Author's Note: I wrote this and then realized that Sora, Kairi, Riku,
Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie all GO to Destiny Islands to play and screw off.
And then I also realized I made a huge mistake concerning those white
'Heartless' which are not Heartless at all but are known as the Nobodies.
Har har har, so many mistakes! Ah well, this is how my story goes. I'll
just have it so that the Heartless will have a new white form and that
these six people lived on Destiny Islands their 'whole' lives. How, I don't
know. Enjoy!
P.S. After this chapter, any chapter concerning Riku and Kairi will come up two or three chapters later, depending on my writing mood.
Secrets of Memories
Chapter 4: From Many, One
We are probably the oddest set of trios on the face of this universe, Riku smirked to himself as he watched Tarzan and Pooh deep in conversation, completely shutting themselves off from the rest of the world. What where they talking about? Perhaps their friends? Perhaps their loss, the world they lived in, everything and everyone in their worlds before the Heartless began a new invasion?
".Halloween Town, Neverland, Atlantica, and Hollow Bastion are safe so far," Leon was telling Cid. The veteran of many battles and the wielder of the Gunblade, a difficult weapon to master, he leaned against the wall of the Green Room casually, the scar nearly faded from his sharp, serious face.
" Agrabah's gone," Yuffie, the female ninja, spoke up. " At least Aladdin and Jasmine got away. There's been no sighting of Monstro in months, and we've got news from Olympus Coliseum that Phil's canceling all tournaments and closing down the place; the Heartless are trying to attack and destroy."
" No more tournaments, my nightmare," Cloud, the cold and distant warrior, muttered from 'his' corner of the room.
" Aw, cheer up!" Aerith, the flower girl, grinned, her hand on his shoulder. " At least you can practice against the Heartless and protect me, right?"
Riku swore he saw a blush flit through Cloud's face.
" Okay, okay, so here's the deal," Cid spoke, his stern face surveying the scene. " Riku, I need you to go to each remaining world: Halloween Town, Atlantica, and Neverland. Check up on the events there. Jack, Ariel, and Peter Pan can tell you everything. Most likely everybody there'll be tired from preparing for an attack against the Heartless. See if the Heartless is making their move."
" I'll go with Riku," Tarzan spoke up in his serious, gentle voice. " We might be able to find a way to get our worlds back."
" I'll go, too," Pooh stated, " but I really don't know what to do."
" What can you do, Pooh?" Leon asked.
" Well.um.think, think, think, think," Pooh tapped his hand against his head.
" Oh no," Riku sighed as Tarzan discreetly rolled his eyes. " Here we go again."
" Think, think, think, think.oh, wait!" Pooh exclaimed. " When I first saw those.Heartless, you call them? Well, when I saw those Heartless, I shouted, ' Stop, leave Piglet alone!' And the Heartless froze and Piglet was trying to find a way out. Then poof! I was on a cold floor and the book was going black, oh so black."
Riku turned to Cid. Cid nodded at the facial expression (his eyes are blindfolded) and told Pooh, " You might have magic in ya. You said ' Stop' and they stopped, right? They froze on the spot, right?"
Pooh took a minute to think, before nodding yes.
" Then you can use magic, I believe," Cid said thoughtfully. Then his eyes widened with an unknown idea that soon began known to all when he told Pooh, " Point your right arm at that vase over there-" he pointed at a very fine vase on a wooden table underneath a landscape picture "- and say, 'Fire.'"
" Fire?" Pooh questioned in confusion, his arm pointing at Cloud.
Cloud bolted as a ball of flame seared in his direction. The fireball exploded once it made contact with the wall and the distinct crackling sound of a fire merrily eating away at the wall was heard.
" Oh! W-we need water! Where's the-the water?" Pooh stammered out in surprise, his arm still pointing at the corner.
Water gushed out and splashed against the burning corner, leaving behind steam, smoke, and burnt bits of the wall.
This all happened in exactly two minutes.
Cid had the most unlikely look on his face. His jaw hanging open, his eyes wide, he was staring at the smoking wall. Yuffie and Aerith smothered their giggles behind their hands and Tarzan risked a smile as the man turned to Pooh with a stunned expression on his face.
" Merlin has so got to see you," he told Pooh.
" Who's Merlin?" Pooh asked curiously.
" He's a wizard," Leon replied for the now-voiceless Cid. " Resides behind the Burning Door in the Third District. Helped Sora master magic and summoning."
" He knows Sora?" Riku exclaimed. He was very much eager to get every bit of knowledge on Sora and his whereabouts no matter what. " Where's this Burning Door?"
" The Third District," Leon replied simplistically.
" I think we all know that," Tarzan answered.
" Can you feel the Heartless?" Riku asked the others as they made their way towards the staircase that led down to the floor of the Second District. " Its like they're there, waiting, just waiting."
" Yes, I can feel them in my heart," Tarzan replied, gripping his spear tightly and looking about warily.
" I can't feel anything," Pooh declared outright.
" You know, I wonder how you could cast water," Riku mused. " I know there's Blizzard but I've never heard of a spell called Water."
" It seems, Riku, that whatever 'spell word' he says, like 'fire' or maybe 'thunder', the actual element would appear," Tarzan answered.
" Yes, that may be it," Pooh agreed. " Now, only if I knew what you two were talking about.think, think. Think, think."
" Oh no," Riku sighed as they walked down the stairs and towards the fountain with the mosaic panel on the wall behind the gushing water. " Here he goes again."
Tarzan suddenly turned his head in the direction of the alley that led to the Third District. His hands gripped his spear tightly, until his knuckles turned white.
" There's something there," he whispered, his spear gesturing in the direction of the alleyway. " Something flashed by that way."
Riku and Pooh looked in that direction. Riku tensed up. Where the Heartless ready to do battle with them? That was when a realization hit home.
He still had that dark keyblade, the one that unlocked hearts. Will that keyblade have any affect on the Heartless?
" Did you see that?" Tarzan muttered. " Another flash. I think they're the Heartless but something tells me that there's more to it than-its white."
