Secrets of Memories Chapter 38: Hidden Memories
" What next?" Goofy asked as Donald and he stood at Sora's side.
" We've got maybe three worlds before we hit our side of the universe," Sora replied as he clicked a button and a holographic map of their surroundings appeared. " Yeah, we've got three more worlds here in New Universe before we hit Old Universe."
" Gawrsh, Donald, we can stop by Disney Castle, right?" Goofy asked as he pointed to a distant point between one of the three worlds and what all three of them knew to be Traverse Town. " The least we could do is say hi to Queen Minnie and Daisy, right?"
A look of longing came over Donald's face, something Sora had seen only once before; that was back at Twilight Town and it was something quite laughable.
" Yes, I think so," Donald agreed whole-heartedly. " I think we could stop by Disney Castle before we move on."
" Huyuk!" Goofy was excited. " Maybe Chip 'n Dale have somethin' new for the gummi ship! 'Member, Donald, when they had those huge engines for King Mickey's ship? It was real nice, real nice and real smooth. Wonder why King Mickey didn't use it ever again."
" I'm not sure either," Donald actually seemed to agree. " He used to use it all the time."
" One of the best gummi ships in the universe," Goofy added. " I mean, Cid had real nice gummi ships, kind of like his cousin's airships and all. But, huyuk, they were nothing compared to the gummi ships Chip n' Dale could make for King Mickey. And that one, the one with the big engines, that was the best gummi ship in the universe."
" The fastest," Donald acknowledged. " Fastest, safest, the most powerful gummi ship ever. So fast it could outrun that so-called Big Bang thirteen years ago."
" Big Bang?" Sora mused. Why was that name so familiar? Had he heard of it before?
" The poor boy," the Mayor's wife whispered sadly. " He's gone, too?"
" The last one," the Mayor affirmed regretfully. " Survived the Big Bang, he did, but didn't make it through the next one."
" The others, the town must know of this," the Mayor's wife said decidedly. " At least the adults; they have a right to know. After all, many of them had relatives in Celt Circle."
" Break it them gently, dear," the Mayor told her softly. " Let the children be; they have the right to live life to the fullest. After all, with the potential heirs of the Keys all dead, it will not be long before the rest of us follows."
Keys?
The wheels in his brain, long rusted over, began to work, began to turn. How did the Mayor of the town by the coast know of the Keys? What does he mean by Keys, though? Kingdom Keys? What other keys are there besides the Kingdom Keys?
The memories began to pour into his mind again, memories long forgotten, memories he thought were erased long ago.
" I say we sneak into the town center," Riku offered his opinion as soon as Sora finished telling him what he had heard. " See what's going on."
" Are you sure?" Kairi asked worriedly. " I've heard of the Big Bang event before. It sounds like adult stuff."
" Hey, we're gonna grow up sooner or later," Riku replied as he turned to go. " Why not sooner?"
" I don't' wanna grow up," Sora muttered under his breath.
" That's an inevitable fact of life," Riku shrugged it off. " I want to get older sooner, so I can do adult stuff."
" Like what? Try and get off this world?" Kairi replied. " You know most people never make it and the people who do are never heard from again."
" It'll be fun." Riku replied as he untied one of the boats from the dock and hopped in. " Come on. I want to know what this Big Bang is."
Sora and Kairi had no choice but to follow Riku away from Destiny Island and to town.
Wait a minute; Kairi knew something of the Big Bang? Probably; she did come from another world and probably heard of this Big Bang back there.
"…we're all doomed?" the adults demanded of the Mayor and his wife as they stood at the steps of the town hall. The adults converged at the bottom of the steps, huddled, demanding, crying, shouting. Fear rose from them in clouds and cast a long dark shadow across town.
" Calm down, everyone," the Mayor attempted to regain order. " Look, truth is, nobody knows what became of the rest of the family. We do have a recorded survivor but you know how it is with official reports; there's plenty left out."
" So you're saying there's more who survived the Big Bang besides that kid?" an adult shouted. " If so, how do we find out?"
" Look, when a world explodes, survivors are just thrown into other worlds," the Mayor shot back. " All we have to do is tell the other worlds to search for anyone who turned up in their world eight years ago, on the third Saturday of June. It's that simple."
" The barriers were down then," another adult replied, the voice sharp. " Plenty of people could get through. Spira alone received over a thousand people. How do we know who's from that world and who's not?"
" They were 'recorded'," the Mayor's wife spoke up. " If you hadn't noticed, refugees are never noted on how they get from one world to the next. People who get through are recorded on how they get there. Usually its by airship or train and those thousand people got through to Spira by both forms of transportation. They didn't suddenly appear on their own by foot."
