Chapter 4
That was my second sleepless night in a row. After that whole conversation with Polar, it was 4:42 AM. Now the alarm clock read 5:56 AM, and I hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. That was when I decided to put on my Discman- I left it in my robe's pocket. My Simple Plan CD was in there and it started playing "Welcome to My Life". My current theme song.
Do you ever feel like breaking down?
Yes.
Do you ever feel out of place?
What do you think?
Like somehow you just don't belong and no one understands you?
Well, let's see. My parents were dead, my home was destroyed, we were almost killed in our own vessel, and not to many people I know are psychic (none). And not too many fifteen-year-old punks are rock stars, either.
Do you ever wanna run away?
From reality.
Do you lock yourself in you room?
I would if it still existed.
With your radio on turned up so loud that no one hears you screaming?
Hell yeah!
I found myself singing along to the chorus of the song: "To be hurt, to feel lost, to be left out in the dark. To be kicked when you're down, to feel like you've been pushed around…" I didn't realize that I was being that loud, though. Apparently I was because Kara started crying, which woke up Polar. I ran over to Kara and took her out of her Playpen. I sat her down on my bed- which wasn't technically mine- and tried to comfort her. "Shhh. It's okay. It's okay. We're all gonna be fine," I told her, also trying to convince it to myself.
"Rae," Polar came up to me. "It's okay. That man- he was in your vision, right?" I nodded. "Your dad totally kicked his ass when he was 14. If he could beat him when he was younger than us he could do it again when the dude is like 57."
"He killed my mom," I answered, trying my best to stifle my tears.
"I saw her chest moving after she got KO'd."
"That doesn't mean he didn't kill her and my dad after!" I managed. I tried my best not to cry, but the more I tried, the more ii failed.
Polar put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed it tightly. "I'm sure they're fine. I mean, he did have that key-thing. I saw him doing kung-fu with it before we left," she said.
After a minute of silence, there was a woman's scream outside. We ran out to the balcony and saw that the scream came from a woman with long, black hair. She seemed only a few years older than my parents. "Help!" she screamed.
"I'll go find someone!" Dan ran off. He and Jeff stood at the balcony beside ours.
I looked down at the woman I could see why she was screaming. She was being chased by a gigantic, insect-like creature. I could tell it was a Heartless- it had one of those broken-heart insignias on its torso. Its body was leaf green and its orange, round eyes rolled around in their sockets.
The creature stood on its hind legs and the woman recoiled, raising her arms to protect herself. The creature screeched demonically and allowed itself to fall on the woman. She screamed bloody murder as Jeff, Polar, and I watched in complete shock. Suddenly, a man scraggly, brown hair with a silver weapon with a black, gun-trigger-like handle jumped between the woman and the Heartless. He used his weapon to throw off the monster.
The man continued to fight that Heartless for a long time. I don't know how long. After a while, the demon finally fell. It slowly began to vanish, and a heart-shaped orb of light floated out of it. The monster then completely disappeared, and the man ran over to the woman asking, "Yuffie, are you all right?"
"I'm fine, Leon," she replied.
"Wait a sec!" I said to Polar and Jeff, "Weren't we supposed to find someone named Leon?"
"Yeah," Jeff answered suspiciously.
We then focused on the conversation below us again. "When will the kind send for the Key Bearer, already?" Yuffie asked.
"I wonder where the Keyblade is," Leon answered.
Suddenly, I had a two-second premonition: The word 'Keyblade' kept repeating in my head, and I saw the weapon that my dad was fighting with.
That was it. I needed to get down there. "Hold Kara," I handed her to Polar. I ran into the hotel room, drew the Keyblade on the paper (it was perfect, BTW), and jumped off the balcony and interrupted their conversation with, "Excuse me, but does the Keyblade look anything like this?" and showed them the picture.
Leon seemed curious and asked, "Where have you seen that before?"
"My dad was fighting with it before our island-"
"By any chance, your dad's name isn't Sora, is it?" Leon cut me off.
"You know him?" I asked.
"Yes. Your mother named Kairi?" he continued.
"Yeah, but-"
"Okay. In that case I'm your uncle."
"Wha?" Jeff jumped down from his balcony and ran over.
"Your mother is my kid sister."
"That might explain where we get hazel eyes from, eh, Jeff?" I said.