His eyes widened.
" What's white?" Riku and Pooh asked at the same instance.
" The Heartless.can they be white?" Tarzan asked. Riku shrugged.
" Wait a minute.there are white Heartless?" Riku gaped.
He never really did have time to gap as white, stretchy creatures with immensely flat heads and rows of fine teeth bounded out from the alleyway and right at them.
" Circle!" Tarzan ordered and the three of them backed up into one another. Tarzan was gripping his spear in a deadly stance; Riku had reluctantly called the dark keyblade to his side and Pooh was putting his hand to his mouth and was attempting to bite his hand off.
The white creatures cartwheeled and danced about, almost like the Soldier Heartless. Their hands, which looked more like daggers, flashed continuously as the creatures wandered around them, looking for any sort of opening to attack.that is, if that's what they were looking for.
" What are these guys?" Pooh finally ventured to ask.
" White creatures, I suppose," Tarzan answered rather dryly.
" Possibly white Heartless?" Riku gestured at the flat tops of the white creatures' heads.
The Heartless insignia was 'painted' on their foreheads, a strong contrast to the white background it was on.
" White Heartless?" Tarzan questioned.
Out of the corner of his eye, Riku spotted a white Heartless make a sudden dash at the unsuspecting Pooh!
" Pooh, behind you!" Riku exclaimed, swinging his keyblade about and running at the white Heartless.
" Uh.uh.uh." Pooh seemed to be lost for words as the Heartless leaped into the air, ready to slice Pooh into cotton stuffing with its odd hands.
" Say some spell!" Tarzan shouted, just as the white Heartless surged forward in a massive wave.
" Stop!" Pooh shouted.
The white heartless froze in midair. So did the other white Heartless, the ones headed at Riku and Tarzan.
" Quick!" Riku shouted, swinging his keyblade and walloping each frozen figure, unmindful of the fact that he had no clue whether or not the keyblade affected the Heartless. " Hit them before the spell wears off! If you hit them a lot, the damage accumulates and-"
The white Heartless were suddenly moving again, though one-third of the force facing Riku, Tarzan, and Pooh exploded into white particles. Riku gave a thankful smile; it seemed that all Heartless were weak against keyblades, no matter what they were. The other Heartless immediately scrambled away to a safe distance, still retaining a circle around the odd team of three.
" How did you know?" Tarzan asked Riku. " About Stop."
" I've seen it being used before," Riku answered briskly, his tone warning, threatening to snap back if asked more. " You?"
" Fire is Fire, Water is Water, Stop is Stop," Tarzan replied airily. " Isn't it so obvious?"
Riku bit back a smirking smile that threatened to creep up onto his face. That tone definitely did not go with Tarzan's personality.
" Um.Riku, Tarzan?" Pooh stammered. " The Heartless are getting closer."
Riku and Tarzan surveyed the scene. The Heartless were inching in, making their way towards the three, for a final kill.
" Oh boy," Riku sighed. " And we're not even close to finding this Merlin."
" We must really fight them," Tarzan added sternly, seriously. " We must cooperate. That is the only way we can make it to the Third District."
" How-" Pooh began to ask when Riku leaped into the air, at a heartless that was suddenly in the air above Pooh.
The white Heartless shrieked and exploded into white nothingness, while the keyblade returned to him.
" Pooh can bombard them with magic," Riku was saying as he slashed away at a grounded Heartless; the original target dodged away but the others nearest to it were wiped out of existence. " Tarzan and I can use our physical attacks. We'll all head towards the alleyway and the Third District. Agreed?"
Tarzan and Pooh nodded.
" And then we need to leave Traverse Town, go and find the people Cid mentioned," Riku continued to say. " And we need to get to the bottom of the whole situation. Find out what is happening to the worlds."
" Agreed," Tarzan answered. " Whatever it takes to get the universe back to normal."
" And then we can find my friends, right?" Pooh asked, a hopeful look on his face.
Riku smiled, a brief, warm, true smile at Pooh's eternally close friendship with the friends he lost to the Heartless. Just the opposite happened to me, he thought. I was the one lost to the Heartless. But Sora's eternally close friendship with me saved me. And Tarzan, trying to get the whole universe back to normal, so that he can go back to his family and friends, the ones taken by the Heartless. Our situations aren't different after all. We are all so alike. We come from many worlds but we really do share the same sky.
" Yes, Pooh," Riku replied. " Pooh, Tarzan, we'll save our friends and families from these Heartless. Now let's show them what we've got!"
And with that, they turned around and faced the onslaught of white that was the white Heartless.
Speed. Everywhere, everything was speed. Riku felt light, very light, as though he was made of air. Swirling around, his dark keyblade destroying the white Heartless with incredible ease, he 'danced' about through the narrow alleyway, white Heartless exploding all around him.
Tarzan was holding off the Heartless quite easily, jabbing with his spear, whacking them, slicing at them.basically using every technique that can be done using a spear.
Pooh was a little.unstable. Once in a while, a huge flood of water with flush the streets. Once in a white, a maelstrom would come whirling in. Once in a while, a fire tornado would burn out of thin air. But Pooh was able to cast spells. And the spells were definitely effective against the Heartless.
" Are we there yet?" Pooh gasped out for the millionth time as another fireball of his dispersed a mass of white Heartless trying to get at him.
" N-" Riku was about to roar at the top of his voice, from exhaustion, annoyance, and frustration that the white Heartless keep coming at them.
" Almost!" Tarzan shouted quickly. " We need to cut our way through that sea of white to that door!"
His arms too preoccupied with keeping the white Heartless from taking his heart, Tarzan threw a glance at the doors at the end of the alleyway.
" Right," Riku hacked at the Heartless, amazed at how fast the white creatures were. They bounded and bounced and sped here and there, leaving you in a daze. Riku had to use all he learned, from his duels against an increasingly stronger Sora back on Destiny Islands in the old days and when he was under Maleficent's wing.
