Author's Note: I have no comment whatsoever on this chapter, as I am
currently a very braindead author. Thank you for your reviews, readers, and
on with the story!
Secrets of Memories
Chapter 21: Amongst Us All
"That was the closest you've ever come to flirting with death, I'm told," Aozora told Sora as he manned the controls. Goofy stood by; Aozora's shift was almost over.
"Perhaps," Sora snapped. He didn't like Aozora's tone of voice at all.
Donald sensed a barrier of anger rising up between those two and contemplated whether or not to mention the fact that nobody is allowed on the gummi ship without smiling.
"Don't," Goofy suddenly spoke. "Not now. Later."
Donald jumped. How did Goofy know what he was thinking?
"Don't what?" Aozora's voice was terribly cold.
"Uh...der...I don't know," Goofy answered honestly, then glanced at Donald. " You just looked like you were gonna say somethin'."
Donald glared at him, then said," Shift over."
"Yippee!" Goofy yelped. Aozora quickly moved out of the pilot's seat, lest Goofy might throw him off the chair, and then settled in a secluded corner of the gummi ship. He gave the whole scenario before him an intensive glare; he was in a very crappy mood, largely thanks to Sora's course of actions back at Sherwood Forest.
The idiot that he was. Why can he not see the danger he puts himself in when he pulls his move? Does he not understand how important he is to the survival of the light? Oh man...he's such an ass. I can't believe I have to guard him...damn you Dream Heart, you gave me one hell of a job to do!
"Where are we headed again?" he demanded.
"Twilight Town," Donald snapped back. He was busy going through the last of the storage, counting the number of Potions, Elixirs, Ethers, Mega- Potions, etc, that they had. "We're almost out of supplies, especially from that last fight we had. Know of any place we can go to get more supplies?"
Aozora flipped through the number of places in his head.
"Might have to ask one of my old friends," he finally replied. "They still know the place better than me. And I know one of them was able to get a lot of supplies for me at a cheap price. They heaped together a lot of the munny they had, which wasn't a lot at all, and gave me enough supplies to last me a little while."
"And we've got plenty of munny," Donald added. "Find your friends and ask them about the place."
Aozora nodded.
"I don't understand..." Sora was murmuring, his eyes closed. He was sitting against the gummi ship wall opposite of Aozora, his arms covering his face.
It took the others a full minute or two to realize that he was asleep.
"Murmuring in his dreams again," Goofy sighed as he flew over an asteroid.
"What do you mean?" Aozora asked.
"For a while...der...Sora's been saying odd stuff in his dreams," Goofy began hesitantly. "Like what he just said a moment ago."
"Odd stuff...hm..." Aozora thought. He gave Sora a very dark look.
"Passing New World," Goofy announced. "Looks fine, looks like no problem at all. Der...ten minutes, I think. Yes, I think we'll reach Twilight Town in ten minutes."
The others nodded, then Goofy went back to piloting, eventually forcing Sora awake when the gummi ship suddenly barrel rolled to avoid a swarm of Heartless ships.
"Twilight Town..." Aozora sighed as they left the train that took them from the gummi shipyard to the heart of Twilight Town. "Stayed here six months, left for a few weeks with you guys, and now it feels like I'm coming home."
"This wasn't your home?" Sora asked, surprised.
"Didn't he...der...already explain it?" Goofy offered an answer.
Sora hit himself on the head.
"Let's go to the clock tower," Aozora said. "We'll be able to find my friends there...unless they moved."
"Unless they moved?" Donald shrilled, his voice growing higher.
Aozora shrugged. He was very forward to meeting Ashita and Yuri again but he wasn't so sure about Orion. Orion did act strange around him...though he was rather good at not showing it.
"Yuri and Orion are both related to this Ansem of yours," Aozora said. "I still find it very strange."
"I know!" Sora growled out. He knew it was impossible. How were they both related to Ansem? And how did Aozora become their friend anyways? He knew, from collecting Ansem's Reports, the former king had sent a person out in search of the Keyblade Master. Sora didn't' know if he did succeed or no but what he did know was that Ansem was supposed to be dead...or at least gone.
Was Ansem still alive? Two relatives of Ansem hovering near Aozora, who can use the keyblade like me, two keyblades in fact. What can that mean? I wonder...
"And what about Ashita?" Goofy was talking to Donald. "He said he came from Deep Tranquility. That can't be a chance happening, right? I mean, they last lived in Deep Tranquility, too, before King Mickey-"
To everyone's surprise, Donald whirled on the knight, jumped (they had never seen him jump at someone twice his height before), and snapped Goofy's mouth shut with his hand.
"Not another word," Donald said rather dangerously. "Not here, not anywhere, never say anything about that. You know what he said. You know we're the only ones who really know. If you start talking, the rumors would come again. Keep your mouth shut."
Nobody had ever really heard him give direct orders to Goofy. Or seen him do it, either.
"Um...is there a problem?" Aozora asked hesitantly.
"No!" Donald squalled. "Come on, let's keep moving."
With that, he took the lead and stomped his way toward the clock tower. Everybody else gave each other really odd looks, especially at Goofy, then ran to catch up to him.
None were able to notice a shadow lurking in the background, watching them as they approached the clock tower. He gripped at the brick wall he was up against in anger as his eyes focused on Aozora.
Him...he's back...Ansem should know of this...yes, he needs to know of this...two Keyblade Masters...yes, he will like this very much...
With that, the shadow vanished.
"You think we'll ever see him again?" Yuri asked as she twirled her brown hair slowly with her finger and stared at the twilit sky.
"Depends on who you're talkin about," Ashita replied as he counted munny in the clock tower room.
"I don't know...both, maybe?" Yuri was rather uncertain.