"Yeah," Jeff answered.
Dan, all of a sudden, ran in with a blonde man who seemed about the same age as Leon and was carrying a Gummi cannon.
"Where's the Heartless?" he asked.
"There was a boss here earlier, but I took care of it," Leon answered. "You'll wanna be on your toes, though, Cid. Bosses never appear without the Key Bearer around."
"Weird," Cid said.
"Wait a second," Jeff said. "If you're really our uncle, then what are our names?" He interrogated.
"Jeff, Rae, and Kara's up there with your friend." He pointed to each of us in turn as he talked.
Jeff and I gave each other confused glances then looked back at Leon. I can't believe that I never noticed this before, but he was really tall! He must've been like 6'7!
Polar jumped off the balcony, landing on both of her feet. She ran over and handed Kara to me.
"So," Leon said, "What did happen to Destiny Island?"
"What?"
"You said something about your island before."
"Well," I couldn't find the words to describe what happened.
"It disappeared didn't it?" Cid asked.
"Cid!" The woman exclaimed.
"How did you know?" Jeff asked, completely shocked.
"Because A) you said your dad was fighting Heartless with the Keyblade on the island, which means there were Heartless, and B) the same star went out earlier tonight as the one that went out the day your father first came here," Cid explained.
"So?"
"So, when a star goes out, a world disappears."
"Oh," Dan said.
"You poor kids," the woman said.
"So, are Rae, me, and Kara related to you somehow?" Jeff asked.
"Yeah. I'm your aunt, but just call me Yuffie," she answered.
Kara was trying to break free of my grip. I knew she was just going to stim with something, which I normally wouldn't allow her to do, but there wasn't exactly a task that she needed to do, and she did need some way to calm down. So, I allowed her to run over to a window and lightly tap it with her fingers. As long is she didn't pound on the window, it was okay for now.
"She autistic?" Yuffie asked.
"Yeah," I answered.
Suddenly, I had a vision of the present:
It looked like the Third District. My dad was alive and fighting off many powerful Heartless with a Keyblade, just it was in a stronger form. This form was blue, and instead of a black Mickey-mouse chain, this one had an orange crab on it, and the end of the blade also looked like a crab.
Meanwhile, my mom was cowering in the corner, when a black, flying Heartless with demonic talons tried to grab her. It failed to pick her up, but instead left three huge, deep cuts that went all the way up her back and up her neck a little. She screamed in agony and fell to the ground, landing on her hands and knees. The blood stained her shirt and poured onto the ground.
"Kairi!" my dad exclaimed. He did an awesome magic attack that created a blinding light which got rid of all the Heartless. Then he rushed over to my mom and held her close.
"OH MY FUCKING GOD!" I exclaimed aloud.
"What happened?' Polar asked.
"Another vision?" Jeff asked.
"Hell yeah! Mom and Dad are alive, but they're in huge danger!" I exclaimed.
"Where are they?" he exclaimed back.
"Somewhere in the Third District. Come on!" I grabbed Kara and led the way there, running faster than I had ever run before in my life.
(NOTE: THIS PART IS NOT THROUGH RAE'S FIRST-PERSON POINT OF VIEW! THIS IS THIRD-PERSON ON AQUARIA'S END!)
"Damn it!" Aquaria exclaimed as she watched her enemy prevail against her army of Heartless through her crystal ball. "I personally bred those Heartless!" she pounded on the table that her crystal ball rested upon, knocking it over. She used her telekinesis to lift it back to the table.
"What happened now?" Darkli, her 21-year-old sister, said as she walked in.
"Sora defeated the flying wolves!" Aquaria explained.
"Ugh. God damn it!" Darkli answered. She threw her talons into the gray, brick wall and left huge clawmarks in it when she pulled them out. "What's up with his family?"
"They all made it off the island, but they're separated. His wife's about to die, at least."
"You should've sent him a ton of bosses," Darkli said. "That would've finished him in a second."
"Ugh!" Aquaria grumbled. "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." She pulled her long, scraggly, black hair out of her face, revealing her orange eyes. Her red-and-black cloak and baggy, black jeans tapered in the air as she walked. She teleported herself to Traverse Town for some unfinished business.
Don't worry, Random Person, we'll see a lot more of Darkli.