Riku shuddered, his keyblade trembling, and the Heartless jumped at him. Riku jerked away from a past threatening to unfold to answer to this jump attack. Then he wondered: how were you supposed to attack an enemy in the air?
" Strike Raid."
It was simple, pure and simple. The voice was there, an abrupt sentence consisting of two words, a name, a name for a certain move involving a keyblade.
" Sora?" Riku whispered, as he threw his dark keyblade high into the air.
It spun like a boomerang, slicing through the white Heartless as it came back to him. Riku reached out his right hand and snagged its handle.
He then turned to the mass of white Heartless before him and suddenly he knew what to do.
" Tarzan, Pooh!" he called out. " I'm going to unleash an attack. It'll cut a path through the Heartless. Once I'm done, make through the opening to the door. I'll cover you guys!"
" Okay!" Tarzan shouted. " Pooh's a bit busy but the same goes for him!"
" Very well!" Riku exclaimed and, facing the door to the Third District, yelled, " Strike Raid!" and threw his keyblade at the white Heartless.
A path opened up where unfortunate Heartless once stood; Tarzan grabbed Pooh's hand/paw and dragged him to the door. The unfortunate Pooh simply let Tarzan pull him along, as a toddler would do with his all-too-heavy teddy bear.
Riku smiled at this, remembering when he did exactly that, drag his teddy bear everywhere when he was a toddler. A teddy bear that looked remarkably like Pooh.
The memory still fresh and playing in his mind, Riku dashed after the man and the bear as they pushed through the doors into the Third District.
" There are no Heartless here," Tarzan said, as soon as the door shut tight behind them. " Why?"
They looked behind them, to the doors that separated the Third District from the Second District. No Heartless came. They expected the doors to blast open, with wave after wave of white Heartless swarming through but nothing happened. Nothing, absolutely nothing, or so they thought.
Riku slowly walked to an empty building, to the immediate left of the doors. Tarzan and Pooh watched him carefully as Riku placed a hesitant hand on the dusty, dark window of the empty building and sighed. He peered into the window, trying to see that image, that image again, even though he hated it, how he himself had reacted to it.
Riku wanted to see Sora, Donald, and Goofy in there, in a brightly lit room with Squall, Yuffie, Cid, and Aerith. Cloud was, of course, not there; he was off probably around the Coliseum at that time. Riku remembered how he had looked through the window, watching his best friend and rival interact with the others, and he remembered the quiet hatred and jealousy that flamed in his heart and soul. Maleficent had built upon that emotion, that 'human' emotion, and had turned Riku against Sora.stop it, Riku! Get over it! The past is the past! Now we must look to the future and your new friends.
Friends.
Riku turned to Tarzan and Pooh, his mouth silently forming the word, " Friends."
Tarzan looked steadily into the dark blindfold that shielded Riku's eyes from the outside while Pooh merely stood there.
" You have trouble with the simple concept of friendship," Tarzan spoke bluntly, outright.
Riku was quite startled. How'd he know?
" You are a lost soul," Tarzan analyzed, " searching for your true self. You have yet to find it, for it is locked deep within you. In your situation, accepting the concept of friendship fully, truly, with all your heart, will unlock the person that is you."
" But how will I be able to do that?" Riku asked, in awe of Tarzan's insight.
" We'll help," Pooh offered.
The other two gave him blank stares. Pooh, paying attention to what they were saying?
" I love friends," Pooh spoke. " Wherever I go, I make friends. Like you two. I love friends because we get to share the same experiences, enjoy each other's true personalities, and face life together. I think Riku's been through so much, he never really got to share his experiences with others, enjoy being in the company of others, and I do know that he faced life alone. Aren't I right, Riku?"
Riku nodded dumbly. By some twist of fate, he had partnered up with two very wise, insightful souls, one in the body of a jungle warrior, the other in the body of a stuffed teddy bear with a forgetful mind.
" Yeah," Riku agreed. " Before my childhood was over, the Heartless took it away. The innocence of life, the carefree joys, they're all gone, gone. The Heartless have taken everything. I wish they didn't. I just wish.that I had my friends back, Sora, Kairi, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie.I wish I could do what you did, Pooh, I wish."
He hunched his shoulders and dropped his chin to his chest, trying to make himself smaller than normal.
Tarzan smiled and hung his arm across Riku's back and over his opposite shoulder.
" Relax," he said. " Before long, you definitely will do what Pooh here's done."
Pooh clasped Riku's right hand in his own hand.
" And maybe we can find your friends, too."
*~*~*
" Kairi, Kairi! Wake up, wake up!" a voice shouted frantically as a fist pounded harshly against the door to her room.
" Wha-what?" Kairi muttered drowsily, getting up on her elbows.
" Kairi, we have to get outta here!" Selphie's voice shouted frantically.
" Why?" Kairi demanded, dragging herself off her bed; she had fallen asleep on her bed reading a book and was still wearing her clothes.
" Something's happening!" Selphie yelled. " If we can outrun it and get to the boat before it does, then we can row to mainland!"
" Mainland." Kairi's voice drifted and was squashed by a sudden howl that ran through the room in the trees of Destiny Islands. " What was that?"
" That's the 'it' I just mentioned earlier!" Selphie answered impatiently; she sounded really scared. " Its like a huge monster made up of storms! And it's headed this way!"
" This way?" Kairi repeated.
" Kairi, get your stuff and let's get outta here!" Selphie shouted, total panic threatening to overcome her. " I'm scared!"
" I'm coming, I'm coming!" Kairi shouted, grabbing the wooden sword that leaned against the wall next to the locked door.
The wooden sword had belonged to Sora a long time ago, before the Heartless first came to their world. Now she used the sword, used it every day for a whole year practicing the art of swordsmanship. She had gone to the secret place, the cave shrouded by the trees, where there were many etchings scratched onto the cold gray boulders there. She remembered staring at the wooden door in that room, at the emblem of a keyhole in the center of the door, a gaping darkness outlined by yellow. And she remembered wishing that he would come through that door, that Sora would step through that door, with Riku at his side. She wished that they would come out, their missions in life fulfilled, to live on Destiny Islands with her for the rest of their lives, in peace, in joy, in happiness.and in healing.
