Author's Note: If you prefer I update the story once a week, please say so
in your review. I would not like to frustrate anyone who waits for a new
chapter every two weeks. Please enjoy...I hope I didn't screw up on it...
Secrets of Memories
Chapter 9: Forced Alliance
Sora was probably having one of the finest times of his life. Nobodies were a lot worse than Heartless, he had concluded as he swiped at a Nobody and watched it dance away effortlessly. They make everything look like a child's play.
"How many are there?" Sora growled out as he managed to catch a Nobody by the chin and fling it at Donald who Blizzaga'd it to oblivion.
"Three hundred," was Goofy's immediate suggestion. Donald rolled his eyes and quickly recast Aeroga on the knight just as the spell wore off. "Well, it looks like it, don't it?"
"Three hundred my butt," Sora grumbled. "I was going to suggest a thousand but I think we'd be over-exaggerating."
"Beyond that," Donald snorted as he cast Firaga at two Nobodies who had the bad luck of being near each other. The massive fireball scorched them as it sailed right between them and destroyed another Nobody. Three blue hearts floated into the dusk sky.
"Where's the blond kid?" Sora wondered as he jabbed his keyblade forward. A Nobody, an unfortunate receiving end of the jab, frantically tried to pull the blade out of its odd mouth. Sora grinned and pulled the blade downward, slicing the Nobody into neat halves, connected only by the top part of its jaw.
"...you have rescuers..." a cold hissing voice drifted in the air as Sora swiped at a Nobody and decapitated it. The head went rolling to Sora's feet as the body faded into a blue heart.
He's talking to the blond-haired kid, Sora concluded as he shoved through the mass of white Nobodies in the direction he believed the voice came from. As he headed for a rather shadowy alleyway, he saw-he thought he saw- something run out from the alleyway and mingle into the mass of Nobodies trying to kill the keyblade master.
Maybe the blond-haired kid's there, Sora thought to himself and continued to forge a path through the throngs of Nobodies when he heard Donald squawk an alarm. Whirling around, he saw Goofy getting nailed by what seemed to be bigger Nobodies. They had dark steel armor all around them and their hand daggers were actual steel and they were currently pounding the knight into the dust.
"Holy shit!" Sora hollered and charged. Donald, trying to help his friend, stumbled into Sora's path and he yelled, "Get out of the way!"
Donald quickly threw a Blizzaga spell at any nearby Nobodies and Glided out of the way as Sora charged through with his key and hacked down at the back of a shielded Nobody as it made a karate chop at Goofy.
The Shield Nobodies, a name came to Sora's mind.
The key punched a hole in the armor of the Shield Nobody; gray mist and a blue heart hissed out and the armor collapsed, only to fade into nothingness. While Goofy quickly recuperated and Donald joined him, Sora dashed off once more to the alleyway where the blond-haired kid might be.
"Get. Out. Of. My. Way," Sora gritted through tightly clenched teeth as he hacked away the Nobodies that were in his way. He recreated a path through the mass of Nobodies in a frantic attempt to reach the alley. He inched closer to the alleyway, his heart now screaming at him that there was someone there, the someone they were looking for, when he heard a voice yell out, "Oh no, you don't! Geroff me!"
Sora shuddered and slowed momentarily. The voice was being muffled, yes, but it was the voice itself that made him rather hesitant. It sounded like him.
"And I've been wondering if any of this was weird or not," Sora muttered as he pulled himself free of the mass of Nobodies and staggered into the alleyway, wondering why would anybody in their right mind come to own a voice very similar to his own. He ran to the alleyway, entering a very dark, gloomy, and rather cold hallway of bricks and stone. It was all very shadowy and even though he knew the Nobodies were white, he certainly saw no more than dark gray lumps wrestling with someone who seemed to be rather human.
One of the Shield Nobodies was holding something to what seemed to be a teenager's face. The others were skirting around flailing limbs, not willing to risk injury of any sort at this time of the day. Sora watched the Shield Nobodies' captive. He was wearing a long black cloak that clung to his body and, to Sora's relief, he was blond; this was the one King Mickey had told him to find.
He pitied the Shield Nobodies who were to move him somewhere; the blond- haired kid was making the job a pure misery for them. He was going to watch the Shield Nobodies receive their due for kidnapping the blond-haired kid who jumped him from the roof of an apartment building when he noticed one of them swinging his dagger-like hand forward at the teenager. Sora knew a disaster was on the loose.
"Strike Raid!" he yelled, throwing his key at the Shield Nobody and making himself known to everyone who happened to be in the alleyway at that moment in time.
As the Shield Nobodies looked up and stopped whatever they were doing to study the intruder, the key smashed into the Shield Nobody that had seemed to try and kill the teenager. An explosion of orange ensued and a blue heart floated woozily into the sky. The key flew back to Sora, who grabbed it and swung it into fighting position. The Shield Nobodies watched this intruder, then made the decision to attack.
"Aeroga," Sora whispered and cast the wind spell around the teenager and himself. Then he ducked as a Shield Nobody threw itself at him, quickly whirled around, and jabbed at the flying Shield Nobody quickly, turning it into a blue heart. Then he sidestepped a Shield Nobody and sliced his key at the armored creature. Sparks flew as the key hit one of the Shield Nobody's hands; they both recoiled from the force Sora had put on the key. Stumbling backwards, he nearly fell over the blond-haired kid. His eyes riveted downward automatically and stared into his own face.
Time seemed to slow. Sora and the blond-haired kid stared at each other, not believing what the other was seeing. If it weren't for the shorter blond hair, the copper-brown eyes, and the paler complexion, the blond- haired kid could've passed off as Sora himself.
Time suddenly sped up as a Shield Nobody threw itself against Sora but was repelled by Aeroga. Sora then used his key to cut through the Aeroga he placed on the blond-haired kid and neatly sliced off the ropes that held the teenager captive. He then hoisted the kid to his feet and bolted forward, decapitating a Shield Nobody that had the horrible luck of being too close for comfort. Then Sora felt the air crackle with furious energy and whirled around.