"Sigh...both? Please don't mention his name, whatever you do," he said as he started putting away the munny.
"Why?" Yuri asked.
Ashita gave her a long stare. "You know why."
"But I don't understand," Yuri sighed, then put her chin on her knees and wrapped her arms around her legs. "A simple visit to Cid...and he goes ballistic. Why, I've been wondering now, why?"
"Wish I knew the answer to that," Ashita replied as he walked over and stood next to her. They both watched the busy scenario of Twilight Town before them, from their view at the top of the clock tower.
"I wish I knew how both of them are doing," Yuri finally said after a little while.
"Yeah, I wonder why," Ashita said sarcastically.
"Shut up," Yuri said, then turned her eyes downward to the area right in front of the clock tower. She watched the people walk back and forth past the clock tower, ignoring it for all its majesty among the smoggy buildings of Twilight Town.
"Wait a minute..." Yuri noted four people approaching the clock tower, something very few had done. "Ashita, there are four people approaching the clock tower."
She pointed downward. They both, cautiously, peered over the edge of the 'balcony' they were on. They saw the tops of a brown-head, a blond, a blue hat, and an awkward yellowish-orange hat. The four people were headed straight for the clock tower.
"One of them's blond..." Ashita noted very carefully.
"You think that's Aozora?" Yuri breathed.
"Let's go find out," Ashita suggested and they bolted into the clock tower.
"Do you really think they're still here?" Sora asked uncertainly as they approached.
"You know what?" Aozora answered. "Hanging around Donald must be giving you some sense of mistrust in most people. Trust me, they're still here."
Donald grumbled at this and Sora glared at his look-a-like. Aozora, however, acted oblivious and strode forward quickly to the boarded up door. He raised his right hand up, about to knock on the door.
The door flew open so fast and Aozora stood so close to the door, it missed his nose by centimeters. Ashita and Yuri came tumbling out and whirled on Aozora.
They stared at each other for what seemed an eternity. Then Ashita and Yuri pulled Aozora into a huge hug.
"They're short of supplies, Ashita," Aozora patiently explained as they followed Ashita and Yuri up to the top of the clock tower. "You know that store you went to get my supplies?"
Ashita gave a brief nod, then froze. He turned on them and said, "You're going to tell me we're going back there, right?"
Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Aozora blinked at him in utter confusion.
"Orion left," Yuri suddenly said, knowing full well what might happen once she said that. "He left right after we left that store. Three days ago, he left us. I don't know what happened between him and Cid but-"
"Cid?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy demanded.
"Rikku's dad, I'm guessing," Aozora added.
"I can't go back there," Ashita said. "You know how scary that bald guy is? Gave me a nasty stare the whole time we were there. Scared everything out of me."
"I know," Yuri agreed. "He gave me and Orion a hard stare, too. Then he pulled Orion aside while we were dawdling and talked with him. Orion raised his voice, then stormed out of the shop. We went after him...he left, as soon as he reached the clock tower and got everything from his room."
"He left?" Aozora was stunned. "Did you guys hear anything that was said between him and Cid?"
"Only this," Ashita said. "Before Orion left, Cid said, "Amongst us all, there can be no traitors." Orion yelled back, "Who says I'm a traitor?" and Cid said, "Then who are you?" and some other stuff. Then Orion left the place."
The silence that followed the last sentence was deafening.
"' There can be no traitors?'" Aozora repeated slowly. "What in-"
His abrupt silence disturbed them to no end.
"What? What's wrong?" Yuri demanded, her eyes worried.
"Ashita, we have to go to that shop," Aozora stared at his friend. "I have to talk to that guy."
"Aozora, why-" Sora began to ask but Aozora cut him off.
"I think he knows something that we need to find out," Aozora said. "From these guys-" he gestured to Donald, Goofy, and a fuming Sora "-I figured out who Orion's uncle is. And I do know he had referred to someone as his 'uncle' once about three months ago."
"Oh yeah..." Sora remembered what Aozora had said when they first met.
"Really?" Yuri looked visibly upset. "But that's not right...all I know is that we have only one uncle."
Everyone grew silent. Ashita's words rang loudly in their minds.
"Amongst us all, there can be no traitors"..." Who says I'm a traitor?"..." then who are you?"...there can be no traitors...then who are you...
Ashita was really hesitant as he opened the door into the rather insignificant building in the foreign trader's sect of Twilight Town. Yuri, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Aozora followed him solemnly and silently into the biggest mess they had ever seen in a building.
Potions, Ethers, Elixirs, and everything else of the category was scattered all over the concrete floor. Cupboards were broken apart, torn. There were deep scratches on the wall; there were traces of blood all over the place. And three very familiar people were clearing up the place...
"Yuna? Rikku? Paine? What are you guys doing here?" Sora demanded, making their presence known.
Yuna, Rikku, and Paine were in the act of lifting what remained of a metal cupboard and moving it out through a back door. Supervising them was a very gruff-looking bald man with a strange scowl on his face and a funny blue jumpsuit. Or was it a jumpsuit? Sora could not tell.
"And who may you be?" the man barked.
"Aw, Dad, let them be, they're our friends," Rikku quickly retorted as they made their way carefully towards the back door. "Hey guys, what's up?"
"And you two..." Rikku's dad gave Ashita and Yuri a dark stare. "Now what?"
"Dad!" Rikku's voice yelled back.
"Uh...my friend's...uh...friends want to talk to you about...uh..." Ashita stammered.
"About Orion," Aozora said briskly, knowing they were wasting time already and they could not afford to lose any amount of time.
"Orion, eh?" Rikku's father was alert, his voice suddenly very menacing. " What do you want about that kid?"
"We want to know what you said to him," Sora said, his voice very quiet but incredibly commanding.