But that wish, she knew, would never be fulfilled. None of them could be healed, not after what they had gone through. Riku had made the mistake of accepting the darkness, ultimately allowing Ansem to use his body for his own purpose. Kairi herself was taken by the darkness, losing her heart and living, suspended in the unconscious world, seeing images of her shrouded past flit before her eyes, unaware of everything around her. And Sora, who had stabbed himself to save the princesses of heart and her, and had fallen into the arms of the darkness, until she had saved him herself. Each of them carried the scars of the Heartless. There can be no healing. None.
She had made a weekly visit to the secret place every week of the month. She had sat there, in front of an etching in the stone wall not far from the mysterious door. She had watched it, touched it carefully, had felt the hot tears flow down her face, wishing, wishing he would come back. She'd trace her fingers along the paths of the paupu fruits, had imagined if they did share that legendary fruit, so that their hearts would be connected forever. But, they didn't need to share the fruit. Their hearts were already connected.
And now, Kairi felt like she was going to collapse. First she had lost that connection to Sora, no longer was able to hear his voice within her. And now she and Selphie had to leave the islands, had to go to the mainland, the land that she and Selphie had discovered not long ago. She would be leaving behind memories, memories of a distant past, when the laughter of children rang through the sea air, when they had played on the beaches, had lived with each other in peace and harmony. A harmony that was shattered with the coming of the Heartless.
" Hurry up, Kairi!" Selphie's voice was beyond desperate now. " A storm's tearing up the sea! We have to go now!"
" I'm coming!" Kairi shouted and shoved on her shoes. Brushing her purple skort and pulling a blue jacket over her sleeveless white polo shirt, she snatched the wooden sword, and pulled open the door.
Selphie, in a yellow shirt and green pants, wasted no time in grabbing Kairi with her free hand, the nunchaku swinging from her other hand. Together, they bolted out of the tree trunk that held Kairi's room, ran down the ramp, and onto the dark beach.
A mass of darkness was inching ever closer to their islands, spitting out thunder and lightening. The sea frothed madly, white foam throwing itself up the beach. The wooden rowboat, tied to the dock, rose and fell with the tempo of the waves.
" Come on!" Selphie shouted, her voice nearly lost in the torrential wind. " We have to get off this island, Kairi! Kairi!"
Kairi stood quietly, alone, looking to the secret place. The wind blew around her, rain hit her, and yet she stood alone, unyielding to the furious weather around her, looking to the secret place, to the etching she and Sora had done years ago of each other, in the days of innocence, when they were both so young. Since then, they had forgotten about that moment of innocence until, about a year ago, Sora entered that place and came back out, a bit dazed by something he would not explain. And after Destiny Islands had been restored and Sora, Riku, Donald, and Goofy going down their paths to destiny, she had discovered what he had done in the secret place. He had etched in a drawing of himself giving a paupu fruit to her. Crying, she had added in her own drawing, of her giving him the paupu fruit as well.
And now she and Selphie had to flee Destiny Islands, leaving behind that mural, a mural she held dear to her heart. Will she ever see the mural again? Or will the darkness come with such fury that it would utterly destroy Destiny Islands or shroud the beloved islands in a blanket of darkness that she cannot go through?
(Imagine Suteki da Ne playing in the background)
" Kairi, please," Selphie was begging her. " Let's go, Kairi, please!"
Kairi turned to go, to the dock where Selphie was standing, alone, vulnerable to the darkness. Kairi had experienced the darkness, had survived it, was a veteran of it. She must defend Selphie, must not let the rising darkness touch her friend, or else Kairi herself would be alone, for Selphie would have been taken by the darkness.
" I'm coming!" Kairi cried out, her voice so filled with the pain of leaving the islands and the mural in the secret place that it pained her heart, her very soul.
I promise you Sora, I will be waiting here always, until you return.always.
Tears welling up in her eyes, she ran to the dock, where Selphie was frantically untying the rope that fastened the boat to the dock.
No matter what, Sora, I'll be standing on these islands, now and forever, until we meet again.
They jumped into the boat and each grabbed an oar, slick with the rain on it. They began to row away quickly, battling the waters, as they fled from the islands that were their home. Kairi looked over her shoulder, watching the islands, watching as the darkness reached the distant edges of the islands and began its slow, horrifying crawl up the shores, to consume the islands. In her soul was a tugging, a tugging at her heart, and Kairi felt a weakness there that she had never felt before. Where did it come from?
Sora. are you there?
Kairi understood now, the weakness in her heart, the strange weakness that had.had ached in her heart since the day she found herself and Selphie alone on Destiny Islands, devoid of Sora, Riku, Wakka, and Tidus. It was there, pulsing softly, sadly, unwilling to show itself yet crying out for help.
Sora's heart was growing weak, she could sense it. Their hearts were connected; she could feel that want, that need to return home, to the way things were. Sora wanted to come home but he couldn't. She could tell, it was so obvious.
The weakness was dangerous, she knew. And this she knew: she had to get to him, she had to be able to see him, touch him, talk with him, with her voice and heart, before that weakness overcomes Sora and drags him down into darkness. And she would have to fight the rising darkness to do that.
" Kairi, keep rowing; we're almost there!" Selphie panted out as she rowed as hard as she can with her paddle.
Kairi obliged; within minutes the shores of the outer world came upon them. They could see the people at the shore's edge and on the many docks, watching the darkness destroy Destiny Islands, waving to the two lone survivors of the destruction. The people waited for them to come to their land, their land that was safe, so far, from the darkness.
Kairi looked back once more and caught a glimpse of Destiny Islands, just moments before its destruction. It stood there, determined not to give in but unable to defend itself. Like the weakness that she could sense in Sora's heart.
This time.I'll fight.
~*~
So.was it okay? Is everybody happy with the weirdest trio in Kingdom Hearts history: Riku, Tarzan, and Pooh? And an interesting duo: Kairi and Selphie?