The blond-haired kid held two keyblades in his hands. One was obviously the Oblivion; how he got it Sora had absolutely no clue. The other one was a bit odd. It looked like the Oathkeeper but the blond-haired kid most definitely never met Kairi before; she would've told him. Then he noticed the odd way the keyblade was shimmering; the colors were a whole lot different than the Oathkeeper. The colors were very much beautiful, in a rather odd, cold-yet-warm way. The keychain dangling from the keyblade was a star streaked with the same colors, not a paupu fruit.
Then Sora watched in shock and fascination as the teenager executed a couple of simple slices and three Shield Nobodies had their heads rolling. Sora had to work up a sweat just to jab one Nobody, let alone a Shield Nobody. The teenager, in the blink of an eye, had gotten rid of three Shield Nobodies as soon as Sora freed him.
Maybe that's why King Mickey wanted Donald, Goofy and me to go get him; he's good. There's no denying that-Sora realized that he had forgotten about Donald and Goofy.
"Donald, Goofy!" Sora shouted and recklessly dodged the Shield Nobodies as he made his way out of the alleyway and into the street circle where Sora, Donald, and Goofy had landed.
Donald and Goofy were still keeping it up, even though they were covered in grime and looking very much exhausted. They looked quite relieved, though, when Sora reappeared to help them fight the Nobodies and the Shield Nobodies. Then they were gaping like fish as the blond-haired kid appeared beside him, the Oblivion and the other keyblade flashing with ease in his hands as the kid practically danced around and around the Nobodies and sent many blue hearts into the sky.
"This way!" Sora called to the teenager. For a moment, the teenager was rather hesitant, then nodded and followed Sora as they fought their way through the Nobodies and the Shield Nobodies to rejoin Sora's two allies.
"What's he doing here?" Donald hissed as they worked at getting rid of the Nobodies and the Shield Nobodies.
"King Mickey told us to find him; I did just as he told us to do," Sora snapped back. He really couldn't understand why Donald seemed to resent the now-voiceless blond-haired kid as they fought back surge after surge of Nobodies and Shield Nobodies. The white creatures were becoming extremely wary now, noting the new addition to the three companions they were just dueling. And they were now watching the movements of the teenager's keyblades; with them he fought with more effectiveness than Sora, Donald, and Goofy ever did as a team against Heartless. Sora was becoming rather awed by how easily he amputated the arms and legs of several bunched Nobodies; he scowled, knowing he couldn't come close to doing that.
"Show off," Donald growled under his breath as he Firaga'd a group of Shield Nobodies. "Trying to make up to us for jumping on Sora, is he?"
"Gawrsh," Goofy was scratching his head, staring at the blond-haired teenager, and smashing Nobodies with his shield at the same time. Sora reminded himself to ask Goofy later on about how he was able to multi-task in extreme situations. "He looks familiar, don't he, Donald?"
"Him? Familiar?" Donald squawked as he shot a nasty Blizzaga from his wand and quickly cast Curaga on Goofy; Goofy was staggering a bit, more from over-exertion than from enemy blows. "I don't think so."
Sora sensed that Donald was trying to spin a yarn but chose to ignore it. It's more important that they survive than try and give Donald lie-detector tests.
"I think I've seen him before," Goofy still mused as he ducked and two Shield Nobodies who were pouncing him from opposite directions hit each other in midair and recoiled off each other, thanks largely to their armor. Then the blond-haired kid whirled in and sliced off the heads of each of the Shield Nobodies before dashing away to dance into a large throng of Nobodies. "Yes, I'm very much certain I've seen him before."
"Where?" Sora asked curiously.
"Disney Castle," Goofy puffed a reply.
"Gwaaahhhhh!!!!" Donald shrieked and bonked Goofy with his staff.
Sora decided not to bring up the subject again for a few months; Donald had gained a nasty habit of remembering everything.
Suddenly, a tingling feeling ran up his spine. Sora became worried. The only other time that happened was when Sora's Graviga spell destroyed much of the landscape around then, proving that the size and power of the spell had evolved to such an extent it could destroy friends and foes alike. And the three had sworn not to use that spell or Thundaga unless under extreme circumstances; they could not risk flattening or frying themselves along with their enemies.
"Sora!" Goofy yelped and gestured in the blond-haired kid's direction.
Sora turned and his heart dropped. The kid was standing there, his arms outstretched, his face etched with deep concentration. The air and ground around him crackled with the dark energy that Sora recognized, to his horror, was Graviga.
"He knows magic?" Donald shouted.
"Run!" Sora yelled and fought his way through the crowd of Nobodies and Shield Nobodies.
"Ack!" Donald cast Aeroga and Curaga on himself. "Too late!"
A sudden wind blew and Sora was nearly knocked over. Staggering to his feet, he became suddenly aware of a disturbing silence. Purple-black power spread in a circle on the street; there was no Nobody or Shield Nobody in sight. Then the dark power disappeared; there were still no Nobody or Shield Nobody in sight.
"We didn't have ter worry," Goofy said happily and rather obliviously. " You could see he could control that power. Don't the Oblivion represent Graviga and vice versa?"
While Donald scowled at Goofy for being the 'wise guy', Sora turned and spotted the teenager with the dual keyblades. He was standing a little way from them, shrouded in the long trench coat, the hood pulled over his head. The keyblades were now gone from his hands; he was a very odd person indeed.
Sora approached the teenager rather cautiously. "You're Aozora, aren't you?"
The hooded head jerked up, startled. Then the hood nodded.
"We met some of your friends back at the clock tower," Sora explained. " And someone we knew told us to find you."
The hooded figure cocked his head in a strange way. Then the teenager pulled back his hood, turned, and stared at him. Sora grew rather nervous. It was irritating and intimidating to see your face on a stranger's head.
"Yes, my name is Aozora," the teenager said quietly. "Yours?"
Sora was all the more unnerved by Aozora. The teenager had his voice! It was slightly different but it was there, it was his voice!
"I'm Sora," he answered. "Nice to meet you."
"You're the sky-child," was Aozora's immediate answer.
Sora stared at him blankly. What was he talking about?