"Do you?" the bald man suddenly deflated, was very calm and collected.
"I think it is important that we know what you've said to him," Sora continued. "These people here-" he gestured to Aozora, Ashita, and Yuri "- were with Orion for a long time and of the three, Aozora noted at Orion was talking with someone in his room. He heard two voices and Orion called the other voice 'Uncle'. We know Orion's dad is the cousin of the king of Old Citadel and Yuri is the niece of the king of Old Citadel. And we three-" he gestured to Donald, Goofy, and himself "-know the king died-or vanished- a year ago. And Yuri just told us that the king was the only uncle to Orion and herself. And, I think you know who exactly the king of Old Citadel is."
It took nearly five minutes for everyone to understand his speech. But once they did, they understood was he was saying.
"King Ansem was a good ruler," Rikku's father, Cid, said slowly. "I knew him. I also knew Orion and Yuri when they were too young to remember me. Orion was always with King Ansem and we joked about him being Ansem's little shadow. Yuri was more distant and preferred to stay with Ansem's son- "
"ANSEM HAD A SON?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy shouted at his face.
"There were no records stating that!" Donald added right afterwards.
"I remember," Yuri agreed, as Yuna, Rikku, and Paine trooped back into the room. "Barely but its still in my memory. He was very nice and he had silver hair just like Ansem."
A horrible thought bubbled into Sora's mind. And there's only one person in my universe with silver hair...
"And then Ansem exiled all of us," Cid sighed as Yuna, Rikku, and Paine settled on cardboard boxes to listen to Cid's story. "We were all suddenly without a home. So we all came here and wondered what was going to happen to us all. Then we heard that Old Citadel self-destructed. That's what we heard; we never really knew what happened-"
"What about Ansem's son?" Sora asked briskly.
"No news of him for like eleven years," Cid shot back. "And you wanted to know about Orion, don't you?"
He directed this to Aozora, who gave him a steely glare.
"Last night something attacked my place," Cid began slowly, his eyes on his daughter and her two friends. "We didn't know what it was but I had a very good idea what it was going for."
"It was trying to get my old man," Rikku continued. "A huge white thing, armored, with pointy shoulders and a hand for one arm and a long lance for another. It looked like some ghostly knight, with the oddest symbol on its helmet."
Sora and Aozora, not realizing the other knew of it, quickly conjured the image of the Dream Heart in their minds.
"We tried to fight it," Yuna added. "But in this cramped space...it was horrible. Every item that was in this store didn't survive the night. Eventually we forced it outside and it got horrible from there. Heartless, like the ones Sora described, swarmed the place. The only difference between the ones Sora described and the ones we fought was that the ones we fought were big and rather muscular. They were very difficult."
"What was strange to us was: How did that great white thing find Cid?" Paine was finishing off. "We mounted up every defense possible to protect Cid but they still found him. And it's just not possible. Every defense we've been putting up around people like Cid had been infallible until now."
"Member of the Order, I'm guessing," Aozora looked to Cid for confirmation. The bald man barely gave him a nod but it was there.
"Three days ago, that ass came with those two into my store," Cid growled. "Two days later, that white monster attacks me. And I know that there was only one reason the white monster attacked me. Someone confirmed that a member of the Order, me, was residing here, doing my own business. And so someone ordered that white monster to attack me and kill me. That would put a halt to the Order and you can just imagine the disaster that would follow- "
"Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute!" Sora put a stop to the discussion. "What the hell are you saying by 'Order'? What Order? I don't think I've heard of this 'Order' before. What the hell are you guys talking about?"
"Sora," Aozora snapped back. "I'll tell you back at the gummi ship. The Order is a complex thing. It involves many people. Right now, we need to focus on Orion."
Sora glared at him but Aozora ignored him.
"Aozora," Cid said carefully, thinking carefully. "I think I know who was behind this. An attack on a member of the Order is very difficult, very difficult. We still don't know what happened to the Grandmother but it is very difficult to get rid of a member of the Order. The only foolproof way to destroy a member of the Order is to send a 'spy' of some sort to that member and pinpoint the exact location of the member. We of the Order have a tendency to stay in one place all the time. May seem to be a pretty stupid thing to do but we need to stay in one place for many confidential reasons. So its really easy for us to be tracked down...if the 'spy' knew who the look for and where in the first place."
Aozora closed his eyes while Cid was talking. He was trying to piece together a puzzle that was forming in his mind. So far, everything seemed to fit into place. Except...
"Sora, are you sure Ansem is dead?"
Sora hesitated. Yes, he had seen Ansem fade away when Sora shouted that Kingdom Hearts was light and light flowed out of the double doors, piercing into Ansem's body and causing him to fade away. But Aozora's question shook his faith in that. Had Ansem really died?
"I don't know."
And the pieces fell into place.
"That's impossible," Aozora growled, his voice suddenly harsh, ugly. Everyone was stunned by the change but what could they say? "That's utterly impossible. How can-how can it be possible? Cid, that' can't be true."
"I think you've got it, kiddo," Cid answered calmly. "It's possible. I could tell. The look in his eyes gave it all away. Poor kid, he didn't know what he was doing."
"Wait a minute, what?" Sora was genuinely confused. And so were Donald, Goofy, Ashita, and Yuri.
"Yuri, are you sure Ansem was the only uncle you two knew your whole life?" Aozora decided to confirm his realization.
Yuri hesitated but she nodded.
"You told him, "Amongst us all, there can be no traitors." And you also demanded if he knew who he was," Aozora said. "Was he really the 'spy'? Was he really the one who spied for Ansem, spied on you, sent the white creature after you? Do you really think it was him?"
There were audible gasps of horror. Then Ashita said, "That's impossible. Orion is not of that type! How can he, of all people, do that to us?"
