of hearing them.

"What's wrong with her?" asked a concerned Zelda.

Kail laid Kari down on the ground. She had quit mumbling, but a look of a frightened girl was on her face.

"It's probably just a nightmare or something," Kail said. "Maybe an effect from the hit she took. She'll be alright."

"Hopefully." Zelda knelt down beside her body. "I'll keep an eye on her until she wakes up."

Yuna picked up her staff and walked towards Kari's form. "I'll heal that wound," she offered. She laid her staff parallel to her body and closed her eyes.

"Heal," muttered Yuna.

Her hands and the staff began shimmering a dull green; the green light began spreading over the body. In an instant, the large cut on Kari's face began sealing itself up, as well as any other cut she had.

"Amazing!" Zelda commented. "Thank you for all your help, Yuna."

"It was no problem, really!" answered Yuna. "Besides being a summoner, I was also trained in the art of healing by my dad. Along with protecting the village, I help the needy."

"I see."

Unbeknownst to the group, there was another in there midst. He was staring at the spiky brunet of the group, Sora, with loathing sea blue eyes. Here he was, idling along with new friends without a care in the world. Whilst he was, he (the unknown) was working tirelessly to find Kairi. Maybe his master was right…

"You have forgotten about her, haven't you, Sora?" he quietly murmured before he disappeared into the darkness.

A few minutes later, Kari finally opened her eyes.

"Glad to see you're with the living," Kail commented.

"Same here," she replied. "That was a weird dream I was having…" She began telling them about her weird vision. Kail was quite interested in her story, especially when she told of her encounter with the dark voice and of the silver-haired man, though he said nothing.

When Kari finished, she took a pause to breath, then asked, "Where's Sora and Link?"

"Over there," Zelda pointed to a corner.

Overcome with boredom, the duo had decided to begin "digging" for treasure. Jabbing at the walls with their dented shovels, they had no luck. After going at it for a while, they stopped and rested on the ground.

"Yuna, didn't you say there was treasure in here?" Link asked.

She nodded. "Just wait a little."

And they did; for about thirty minutes actually. Well, Zelda and Yuna did at least (they were talking about something. magic, most likely).It only took a few minutes to get Link and Kari bored. Fed up, Kari decided to try a conversation.

"Hey, Sora? Could you tell us about your island?"

Within the few minutes, Sora had managed to begin sleeping. Hearing his name, he woke up from the dream he was having. "Huh…wha?"

Kari repeated, "Would you mind telling us about your world? Your island?"

"Sure." He sat up and put a hand to his chin. "I grew up on the Destiny Islands. There were two of them, one for the adults and one for the kids. The parents enjoyed this so much, the separate island was then considered our new home. I also remember having lots of fun with the other kids, especially with my friends Riku and Kairi." He grinned at his fond memories. "We always thought about things beyond our island. Riku even believed that there were other worlds out there…"

He let the sentence hang for a little. Sora had not thought of his friends since he got to Traverse Town. He wondered where they were at the moment.

"Something wrong?" Zelda asked.

Sora shook his head. "Anyway, one day Riku decided to pursue his dream of seeing other worlds. All three of us built a raft that we thought would bring us to them. But the night before, Heartless attacked. I searched everywhere for them on the island and finally came across Riku. He was acting strange. He began talking to me about a door opening and not being scared of the darkness. Then the shadows swallowed us. There was this bright light and the next thing I know, Riku's gone and I have an oversized key in my hand.

"Using this key, I made my way through the Heartless into a place on the island called 'The Secret Place' and found Kairi. Before I could say anything, she too disappeared. This weird looking door opens and I'm pushed by the force of the wind to a broken part of the island. There, this huge black thing tries to kill me. Then…" He closed his eyes, trying to remember. "The next part was a little blurry, but afterwards I landed in Traverse Town."

"Which is where I found you," said Kari.

"Right. Now it's your turn for stories."

But before anyone else could speak, Yuna interrupted them. "Now it begins," she said happily.

A sun's ray appeared from the entrance of the cave and shone brightly before them. Instantly, the cave was filled with splendor and beauty as now visible crystals emerged into the light. The dark and gloomy cave now was a treasure hold of trinkets. The group began gaping at the sight and none said a word. Or at least Yuna did.

"You can take a few of those with you," she told them, "as a small souvenir."

Eagerly, they went to work. The cavern was filled with the echoes of shovels cracking the crystals from the walls. As they began leaving, each person now carried a few of these items with them.

Now that would've been the end of it. Except the fact that when you carry an item called a keyblade, it would never end just like that. No, something weird has to happen before the masters of our universe would be satisfied.

Just before the group left the grotto, the keyblade began shining. Sora stopped, and by some odd reason, turned around and faced one of the walls. The others finally noticed that someone was missing and turned around as well.

There was something engraved in the cave wall that did not seem to be there until now. It was in the shape of a keyhole, and the Keyblade began shaking as Sora neared it. As if in a trance, he swung the keyblade in front of him. A thin beam of light erupted from the end and went inside the keyhole; a click was heard. It began disintegrating into small particles, then not even that.

Now out of the trance, Sora shook his head. He looked quizzically back at the group and asked, "Now what was that about?"

No one answered him. After all, what did he expect from a group of people he just met to say?

I think I'll end it here since it's already 10 pages long. Now here's the excuse list:

Holidays

SAT testing

Computer breaking

Laziness

Writer's block

Writer's depression

Parents and sister

There you go!

Responses

Master of the Dark Trio: Yeah I guess it was. Oh, Griever doesn't come in FFVII. He's just an enemy that I made up. Lucky, you're at Diamond Weapon. (and beyond probably, considering how long this took) Thanks for reveiwin and hurry with your stories.

Ninja Mage: Can't wait for Dirge of Cerberus either! What exactly is it about anyway? And when does it come out? I hardly know anything about it. But what I do know is that I finally beat Captain Hook! dances

Kinoarashi: I'm glad you found it funny! I might put even weirder stuff in, you never know with me. Well, I took your advice and didn't rush it, but I think I took it too literally. You may bash me upside the head for that.

Tetra-Assassin: Thanks for the world! I'll try to incorporate it somehow. If you can, could you give more detail on this Tetra fellow and the enemy?

Merielle: Thanks! Sephy is teh shexy!!11 Ok, maybe it wasn't needed, but I wanted to say that. . Thanks for the chocolate! gives her Skittles

Aisler: I didn't leave writing don't worry! I must ask you the same thing, though. Where are you and what happened to your story? You need to continue it!

Med: looks at story as a whole in disgust I really need to edit those last chapters! They're way too short, horrible plotting, and other odd things to boot!

Kail: You really should!

Med: Those chappies will be done in a jiffy! (a word here which probably means 5-8 months)

Poll: Should I edit chapters 1-15 (not counting the author's note)?

Until then, this is your fellow author signing off!

Next chapter: Carrying on with the weird plot, the group returns to Traverse Town for more info. Yay to more exposition in abilities and new magic! And of course, there's probably going to be more foreshadowing with the baddies. You guys are all probably saying, "We. Get. It. Med. We know who the fricken bad guy is, so stop alluding!" by now. "Too bad!" I say back.

Med