"Somebody told me to find you," Aozora explained. "It took me a while but looks like I did."
"Very interesting," Sora mused. "But why me?"
Aozora shrugged. Then his coppery eyes narrowed and he looked Sora over. " You're the keyblade master."
Sora shuddered. This kid was weird. Not only did he look and sound like him, he knew about Sora, though they have never met before.
"I think the guy's a stalker," Sora heard Donald whisper to Goofy, in an unusually loud voice. "If he knows that much-"
Goofy reached out and clamped Donald's beak shut. "Sorry, person with the two keyblades. He's rather nervous around strangers."
Aozora gave a rather solemn smile. Sora grimaced. That guy was NOT the happiest kid in the universe.
"Sora?" Sora turned to Goofy, who was saying a lot more than he normally ever did. "I think he needs to come with us."
"Gwaaahhhhh!!!!!" an odd sound emitted from Donald's clamped beak.
"What? Why?" Sora and Aozora demanded at the same time.
Goofy shrugged. "I just feel it."
"What an answer," Sora sighed.
"Goofy's got some intuition," Aozora was musing.
"You know his name?" Sora was a bit suspicious. But Goofy did believe he met Aozora before...
"Before I jumped-or tried to jump- the three of you, I heard you three talking," Aozora explained, his copper eyes roving the area around them. " The knight is Goofy and the duck that hates me is Donald. And, I must say, I'm really sorry. My friends tell me I act rather impulsively and without using my head at times. That was one of them."
"But why did you do that?" Sora asked curiously.
"These," Aozora reached into one of his deep pockets and pulled out two keychains. "You, I believe, already know the Oblivion. This one-" he pointed to the moon with Mickey's head etched into it "-is called the Moonbeam. It is a keychain for a keyblade but one person can only use it. I was going to look for the two people the Oblivion and the Moonbeam belong to but I've been failing miserably. One of my mentors in the past told me not to lose these two and I was panicking because you were taking me coat- with the keychains in its pocket-away."
"Can't blame ya," Goofy replied.
Donald, thoroughly irritated at having Goofy shut his mouth, stomped on his friend's foot to attract his attention and get him to release his beak.
"Wha? Oh, sorry," Goofy apologized. He let go and Donald yelled, "He's coming with us?!"
"I was wondering why at the same time," Sora agreed. "But-" he looked at the teenager with his face "-I don't know. Goofy, what can he do to help us?"
"Der...actually, I think its what can we do to help him," Goofy said. "I think if we bring him with us, we can take him to the two people who owns those keychains."
"Nobody owns them," Aozora corrected. "The keychains choose the same way the keyblade chooses."
He looked at Sora.
Goofy shrugged and waved the matter aside. "Sora, he needs to come with us. I just know he has to."
Sora was thinking. What can he do to help us?
"Why?" Donald was yelling at Goofy. "Its not because of that other time, is it?"
"What other time?" Aozora fired the question.
Goofy ignored both. "At least he can fight them Nobodies a lot better than we can."
Sora, snapping out of a trance, nodded. "You should've seen him back at the alley. In three seconds, three heads were rolling. How'd you do it?"
Aozora was shrugging. "I just can. I might've been taught a long time ago."
"Nobodies existed a long time ago?" Sora asked.
"Ansem Report," Donald said. "He found out the Heartless existed a long time ago, too."
"Ah, good point," Sora nodded. "Getting to the point-"
"Ansem?" Aozora interrupted. "I've heard Orion mention him before."
Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at each other. Sora then sighed and said, " Ansem was the leader of the Heartless. And he is Orion's uncle."
Aozora stared at him for what seemed like hours. Sora dropped his gaze to the ground and continued, "We told Orion about what Ansem did. And he got really mad. I mean, what happened was that we told Orion and the two others that Ansem destroyed worlds and sent Heartless everywhere. He also was able to use my friend's body to be able to move 'physically' in the universe. Orion was really, really mad."
Ansem continued to stare at him. Then he spoke very softly, "I heard Orion talking with somebody once. It was in his room in the clock tower. I heard two voices. And Orion kept addressing the other voice as " Uncle." When I came in, only Orion was there."
"What?!" Donald shouted. "Uncle?!"
"Orion had contact with Ansem?" Goofy questioned.
"How is that possible?" Sora demanded. "He was destroyed by the light within Kingdom Hearts. He could not be alive."
"This was two months ago. I met them six months ago. When did Kingdom Hearts destroy him?"
"Um...a year ago," Sora answered hesitantly. Ansem was still alive?
Aozora turned and walked away a few feet. There he stood, staring out to the factories and homes in Twilight Town. Then he said solemnly, "Souls are not easy to destroy. The hearts may be consumed but they are only a small fraction of a soul. If the soul is destroyed, the person no longer exists."
"That person would become nothing, a nobody then, right?" Goofy asked.
"Possibly," Aozora replied. "I've seen Heartless being destroyed. Their hearts are kinda red, right?"
Sora groaned. "Too many red hearts. Please, whatever you do, don't mention them. See them with your eyes but don't talk about them with your mouth."
"And the Nobodies emitted blue hearts," Aozora ignored Sora's statement. " It could be that the red heart-" Sora moaned "- are the heart of something and the blue heart is the whole soul of something. Just a guess, though. Who are the Nobodies?"
"Yeah, we know the answer to that question!" Donald snapped. "Can we move along now? My feet are killing me."
Sora glared at him. What WAS wrong with Donald?
"What's wrong, Donald?" Sora asked with mock innocence.
Donald glared at him, before saying, "We're talking with an idiot, that's what! What kind of an idiot would try and ambush people instead of walking up to them and asking for his cloak back? Huh? Huh?!"
"He's impulsive," Goofy defended the blond teenager. "People are like that. They do things without thinking...er...something like that. And he admitted it himself."
"Nobody in their right mind would jump people for taking their coats!" Donald yelled.
"Impulsive people just do, they don't think," Goofy answered patiently. " Look, King Mickey says to find him; we did. King Mickey must've meant sumptin' more than just 'Find this person with two keyblades'. Aren't I right, Sora?"