"There are people out there," Cid replied. "You don't know how evil or how good they are. You don't know whether or not one can express good or evil plainly, in front of your face, or hide it within his or her heart and soul. You don't know what kind of forms evil and good can take and you definitely don't' know when all this suddenly becomes a revelation on your part. You didn't know Orion's light or darkness, you didn't know how well he was able to hide from you all. He was well qualified to do this, to betray you and the light by spying for the darkness. The only really good question was whether or not Ansem did die."
"Then Ansem didn't ..." Sora didn't even finish.
A cold silence fell upon them all, as the sound of thunder rumbled through the air and a cold rain began to fall outside.
"Not...possible," Ashita said haltingly as they staggered out of Cid's store into the pouring rain. "Not...possible...how could Orion do that...do that to us..."
Sora was in a daze. His feet followed the group but his mind was elsewhere. His memories were elsewhere.
Ansem wasn't dead? That's not possible. I saw him die, I know I did. But then, who was Orion talking to, addressing him as 'uncle'? And Yuri said Ansem was their only uncle. So what does that mean? Was Ansem truly alive? Is he alive now? Is he looking for me, watching me, my every step, my every breath?
Sora looked around him. He was suddenly very nervous; he was shaken by the idea of having an old enemy of his return. He didn't look where he was going, though, as he looked around himself. He didn't know he had drifted away from his troubled group of friends and allies. And that was a bad thing.
Sora rammed himself into something he didn't want to run into. Or was it someone?
He was suddenly thrown against the brick wall of a coffee shop, an arm pressing into his chest. Something cold rested against his neck, something solid, metallic even, that placed a slight pressure on his throbbing artery.
"I didn't think I'd ever see you again," the voice of the captor whispered into his ear. "But of course, I always have to end up running into stupid people again and again. Pity your friends aren't with you."
"What do you want from me?" Sora demanded, trying to sound as fearless as possible and utterly failing.
"What do you think?" another voice said with a smirk. It was a crusty voice, a worn, grainy, but chilling sound. "The dagger wants to taste some blood. Especially the blood of the Keyblade Master. And the Heartless...they'd love to have the heart of the Keyblade Master as well. Or so I'm told."
It was Orion. With him was a man who looked like a homeless alcoholic. And with them was a horde of the Heartless Yuna described to them.
And Sora thought his situation was bad enough. It was steadily growing worse.
Aozora froze. Donald bumped into him hard and fell on his bottom, cursing and picking himself up from the muddy puddle he had fallen into.
"Watch where you're going, idiot!" Donald snapped.
Aozora ignored him as usual. His senses were tingling, sending warnings screaming into his churning mind. A dark presence hovered in his mind, something threatening...
"Where's Sora?" Goofy suddenly wondered.
"Why, isn't he with us?" Ashita demanded, pushing wet hair out of his face.
"Der...no," Goofy answered.
"Oh no..." Donald groaned.
"Something's happening," Aozora suddenly exclaimed. "We've gotta find him!"
He whirled around and dashed back down the street they were walking on, splashing through murky pools of water. He sent out feelers, searching for the Keyblade Master who seemed to be gaining a habit of disappearing at all the wrong moments.
"Sora...not again..." Aozora growled, then his eyes widened. He could sense Sora's presence, a hot-white glowing form, with a pool of darkness within him. And there was a strong presence of darkness all around him. But why?
He came to a screeching stop, as a can rolled out in front of him. Another can, just like the one that hit him on the head. Then Heartless came tumbling out from behind a building. Aozora quickly tensed, his hands glowing purplish black and pure white.
"What in-" Ashita's voice rose over the noise made by the suddenly bulked- up Heartless.
"Get back!" Aozora yelled at the top of his lungs and tossed his coat aside, as the Oblivion and the Starlight flashed into his hands. "Get out of here; it's too dangerous for you! Go find Sora. I'll take care of them!"
He didn't know if they managed to hear his last words, for the Heartless surged on him like a tornado.
"We have to find Sora!" Donald said. "Come on, let's go!"
Goofy was a little hesitant. He threw doubtful glances at the battle between Aozora and the Heartless.
"Let's get out of here!" Ashita said. "He told us to get out of here."
"And we have to find Sora," Yuri added.
"Right," Goofy nodded. "But where?"
"Go where the Heartless came from!" they heard Aozora yell. Then they heard a pain-filled yell.
"Aozora!" Ashita and Yuri shouted.
"Come on, we have to find Sora!" Donald yelled. "That's our first priority. And he told us to go find him so he probably has it all under control anyways."
The other three gave him doubtful glances but they proceeded to do as he said. They rushed around the battle and proceeded to go up where the Heartless came from.
They just had no clue what they were going to see.
Aozora staggered off, doubling over. The gash at his right side was blinding pain; he felt wetness spreading from the wound.
The huge Heartless that hit him jumped at him again, sensing weakness. Aozora willed himself to ignore the pain but he could only move his left arm. Using the Starlight, he swung it up and to the left, slashing at the Heartless.
The Heartless merely bounced off the blade; he had moved too slow.
"Damn it!" Aozora swore as he tried to ignore the pain, erase it from his mind, while concentrating on getting rid of the Heartless. He didn't dare use any destructive words; there were way too many things on his mind right now and he doubt he had the time to clear his mind out in order to use the words properly.
Pain seared into his mind, as a Heartless appeared out of nowhere and threw him against a brick wall.
The Oblivion spun away and promptly vanished back into him. The Starlight he still had, though it was gripped listlessly in his left hand.
Heartless loomed over him, as he propped himself up against the brick wall. He felt blood trickling down his back and his head was ringing from the impact.