No flamers please, thank you very much; please send flamers to me by e-mail if it is a must. And I hope nobody gets offended as soon as they learn what I have in store for them.
P.S. After this chapter, any chapter concerning Riku and Kairi will come up two or three chapters later, depending on my writing mood.
Secrets of Memories
Chapter 4: From Many, One
We are probably the oddest set of trios on the face of this universe, Riku smirked to himself as he watched Tarzan and Pooh deep in conversation, completely shutting themselves off from the rest of the world. What where they talking about? Perhaps their friends? Perhaps their loss, the world they lived in, everything and everyone in their worlds before the Heartless began a new invasion?
".Halloween Town, Neverland, Atlantica, and Hollow Bastion are safe so far," Leon was telling Cid. The veteran of many battles and the wielder of the Gunblade, a difficult weapon to master, he leaned against the wall of the Green Room casually, the scar nearly faded from his sharp, serious face.
" Agrabah's gone," Yuffie, the female ninja, spoke up. " At least Aladdin and Jasmine got away. There's been no sighting of Monstro in months, and we've got news from Olympus Coliseum that Phil's canceling all tournaments and closing down the place; the Heartless are trying to attack and destroy."
" No more tournaments, my nightmare," Cloud, the cold and distant warrior, muttered from 'his' corner of the room.
" Aw, cheer up!" Aerith, the flower girl, grinned, her hand on his shoulder. " At least you can practice against the Heartless and protect me, right?"
Riku swore he saw a blush flit through Cloud's face.
" Okay, okay, so here's the deal," Cid spoke, his stern face surveying the scene. " Riku, I need you to go to each remaining world: Halloween Town, Atlantica, and Neverland. Check up on the events there. Jack, Ariel, and Peter Pan can tell you everything. Most likely everybody there'll be tired from preparing for an attack against the Heartless. See if the Heartless is making their move."
" I'll go with Riku," Tarzan spoke up in his serious, gentle voice. " We might be able to find a way to get our worlds back."
" I'll go, too," Pooh stated, " but I really don't know what to do."
" What can you do, Pooh?" Leon asked.
" Well.um.think, think, think, think," Pooh tapped his hand against his head.
" Oh no," Riku sighed as Tarzan discreetly rolled his eyes. " Here we go again."
" Think, think, think, think.oh, wait!" Pooh exclaimed. " When I first saw those.Heartless, you call them? Well, when I saw those Heartless, I shouted, ' Stop, leave Piglet alone!' And the Heartless froze and Piglet was trying to find a way out. Then poof! I was on a cold floor and the book was going black, oh so black."
Riku turned to Cid. Cid nodded at the facial expression (his eyes are blindfolded) and told Pooh, " You might have magic in ya. You said ' Stop' and they stopped, right? They froze on the spot, right?"
Pooh took a minute to think, before nodding yes.
" Then you can use magic, I believe," Cid said thoughtfully. Then his eyes widened with an unknown idea that soon began known to all when he told Pooh, " Point your right arm at that vase over there-" he pointed at a very fine vase on a wooden table underneath a landscape picture "- and say, 'Fire.'"
" Fire?" Pooh questioned in confusion, his arm pointing at Cloud.
Cloud bolted as a ball of flame seared in his direction. The fireball exploded once it made contact with the wall and the distinct crackling sound of a fire merrily eating away at the wall was heard.
" Oh! W-we need water! Where's the-the water?" Pooh stammered out in surprise, his arm still pointing at the corner.
Water gushed out and splashed against the burning corner, leaving behind steam, smoke, and burnt bits of the wall.
This all happened in exactly two minutes.
Cid had the most unlikely look on his face. His jaw hanging open, his eyes wide, he was staring at the smoking wall. Yuffie and Aerith smothered their giggles behind their hands and Tarzan risked a smile as the man turned to Pooh with a stunned expression on his face.
" Merlin has so got to see you," he told Pooh.
" Who's Merlin?" Pooh asked curiously.
" He's a wizard," Leon replied for the now-voiceless Cid. " Resides behind the Burning Door in the Third District. Helped Sora master magic and summoning."
" He knows Sora?" Riku exclaimed. He was very much eager to get every bit of knowledge on Sora and his whereabouts no matter what. " Where's this Burning Door?"
" The Third District," Leon replied simplistically.
" I think we all know that," Tarzan answered.
" Can you feel the Heartless?" Riku asked the others as they made their way towards the staircase that led down to the floor of the Second District. " Its like they're there, waiting, just waiting."
" Yes, I can feel them in my heart," Tarzan replied, gripping his spear tightly and looking about warily.
" I can't feel anything," Pooh declared outright.
" You know, I wonder how you could cast water," Riku mused. " I know there's Blizzard but I've never heard of a spell called Water."
" It seems, Riku, that whatever 'spell word' he says, like 'fire' or maybe 'thunder', the actual element would appear," Tarzan answered.
" Yes, that may be it," Pooh agreed. " Now, only if I knew what you two were talking about.think, think. Think, think."
" Oh no," Riku sighed as they walked down the stairs and towards the fountain with the mosaic panel on the wall behind the gushing water. " Here he goes again."
Tarzan suddenly turned his head in the direction of the alley that led to the Third District. His hands gripped his spear tightly, until his knuckles turned white.
" There's something there," he whispered, his spear gesturing in the direction of the alleyway. " Something flashed by that way."
Riku and Pooh looked in that direction. Riku tensed up. Where the Heartless ready to do battle with them? That was when a realization hit home.
He still had that dark keyblade, the one that unlocked hearts. Will that keyblade have any affect on the Heartless?
" Did you see that?" Tarzan muttered. " Another flash. I think they're the Heartless but something tells me that there's more to it than-its white."
His eyes widened.
" What's white?" Riku and Pooh asked at the same instance.
" The Heartless.can they be white?" Tarzan asked. Riku shrugged.
" Wait a minute.there are white Heartless?" Riku gaped.
