Secrets of Memories Chapter 43: Never Growing Up
"Oh you're finally back!" Pooh exclaimed upon seeing Riku, Tarzan, and Sally, all dripping wet, in the gummi ship.
"Yes, FINALLY we're back!" Riku shouted, throwing his arms up in the air as he marched to a seat near the pilot's and sat down, letting his arms hang over the sides and tilting his head back, trying to catch a bit of z's.
"No problem with the ship?" Tarzan asked rather intensely as he placed the Crystal Trident down carefully and headed onward to the pilot's seat.
"There was a great big swarm of buzzing Heartless ships," Pooh answered pleasantly and truthfully, "headed that way, I think. Oh bother…where did they go?"
Riku sighed. Here we go again…
"I think that way," Pooh pointed to their north. "Yeah, towards that way, I think."
"Neverland," Sally immediately identified. "This obviously means something. Pooh, Tarzan, somebody, that means we gotta go that way."
Pooh nodded and let Tarzan take over while Riku merely faced the view of Old Universe before him. He couldn't see and he missed the eyesight he had back at Atlantica. Perhaps he must wait, just wait, until his eyes could recover from the darkness that had swamped him years back.
I hope I can see again, Riku thought. Then I can see everyone again…especially Sora and Kairi…I hope you guys have the best of luck…
He turned, saying, "Sally?"
But he already knew, before he turned around and asked her, that she wasn't there. And he had a very good idea of where she went. For he felt the door open, too.
Damn it, Sally, he thought irritatedly. King Mickey's already warned me before about people like you but couldn't you have at least warned us before you run off to some meeting with the others of that Order?
"Hey, where's Sally?" Tarzan asked. He knew she had not answered to Riku's call.
"She's been called away," Riku replied, irritated. "That's what the Order's like. They go to some damn meetings and talk about issues."
"What kind of issues?" Pooh asked curiously.
"Just issues," Riku replied.
Issues talked about by the Thirteenth Order is what, he added silently.
" "
"What's that, Tink?" Peter Pan asked. "Heartless? Again?"
Tinker Bell nodded her head vigorously and golden fairy dust showered from her head.
"Tink you'd got to be careful about the fairy dust," Peter Pan warned her. "Remember what King Mickey said? You won't have fairy dust all the time and we need it. At least the person who's supposed to come here and get some needs it."
Tinker Bell nodded sullenly, for every movement caused golden fairy dust to snow from her.
"I'm sorry, Tink," Peter Pan said softly. "With Heartless around, we've got to be careful. Especially right now. Heartless on deck, this is bad, very bad."
Tinker Bell sullenly agreed and sat on Peter Pan's shoulder.
"But I don't understand," Peter Pan murmured. "What is it that makes the Heartless return again and again? But Tink, you sure? You sure about Captain Hook?"
Tinker Bell nodded her head vigorously.
"Well, he didn't die anyways," Peter Pan mused. "We didn't' finish him off so I guess it would make sense. But when will the person come to help us? When? We can't hold off the Heartless for long, if the Keyholes are failing, right?"
Tinker Bell nodded again, then grew furious when Peter Pan began to wonder," I wonder what Wendy's doing right now…"
Tinker Bell glowered at him and Peter Pan sighed, " It's not just that. If the Heartless take over, we lose everything. That's all."
Tinker Bell sighed and stopped being furious. They were silent for some time.
There was a mild explosion in the distance, something powerful entering the skies of Neverland. Peter Pan jerked up at this, then rushed to a window outside of the ship, peering out over the waters, into the sky, where he saw a shooting star…or was it?
" They're here," Peter Pan murmured, as the burning flame came towards them.
" "
Riku was brooding. Pooh and Tarzan stayed far away from him and they kept a vigilant silence, preferring not to disturb Riku's train of thought. Perhaps it was for the best of them, for Riku was starting to think back on his past, on the days after he was locked in Kingdom Hearts, the months he spent wandering in the darkness with King Mickey, learning, always learning.
King Mickey told him many things, things that left Riku silent with astonishment. How could it be, that King Mickey knew so much about things nobody had ever told him? What secrets were in the memories of the King of Disney?
" I think there was a reason why Ansem chose to take over your body and your body alone," King Mickey told him one day. " You were the only blood kin of his close enough and of close blood ties. You were also swallowed by the dark and therefore you were an excellent host body. Those who share the same blood, Riku, are always more easily taken by others of the same blood. Ansem had a son, oh yes he had a son, but he lost his son long ago. Perhaps that helped Ansem fall into darkness. We may never know, Riku, but this much is true: you and he are connected by blood."