" Hey, wait a minute," the bartender of one of the town's inns suddenly seemed enlightened. " That kid, the one who appeared by the seashore, remember? He was on foot."
" What? Him?" the Mayor was surprised but the others quickly realized what the bartender meant.
" Yeah, he just appeared out of nowhere," they were saying. " The day after that huge explosion in the sky and the meteor storm, we found him on the seashore."
" Little kid he was," Sora's mother was heard saying. " An orphan, to the most. He was the only one there. The footsteps around the beach, they were his and his only."
" Then what about the girl?" Riku's aunt was quite clearly heard. " The one who appeared at that other meteor storm, the one two years ago?"
Sora and Riku looked at Kairi, who shrugged and said, " I really don't' remember much."
" That was two years ago, Reba," the Mayor's wife countered. " We're talking about eight years ago."
" That kid, you know, I always thought he was strange," the same bartender was saying. To Sora, it seemed that he was hinting at something. " Don't you think so? I mean, he just seems…different, not one of us. He just stands out; don't you think? And those eyes, those bold, sky-blue eyes. You know, until he came along, nobody around here had blue eyes."
" Right," the owner of the stall agreed. " And nobody was around with blue eyes again until that meteor storm two years ago."
" I don't get it," the Mayor was befuddled. " What are you getting at? What's it with the blue eyes and all?"
" Listen Mayor," the bartender said. " Eight years ago, we've had an influx of people coming here, right? Well, not too many but enough people came to make this town bigger than it was back then. But did you notice that most none of them had blue eyes? And the only one that really did was the kid who showed up at the seashore out of nowhere. And to make things more interesting, all those who didn't have blue eyes didn't come from Deep Tranquility. Except for Reba's nephew but his eyes are more green than blue."
" Deep Tranquility did have several families with blue eyes," a merchant amongst them agreed. " I've been there before. I had never felt so out of place before. I mean, you see these people walking around with blue eyes…"
" Come on, let's get out of here," Riku hissed, suppressing a yawn. "This is boring. We still got that raft to start planning on, remember?"
" Oh, okay," Kairi was a bit reluctant to leave; she wanted to know more about people who had blue eyes. After all, all three of them had blue eyes, though of different shades.
Sora made to go but he didn't follow the others. He stayed put because his mother was speaking up now.
" You're saying he might be from Deep Tranquility?" she was saying, her voice rising strangely enough. " Ridiculous. You know nobody survived the blast. Well, except for that one child."
" But it all fits," the Mayor's wife admitted. " Chances are, whoever has blue eyes either came from Deep Tranquility or had family there. And besides, Yume, he did come here unrecorded, unnoticed until Bart found him."
" How do we prove he could be of the family of those Key Wielders?" the town historian suddenly demanded. " All we've proven is that he came from Deep Tranquility."
" Nobody can prove whether or not he is a Keyblade Wielder," an elderly woman stated. " It is impossible. Well, almost impossible, anyways. Keyblades did have a tendency to choose within the Keyblade Wielders' families, which are very few in number. However, Keyblades choose those who have the hearts to bear the enormous burden and responsibility each Keyblade carries. There really is no way to prove whether or not Yume's child is part of the Keyblade Wielders' families or that he will be a Keyblade Wielder himself."
The town center grew rather silent. Sora didn't' dare to breathe until the adults started talking again.
" Then what of King Mickey?" Yume ventured to ask after such an awkward silence. " He's not from the family yet he wields a Keyblade as far as I know."
" He IS from the family, Yume," the merchant spoke. " His mother comes from the family. And do you remember those stories concerning the Big Bang and how Deep Tranquility exploded? They say that King Mickey went there when the world exploded and came back looking quite different from himself."
" Only Keyblade Wielders can use that curse on others," the elderly woman said calmly. " I suspect something had happened concerning King Mickey and the other Keyblade Wielder."
" Wait, wait, wait," Yume was befuddled. " What does this have to do with my son?"
" Only that he could have come from Deep Tranquility," the Mayor said sadly. " It is a sad tragedy indeed that Celt Circle had been destroyed. It is even more tragic that the last of the family died as well. But considering all that had happened since the Big Bang, we believe that we still have a chance for survival, really. I'm not saying that Sora is the last member of the family but it could be possible that he is somehow related to that family. It is very possible – in fact, it is probably safe to say that Sora did come from Deep Tranquility, that he was a refugee that went unnoticed from the Big Bang."
