Kingdom Hearts - Introverted
Disclaimer: All characters are © to Square-enix and Disney. Story belongs to me.
Chapter Five – Decisions
Squall sat back in his chair, glaring at the screen furiously. Yuffie's ship was gone. There was no sign on it anywhere on the monitor. It was like it had just disappeared off the face of the universe. When they left Kuzcotopia, the little blip had been there, though it was barely visible, then Squall turned his head away for one moment and it was gone. He was beginning to think that something had happened to it, though he didn't want to. If anything had happened to her … he didn't want to think about it.
He rubbed his forehead, feeling a slight headache coming on. He needed to rest, to take a break. But he couldn't just leave the ship on autopilot. What if it detected Yuffie's ship again? He would have slept right through it.
He turned to see Vivi sitting in a seat behind him, twiddling with his thumbs mindlessly. Dagger had fallen asleep in her own chair, leaving Vivi with nothing to do. He looked up at Squall when he noticed him, and had a puzzled look in his eyes.
"Want something to do?" He asked, and Vivi's eyes lit up. He nodded and rose from his seat. Squall led him to the monitor, pointing at it. "I know it's not the most interesting thing in the world, but I need you to keep an eye on this. In case Yuffie's ship shows up again." He then turned to the control panel. "The ship's on autopilot, but if anything comes up, I'll need you to fly the ship for a bit. Do you know how?"
Vivi's eyes widened, as he shook his head, and Squall tried to give him a warm smile. "It's easy, see…" He showed him the controls, and let Vivi fly around for a bit before putting in back on autopilot. Vivi seemed calmer now, as he sat in the captain's seat and turned to the monitor every now and then. Squall couldn't help but smile at the young boy, and he pat him lightly on the head. "Don't be so afraid to talk. Come get me if something happens, okay?"
"Okay Leon." Vivi said, and, satisfied, Squall left him in charge.
He made his from the cabin and into a room in the back, where a bed was set up. He shed his jacket, then fell onto the bed immediately, and closed his eyes, trying to shut all thoughts out of his head. He was always thinking; there were always hundreds of voices screaming thoughts at him, thoughts that he didn't want to think about. Usually, he could block his thoughts, and not really think of anything – whenever he didn't want to think about something, he'd usually stop thinking about it, but they were creeping up in his mind slowly, and he couldn't stop.
Yuffie's in trouble. I don't want to think about it. But something might have happened to her. But she might be okay. I'm just overreacting. She might have landed somewhere and we've just missed it. But her gummi ship could have failed. No! Stop thinking Leon! Get your head together! But I don't want to lose her. I don't want to lose her, just like I lost…
"Rinoa!" He called out, watching as she stepped over Ellone's body. He was back in Balamb Garden, watching as everything he held dear was destroyed. She turned back to look at him, but something was wrong. There was a dark look in her eyes, and darkness seemed to be surrounding her.
"Squall, you must leave this place." She said, as he ran towards her, gunblade in hand. He couldn't let her fight the Heartless that was standing behind her on her own. But then he noticed she held no weapon, How was she supposed to fight without a weapon?
"You have to leave." She repeated and he cast an angry glare at her.
"I'm not going to lose you again!" He said, and her eyes suddenly changed to a fiery red. Her wings emerged from her back, only they weren't white. They were jet black, blending in with the darkness that was surrounding her. Squall stared at her for a moment, then dropped his gunblade and grabbed her by the arms.
"Rinoa! What's going on?" He asked, though she did not reply. Behind him, Squall sensed Ellone getting to her feet, and he released Rinoa, wondering how someone without a heart could still be moving. But when he turned to look at her, he found it wasn't Ellone at all.
It was Yuffie.
"Squall, you really have to get out of here." She said, just as a dark portal opened up beside her.
"But what's going on!" He demanded, staring at her furiously.
"There's no time Squall!" She said, forcing him through the portal. Again, it pulled at him, it was so strong that he couldn't even fight back. He watched slowly as the Heartless came up behind both Rinoa and Yuffie, then consumed them both…
Squall opened his eyes, his breathing hard. His shirt was stuck to his back with sweat, and as he sat up he noticed his headache had gotten stronger. But what had that been about? It started off just like all the other dreams … but then everything changed. Rinoa had been different, and Yuffie … he'd never dreamt of Yuffie before. He wasn't sure what to think of it, when the door suddenly burst open and Vivi looked into the room, his eyes wide.
"I think you should take a look at this." He said, and Squall stood slowly, making his way back into the cabin. Dagger had taken over the captain's seat, and was staring out the windshield. Squall approached the glass and followed her gaze, seeing a large group of black ships flying past. They all had the Heartless insignia emblazoned on them.
"What is it?" He asked, turning back to Dagger.
"We think it's some Heartless." She said slowly. "I've never seen them move in such a big number."
Squall nodded, then ushered her from the captain's seat and sat down. "Vivi," He said, turning to the child, "I need you to take control of our weapons in case they attack." He said, and Vivi nodded, stepping up beside Squall and grabbing onto the weapons controls.
"What do you want me to do?" Dagger asked, and Squall looked back at her, thinking for a moment.
"Strap yourself in. This could be a bit bumpy."