He never really did have time to gap as white, stretchy creatures with immensely flat heads and rows of fine teeth bounded out from the alleyway and right at them.
" Circle!" Tarzan ordered and the three of them backed up into one another. Tarzan was gripping his spear in a deadly stance; Riku had reluctantly called the dark keyblade to his side and Pooh was putting his hand to his mouth and was attempting to bite his hand off.
The white creatures cartwheeled and danced about, almost like the Soldier Heartless. Their hands, which looked more like daggers, flashed continuously as the creatures wandered around them, looking for any sort of opening to attack.that is, if that's what they were looking for.
" What are these guys?" Pooh finally ventured to ask.
" White creatures, I suppose," Tarzan answered rather dryly.
" Possibly white Heartless?" Riku gestured at the flat tops of the white creatures' heads.
The Heartless insignia was 'painted' on their foreheads, a strong contrast to the white background it was on.
" White Heartless?" Tarzan questioned.
Out of the corner of his eye, Riku spotted a white Heartless make a sudden dash at the unsuspecting Pooh!
" Pooh, behind you!" Riku exclaimed, swinging his keyblade about and running at the white Heartless.
" Uh.uh.uh." Pooh seemed to be lost for words as the Heartless leaped into the air, ready to slice Pooh into cotton stuffing with its odd hands.
" Say some spell!" Tarzan shouted, just as the white Heartless surged forward in a massive wave.
" Stop!" Pooh shouted.
The white heartless froze in midair. So did the other white Heartless, the ones headed at Riku and Tarzan.
" Quick!" Riku shouted, swinging his keyblade and walloping each frozen figure, unmindful of the fact that he had no clue whether or not the keyblade affected the Heartless. " Hit them before the spell wears off! If you hit them a lot, the damage accumulates and-"
The white Heartless were suddenly moving again, though one-third of the force facing Riku, Tarzan, and Pooh exploded into white particles. Riku gave a thankful smile; it seemed that all Heartless were weak against keyblades, no matter what they were. The other Heartless immediately scrambled away to a safe distance, still retaining a circle around the odd team of three.
" How did you know?" Tarzan asked Riku. " About Stop."
" I've seen it being used before," Riku answered briskly, his tone warning, threatening to snap back if asked more. " You?"
" Fire is Fire, Water is Water, Stop is Stop," Tarzan replied airily. " Isn't it so obvious?"
Riku bit back a smirking smile that threatened to creep up onto his face. That tone definitely did not go with Tarzan's personality.
" Um.Riku, Tarzan?" Pooh stammered. " The Heartless are getting closer."
Riku and Tarzan surveyed the scene. The Heartless were inching in, making their way towards the three, for a final kill.
" Oh boy," Riku sighed. " And we're not even close to finding this Merlin."
" We must really fight them," Tarzan added sternly, seriously. " We must cooperate. That is the only way we can make it to the Third District."
" How-" Pooh began to ask when Riku leaped into the air, at a heartless that was suddenly in the air above Pooh.
The white Heartless shrieked and exploded into white nothingness, while the keyblade returned to him.
" Pooh can bombard them with magic," Riku was saying as he slashed away at a grounded Heartless; the original target dodged away but the others nearest to it were wiped out of existence. " Tarzan and I can use our physical attacks. We'll all head towards the alleyway and the Third District. Agreed?"
Tarzan and Pooh nodded.
" And then we need to leave Traverse Town, go and find the people Cid mentioned," Riku continued to say. " And we need to get to the bottom of the whole situation. Find out what is happening to the worlds."
" Agreed," Tarzan answered. " Whatever it takes to get the universe back to normal."
" And then we can find my friends, right?" Pooh asked, a hopeful look on his face.
Riku smiled, a brief, warm, true smile at Pooh's eternally close friendship with the friends he lost to the Heartless. Just the opposite happened to me, he thought. I was the one lost to the Heartless. But Sora's eternally close friendship with me saved me. And Tarzan, trying to get the whole universe back to normal, so that he can go back to his family and friends, the ones taken by the Heartless. Our situations aren't different after all. We are all so alike. We come from many worlds but we really do share the same sky.
" Yes, Pooh," Riku replied. " Pooh, Tarzan, we'll save our friends and families from these Heartless. Now let's show them what we've got!"
And with that, they turned around and faced the onslaught of white that was the white Heartless.
Speed. Everywhere, everything was speed. Riku felt light, very light, as though he was made of air. Swirling around, his dark keyblade destroying the white Heartless with incredible ease, he 'danced' about through the narrow alleyway, white Heartless exploding all around him.
Tarzan was holding off the Heartless quite easily, jabbing with his spear, whacking them, slicing at them.basically using every technique that can be done using a spear.
Pooh was a little.unstable. Once in a while, a huge flood of water with flush the streets. Once in a white, a maelstrom would come whirling in. Once in a while, a fire tornado would burn out of thin air. But Pooh was able to cast spells. And the spells were definitely effective against the Heartless.
" Are we there yet?" Pooh gasped out for the millionth time as another fireball of his dispersed a mass of white Heartless trying to get at him.
" N-" Riku was about to roar at the top of his voice, from exhaustion, annoyance, and frustration that the white Heartless keep coming at them.
" Almost!" Tarzan shouted quickly. " We need to cut our way through that sea of white to that door!"
His arms too preoccupied with keeping the white Heartless from taking his heart, Tarzan threw a glance at the doors at the end of the alleyway.
" Right," Riku hacked at the Heartless, amazed at how fast the white creatures were. They bounded and bounced and sped here and there, leaving you in a daze. Riku had to use all he learned, from his duels against an increasingly stronger Sora back on Destiny Islands in the old days and when he was under Maleficent's wing.
Riku shuddered, his keyblade trembling, and the Heartless jumped at him. Riku jerked away from a past threatening to unfold to answer to this jump attack. Then he wondered: how were you supposed to attack an enemy in the air?
" Strike Raid."