How can I be connected to him by blood? Riku wondered at this speculation. Is King Mickey losing his mind?
" There is something, Riku, that you must know," King Mickey had broken the momentary silence. " It may not be true, for even I don't know the complete truth but you must know for there's always a chance intuition may be right.
" There are four forces in this world, outwordly forces, what we would call 'supernatural' though there's more to it than that. The four forces are simply known as the Advocate, the Angel, the Knight, and the Prophet. The Advocate and the Angel are opposites; they always oppose each other. The Knight is a guardian of sorts, the one with the strength. The Prophet…well, there's a good long story on the Prophet. The Prophet is very powerful, though not all-powerful and knows much, though not all-knowing. The Prophet knows all the secrets, all the truths, and one cannot lie to the Prophet for the Prophet sees beyond the lie.
" The Advocate is a preordained being. Well, not being. Beings, actually. There are a few Advocates in history and the most powerful is in existence in our time. I believe I know who the Advocate is but that's only my belief. And the Angel? We knew who she was, for she is one of the immortal people. She is young among her people but old in our eyes. And this we know: the Advocate and the Angel loved each other long before the strife that is now. Along the way, the love was lost to the forces of the light and dark. But not fast enough; they had children.
" Why am I telling you this? There was once a man I knew. He was a proud, bold man, strong and resilient, kind and wise. Or so I thought. He was mighty among us and he was my equal. He was the only man who was my true equal for we both were the Keyblade Masters of our time. And he married one of the fair immortal people of the past, a race that no longer exists. And they had twins, two young boys bearing the names Shirozora and Kurozora. And amongst us rose the faith, the hope for these two boys. Keys choose those who deserve to fight for the light but there have been recorded tendencies for the Keyblades to choose within a family. And that's what we hoped for these two, until their father turned on the very purpose I thought he was fighting for.
" One night, I came to demand of this man the truth of his position. Talk gave way to fight and two things happened. The Keyblades abandoned the man, and my people and I were cursed. And in the process, his wife died by his own hands and his children saw everything. But not long after, the Society came and destroyed that world. Nobody survived as far as we knew. And all our hopes died.
"When war came upon us suddenly and swiftly a year ago, I left Disney Castle, fearful for all but there was one thing I knew, that there was hope from these darkening times. If the Heartless were rising, it could mean only one thing: the Keyblades were on the move and there was a key out there that we must find. And I left knowing that there is a very small chance that this person may be connected to the Keyblade master before him. For we all knew that we were not sure of whether or not everyone did die when the world was destroyed. There was a chance one or two may have survived the destruction."
" A key?" Riku asked, puzzled. " But there's only one key we know of."
" You're catching on fast," King Mickey smiled. " Sora's past is still a mystery to us. We don't know who his parents are and I've a terrible feeling that his past may not have been lacking in blood. There may have been violence in his part.
" But that is not all. Like I've said, the Keys have a tendency to choose within a family. If so, there is a very small but possible chance that Sora may be linked by blood to the former Keyblade Master. I know that the Keyblade Master had nephews and distant relations; many of them in fact. There is a rather impossible chance that Sora could be the former Keyblade Master's son. But of course there's the problem with the name."
" How will this help us, King Mickey?" Riku asked, completely befuddled. " I mean, everything you tell me brings up new questions while leaving others unanswered."
" It is because I am setting you up for your task," King Mickey replied wisely. " You have to find out the past behind everything and the questions I give to you may be solved when you find the enlightenment that we all need. I want you to especially search out who the Advocate and the Angel are and whether or not there's recorded history on a world called Deep Tranquility. Can you do that, Riku?"
And Riku had agreed. It was the king asking him a favor and besides, Riku had something to redeem before he returned to Destiny Island and the life he knew for so long. Honor.
"Sorry for wandering off in the ship like that," Sally suddenly said cheerfully as she stepped into view of those who had perfect vision. "Got caught up in thinking."
"And so have I," Riku muttered quietly. "And so have I."
The ship suddenly jolted, causing Riku to jump. " What's wrong?"
"We just hit a new world," Tarzan offered an answer as he fought with the controls.
"Neverland, at long last," Sally was smiling. Riku could not see that there was sadness in her face. "Neverland, where childhood dreams still live. But pity; we all grow up and we all grow old."
Riku really did not like the tone of her voice as she spoke. It was ominous, dark, and Riku knew that Sally had just foretold something.
"Are we to head for the ship?" Tarzan asked calmly, looking back to Sally and Riku.
"What ship?" Riku demanded sharply.
"The flying ship," Sally replied calmly. "Yes, that way. Peter Pan will be there."