Sora nearly uttered a loud, sharp gasp. He didn't understand much of what was being said but he did understand one thing: his parents Bart and Yume weren't his parents. He didn't have any parents.
" Sora? Sora, are you alright?" Goofy shook his shoulder, trying to snap him out of his trance. " Sora, are you alright? Hello?"
" Wha – wha – what?!" Sora jumped in his seat. " What? What's wrong? What's going on?"
" You went all pale and wide-eyed," Donald explained. " What's wrong, Sora?"
" Donald, Goofy?" Sora turned to them. " About you guys, King Mickey, and everybody else…please tell me you were always like this?"
" What do you mean?" Goofy asked curiously.
" Like – like animals, you know," Sora stammered, still stunned by his long suppressed memories. " Did you guys always look like animals or were you like something before that?"
Donald and Goofy looked at each other and Sora saw looks of worry and astonishment flash between their eyes.
" And what of Robin Hood?" Donald sniffed. " Really, Sora, where do you get these ideas?"
" I – I don't know," Sora replied, sinking low in his chair, wondering if he should be glad or extremely worried.
" When you awaken sleeping memories," Axel's dark words echoed in his mind, " you may no longer be you."
" My parents, were they really my parents?" Sora murmured to himself, unaware of the fact that Donald and Goofy could still hear him. " Were they really my parents or is it all just a dream? But if they aren't, then who am I?"
He recalled how he decided to be tight-lipped about the whole situation, though he wanted to know very badly the truth. What was the Big Bang? And were his parents really his parents? But he had kept his mouth closed and locked away the words in his mind, until they faded into the dust and darkness within. Now he regretted not asking, not wondering. Now he would never know the truth behind it all.
" Donald, Goofy, what is the Big Bang?" Sora decided to find out for himself.
When silence seemed to be the only answer, he looked back at them, only to find them watching him in a harried sort of way.
" The Big Bang?" Donald was extremely hesitant. " The Big Bang was an event that took place thirteen years ago. Nobody really knew what happened but whatever did happen, a world called Deep Tranquility detonated."
" Exploded with a loud bang!" Goofy agreed. " It was so big and so loud people started calling it the Big Bang. With that huge explosion came meteor storms and you know what that means!"
" World barriers normally don't stay open for very long," Donald continued. " They usually close within months. And nobody knows when the meteor storms would come and go, which is why travel between worlds had never really been successful. Which is why you probably had no idea about it. If you, Riku, and Kairi had gone off in that raft had the Heartless not come, you would merely have circled the world; you would have gone nowhere."
" Oh, I see," Sora replied, not really seeing. His mind was always distancing itself again.
I'm an orphan, he thought. I can't believe I forgot about that meeting, I can't believe I forgot about that. I don't have a family to call family and I don't have a home that I can really call home. I'm an orphan and the Keyblade just decided to choose me. Riku was supposed to get it but it was me it chose. But what could that mean? And are Donald and Goofy telling the truth? Donald was always hiding stuff, not like Goofy. But Goofy went along pretty well, like he knew what could happen, too, if it was true. I hope it's not true though; I liked how I was ten minutes ago.
As far as Sora was concerned, the memories that had long been hidden were already turning his world upside down. But how far the memories would go in changing him he did not know. Nor did he want to know.
" You really can't remember your past, can you?" Phil suddenly asked of Aozora as he lounged on a couch within the temple. Aozora paced the perimeter of the room, staring at his feet, not really thinking. " I mean, how could you forget the name of your teacher in like two years? A simple nobody, I understand, but this was your teacher, a guy who taught you all that you know now. And you remember all that but not your teacher's name? That really doesn't make sense."
" Clearly you have never been in the center of an explosion," Meg spoke up his defense. " Impact of that sort can mess with your mind to such an extent memories can vanish. Eventually you'll start to remember again but what I mean by 'eventually' means memories may take an actual lifetime to come back."
" Poor kid," Phil said sympathetically.
" I don't need any pity," Aozora returned stiffly. " When is Hercules done talking to his father, anyways?"
" You can't rush the gods," Phil answered calmly. " Just relax."
" Easy for you to say," Eucletes quipped as he came in carrying a large earthenware bowl laden with fruit. " Business is crazy back at my spot and Aozora's still gotta catch up to Sora."
" But not before we have a chat with several members of the Order," Meg countered. " Once Hercules is done talking to Zeus, we can use that same room to contact the Order. It's obvious we're no closer to transferring the Oblivion and the Moonbeam to their rightful owners and we've got to figure out how. It's gotta be soon, too, because we can't let the feathers fall."