"Damn it all," he cursed to himself as he struggled to get up. But he could not move. He was rendered helpless, completely at the mercy of the Heartless.
Secrets of Memories
Chapter 21: Amongst Us All
"That was the closest you've ever come to flirting with death, I'm told," Aozora told Sora as he manned the controls. Goofy stood by; Aozora's shift was almost over.
"Perhaps," Sora snapped. He didn't like Aozora's tone of voice at all.
Donald sensed a barrier of anger rising up between those two and contemplated whether or not to mention the fact that nobody is allowed on the gummi ship without smiling.
"Don't," Goofy suddenly spoke. "Not now. Later."
Donald jumped. How did Goofy know what he was thinking?
"Don't what?" Aozora's voice was terribly cold.
"Uh...der...I don't know," Goofy answered honestly, then glanced at Donald. " You just looked like you were gonna say somethin'."
Donald glared at him, then said," Shift over."
"Yippee!" Goofy yelped. Aozora quickly moved out of the pilot's seat, lest Goofy might throw him off the chair, and then settled in a secluded corner of the gummi ship. He gave the whole scenario before him an intensive glare; he was in a very crappy mood, largely thanks to Sora's course of actions back at Sherwood Forest.
The idiot that he was. Why can he not see the danger he puts himself in when he pulls his move? Does he not understand how important he is to the survival of the light? Oh man...he's such an ass. I can't believe I have to guard him...damn you Dream Heart, you gave me one hell of a job to do!
"Where are we headed again?" he demanded.
"Twilight Town," Donald snapped back. He was busy going through the last of the storage, counting the number of Potions, Elixirs, Ethers, Mega- Potions, etc, that they had. "We're almost out of supplies, especially from that last fight we had. Know of any place we can go to get more supplies?"
Aozora flipped through the number of places in his head.
"Might have to ask one of my old friends," he finally replied. "They still know the place better than me. And I know one of them was able to get a lot of supplies for me at a cheap price. They heaped together a lot of the munny they had, which wasn't a lot at all, and gave me enough supplies to last me a little while."
"And we've got plenty of munny," Donald added. "Find your friends and ask them about the place."
Aozora nodded.
"I don't understand..." Sora was murmuring, his eyes closed. He was sitting against the gummi ship wall opposite of Aozora, his arms covering his face.
It took the others a full minute or two to realize that he was asleep.
"Murmuring in his dreams again," Goofy sighed as he flew over an asteroid.
"What do you mean?" Aozora asked.
"For a while...der...Sora's been saying odd stuff in his dreams," Goofy began hesitantly. "Like what he just said a moment ago."
"Odd stuff...hm..." Aozora thought. He gave Sora a very dark look.
"Passing New World," Goofy announced. "Looks fine, looks like no problem at all. Der...ten minutes, I think. Yes, I think we'll reach Twilight Town in ten minutes."
The others nodded, then Goofy went back to piloting, eventually forcing Sora awake when the gummi ship suddenly barrel rolled to avoid a swarm of Heartless ships.
"Twilight Town..." Aozora sighed as they left the train that took them from the gummi shipyard to the heart of Twilight Town. "Stayed here six months, left for a few weeks with you guys, and now it feels like I'm coming home."
"This wasn't your home?" Sora asked, surprised.
"Didn't he...der...already explain it?" Goofy offered an answer.
Sora hit himself on the head.
"Let's go to the clock tower," Aozora said. "We'll be able to find my friends there...unless they moved."
"Unless they moved?" Donald shrilled, his voice growing higher.
Aozora shrugged. He was very forward to meeting Ashita and Yuri again but he wasn't so sure about Orion. Orion did act strange around him...though he was rather good at not showing it.
"Yuri and Orion are both related to this Ansem of yours," Aozora said. "I still find it very strange."
"I know!" Sora growled out. He knew it was impossible. How were they both related to Ansem? And how did Aozora become their friend anyways? He knew, from collecting Ansem's Reports, the former king had sent a person out in search of the Keyblade Master. Sora didn't' know if he did succeed or no but what he did know was that Ansem was supposed to be dead...or at least gone.
Was Ansem still alive? Two relatives of Ansem hovering near Aozora, who can use the keyblade like me, two keyblades in fact. What can that mean? I wonder...
"And what about Ashita?" Goofy was talking to Donald. "He said he came from Deep Tranquility. That can't be a chance happening, right? I mean, they last lived in Deep Tranquility, too, before King Mickey-"
To everyone's surprise, Donald whirled on the knight, jumped (they had never seen him jump at someone twice his height before), and snapped Goofy's mouth shut with his hand.
"Not another word," Donald said rather dangerously. "Not here, not anywhere, never say anything about that. You know what he said. You know we're the only ones who really know. If you start talking, the rumors would come again. Keep your mouth shut."
Nobody had ever really heard him give direct orders to Goofy. Or seen him do it, either.
"Um...is there a problem?" Aozora asked hesitantly.
"No!" Donald squalled. "Come on, let's keep moving."
With that, he took the lead and stomped his way toward the clock tower. Everybody else gave each other really odd looks, especially at Goofy, then ran to catch up to him.
None were able to notice a shadow lurking in the background, watching them as they approached the clock tower. He gripped at the brick wall he was up against in anger as his eyes focused on Aozora.
Him...he's back...Ansem should know of this...yes, he needs to know of this...two Keyblade Masters...yes, he will like this very much...
With that, the shadow vanished.
"You think we'll ever see him again?" Yuri asked as she twirled her brown hair slowly with her finger and stared at the twilit sky.
"Depends on who you're talkin about," Ashita replied as he counted munny in the clock tower room.
"I don't know...both, maybe?" Yuri was rather uncertain.
"Sigh...both? Please don't mention his name, whatever you do," he said as he started putting away the munny.