"Peter Pan?" Riku echoed.
"The boy that never grew up," was Sally's only reply.
' '
Peter Pan watched in awe as the gummi ship grew near, glowing in a fiery light like a fading shooting star in the sky. He then promptly swerved to the side, while a cannon ball sailed by him, punching holes in the clouds. Captain Hook had taken back his ship but that had not hurt Peter Pan. He didn't really have any need for the ship anyways, since flight gave him greater mobility and made him a rather untouchable target. Captain Hook was going to need a lot of practice and cannon balls to barely knick Peter Pan at the elbow.
" More practice than what he thinks he needs, if he's gonna waste all the cannon balls on deck to try and shoot me down," Peter Pan was musing as he watched the gummi ship approach. " And the last time I checked, there were eight barrels of nine cannon balls. Seventy-two tries does not mean he's gonna hit me."
He gracefully dodged another cannon ball, which landed with an unceremonious kerplop in the Sea of Neverland.
" Curse you, Peter Pan!" he could hear Captain Hook's faint cries from the ship. The redhead simply laughed, as the fanciful, one-armed captain stomped about, shrilling out orders to his crew, while the portly Mr. Smee followed the captain from a very safe distance.
But even so, Peter Pan was rather troubled. Why did Captain Hook return? Captain Hook escaped the Crocodile and Peter Pan thought that the fury of the Keyblade Master was enough to send the Heartless captain into hiding for, hopefully, forever. But then again, it had been a year since Sora had last flown into the Neverland sky; much would have happened during the year Sora disappeared. After all, everything changed with Time.
Why would he return? Peter Pan wondered as Tinker Bell stood on his shoulder and gazed at the gummi ship, which was maybe half an hour from entering the real atmosphere of Neverland. To gain his revenge for the humiliation in my hands? The Keyhole should still be functioning, even if some of the Heartless are returning. But what if the Keyhole's failing? Merlin's told me the other Keyholes were becoming dysfunctional. That's why Wonderland and Agrabah went. So is Captain Hook coming back as a captain of the Heartless mob or what?
Tinker Bell flew up into the air, gazing still at the gummi ship as it made its way towards them. She looked to Peter Pan with a look of intense urgency on her face. Peter Pan immediately understood what it was that was making her worry.
" We've got to redirect them," he agreed intensely, his mind beginning to work, searching for solutions. Perhaps the Clock Tower?"
Tinker Bell nodded and turned slightly red at the same time.
"No, Wendy's grown up already," Peter Pan sighed. "I know she did; I don't think she'll ever come back to Neverland now. But where else can we go? The ship's either massing with Heartless or with cannon balls and cannons can definitely hit that gummi ship; it's much bigger than us."
Tinker Bell stilled looked a bit mad but who could disagree with Peter Pan's explanation? She nodded and Peter Pan smiled.
"I'd say we give 'em a real good surprise, right, Tinker Bell?" Peter Pan suggested with a huge grin on his face. Without waiting for a reply, he flew up towards the fast-approaching gummi ship. Tinker Bell followed him closely.
' '
" Stay in the clouds," Sally instructed. " Kill off half the power. The ship's got cannons and we happen to be a very prominent target."
Tarzan nodded and flew right into the white mist; they became blinded by the white and Tarzan said, " I can't see. Blind."
" Get out of the clouds," Riku countered Sally's instructions. " But stay out of range. If we can't without being able to see anything, then screw it; dodge the cannon balls."
Tarzan then sent the ship flying straight up, until the clouds faded away, then made an about-face and flew back down, avoiding the white masses in the process.
Riku jerked when Tarzan shouted. With the shouting he heard something knocking on the glass.
" Still a child at heart," he heard Sally saying.
" Who? Peter Pan?" Riku demanded.
" Is that who that is?" Tarzan demanded. " The boy in green knocking on the glass?"
Apparently Peter Pan followed through with his prank and scared the bejeezus out of Tarzan. Tinker Bell danced around, scattering fairy dust everywhere and laughing at the look on Tarzan's face.
" Very clever, very clever," Sally mused, shaking her head and hiding a smile.
" Do I shoot them?" Pooh asked curiously from his own little cockpit.
" They're allies," Riku replied.
" Oh," was Pooh's only reply and Riku had the feeling the yellow bear was slightly embarrassed by this mistake.
" Is he going to do something besides waving at us?" Riku demanded, starting to become irritated.
Peter Pan knocked on the glass, gesturing down.
" I'm guessing we go down," Tarzan decided. " After all, he is pointing down."
He brought the nose of the gummi ship down as Peter Pan gestured and the ship dove…straight for Captain Hook's ship.