Sora nodded. That was true. King Mickey never said anything without meaning it. Whatever King Mickey said, there was always more to it. "Yeah, he might've wanted Aozora to join us in finding that door of light and...Riku."
Aozora gave a sudden jerk. "The Oblivion..." he murmured. Then he grew silent, before whirling around to them and demanding, "There is a door?"
When Sora, Donald, and Goofy, taken by surprise by his reactions, nodded, he said, "There is a door that must be opened and a death knell must ring."
"And?" Sora dragged the question. "Please explain."
Aozora seemed to take a deep breath before stating, "There is an ancient war. It will claim many lives. A door has to be opened and the true meaning behind the light needs to be found, whatever it is. There is a third key that must be found and changed, and paradise and non-existence must be destroyed."
"Who told you that?" Goofy asked.
Aozora shrugged. "Somebody."
When Sora decided that his look-a-like wasn't gonna give any more than that, he said, "There's a third key? King Mickey never said anything about a third key!"
"There is an ancient war," Goofy was musing, "between the dark and the light. And the dark is becoming more powerful than the light because the door is not found..."
"Ancient war, third key, death, paradise, non-existence...madness! Madness!" Donald was shrilling. "What sense does it make? Let's just get outta he-"
A sudden white light blinded them and Sora shut his eyes to block out the white. When the light seemed to have died away, he slowly opened his eyes and found the others looking very dazed. "What happened?"
Aozora was looking up at the sky. "What does it mean when a star suddenly dies?"
Donald and Goofy froze up.
"A world as been devoured," Donald finally explained.
Sora spotted a shooting star out of the corner of his eye. "A shooting star! The barriers are all down!"
"Wha?! WHA!!!!" Donald was yelling once again. Goofy, staring at the shooting star, said, "We need to go. We must help the other worlds; they're in danger and I don't think that's good."
"And I suppose you believe that I should be coming with you, right?" Aozora asked.
Donald moved to protest but Goofy clamped his beak shut with his hand and nodded vigorously.
"However," Sora said sternly. "There is something you must know."
"What?" Aozora asked, in obvious confusion.
"There is a rule for anyone who would be traveling with us," Sora explained. "We travel to other worlds-including this one-in a gummi ship. And-"
"What's a gummi ship?" Aozora asked curiously. He missed Sora and Goofy's explanation of it.
Sora moaned. "Not again..."
"He hates explaining what a gummi ship is to everyone we meet," Goofy explained good-naturedly. "It'll be explained once you see it. Sora, tell him our rule."
Sora, his face visibly lightened by the prospect of not explaining the ship, said, "If you are to go with us, you can't have a solemn face all the time. Make a silly face and we'll let you join us."
The look Aozora gave him would've diced him into pieces of atoms. Sora sighed. Oh boy.
"Okay, how about...a smile," Sora suggested instead.
The look didn't let up. "I don't smile for nothing."
"Except getting into the gummi ship," Goofy retorted. "If you don't smile, you won't know what a gummi ship looks like."
Aozora groaned. "You guys are gonna kill me."
"Smile, funny face, something at least," Sora listed. "If not, you're not seeing the gummi ship."
Aozora had a scowl on his face.
~
"Are you sure its safe? Doesn't-wwwhhooaaaaaa-Sora-aahhhhhhhh-have a- ackkkkkkk-license –waaahhhhh-to pilot this –gwaaahhhhh- thing-pull up, pull up, you're going to kill us all!"
Sora pulled up the gummi ship ninety degrees to avoid crashing into a very purple, very large asteroid.
"No, I don't' think he does!" Goofy shouted as Sora jerked the gummi ship to the side and sent the other three into a pile to the left. "But that's okay; he's safe enough."
"Just don't encourage him to do any wild tricks," Donald hissed. "Or else- "
"Hang on!" Sora yelled and fired the Firaga engines to the max.
"Oh noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!" Donald screamed through the barrel roll through the multitudes of Heartless ships as they swarmed and flowed through the wild hoops and asteroids.
"Is he crazy?!" Aozora yelled.
"I hope he's not!" was Goofy's very doubtful reply.
~*~
I learned never to expect gummi ship rides to be peaceful. I thought it was just a ship with us four meandering through space. Instead, I finally understood what Yuna and her two friends meant by saying that Sora had serious 'thrill issues'. What he thought was fun nearly killed us in more ways than one.
And so began a very volatile friendship as we went from world to world. Donald and I, I believe, will never get along without arguing at some point. Goofy was one of my strongest advocates for reasons I still wonder about. And Sora? I've never met a look-a-like before and it was all very self-conscious. It all made me downright nervous.
I've always wondered why King Mickey wanted them to find me. What was I able to do for them? Would I be helping them or would they be helping me? There were so many questions still to be answered. What was the purpose of the Nobodies? Who was the person in the coat who talked to me back at Twilight Town? Who were the people the Oblivion and the Moonbeam chose? What was Sora's connection to me and vice versa? What was the meaning of Princess Kida's prophecy? And will I ever find two of my friends again?
And I also wonder about the Gathering. Why was I so shook up about it? What was its purpose? What was my purpose? I knew having two keyblades was odd enough but how does that help me?
Maybe joining Sora, Donald, and Goofy would help me. Maybe it wouldn't.
What was the truth behind everything?
~*~
"Grandmother Willow," a young woman with raven-black hair, reddish brown skin, and a deerskin dress spoke to a wise, elderly face carved into the thick trunk of a willow tree. "Grandmother Willow, I have seen them again."
"Again, you say?" the face spoke.
"Yes," the woman affirmed. "A golden crown and a star the colors of the aurora seen in the sky at night. They were shooting from the sky, above large white clouds that traveled across the sea. What does that mean?"
"My child, I do not have the answer to that question," Grandmother Willow answered gently. "Wait. Wait and watch; the meaning will come to you soon."
"Very well, Grandmother Willow," the woman turned to go. "I will see you soon."
With that, she gently drew aside the long, soft, leafy branches of the willow tree and passed through. The willow tree was left alone to her thoughts.