" Wait, let me clarify something," Phil said as he snatched an apple from the earthenware bowl that Eucletes carried in. Eucletes threw a warning glance at the satyr but that went ignored. " What exactly happens if the feathers fall? I mean, you Navigators know it all but the rest of us sure don't! What the hell happens?!"
" The most enjoyable darkness comes, of course," an unknown voice wafted into the room. " That is what we live for and that is what we'll let happen."
A tall man in a long black trench coat strode in. He had long blond hair and cold earth-brown eyes that never left Aozora and Meg. He smirked when he saw Aozora twitch but Meg glared back at him coolly.
" What are you doing here?" Aozora growled.
" Oh, I don't intend to try and blast you into space and all," the man replied airily as he leaned on the couch Phil was lounging on, causing the satyr to back away quickly. " I'm just here to divulge in some 'privileged' information."
" And how is that going to help any of us for that matter?" Meg demanded. " You know we can blast you into space right now, with you coming in here so boldly and without weapons."
" Oh I know that," the man answered. " I know the power of the Guardian; I've been witness to it before. But there's more to it then just power. The legend, the prophesy, the Guardian is weak without the Master."
Aozora twitched again. His bronze eyes narrowed dangerously.
" Why don't we take this outside, in front of all the other people, just to make sure that you don't pull any moves on us," Aozora hissed, his voice cold and severe.
Knowing how much more humane you are than the rest of the lot…besides 'him', he thought. At least you don't blast innocent people to bits and waste your energy doing so.
He then added, with contempt, " Vixen."
" Very well," the man identified as Vixen was not bothered by Aozora's request and strode out the door. Aozora followed him with his eyes staring at the floor. They moved up occasionally to glower at the man's back and it seemed to the others that Aozora was desperately trying to kill him with his glare.
Apparently he was utterly failing.
" What's going on?" Hercules asked loudly as he stomped into the room, wondering why the others were staring at the other hallway. " What are you guys looking at? And where's Aozora?"
" A member of the Society wants to have a little chat with him," Meg replied, her tone a bit cold. " Now if you all will excuse me, I must contact members of the Order."
With that, she strode out of the room in the direction Hercules had just come from.
They watched her vanish, then Hercules looked at the others. " What's eating her?"
" Alright, Vixen, what do you want?" Aozora demanded as they stood in broad daylight in front of the marketplace.
" You know, Aozora," Vixen drawled, " I always thought you were a simpering little twerp but never had I thought you'd be such a thorn at our side. Fleeing the Society, aiding the Keyblade Master and the King, and in general making life hard for us and hurting us to no end. But there is one question I've been wondering about for quite some time now. You were without a doubt one of the most useful members in the Society, something we utterly hate to acknowledge. But do tell me, why did you leave our wonderful Society?"
" I don't stay amongst corrupt people," Aozora answered calmly, his eyes gazing elsewhere. " They are fools."
" You know," Vixen gazed at the teenager with spiteful eyes, " I always thought you were trouble. You and Eldest both. But it was you I thought who would cause the most trouble. Even in our greatest accomplishments, I thought you were a sleeping storm, just waiting for the right weather to awaken in. How right I was."
" Your point being?" Aozora demanded impatiently, his temper simmering slowly but surely in the heat of the day.
" You know the power we of the Society have," Vixen whispered, leaning towards Aozora, intimidating him. "A slight twist of our hand, the snap of a finger, and everything you know and everyone you love will come crashing down upon you. From the moment you joined, you've known how carefully we've handled this situation, you've known that if we did everything all at once, loudly, boldly, everything will fall into ruin. So this is what I've come to ask of you: stop following the Keyblade Master."
Aozora looked at Vixen as though the man had lost his mind. " You're asking me to stop following Sora? Geezes, the evilest people can be so stupid. Waste their breath using fancy words to ask of people the stupidest things in the universe. Vixen, I've got to admit this: I always thought you were a lunatic. Well, Axel is the lunatic but you're…"
He showed Vixen a thumbs-down.
" I'm trying to fix things," Vixen replied with a hopeless shrug. Had the person he be talking to not been Aozora, Vixen would have been quite convincing.
A pity he was talking to Aozora.
" You're trying to help tear the universe apart," Aozora replied calmly. " You guys should stop following Sora around. And seriously, that was the stupidest question you can ever question. Of course I'm going to chase after Sora until I catch up to him!"
" Not unless we try and stop you," another voice, a voice Aozora hated more, quipped lazily from the columns supporting the temple
Aozora grimaced. Not you, too!
" Your mentor had been apprehended, little one," Domitan said calmly as he seemed to flirt with every Greek girl that came their way. " His protégés will soon be killed. Once that is done, we will go after the Keyblade Master. And once we're finished with him…you're next."