"Why?" Yuri asked.
Ashita gave her a long stare. "You know why."
"But I don't understand," Yuri sighed, then put her chin on her knees and wrapped her arms around her legs. "A simple visit to Cid...and he goes ballistic. Why, I've been wondering now, why?"
"Wish I knew the answer to that," Ashita replied as he walked over and stood next to her. They both watched the busy scenario of Twilight Town before them, from their view at the top of the clock tower.
"I wish I knew how both of them are doing," Yuri finally said after a little while.
"Yeah, I wonder why," Ashita said sarcastically.
"Shut up," Yuri said, then turned her eyes downward to the area right in front of the clock tower. She watched the people walk back and forth past the clock tower, ignoring it for all its majesty among the smoggy buildings of Twilight Town.
"Wait a minute..." Yuri noted four people approaching the clock tower, something very few had done. "Ashita, there are four people approaching the clock tower."
She pointed downward. They both, cautiously, peered over the edge of the 'balcony' they were on. They saw the tops of a brown-head, a blond, a blue hat, and an awkward yellowish-orange hat. The four people were headed straight for the clock tower.
"One of them's blond..." Ashita noted very carefully.
"You think that's Aozora?" Yuri breathed.
"Let's go find out," Ashita suggested and they bolted into the clock tower.
"Do you really think they're still here?" Sora asked uncertainly as they approached.
"You know what?" Aozora answered. "Hanging around Donald must be giving you some sense of mistrust in most people. Trust me, they're still here."
Donald grumbled at this and Sora glared at his look-a-like. Aozora, however, acted oblivious and strode forward quickly to the boarded up door. He raised his right hand up, about to knock on the door.
The door flew open so fast and Aozora stood so close to the door, it missed his nose by centimeters. Ashita and Yuri came tumbling out and whirled on Aozora.
They stared at each other for what seemed an eternity. Then Ashita and Yuri pulled Aozora into a huge hug.
"They're short of supplies, Ashita," Aozora patiently explained as they followed Ashita and Yuri up to the top of the clock tower. "You know that store you went to get my supplies?"
Ashita gave a brief nod, then froze. He turned on them and said, "You're going to tell me we're going back there, right?"
Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Aozora blinked at him in utter confusion.
"Orion left," Yuri suddenly said, knowing full well what might happen once she said that. "He left right after we left that store. Three days ago, he left us. I don't know what happened between him and Cid but-"
"Cid?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy demanded.
"Rikku's dad, I'm guessing," Aozora added.
"I can't go back there," Ashita said. "You know how scary that bald guy is? Gave me a nasty stare the whole time we were there. Scared everything out of me."
"I know," Yuri agreed. "He gave me and Orion a hard stare, too. Then he pulled Orion aside while we were dawdling and talked with him. Orion raised his voice, then stormed out of the shop. We went after him...he left, as soon as he reached the clock tower and got everything from his room."
"He left?" Aozora was stunned. "Did you guys hear anything that was said between him and Cid?"
"Only this," Ashita said. "Before Orion left, Cid said, "Amongst us all, there can be no traitors." Orion yelled back, "Who says I'm a traitor?" and Cid said, "Then who are you?" and some other stuff. Then Orion left the place."
The silence that followed the last sentence was deafening.
"' There can be no traitors?'" Aozora repeated slowly. "What in-"
His abrupt silence disturbed them to no end.
"What? What's wrong?" Yuri demanded, her eyes worried.
"Ashita, we have to go to that shop," Aozora stared at his friend. "I have to talk to that guy."
"Aozora, why-" Sora began to ask but Aozora cut him off.
"I think he knows something that we need to find out," Aozora said. "From these guys-" he gestured to Donald, Goofy, and a fuming Sora "-I figured out who Orion's uncle is. And I do know he had referred to someone as his 'uncle' once about three months ago."
"Oh yeah..." Sora remembered what Aozora had said when they first met.
"Really?" Yuri looked visibly upset. "But that's not right...all I know is that we have only one uncle."
Everyone grew silent. Ashita's words rang loudly in their minds.
"Amongst us all, there can be no traitors"..." Who says I'm a traitor?"..." then who are you?"...there can be no traitors...then who are you...
Ashita was really hesitant as he opened the door into the rather insignificant building in the foreign trader's sect of Twilight Town. Yuri, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Aozora followed him solemnly and silently into the biggest mess they had ever seen in a building.
Potions, Ethers, Elixirs, and everything else of the category was scattered all over the concrete floor. Cupboards were broken apart, torn. There were deep scratches on the wall; there were traces of blood all over the place. And three very familiar people were clearing up the place...
"Yuna? Rikku? Paine? What are you guys doing here?" Sora demanded, making their presence known.
Yuna, Rikku, and Paine were in the act of lifting what remained of a metal cupboard and moving it out through a back door. Supervising them was a very gruff-looking bald man with a strange scowl on his face and a funny blue jumpsuit. Or was it a jumpsuit? Sora could not tell.
"And who may you be?" the man barked.
"Aw, Dad, let them be, they're our friends," Rikku quickly retorted as they made their way carefully towards the back door. "Hey guys, what's up?"
"And you two..." Rikku's dad gave Ashita and Yuri a dark stare. "Now what?"
"Dad!" Rikku's voice yelled back.
"Uh...my friend's...uh...friends want to talk to you about...uh..." Ashita stammered.
"About Orion," Aozora said briskly, knowing they were wasting time already and they could not afford to lose any amount of time.
"Orion, eh?" Rikku's father was alert, his voice suddenly very menacing. " What do you want about that kid?"
"We want to know what you said to him," Sora said, his voice very quiet but incredibly commanding.
"Do you?" the bald man suddenly deflated, was very calm and collected.