"They are coming," she murmured to herself. "The ships and the four. The one and the two, the shield and the staff. The ships and the four are coming, just as the Princess and the King predicted. Dark times are coming indeed."
Secrets of Memories
Chapter 9: Forced Alliance
Sora was probably having one of the finest times of his life. Nobodies were a lot worse than Heartless, he had concluded as he swiped at a Nobody and watched it dance away effortlessly. They make everything look like a child's play.
"How many are there?" Sora growled out as he managed to catch a Nobody by the chin and fling it at Donald who Blizzaga'd it to oblivion.
"Three hundred," was Goofy's immediate suggestion. Donald rolled his eyes and quickly recast Aeroga on the knight just as the spell wore off. "Well, it looks like it, don't it?"
"Three hundred my butt," Sora grumbled. "I was going to suggest a thousand but I think we'd be over-exaggerating."
"Beyond that," Donald snorted as he cast Firaga at two Nobodies who had the bad luck of being near each other. The massive fireball scorched them as it sailed right between them and destroyed another Nobody. Three blue hearts floated into the dusk sky.
"Where's the blond kid?" Sora wondered as he jabbed his keyblade forward. A Nobody, an unfortunate receiving end of the jab, frantically tried to pull the blade out of its odd mouth. Sora grinned and pulled the blade downward, slicing the Nobody into neat halves, connected only by the top part of its jaw.
"...you have rescuers..." a cold hissing voice drifted in the air as Sora swiped at a Nobody and decapitated it. The head went rolling to Sora's feet as the body faded into a blue heart.
He's talking to the blond-haired kid, Sora concluded as he shoved through the mass of white Nobodies in the direction he believed the voice came from. As he headed for a rather shadowy alleyway, he saw-he thought he saw- something run out from the alleyway and mingle into the mass of Nobodies trying to kill the keyblade master.
Maybe the blond-haired kid's there, Sora thought to himself and continued to forge a path through the throngs of Nobodies when he heard Donald squawk an alarm. Whirling around, he saw Goofy getting nailed by what seemed to be bigger Nobodies. They had dark steel armor all around them and their hand daggers were actual steel and they were currently pounding the knight into the dust.
"Holy shit!" Sora hollered and charged. Donald, trying to help his friend, stumbled into Sora's path and he yelled, "Get out of the way!"
Donald quickly threw a Blizzaga spell at any nearby Nobodies and Glided out of the way as Sora charged through with his key and hacked down at the back of a shielded Nobody as it made a karate chop at Goofy.
The Shield Nobodies, a name came to Sora's mind.
The key punched a hole in the armor of the Shield Nobody; gray mist and a blue heart hissed out and the armor collapsed, only to fade into nothingness. While Goofy quickly recuperated and Donald joined him, Sora dashed off once more to the alleyway where the blond-haired kid might be.
"Get. Out. Of. My. Way," Sora gritted through tightly clenched teeth as he hacked away the Nobodies that were in his way. He recreated a path through the mass of Nobodies in a frantic attempt to reach the alley. He inched closer to the alleyway, his heart now screaming at him that there was someone there, the someone they were looking for, when he heard a voice yell out, "Oh no, you don't! Geroff me!"
Sora shuddered and slowed momentarily. The voice was being muffled, yes, but it was the voice itself that made him rather hesitant. It sounded like him.
"And I've been wondering if any of this was weird or not," Sora muttered as he pulled himself free of the mass of Nobodies and staggered into the alleyway, wondering why would anybody in their right mind come to own a voice very similar to his own. He ran to the alleyway, entering a very dark, gloomy, and rather cold hallway of bricks and stone. It was all very shadowy and even though he knew the Nobodies were white, he certainly saw no more than dark gray lumps wrestling with someone who seemed to be rather human.
One of the Shield Nobodies was holding something to what seemed to be a teenager's face. The others were skirting around flailing limbs, not willing to risk injury of any sort at this time of the day. Sora watched the Shield Nobodies' captive. He was wearing a long black cloak that clung to his body and, to Sora's relief, he was blond; this was the one King Mickey had told him to find.
He pitied the Shield Nobodies who were to move him somewhere; the blond- haired kid was making the job a pure misery for them. He was going to watch the Shield Nobodies receive their due for kidnapping the blond-haired kid who jumped him from the roof of an apartment building when he noticed one of them swinging his dagger-like hand forward at the teenager. Sora knew a disaster was on the loose.
"Strike Raid!" he yelled, throwing his key at the Shield Nobody and making himself known to everyone who happened to be in the alleyway at that moment in time.
As the Shield Nobodies looked up and stopped whatever they were doing to study the intruder, the key smashed into the Shield Nobody that had seemed to try and kill the teenager. An explosion of orange ensued and a blue heart floated woozily into the sky. The key flew back to Sora, who grabbed it and swung it into fighting position. The Shield Nobodies watched this intruder, then made the decision to attack.
"Aeroga," Sora whispered and cast the wind spell around the teenager and himself. Then he ducked as a Shield Nobody threw itself at him, quickly whirled around, and jabbed at the flying Shield Nobody quickly, turning it into a blue heart. Then he sidestepped a Shield Nobody and sliced his key at the armored creature. Sparks flew as the key hit one of the Shield Nobody's hands; they both recoiled from the force Sora had put on the key. Stumbling backwards, he nearly fell over the blond-haired kid. His eyes riveted downward automatically and stared into his own face.
Time seemed to slow. Sora and the blond-haired kid stared at each other, not believing what the other was seeing. If it weren't for the shorter blond hair, the copper-brown eyes, and the paler complexion, the blond- haired kid could've passed off as Sora himself.
Time suddenly sped up as a Shield Nobody threw itself against Sora but was repelled by Aeroga. Sora then used his key to cut through the Aeroga he placed on the blond-haired kid and neatly sliced off the ropes that held the teenager captive. He then hoisted the kid to his feet and bolted forward, decapitating a Shield Nobody that had the horrible luck of being too close for comfort. Then Sora felt the air crackle with furious energy and whirled around.