" Eldest had protégés?" Aozora was stupefied. " But – but – but – "
" You are even stupider than Vixen," Domitan noted with a sneer. " You think you know so much, little one, but in fact you know so little. You know nothing beyond your own universe, nothing before your own eyes."
" Agreed," Vixen added with contempt, his casual expression now changing into a truly ugly sneer. Domitan was not spared this look. " So resistant to the darkness yet the darkness has always been part of your life. A fool you are to resist. Even the Keyblade Masters had not resisted."
" What?" this was new to Aozora.
" Where have you been looking for the Keyblade Masters, lost one?" Domitan mused. " Misguided fool, sigh…what are we ever to do with you?"
" I'm no longer one of you," Aozora turned to go. " Go away now; our truce is over. I have my business to attend to and you have yours. You've wasted my time."
Not even five steps later, he found himself on his back. Vixen had his foot on his stomach while Domitan looked down on him.
" Oh we have business to attend to, of course," Domitan began to drawl. " But that business involves you. See, our good friend Axel made a grand mistake and we have set out to fix it. Our good boss was mighty displeased with Axel and so we've set out to correct what's been done wrong."
" Oh?" Aozora tensed himself, feeling very naked lying on the ground, practically defenseless. He readied himself for a surprise attack to free himself and alert the others. Vixen responded by placing more weight down on him, making the teenager wince.
" You're not going away until we're done," Vixen hissed.
" Axel's got too much on his hands to deal with you," Domitan drawled, " so we're taking care of the business for him. The devise isn't needed any longer, especially since that dive you took in that cursed lake back at Sherwood Forest deactivated it. Stupid Axel, not sealing the device against all forces of nature."
" Device…" Aozora wondered at this. This had been mentioned before, hasn't it?
" You need not know until later," the Emperor did not advance that subject. " You must know, however, that the incident back in Twilight Town was played out for a reason. That reason is very dangerous to this whole situation, Aozora. You must find out what they had done…or suffer the consequences…"
The incident back at Twilight Town, did it have anything to do with the device? The beggar man…and Axel, yes the hooded Unknown was Axel, they were talking about something, something suspicious…
… "…Now, let us go place the device on our young friend…" …
He could still remember those mysterious words, words that had never made any sense to him.
Until now.
" What is the nature of that device?" Aozora demanded, looking up at the intimidating faces of the two Unknowns.
The two looked at each other, then Domitan said casually, " The device is a sort of a stalker."
" We've been puzzling over why the Order's been able to find out most of our moves while we couldn't," Vixen continued. " So we decided to target someone we know enough who'd basically work for them. But we puzzled over who for years, that is, until-"
" You left," Domitan interrupted. " You left, so we began to plan a way to target you."
" Success was complete after Axel attached it to you back at Twilight Town," Vixen said, "but it was hard work anyways. We had to silence Grandmother Willow before she could warn any of the others about it."
" Oh we couldn't silence the Emperor," Domitan drawled. " He was practically untouchable; he woulda been a nice weapon for the Darkness but where did he go? The Order. Anyways, we were preparing for an attack at Sherwood Forest when our readings went haywire; we found out later that you decided to take a swim in that forsaken lake!"
" It was hard for a while," Vixen continued. " We tried to place another device on Cid but that stupid kid Orion screwed it up so that was a failure. We could've taken you and the Keyblade Master both out as well but Eldest's protégés interfered. And so I imagine the Keyblade Master and his simpering friends have met little competition in the next world, though we made sure they had trouble finding the heart and soul of that world."
" But we know which worlds he must visit next," Domitan had a dark look on his face, a dark and hungry look. " We are ready. But there is one thing, a flaw of sorts, that could impend us and our finale."
" I suppose that's me?" Aozora demanded. It was so obvious.
" We will not let you give the Oblivion to the one who needs it nor will you give away the Moonbeam," Vixen hissed at him.
" Nor will we allow you to save the Keyblade Master from doom," Domitan answered just as calmly. " So as you can see, Aozora, we need more than just the removal of that device, for that device is of importance in other matters. We need to 'detain' a certain someone, you see?"
" Domitan!" Vixen suddenly hissed, sharply. "Someone comes, one familiar with the Order."
When Hercules stepped outside the temple to call back Aozora to go meet with Meg, he saw nothing. There was no trace of the blond teenager anywhere…except for a peculiar spray of red liquid on the temple floor.
" No, its…" Hercules touched a dot of the liquid with his finger and sniffed it. " Blood."