" Do we crash or do we avoid the ship?" Tarzan asked while manning the controls.
" What!" Riku shouted.
Peter Pan was diving with the gummi ship. Tinker Bell clung to his hat for the quick dive, yellow fairy dust trailing after her. He was gesturing to the right quickly, the sideways jabbing becoming frantic as the ship came into view and then as the ship seemed to grow closer and closer.
It was when the ship got uncomfortably close that Peter Pan went right and Tarzan followed his cue. He just had the bad luck of turning right into a sheet of blinding white.
Riku heard a string of unfamiliar curses follow as the gummi ship tore through the sails and got caught by the mast that held up the sails. The gummi ship tipped down towards the ship, hanging precariously by its massive blasters and tail fins.
Riku picked himself up from the pile that gathered at the cockpit. " That was a very bad landing on my part, Tarzan. Surely you could've done better."
There was shouting from somewhere below them and he could definitely hear someone shouting, " About face the cannons."
" Very bad landing, Tarzan, very bad landing," Riku repeated, but with added emphasis.
" Get outta there!" shouted a muffled voice from above. " Hook's got his cannons on you!"
" Oh shit!" Riku ran for the hatch and forced it open, hitting something in the process.
" Ow, hey, watch it, you -" that same voice shouted. " Oh, are you blind?"
" What? Wait, who are you?" Riku demanded. " And yes, I'm blind and I don't know if its temporary or permanent. However I think we should get out of here, as you've said."
" First, get everyone else outta there," the voice said. " If we get down to the ship's hold, we'd be safe for sure."
Riku nodded, then found himself shoved out of the hatchway, landing on his face.
" Don't block the way," was Sally's excuse as she lifted herself up. Her hand, unfortunately, detached in the process and Tarzan handed it back to her, albeit with a look on his face that would've been worth a thousand words.
Pooh tumbled out of the hatchway as a cannon suddenly roared. Wind rushed by Riku but he didn't hear anything snap off of the ship. In fact, he heard wood break and crude cursing with it.
" Tink, we need your help!" the voice yelled.
" Ah, hello Peter Pan," Sally said calmly, as another cannon discharged. Again, wood shredded and cursing followed, along with, " Aim, you rats! Aim!"
Riku shook his head. Still calm under the cover of fire.
" Tink!" Peter Pan yelled. " Where'd she go? We need that fairy dust to get out of here!"
" What?" Tarzan didn't get any of it.
" We need Tink's fairy dust to fly down to the ship's hold," Peter Pan quickly explained. " Where'd she go?"
" What do we do, find Tink or get out of here?" Tarzan demanded.
" Well, we can't get out of here without Tink but we have to get out of here," Peter Pan answered. " Oh well, might as well fly down and fight our way to Hook."
He then looked at the sorry ensemble before him and hit himself mentally. Of course they couldn't fly! What was he thinking?
" It's not far to the deck," he quickly added with embarrassment. " Just climb the rigging down to the deck and hack your way through. Can't be too hard."
" Rigging?" Riku was very discouraged. If there was one thing he could not do, it was climbing down from a height by the means of a thick-roped net with the tendency t o sway with the sails and the sea. Not that he wasn't capable of doing it; he was just a bit handicapped.
Okay, so he wasn't a bit handicapped. He was legally blind.
"Surrender, Peter Pan!" an arrogant voice sneered and demanded angrily from down below, presumably the deck.
Peter Pan rolled his eyes. "He's never gonna quit, I tell you."
"And you, Spawn of the Darkness!" Riku knew Hook was talking about him but he could not get what kind of swearing Captain Hook was using. 'Spawn of the Darkness?'
"Talkin' to me?" Riku demanded, turning to the sound of the voice down below. " Quit ranting; I've heard enough bullshit from the likes of you."
That proved much harsher than 'Spawn of the Darkness'; Captain Hook sputtered, unable to think of a comeback.
"Peter Pan, we need Tinker Bell," Sally said hurriedly. "We need her fairy dust immediately! We've got to find her!"
"But I don't know where she's went," Peter Pan countered. "And without fairy dust, the only way you guys can get out of here's either by using the gummi ship and possibly breaking some piece of it off or jump onto the deck and fight your way down."
"I can't see for shit," Riku growled. "But screw it all; if I break my neck, I break my neck. Come on."
The powers of darkness came to him unbidden and he instinctively reached out to use these powers to seek out the world around him. But he drew back from the powers quickly; he had told himself never to use dark powers long ago and yet it was a struggle, for he could see with dark powers but it took a stronger effort to see with powers other than of darkness.