The blond-haired kid held two keyblades in his hands. One was obviously the Oblivion; how he got it Sora had absolutely no clue. The other one was a bit odd. It looked like the Oathkeeper but the blond-haired kid most definitely never met Kairi before; she would've told him. Then he noticed the odd way the keyblade was shimmering; the colors were a whole lot different than the Oathkeeper. The colors were very much beautiful, in a rather odd, cold-yet-warm way. The keychain dangling from the keyblade was a star streaked with the same colors, not a paupu fruit.
Then Sora watched in shock and fascination as the teenager executed a couple of simple slices and three Shield Nobodies had their heads rolling. Sora had to work up a sweat just to jab one Nobody, let alone a Shield Nobody. The teenager, in the blink of an eye, had gotten rid of three Shield Nobodies as soon as Sora freed him.
Maybe that's why King Mickey wanted Donald, Goofy and me to go get him; he's good. There's no denying that-Sora realized that he had forgotten about Donald and Goofy.
"Donald, Goofy!" Sora shouted and recklessly dodged the Shield Nobodies as he made his way out of the alleyway and into the street circle where Sora, Donald, and Goofy had landed.
Donald and Goofy were still keeping it up, even though they were covered in grime and looking very much exhausted. They looked quite relieved, though, when Sora reappeared to help them fight the Nobodies and the Shield Nobodies. Then they were gaping like fish as the blond-haired kid appeared beside him, the Oblivion and the other keyblade flashing with ease in his hands as the kid practically danced around and around the Nobodies and sent many blue hearts into the sky.
"This way!" Sora called to the teenager. For a moment, the teenager was rather hesitant, then nodded and followed Sora as they fought their way through the Nobodies and the Shield Nobodies to rejoin Sora's two allies.
"What's he doing here?" Donald hissed as they worked at getting rid of the Nobodies and the Shield Nobodies.
"King Mickey told us to find him; I did just as he told us to do," Sora snapped back. He really couldn't understand why Donald seemed to resent the now-voiceless blond-haired kid as they fought back surge after surge of Nobodies and Shield Nobodies. The white creatures were becoming extremely wary now, noting the new addition to the three companions they were just dueling. And they were now watching the movements of the teenager's keyblades; with them he fought with more effectiveness than Sora, Donald, and Goofy ever did as a team against Heartless. Sora was becoming rather awed by how easily he amputated the arms and legs of several bunched Nobodies; he scowled, knowing he couldn't come close to doing that.
"Show off," Donald growled under his breath as he Firaga'd a group of Shield Nobodies. "Trying to make up to us for jumping on Sora, is he?"
"Gawrsh," Goofy was scratching his head, staring at the blond-haired teenager, and smashing Nobodies with his shield at the same time. Sora reminded himself to ask Goofy later on about how he was able to multi-task in extreme situations. "He looks familiar, don't he, Donald?"
"Him? Familiar?" Donald squawked as he shot a nasty Blizzaga from his wand and quickly cast Curaga on Goofy; Goofy was staggering a bit, more from over-exertion than from enemy blows. "I don't think so."
Sora sensed that Donald was trying to spin a yarn but chose to ignore it. It's more important that they survive than try and give Donald lie-detector tests.
"I think I've seen him before," Goofy still mused as he ducked and two Shield Nobodies who were pouncing him from opposite directions hit each other in midair and recoiled off each other, thanks largely to their armor. Then the blond-haired kid whirled in and sliced off the heads of each of the Shield Nobodies before dashing away to dance into a large throng of Nobodies. "Yes, I'm very much certain I've seen him before."
"Where?" Sora asked curiously.
"Disney Castle," Goofy puffed a reply.
"Gwaaahhhhh!!!!" Donald shrieked and bonked Goofy with his staff.
Sora decided not to bring up the subject again for a few months; Donald had gained a nasty habit of remembering everything.
Suddenly, a tingling feeling ran up his spine. Sora became worried. The only other time that happened was when Sora's Graviga spell destroyed much of the landscape around then, proving that the size and power of the spell had evolved to such an extent it could destroy friends and foes alike. And the three had sworn not to use that spell or Thundaga unless under extreme circumstances; they could not risk flattening or frying themselves along with their enemies.
"Sora!" Goofy yelped and gestured in the blond-haired kid's direction.
Sora turned and his heart dropped. The kid was standing there, his arms outstretched, his face etched with deep concentration. The air and ground around him crackled with the dark energy that Sora recognized, to his horror, was Graviga.
"He knows magic?" Donald shouted.
"Run!" Sora yelled and fought his way through the crowd of Nobodies and Shield Nobodies.
"Ack!" Donald cast Aeroga and Curaga on himself. "Too late!"
A sudden wind blew and Sora was nearly knocked over. Staggering to his feet, he became suddenly aware of a disturbing silence. Purple-black power spread in a circle on the street; there was no Nobody or Shield Nobody in sight. Then the dark power disappeared; there were still no Nobody or Shield Nobody in sight.
"We didn't have ter worry," Goofy said happily and rather obliviously. " You could see he could control that power. Don't the Oblivion represent Graviga and vice versa?"
While Donald scowled at Goofy for being the 'wise guy', Sora turned and spotted the teenager with the dual keyblades. He was standing a little way from them, shrouded in the long trench coat, the hood pulled over his head. The keyblades were now gone from his hands; he was a very odd person indeed.
Sora approached the teenager rather cautiously. "You're Aozora, aren't you?"
The hooded head jerked up, startled. Then the hood nodded.
"We met some of your friends back at the clock tower," Sora explained. " And someone we knew told us to find you."
The hooded figure cocked his head in a strange way. Then the teenager pulled back his hood, turned, and stared at him. Sora grew rather nervous. It was irritating and intimidating to see your face on a stranger's head.
"Yes, my name is Aozora," the teenager said quietly. "Yours?"
Sora was all the more unnerved by Aozora. The teenager had his voice! It was slightly different but it was there, it was his voice!
"I'm Sora," he answered. "Nice to meet you."
"You're the sky-child," was Aozora's immediate answer.
Sora stared at him blankly. What was he talking about?
"Somebody told me to find you," Aozora explained. "It took me a while but looks like I did."
"Very interesting," Sora mused. "But why me?"