"I think it is important that we know what you've said to him," Sora continued. "These people here-" he gestured to Aozora, Ashita, and Yuri "- were with Orion for a long time and of the three, Aozora noted at Orion was talking with someone in his room. He heard two voices and Orion called the other voice 'Uncle'. We know Orion's dad is the cousin of the king of Old Citadel and Yuri is the niece of the king of Old Citadel. And we three-" he gestured to Donald, Goofy, and himself "-know the king died-or vanished- a year ago. And Yuri just told us that the king was the only uncle to Orion and herself. And, I think you know who exactly the king of Old Citadel is."
It took nearly five minutes for everyone to understand his speech. But once they did, they understood was he was saying.
"King Ansem was a good ruler," Rikku's father, Cid, said slowly. "I knew him. I also knew Orion and Yuri when they were too young to remember me. Orion was always with King Ansem and we joked about him being Ansem's little shadow. Yuri was more distant and preferred to stay with Ansem's son- "
"ANSEM HAD A SON?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy shouted at his face.
"There were no records stating that!" Donald added right afterwards.
"I remember," Yuri agreed, as Yuna, Rikku, and Paine trooped back into the room. "Barely but its still in my memory. He was very nice and he had silver hair just like Ansem."
A horrible thought bubbled into Sora's mind. And there's only one person in my universe with silver hair...
"And then Ansem exiled all of us," Cid sighed as Yuna, Rikku, and Paine settled on cardboard boxes to listen to Cid's story. "We were all suddenly without a home. So we all came here and wondered what was going to happen to us all. Then we heard that Old Citadel self-destructed. That's what we heard; we never really knew what happened-"
"What about Ansem's son?" Sora asked briskly.
"No news of him for like eleven years," Cid shot back. "And you wanted to know about Orion, don't you?"
He directed this to Aozora, who gave him a steely glare.
"Last night something attacked my place," Cid began slowly, his eyes on his daughter and her two friends. "We didn't know what it was but I had a very good idea what it was going for."
"It was trying to get my old man," Rikku continued. "A huge white thing, armored, with pointy shoulders and a hand for one arm and a long lance for another. It looked like some ghostly knight, with the oddest symbol on its helmet."
Sora and Aozora, not realizing the other knew of it, quickly conjured the image of the Dream Heart in their minds.
"We tried to fight it," Yuna added. "But in this cramped space...it was horrible. Every item that was in this store didn't survive the night. Eventually we forced it outside and it got horrible from there. Heartless, like the ones Sora described, swarmed the place. The only difference between the ones Sora described and the ones we fought was that the ones we fought were big and rather muscular. They were very difficult."
"What was strange to us was: How did that great white thing find Cid?" Paine was finishing off. "We mounted up every defense possible to protect Cid but they still found him. And it's just not possible. Every defense we've been putting up around people like Cid had been infallible until now."
"Member of the Order, I'm guessing," Aozora looked to Cid for confirmation. The bald man barely gave him a nod but it was there.
"Three days ago, that ass came with those two into my store," Cid growled. "Two days later, that white monster attacks me. And I know that there was only one reason the white monster attacked me. Someone confirmed that a member of the Order, me, was residing here, doing my own business. And so someone ordered that white monster to attack me and kill me. That would put a halt to the Order and you can just imagine the disaster that would follow- "
"Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute!" Sora put a stop to the discussion. "What the hell are you saying by 'Order'? What Order? I don't think I've heard of this 'Order' before. What the hell are you guys talking about?"
"Sora," Aozora snapped back. "I'll tell you back at the gummi ship. The Order is a complex thing. It involves many people. Right now, we need to focus on Orion."
Sora glared at him but Aozora ignored him.
"Aozora," Cid said carefully, thinking carefully. "I think I know who was behind this. An attack on a member of the Order is very difficult, very difficult. We still don't know what happened to the Grandmother but it is very difficult to get rid of a member of the Order. The only foolproof way to destroy a member of the Order is to send a 'spy' of some sort to that member and pinpoint the exact location of the member. We of the Order have a tendency to stay in one place all the time. May seem to be a pretty stupid thing to do but we need to stay in one place for many confidential reasons. So its really easy for us to be tracked down...if the 'spy' knew who the look for and where in the first place."
Aozora closed his eyes while Cid was talking. He was trying to piece together a puzzle that was forming in his mind. So far, everything seemed to fit into place. Except...
"Sora, are you sure Ansem is dead?"
Sora hesitated. Yes, he had seen Ansem fade away when Sora shouted that Kingdom Hearts was light and light flowed out of the double doors, piercing into Ansem's body and causing him to fade away. But Aozora's question shook his faith in that. Had Ansem really died?
"I don't know."
And the pieces fell into place.
"That's impossible," Aozora growled, his voice suddenly harsh, ugly. Everyone was stunned by the change but what could they say? "That's utterly impossible. How can-how can it be possible? Cid, that' can't be true."
"I think you've got it, kiddo," Cid answered calmly. "It's possible. I could tell. The look in his eyes gave it all away. Poor kid, he didn't know what he was doing."
"Wait a minute, what?" Sora was genuinely confused. And so were Donald, Goofy, Ashita, and Yuri.
"Yuri, are you sure Ansem was the only uncle you two knew your whole life?" Aozora decided to confirm his realization.
Yuri hesitated but she nodded.
"You told him, "Amongst us all, there can be no traitors." And you also demanded if he knew who he was," Aozora said. "Was he really the 'spy'? Was he really the one who spied for Ansem, spied on you, sent the white creature after you? Do you really think it was him?"
There were audible gasps of horror. Then Ashita said, "That's impossible. Orion is not of that type! How can he, of all people, do that to us?"