He carefully inched to the edge of the gummi ship. He could hear shouts of awe and surprise from the pirates below and smirked, ever so briefly, as he tensed himself.
They never saw it coming, he thought and leaped off the gummi ship.
' '
"He's attempting suicide, isn't he?" Peter Pan demanded of Sally as they watched Riku land on the deck with such force, his fist, used for bracing his impact left a lovely hole.
"Suicide doesn't even come close," Sally replied calmly, then inched for the rigging while Tarzan quickly climbed up the mast, undid a piece of thick rope, and swung down onto the deck. Pooh didn't budge.
"I've never gone so high on honey trees," they could hear him muttering to himself.
"Aeroga, Pooh, Aeroga," Sally hinted.
Pooh looked at her with an empty look on his face. Then he was enlightened. "Oh, I put Aeroga on myself and jump?"
Sally nodded patiently and Pooh happily cast Aeroga on himself and jumped down after Riku, who was busy intimidating the pirates.
"Hey, it's a little teddy bear," one of the pirates noticed Pooh. "Aw, now isn't that cute?"
"Let's give 'm hell, boys," another pirate suggested and they began drawing out daggers, sabers, and pistols.
"Firaga, Pooh, Firaga," Riku hissed in Pooh's direction.
" Firaga?" Pooh asked and a fireball shot straight down onto the deck and fire blazed up.
" Not my ship!" Captain Hook shouted from where he was standing next to Smee and the wheel. " Get that fire out!"
Half the crew ran about finding buckets of water to put out the flames; the others continued to advance on Riku and Pooh, now much more cautious and wary. Then Tarzan jumped on some of them, knocking them to the ground and joined the other two. Together the trio began to clear the deck, knocking out the crew or throwing them overboard. Pooh had a bit of trouble with that, but his fireballs and balls of ice sent many packing.
Captain Hook was beside himself with fury as he saw the three clear his deck. That dark child! How dare he beat Captain Hook, one of the leaders of the Heartless!
" Give it up, Hook," Peter Pan laughed as he hovered over his nemesis' head. " You're never gonna beat any of us, not ever."
" I'd rather bring the whole world down with me than give up," the man snapped back and Riku suddenly shivered; there was enough conviction in the man's voice for him to believe that Captain Hook would detonate this world rather than surrender.
" Not if I get to you, first," Peter Pan cried out, whipped out his dagger and charged Captain Hook.
" We don't' have time," Sally said haltingly as they watched Peter Pan and Captain Hook engage in yet another duel. " Now's not the time for child's play. We've much more important things to focus on. Oh dear, he's lost to us."
Riku knew what she meant. Now was the time to ignore rivalry and hatred and focus more on finding Tinker Bell and finding the fairy dust needed to reach the sealed libraries of Hollow Bastion. And by now, she meant now.
Riku ran up the stairs to where the two duelists were fighting and for a moment, stopped, studying the situation. Clearly he needed to do something to force them apart, but what?
He brought out the Dark Keyblade and slammed its head down onto the wood, breaking the planks. He then watched with some satisfaction as the planks continued to break, making a long thin gap across the deck and splitting in between Captain Hook and Peter Pan. The long fissure Riku created began to grow and Captain Hook began to shout curses.
" Stop whining," Riku snapped. " Peter Pan, we've got to find Tinker Bell. NOW!"
Peter Pan was just about to make a smart comeback when the gummi ship dove headfirst onto the deck. Today was just not the ship's day.
" Sally!" Riku cried out and Tarzan leaped into the wreckage. Not even ten seconds later, he reappeared with Sally, who didn't seem a bit shaken.
" We gotta bail!" Peter Pan shouted. " Ship's going down! Get that gummi ship into the air fast!"
" My ship!" Captain Hook screamed. " Smee, get us out of here!"
" Ayay, Captain!" Smee, the clumsy right hand answered. " Battleship!"
" Battleship?" Riku wondered. " Heartless!"
" The one and only," Peter Pan replied, then cried out, " Tink!"
Captain Hook grinned as Smee held up his hat triumphantly. Within, Peter Pan was able to spot the frantic movements and the eerie glow of the one and only Tinker Bell.
" Come back here, you!" Peter Pan shouted but the Battleship that loomed up from behind them lobbed a ball in his direction.
Through the smoke that the ball emitted, they could all hear Captain Hook shout, " Take 'er away to the Keyhole!"
" Tink," Peter Pan quickly deflated.
" No time to lose," Sally announced, moving straight for the gummi ship and detaching her arm in the process. " We've got to get to the Clock Tower immediately!"