It was simple, pure and simple. The voice was there, an abrupt sentence consisting of two words, a name, a name for a certain move involving a keyblade.
" Sora?" Riku whispered, as he threw his dark keyblade high into the air.
It spun like a boomerang, slicing through the white Heartless as it came back to him. Riku reached out his right hand and snagged its handle.
He then turned to the mass of white Heartless before him and suddenly he knew what to do.
" Tarzan, Pooh!" he called out. " I'm going to unleash an attack. It'll cut a path through the Heartless. Once I'm done, make through the opening to the door. I'll cover you guys!"
" Okay!" Tarzan shouted. " Pooh's a bit busy but the same goes for him!"
" Very well!" Riku exclaimed and, facing the door to the Third District, yelled, " Strike Raid!" and threw his keyblade at the white Heartless.
A path opened up where unfortunate Heartless once stood; Tarzan grabbed Pooh's hand/paw and dragged him to the door. The unfortunate Pooh simply let Tarzan pull him along, as a toddler would do with his all-too-heavy teddy bear.
Riku smiled at this, remembering when he did exactly that, drag his teddy bear everywhere when he was a toddler. A teddy bear that looked remarkably like Pooh.
The memory still fresh and playing in his mind, Riku dashed after the man and the bear as they pushed through the doors into the Third District.
" There are no Heartless here," Tarzan said, as soon as the door shut tight behind them. " Why?"
They looked behind them, to the doors that separated the Third District from the Second District. No Heartless came. They expected the doors to blast open, with wave after wave of white Heartless swarming through but nothing happened. Nothing, absolutely nothing, or so they thought.
Riku slowly walked to an empty building, to the immediate left of the doors. Tarzan and Pooh watched him carefully as Riku placed a hesitant hand on the dusty, dark window of the empty building and sighed. He peered into the window, trying to see that image, that image again, even though he hated it, how he himself had reacted to it.
Riku wanted to see Sora, Donald, and Goofy in there, in a brightly lit room with Squall, Yuffie, Cid, and Aerith. Cloud was, of course, not there; he was off probably around the Coliseum at that time. Riku remembered how he had looked through the window, watching his best friend and rival interact with the others, and he remembered the quiet hatred and jealousy that flamed in his heart and soul. Maleficent had built upon that emotion, that 'human' emotion, and had turned Riku against Sora.stop it, Riku! Get over it! The past is the past! Now we must look to the future and your new friends.
Friends.
Riku turned to Tarzan and Pooh, his mouth silently forming the word, " Friends."
Tarzan looked steadily into the dark blindfold that shielded Riku's eyes from the outside while Pooh merely stood there.
" You have trouble with the simple concept of friendship," Tarzan spoke bluntly, outright.
Riku was quite startled. How'd he know?
" You are a lost soul," Tarzan analyzed, " searching for your true self. You have yet to find it, for it is locked deep within you. In your situation, accepting the concept of friendship fully, truly, with all your heart, will unlock the person that is you."
" But how will I be able to do that?" Riku asked, in awe of Tarzan's insight.
" We'll help," Pooh offered.
The other two gave him blank stares. Pooh, paying attention to what they were saying?
" I love friends," Pooh spoke. " Wherever I go, I make friends. Like you two. I love friends because we get to share the same experiences, enjoy each other's true personalities, and face life together. I think Riku's been through so much, he never really got to share his experiences with others, enjoy being in the company of others, and I do know that he faced life alone. Aren't I right, Riku?"
Riku nodded dumbly. By some twist of fate, he had partnered up with two very wise, insightful souls, one in the body of a jungle warrior, the other in the body of a stuffed teddy bear with a forgetful mind.
" Yeah," Riku agreed. " Before my childhood was over, the Heartless took it away. The innocence of life, the carefree joys, they're all gone, gone. The Heartless have taken everything. I wish they didn't. I just wish.that I had my friends back, Sora, Kairi, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie.I wish I could do what you did, Pooh, I wish."
He hunched his shoulders and dropped his chin to his chest, trying to make himself smaller than normal.
Tarzan smiled and hung his arm across Riku's back and over his opposite shoulder.
" Relax," he said. " Before long, you definitely will do what Pooh here's done."
Pooh clasped Riku's right hand in his own hand.
" And maybe we can find your friends, too."
*~*~*
" Kairi, Kairi! Wake up, wake up!" a voice shouted frantically as a fist pounded harshly against the door to her room.
" Wha-what?" Kairi muttered drowsily, getting up on her elbows.
" Kairi, we have to get outta here!" Selphie's voice shouted frantically.
" Why?" Kairi demanded, dragging herself off her bed; she had fallen asleep on her bed reading a book and was still wearing her clothes.
" Something's happening!" Selphie yelled. " If we can outrun it and get to the boat before it does, then we can row to mainland!"
" Mainland." Kairi's voice drifted and was squashed by a sudden howl that ran through the room in the trees of Destiny Islands. " What was that?"
" That's the 'it' I just mentioned earlier!" Selphie answered impatiently; she sounded really scared. " Its like a huge monster made up of storms! And it's headed this way!"
" This way?" Kairi repeated.
" Kairi, get your stuff and let's get outta here!" Selphie shouted, total panic threatening to overcome her. " I'm scared!"
" I'm coming, I'm coming!" Kairi shouted, grabbing the wooden sword that leaned against the wall next to the locked door.
The wooden sword had belonged to Sora a long time ago, before the Heartless first came to their world. Now she used the sword, used it every day for a whole year practicing the art of swordsmanship. She had gone to the secret place, the cave shrouded by the trees, where there were many etchings scratched onto the cold gray boulders there. She remembered staring at the wooden door in that room, at the emblem of a keyhole in the center of the door, a gaping darkness outlined by yellow. And she remembered wishing that he would come through that door, that Sora would step through that door, with Riku at his side. She wished that they would come out, their missions in life fulfilled, to live on Destiny Islands with her for the rest of their lives, in peace, in joy, in happiness.and in healing.