"There are people out there," Cid replied. "You don't know how evil or how good they are. You don't know whether or not one can express good or evil plainly, in front of your face, or hide it within his or her heart and soul. You don't know what kind of forms evil and good can take and you definitely don't' know when all this suddenly becomes a revelation on your part. You didn't know Orion's light or darkness, you didn't know how well he was able to hide from you all. He was well qualified to do this, to betray you and the light by spying for the darkness. The only really good question was whether or not Ansem did die."
"Then Ansem didn't ..." Sora didn't even finish.
A cold silence fell upon them all, as the sound of thunder rumbled through the air and a cold rain began to fall outside.
"Not...possible," Ashita said haltingly as they staggered out of Cid's store into the pouring rain. "Not...possible...how could Orion do that...do that to us..."
Sora was in a daze. His feet followed the group but his mind was elsewhere. His memories were elsewhere.
Ansem wasn't dead? That's not possible. I saw him die, I know I did. But then, who was Orion talking to, addressing him as 'uncle'? And Yuri said Ansem was their only uncle. So what does that mean? Was Ansem truly alive? Is he alive now? Is he looking for me, watching me, my every step, my every breath?
Sora looked around him. He was suddenly very nervous; he was shaken by the idea of having an old enemy of his return. He didn't look where he was going, though, as he looked around himself. He didn't know he had drifted away from his troubled group of friends and allies. And that was a bad thing.
Sora rammed himself into something he didn't want to run into. Or was it someone?
He was suddenly thrown against the brick wall of a coffee shop, an arm pressing into his chest. Something cold rested against his neck, something solid, metallic even, that placed a slight pressure on his throbbing artery.
"I didn't think I'd ever see you again," the voice of the captor whispered into his ear. "But of course, I always have to end up running into stupid people again and again. Pity your friends aren't with you."
"What do you want from me?" Sora demanded, trying to sound as fearless as possible and utterly failing.
"What do you think?" another voice said with a smirk. It was a crusty voice, a worn, grainy, but chilling sound. "The dagger wants to taste some blood. Especially the blood of the Keyblade Master. And the Heartless...they'd love to have the heart of the Keyblade Master as well. Or so I'm told."
It was Orion. With him was a man who looked like a homeless alcoholic. And with them was a horde of the Heartless Yuna described to them.
And Sora thought his situation was bad enough. It was steadily growing worse.
Aozora froze. Donald bumped into him hard and fell on his bottom, cursing and picking himself up from the muddy puddle he had fallen into.
"Watch where you're going, idiot!" Donald snapped.
Aozora ignored him as usual. His senses were tingling, sending warnings screaming into his churning mind. A dark presence hovered in his mind, something threatening...
"Where's Sora?" Goofy suddenly wondered.
"Why, isn't he with us?" Ashita demanded, pushing wet hair out of his face.
"Der...no," Goofy answered.
"Oh no..." Donald groaned.
"Something's happening," Aozora suddenly exclaimed. "We've gotta find him!"
He whirled around and dashed back down the street they were walking on, splashing through murky pools of water. He sent out feelers, searching for the Keyblade Master who seemed to be gaining a habit of disappearing at all the wrong moments.
"Sora...not again..." Aozora growled, then his eyes widened. He could sense Sora's presence, a hot-white glowing form, with a pool of darkness within him. And there was a strong presence of darkness all around him. But why?
He came to a screeching stop, as a can rolled out in front of him. Another can, just like the one that hit him on the head. Then Heartless came tumbling out from behind a building. Aozora quickly tensed, his hands glowing purplish black and pure white.
"What in-" Ashita's voice rose over the noise made by the suddenly bulked- up Heartless.
"Get back!" Aozora yelled at the top of his lungs and tossed his coat aside, as the Oblivion and the Starlight flashed into his hands. "Get out of here; it's too dangerous for you! Go find Sora. I'll take care of them!"
He didn't know if they managed to hear his last words, for the Heartless surged on him like a tornado.
"We have to find Sora!" Donald said. "Come on, let's go!"
Goofy was a little hesitant. He threw doubtful glances at the battle between Aozora and the Heartless.
"Let's get out of here!" Ashita said. "He told us to get out of here."
"And we have to find Sora," Yuri added.
"Right," Goofy nodded. "But where?"
"Go where the Heartless came from!" they heard Aozora yell. Then they heard a pain-filled yell.
"Aozora!" Ashita and Yuri shouted.
"Come on, we have to find Sora!" Donald yelled. "That's our first priority. And he told us to go find him so he probably has it all under control anyways."
The other three gave him doubtful glances but they proceeded to do as he said. They rushed around the battle and proceeded to go up where the Heartless came from.
They just had no clue what they were going to see.
Aozora staggered off, doubling over. The gash at his right side was blinding pain; he felt wetness spreading from the wound.
The huge Heartless that hit him jumped at him again, sensing weakness. Aozora willed himself to ignore the pain but he could only move his left arm. Using the Starlight, he swung it up and to the left, slashing at the Heartless.
The Heartless merely bounced off the blade; he had moved too slow.
"Damn it!" Aozora swore as he tried to ignore the pain, erase it from his mind, while concentrating on getting rid of the Heartless. He didn't dare use any destructive words; there were way too many things on his mind right now and he doubt he had the time to clear his mind out in order to use the words properly.
Pain seared into his mind, as a Heartless appeared out of nowhere and threw him against a brick wall.
The Oblivion spun away and promptly vanished back into him. The Starlight he still had, though it was gripped listlessly in his left hand.
Heartless loomed over him, as he propped himself up against the brick wall. He felt blood trickling down his back and his head was ringing from the impact.
"Damn it all," he cursed to himself as he struggled to get up. But he could not move. He was rendered helpless, completely at the mercy of the Heartless.