Aozora shrugged. Then his coppery eyes narrowed and he looked Sora over. " You're the keyblade master."
Sora shuddered. This kid was weird. Not only did he look and sound like him, he knew about Sora, though they have never met before.
"I think the guy's a stalker," Sora heard Donald whisper to Goofy, in an unusually loud voice. "If he knows that much-"
Goofy reached out and clamped Donald's beak shut. "Sorry, person with the two keyblades. He's rather nervous around strangers."
Aozora gave a rather solemn smile. Sora grimaced. That guy was NOT the happiest kid in the universe.
"Sora?" Sora turned to Goofy, who was saying a lot more than he normally ever did. "I think he needs to come with us."
"Gwaaahhhhh!!!!!" an odd sound emitted from Donald's clamped beak.
"What? Why?" Sora and Aozora demanded at the same time.
Goofy shrugged. "I just feel it."
"What an answer," Sora sighed.
"Goofy's got some intuition," Aozora was musing.
"You know his name?" Sora was a bit suspicious. But Goofy did believe he met Aozora before...
"Before I jumped-or tried to jump- the three of you, I heard you three talking," Aozora explained, his copper eyes roving the area around them. " The knight is Goofy and the duck that hates me is Donald. And, I must say, I'm really sorry. My friends tell me I act rather impulsively and without using my head at times. That was one of them."
"But why did you do that?" Sora asked curiously.
"These," Aozora reached into one of his deep pockets and pulled out two keychains. "You, I believe, already know the Oblivion. This one-" he pointed to the moon with Mickey's head etched into it "-is called the Moonbeam. It is a keychain for a keyblade but one person can only use it. I was going to look for the two people the Oblivion and the Moonbeam belong to but I've been failing miserably. One of my mentors in the past told me not to lose these two and I was panicking because you were taking me coat- with the keychains in its pocket-away."
"Can't blame ya," Goofy replied.
Donald, thoroughly irritated at having Goofy shut his mouth, stomped on his friend's foot to attract his attention and get him to release his beak.
"Wha? Oh, sorry," Goofy apologized. He let go and Donald yelled, "He's coming with us?!"
"I was wondering why at the same time," Sora agreed. "But-" he looked at the teenager with his face "-I don't know. Goofy, what can he do to help us?"
"Der...actually, I think its what can we do to help him," Goofy said. "I think if we bring him with us, we can take him to the two people who owns those keychains."
"Nobody owns them," Aozora corrected. "The keychains choose the same way the keyblade chooses."
He looked at Sora.
Goofy shrugged and waved the matter aside. "Sora, he needs to come with us. I just know he has to."
Sora was thinking. What can he do to help us?
"Why?" Donald was yelling at Goofy. "Its not because of that other time, is it?"
"What other time?" Aozora fired the question.
Goofy ignored both. "At least he can fight them Nobodies a lot better than we can."
Sora, snapping out of a trance, nodded. "You should've seen him back at the alley. In three seconds, three heads were rolling. How'd you do it?"
Aozora was shrugging. "I just can. I might've been taught a long time ago."
"Nobodies existed a long time ago?" Sora asked.
"Ansem Report," Donald said. "He found out the Heartless existed a long time ago, too."
"Ah, good point," Sora nodded. "Getting to the point-"
"Ansem?" Aozora interrupted. "I've heard Orion mention him before."
Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at each other. Sora then sighed and said, " Ansem was the leader of the Heartless. And he is Orion's uncle."
Aozora stared at him for what seemed like hours. Sora dropped his gaze to the ground and continued, "We told Orion about what Ansem did. And he got really mad. I mean, what happened was that we told Orion and the two others that Ansem destroyed worlds and sent Heartless everywhere. He also was able to use my friend's body to be able to move 'physically' in the universe. Orion was really, really mad."
Ansem continued to stare at him. Then he spoke very softly, "I heard Orion talking with somebody once. It was in his room in the clock tower. I heard two voices. And Orion kept addressing the other voice as " Uncle." When I came in, only Orion was there."
"What?!" Donald shouted. "Uncle?!"
"Orion had contact with Ansem?" Goofy questioned.
"How is that possible?" Sora demanded. "He was destroyed by the light within Kingdom Hearts. He could not be alive."
"This was two months ago. I met them six months ago. When did Kingdom Hearts destroy him?"
"Um...a year ago," Sora answered hesitantly. Ansem was still alive?
Aozora turned and walked away a few feet. There he stood, staring out to the factories and homes in Twilight Town. Then he said solemnly, "Souls are not easy to destroy. The hearts may be consumed but they are only a small fraction of a soul. If the soul is destroyed, the person no longer exists."
"That person would become nothing, a nobody then, right?" Goofy asked.
"Possibly," Aozora replied. "I've seen Heartless being destroyed. Their hearts are kinda red, right?"
Sora groaned. "Too many red hearts. Please, whatever you do, don't mention them. See them with your eyes but don't talk about them with your mouth."
"And the Nobodies emitted blue hearts," Aozora ignored Sora's statement. " It could be that the red heart-" Sora moaned "- are the heart of something and the blue heart is the whole soul of something. Just a guess, though. Who are the Nobodies?"
"Yeah, we know the answer to that question!" Donald snapped. "Can we move along now? My feet are killing me."
Sora glared at him. What WAS wrong with Donald?
"What's wrong, Donald?" Sora asked with mock innocence.
Donald glared at him, before saying, "We're talking with an idiot, that's what! What kind of an idiot would try and ambush people instead of walking up to them and asking for his cloak back? Huh? Huh?!"
"He's impulsive," Goofy defended the blond teenager. "People are like that. They do things without thinking...er...something like that. And he admitted it himself."
"Nobody in their right mind would jump people for taking their coats!" Donald yelled.
"Impulsive people just do, they don't think," Goofy answered patiently. " Look, King Mickey says to find him; we did. King Mickey must've meant sumptin' more than just 'Find this person with two keyblades'. Aren't I right, Sora?"
Sora nodded. That was true. King Mickey never said anything without meaning it. Whatever King Mickey said, there was always more to it. "Yeah, he might've wanted Aozora to join us in finding that door of light and...Riku."