But that wish, she knew, would never be fulfilled. None of them could be healed, not after what they had gone through. Riku had made the mistake of accepting the darkness, ultimately allowing Ansem to use his body for his own purpose. Kairi herself was taken by the darkness, losing her heart and living, suspended in the unconscious world, seeing images of her shrouded past flit before her eyes, unaware of everything around her. And Sora, who had stabbed himself to save the princesses of heart and her, and had fallen into the arms of the darkness, until she had saved him herself. Each of them carried the scars of the Heartless. There can be no healing. None.
She had made a weekly visit to the secret place every week of the month. She had sat there, in front of an etching in the stone wall not far from the mysterious door. She had watched it, touched it carefully, had felt the hot tears flow down her face, wishing, wishing he would come back. She'd trace her fingers along the paths of the paupu fruits, had imagined if they did share that legendary fruit, so that their hearts would be connected forever. But, they didn't need to share the fruit. Their hearts were already connected.
And now, Kairi felt like she was going to collapse. First she had lost that connection to Sora, no longer was able to hear his voice within her. And now she and Selphie had to leave the islands, had to go to the mainland, the land that she and Selphie had discovered not long ago. She would be leaving behind memories, memories of a distant past, when the laughter of children rang through the sea air, when they had played on the beaches, had lived with each other in peace and harmony. A harmony that was shattered with the coming of the Heartless.
" Hurry up, Kairi!" Selphie's voice was beyond desperate now. " A storm's tearing up the sea! We have to go now!"
" I'm coming!" Kairi shouted and shoved on her shoes. Brushing her purple skort and pulling a blue jacket over her sleeveless white polo shirt, she snatched the wooden sword, and pulled open the door.
Selphie, in a yellow shirt and green pants, wasted no time in grabbing Kairi with her free hand, the nunchaku swinging from her other hand. Together, they bolted out of the tree trunk that held Kairi's room, ran down the ramp, and onto the dark beach.
A mass of darkness was inching ever closer to their islands, spitting out thunder and lightening. The sea frothed madly, white foam throwing itself up the beach. The wooden rowboat, tied to the dock, rose and fell with the tempo of the waves.
" Come on!" Selphie shouted, her voice nearly lost in the torrential wind. " We have to get off this island, Kairi! Kairi!"
Kairi stood quietly, alone, looking to the secret place. The wind blew around her, rain hit her, and yet she stood alone, unyielding to the furious weather around her, looking to the secret place, to the etching she and Sora had done years ago of each other, in the days of innocence, when they were both so young. Since then, they had forgotten about that moment of innocence until, about a year ago, Sora entered that place and came back out, a bit dazed by something he would not explain. And after Destiny Islands had been restored and Sora, Riku, Donald, and Goofy going down their paths to destiny, she had discovered what he had done in the secret place. He had etched in a drawing of himself giving a paupu fruit to her. Crying, she had added in her own drawing, of her giving him the paupu fruit as well.
And now she and Selphie had to flee Destiny Islands, leaving behind that mural, a mural she held dear to her heart. Will she ever see the mural again? Or will the darkness come with such fury that it would utterly destroy Destiny Islands or shroud the beloved islands in a blanket of darkness that she cannot go through?
(Imagine Suteki da Ne playing in the background)
" Kairi, please," Selphie was begging her. " Let's go, Kairi, please!"
Kairi turned to go, to the dock where Selphie was standing, alone, vulnerable to the darkness. Kairi had experienced the darkness, had survived it, was a veteran of it. She must defend Selphie, must not let the rising darkness touch her friend, or else Kairi herself would be alone, for Selphie would have been taken by the darkness.
" I'm coming!" Kairi cried out, her voice so filled with the pain of leaving the islands and the mural in the secret place that it pained her heart, her very soul.
I promise you Sora, I will be waiting here always, until you return.always.
Tears welling up in her eyes, she ran to the dock, where Selphie was frantically untying the rope that fastened the boat to the dock.
No matter what, Sora, I'll be standing on these islands, now and forever, until we meet again.
They jumped into the boat and each grabbed an oar, slick with the rain on it. They began to row away quickly, battling the waters, as they fled from the islands that were their home. Kairi looked over her shoulder, watching the islands, watching as the darkness reached the distant edges of the islands and began its slow, horrifying crawl up the shores, to consume the islands. In her soul was a tugging, a tugging at her heart, and Kairi felt a weakness there that she had never felt before. Where did it come from?
Sora. are you there?
Kairi understood now, the weakness in her heart, the strange weakness that had.had ached in her heart since the day she found herself and Selphie alone on Destiny Islands, devoid of Sora, Riku, Wakka, and Tidus. It was there, pulsing softly, sadly, unwilling to show itself yet crying out for help.
Sora's heart was growing weak, she could sense it. Their hearts were connected; she could feel that want, that need to return home, to the way things were. Sora wanted to come home but he couldn't. She could tell, it was so obvious.
The weakness was dangerous, she knew. And this she knew: she had to get to him, she had to be able to see him, touch him, talk with him, with her voice and heart, before that weakness overcomes Sora and drags him down into darkness. And she would have to fight the rising darkness to do that.
" Kairi, keep rowing; we're almost there!" Selphie panted out as she rowed as hard as she can with her paddle.
Kairi obliged; within minutes the shores of the outer world came upon them. They could see the people at the shore's edge and on the many docks, watching the darkness destroy Destiny Islands, waving to the two lone survivors of the destruction. The people waited for them to come to their land, their land that was safe, so far, from the darkness.
Kairi looked back once more and caught a glimpse of Destiny Islands, just moments before its destruction. It stood there, determined not to give in but unable to defend itself. Like the weakness that she could sense in Sora's heart.
This time.I'll fight.
~*~
So.was it okay? Is everybody happy with the weirdest trio in Kingdom Hearts history: Riku, Tarzan, and Pooh? And an interesting duo: Kairi and Selphie?
No flamers please, thank you very much; please send flamers to me by e-mail if it is a must. And I hope nobody gets offended as soon as they learn what I have in store for them.