She scowled at him, but obediently sat down and put her seatbelt on. Squall knew she wasn't happy with being left with nothing to do, but there really wasn't much she could do. Squall took the ship off autopilot, and slowly navigated it so that they weren't too close to the Heartless.
"Don't open fire unless they attack first." Squall said to Vivi, who nodded in reply. It would have been suicide to openly attack them now, especially when there were so many of them. Squall wanted to know what they were up to anyway. Like Dagger had said, he'd never seen them move in such large numbers. Come to think of it, he hadn't really seen them move between worlds all that much, but he figured they'd have to reach them somehow.
Squall followed slowly, as the small legion of ships moved at a slow pace, as if taking their time to reach whatever world they were going to. As far as Squall could see, there was no world around for miles. If the Heartless kept moving at this rate, it could be a while before they reached another world. If they attacked them now, they could prevent the Heartless from destroying whatever world they were after. But it was suicide! He had to remember that.
He sat back in his seat, thinking over his choices. He still had to find Yuffie, but there was an army of Heartless here, ready to destroy another world. If he followed them, he could lose track of Yuffie forever … if she was still around. Maybe she'd come back to Hollow Bastion on her own? But who knew how long that would be? And who knew if she could even defend herself? How did Squall know she was even still alive?
"I don't like this." Squall thought aloud, causing Vivi to give him a weird look. And then there were these two! They wanted to find their own friend, and had no clue where he could be. If they went off to fight the Heartless, they might never get the chance to find him. He wasn't exactly happy about going around with the two, but he didn't want them to get hurt along the way. Even if they just followed the Heartless now, they could have been killed when they landed, and it could just waste a lot of their time. Let the world worry about the Heartless. It was no concern of theirs.
But at the back of his mind, Squall knew that it just wasn't right to leave a world to suffer, especially when they knew where the Heartless were going to attack. But it was still a waste of time.
Their only other option was to attack the Heartless now. Then they wouldn't have to worry about wasting time. It was a big risk, that could cost them their lives, but they had the element of surprise. The Heartless hadn't spotted them yet…
Suddenly, the ship jerked, and Squall was thrown from his thoughts, he looked out the window again to see a great mass of darkness before the Heartless. A deep void was appearing in space, and he noticed bright colours encircling the void, and he realised it was a wormhole.
Of course! He thought excitedly. The only reason they couldn't find Yuffie was because she'd gone through a wormhole! Which meant there was probably a world at the other end. He could follow the Heartless, save the world, and find Yuffie all in one go. It was so simple!
He noticed one of the Heartless' ships turn away from the group, as they passed through the wormhole. It seemed to turn around to face them, and slowly it approached them. He watched it carefully, it was just a bit lower than their own ship, and he hoped it hadn't spotted them.
Just then, lasers emerged from their own ships, and he looked down at Vivi, who had fired the rockets. "I … I panicked!" He stammered, just as the Heartless began to shoot back. A few more of the Heartless ships turned away from the wormhole, and fired at them. Squall cursed out loud as he put the ship into overdrive, and began to speed towards the wormhole. It shook violently each time they got hit, and it was getting harder for him to control the ship, trying to manoeuvre it away from the Heartless.
"Fight back Vivi!" He cried when he noticed the small boy had ducked out of the way in a panic. Suddenly Dagger flew to the controls and began to fire, hitting any and every ship that got in their way. They came so close to the wormhole that the force grabbed hold of the ship and Squall could no longer control it as it was sucked in.
They emerged on the other side, seeing more of the Heartless ship surrounding a world that Squall knew. It was Traverse Town. As he regained control, more Heartless emerged from the wormhole, continuing to fire, and some of the ones that were heading to Traverse Town turned, and began to attack them. Dagger continued to fight them off, and Squall tried his best to get around them, when a sudden beeping noise caught their attention.
They all turned to the monitor, and saw that Yuffie's ship had appeared again, on the very edge of the screen. It was faint, and there was a word next to it that Squall could barely make out. Damaged.
The Heartless continued to go after them, and Squall noticed that the ones nearest to Traverse Town were moving much faster than the others. They were also a lot larger, and Squall noticed huge missiles attached to their sides. One ship fired a missile, and it was headed straight for Traverse Town.
They were struck again, and red lights began to flash in their ship. "What do we do?" Dagger cried, and Squall turned to the blip that was Yuffie's ship. She was so close … but Traverse Town…
If they turned away now, the town would surely be destroyed. But they would also lose Yuffie. Squall's heart was racing. He knew he had to decide, but he didn't know which one to choose. Dagger continued to fire, though the attack was becoming much stronger. They'd been idle for so long that they were now sitting ducks. Squall had to make a decision, he had to get them out of there. But which way should he go? They were both in trouble and they both needed help…
"DAMN IT!" Squall cried, angrily taking the controls of the ship. He just hoped he was doing the right thing…
Author's note: Cliffhanger! Hehe, wonder which one Squall chose? Probably kinda obvious though. :P
I think there's a lot of weird things going on right now, most of which will be explained in due time. Again, thank you to all the reviewers! Especially Koshou! Yeah, I'm a huge Vincent fangirl too, so I had to put him in somewhere! We'll get to see more of him soon!
o-starfire-o: Thanks for reading! Aeris will be making another appearance, so don't think she's gone just yet!
So for anyone else who's reading, please don't be shy! I'd love to hear any kind of review from you!
...I should really get back to studying now.