Aozora gave a sudden jerk. "The Oblivion..." he murmured. Then he grew silent, before whirling around to them and demanding, "There is a door?"
When Sora, Donald, and Goofy, taken by surprise by his reactions, nodded, he said, "There is a door that must be opened and a death knell must ring."
"And?" Sora dragged the question. "Please explain."
Aozora seemed to take a deep breath before stating, "There is an ancient war. It will claim many lives. A door has to be opened and the true meaning behind the light needs to be found, whatever it is. There is a third key that must be found and changed, and paradise and non-existence must be destroyed."
"Who told you that?" Goofy asked.
Aozora shrugged. "Somebody."
When Sora decided that his look-a-like wasn't gonna give any more than that, he said, "There's a third key? King Mickey never said anything about a third key!"
"There is an ancient war," Goofy was musing, "between the dark and the light. And the dark is becoming more powerful than the light because the door is not found..."
"Ancient war, third key, death, paradise, non-existence...madness! Madness!" Donald was shrilling. "What sense does it make? Let's just get outta he-"
A sudden white light blinded them and Sora shut his eyes to block out the white. When the light seemed to have died away, he slowly opened his eyes and found the others looking very dazed. "What happened?"
Aozora was looking up at the sky. "What does it mean when a star suddenly dies?"
Donald and Goofy froze up.
"A world as been devoured," Donald finally explained.
Sora spotted a shooting star out of the corner of his eye. "A shooting star! The barriers are all down!"
"Wha?! WHA!!!!" Donald was yelling once again. Goofy, staring at the shooting star, said, "We need to go. We must help the other worlds; they're in danger and I don't think that's good."
"And I suppose you believe that I should be coming with you, right?" Aozora asked.
Donald moved to protest but Goofy clamped his beak shut with his hand and nodded vigorously.
"However," Sora said sternly. "There is something you must know."
"What?" Aozora asked, in obvious confusion.
"There is a rule for anyone who would be traveling with us," Sora explained. "We travel to other worlds-including this one-in a gummi ship. And-"
"What's a gummi ship?" Aozora asked curiously. He missed Sora and Goofy's explanation of it.
Sora moaned. "Not again..."
"He hates explaining what a gummi ship is to everyone we meet," Goofy explained good-naturedly. "It'll be explained once you see it. Sora, tell him our rule."
Sora, his face visibly lightened by the prospect of not explaining the ship, said, "If you are to go with us, you can't have a solemn face all the time. Make a silly face and we'll let you join us."
The look Aozora gave him would've diced him into pieces of atoms. Sora sighed. Oh boy.
"Okay, how about...a smile," Sora suggested instead.
The look didn't let up. "I don't smile for nothing."
"Except getting into the gummi ship," Goofy retorted. "If you don't smile, you won't know what a gummi ship looks like."
Aozora groaned. "You guys are gonna kill me."
"Smile, funny face, something at least," Sora listed. "If not, you're not seeing the gummi ship."
Aozora had a scowl on his face.
~
"Are you sure its safe? Doesn't-wwwhhooaaaaaa-Sora-aahhhhhhhh-have a- ackkkkkkk-license –waaahhhhh-to pilot this –gwaaahhhhh- thing-pull up, pull up, you're going to kill us all!"
Sora pulled up the gummi ship ninety degrees to avoid crashing into a very purple, very large asteroid.
"No, I don't' think he does!" Goofy shouted as Sora jerked the gummi ship to the side and sent the other three into a pile to the left. "But that's okay; he's safe enough."
"Just don't encourage him to do any wild tricks," Donald hissed. "Or else- "
"Hang on!" Sora yelled and fired the Firaga engines to the max.
"Oh noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!" Donald screamed through the barrel roll through the multitudes of Heartless ships as they swarmed and flowed through the wild hoops and asteroids.
"Is he crazy?!" Aozora yelled.
"I hope he's not!" was Goofy's very doubtful reply.
~*~
I learned never to expect gummi ship rides to be peaceful. I thought it was just a ship with us four meandering through space. Instead, I finally understood what Yuna and her two friends meant by saying that Sora had serious 'thrill issues'. What he thought was fun nearly killed us in more ways than one.
And so began a very volatile friendship as we went from world to world. Donald and I, I believe, will never get along without arguing at some point. Goofy was one of my strongest advocates for reasons I still wonder about. And Sora? I've never met a look-a-like before and it was all very self-conscious. It all made me downright nervous.
I've always wondered why King Mickey wanted them to find me. What was I able to do for them? Would I be helping them or would they be helping me? There were so many questions still to be answered. What was the purpose of the Nobodies? Who was the person in the coat who talked to me back at Twilight Town? Who were the people the Oblivion and the Moonbeam chose? What was Sora's connection to me and vice versa? What was the meaning of Princess Kida's prophecy? And will I ever find two of my friends again?
And I also wonder about the Gathering. Why was I so shook up about it? What was its purpose? What was my purpose? I knew having two keyblades was odd enough but how does that help me?
Maybe joining Sora, Donald, and Goofy would help me. Maybe it wouldn't.
What was the truth behind everything?
~*~
"Grandmother Willow," a young woman with raven-black hair, reddish brown skin, and a deerskin dress spoke to a wise, elderly face carved into the thick trunk of a willow tree. "Grandmother Willow, I have seen them again."
"Again, you say?" the face spoke.
"Yes," the woman affirmed. "A golden crown and a star the colors of the aurora seen in the sky at night. They were shooting from the sky, above large white clouds that traveled across the sea. What does that mean?"
"My child, I do not have the answer to that question," Grandmother Willow answered gently. "Wait. Wait and watch; the meaning will come to you soon."
"Very well, Grandmother Willow," the woman turned to go. "I will see you soon."
With that, she gently drew aside the long, soft, leafy branches of the willow tree and passed through. The willow tree was left alone to her thoughts.
"They are coming," she murmured to herself. "The ships and the four. The one and the two, the shield and the staff. The ships and the four are coming, just as the Princess and the King predicted. Dark times are coming indeed."