Author's Note-Sorry for taking so long, guys. It's the last week of school next week and the teachers are trying to pile as much work as they can on us. I've had several projects and tests to deal with, and next week I have exams. Luckily, I'll finally be free then. The rough draft is going fairly well (even though I've had to scramble around for lost pages..I'm so disorganized.. -.-;; ), so after tests and stuff, I can get a whole lot more done. But, to make it up to ya guys, here's a nice, long chapter. As always, I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Now, on with the fic!
"Everyone alright?" Yukiro called, pushing the last rock off himself and sitting up, looking around.
"We're all still alive, if that's okay…" Riku called back.
Yukiro glanced over at him, who was helping up Vincent. "Good enough…" he sighed, climbing painfully to his feet. "Where's Barret, Red, and the old man?" he asked.
"Near the entrance, close to where they were hiding," Riku replied, 'glancing' over at him. "They're okay, more or less."
"Good." Yukiro turned to the door and glanced back at them all again. "I'm going to go on ahead. Be back in a moment…" he said. He walked up to the double doors, placing both hands on each. He paused, his face serious, then pushed the doors open.
Crossing the threshold, he entered a ravine and looked up at the statue of a large cat that looked remarkably like Red XIII. The statue stood atop a cliff, its head looking up to stare at the stars that shone brightly in the velvet black sky. Underneath, embedded into the cliff was a large keyhole, about the three feet tall and about a foot wide.
Blue eyes frowned at the darkness swirling around the keyhole, and the darkness that was almost inside. He then closed his eyes and shook his head. "Gotta purify it. Nothin's easy," he sighed. He walked over to the cliff side, leaping up the ledges to the keyhole. He paused when he reached it, then touched his heart. He withdrew his hand that now had a ball of light resting on the fingertips, much like the time he purified Riku's heart. The hand was lifted, palm pointed towards the opening of the hole. The light was gradually absorbed, and any darkness and Heartless that was tainting it was already cleared away.
Yukiro sighed, his shoulders slumping as he stepped back, off the ledge, and came to a gentle and easy landing on the ground. "Now for the barrier…" he said, forming his bladed staff and raising it up over his head. In one hand, he twirled it, faster and faster until it was a blur, nothing more than a circle of light.
"Light is my circle, it is my shield,
And now it is needed for the keyhole not yet sealed.
A barrier of light, I need to create
To save this world from the darkest of fates.
Barrier, keep the darkness away,
For when I am gone, the protection must stay.
Only those with hearts of light are allowed inside
That is the new law all must abide
Arise!"
There was suddenly a shimmer of light before him, like a curtain, a wall of sparkles falling particularly from nowhere at all. The staff came to an immediate halt and Yukiro quickly lowered it. He smiled weakly. "Purification and then protection spells… I should have gotten more training in magic from Brigit…" he said tiredly.
In his weariness, he didn't notice the bat Heartless sneaking up behind him, the one Heartless he had missed. Suddenly-
"Gahhh!" Yukiro yelled as something yellow, something sharp stabbed into the back of his right shoulder. He blindly swung his staff back and the blade hit the winged creature. His shoulder drooped as weight was added to the stab and he dropped to his knees, wincing as he yanked the sharp tentacle out.
"Dammit…" he managed to say. Already, he was feeling light-headed. His vision was already beginning to blur from the poison. "I shouldn't have been so careless…" With that, he fell face-forward, passing out.
"Yukiro! You alright?" several calls sounded out.
Vincent, Riku, and Barret ran over, stopping in the doorway. There was a moment of silence as they looked around, and then spotted the prince.
"Prince Yukiro!" Vincent exclaimed, running to Yukiro's side. Barret and Riku began to follow and…
…That's when the unexpected happened.
Vincent passed through the newly-formed shield of light, as did Barret. But Riku…
He hit the barrier, but he did not pass through. Instead, it held him for a moment, he was stuck, and he cried out as thousands of voices invaded his mind, millions of memories came surging forth. Memories that were not his.
Vincent stopped and whirled around, his gun already in his hand and aimed. But he didn't fire, and his red eyes widened as he saw what Riku could not see. The boy's body was filled with darkness, completely black like a three-dimensional shadow. A red mark, a Heartless sign suddenly formed on his chest, small but visible. Several flashes of darkness, then the flickering, ghostly appearance of a body. But…the body was not Riku's. It was a body of an adult, a tall grown man with a strong, muscular frame. Long silver hair swirled around him, making him look as ghostly as ever.
The blindfold seemed to burn away, incinerated. The eyes snapped open, and Vincent's blood froze. For one eye was steely-blue, silver in the right light, and the other eye was amber…
Vincent's eyes widened. "It can't be…" he whispered.
Suddenly, it was over. Riku's body flew back and slammed into the canyon wall, clearly seen as Riku again on impact. He groaned and slumped to the ground. He looked up, eyes still open, oblivious to any pain it may be causing him.
That's when he spoke, but when he did, it was in a voice that was not his own. Instead, it was quieter, older. "Ah, I see now. My theory was correct. Everything is coming back to me, the true…"
The words trailed off. Riku blinked, looking puzzled. "Gah!" He shut his eyes, finally feeling the pain from the faint light.
Vincent did not lower his gun and his eyes narrowed.
"What happened to my blindfold…?" Riku muttered, feeling the floor around him. He stopped, sensing a bit of hostility glowering from Vincent and 'looked' over. "Vincent? What's wrong? What happened?"
Though Riku couldn't see it in the normal sense, he 'saw' Vincent's figure pointing something at him. A gun. His look grew grim, especially at the suspicion and the harshness in Vincent's tone, and the question that went with it.
"…Just who the hell are you…?"
"Baloo, Bagheera… I'm sorry for running away. I guess I understand now. Why I shouldn't live in the jungle. I'm not a panther…or a bear, or a wolf, or an elephant. I'm just a mancub, nothing more," Mowgli sighed as they headed back.
"Cheer up, Mowgli. It's not that bad being a mancub," Taro said.
Sora nodded. "Yeah. Mancub or not, you were a big help in the battle against Shere Khan. We couldn't have done it without you."
"Yeah. Not bad for a squirt," Tam joked, ruffling Mowgli's hair.
"Hey!"
"But a tough squirt," Taro added, grinning.
"I'm not a squirt!" Mowgli shot back as Taro, Sora, Baloo, and Tam laughed. Bagheera merely shook his head, but smiled as he rolled his eyes. Taro smiled nostalgically. Mowgli did remind him a bit of his younger cousin, a bit in personality. He would have reacted the same way.
"Hey, we'll be passing King Louie's castle on our way to the man village, right?" Tam asked.
"Hey, yeah. We're supposed to get that other thing they promised, aren't we?" Taro asked, being snapped out of his thoughts. "What was it?"
"Some kind of card or whatever, but supposedly it's really important to Sora," Tam replied, glancing down at Sora.
Taro shrugged. "Well, it just might be. Hell, maybe this is what will restore Sora's memory," he suggested.
"Maybe," Tam agreed doubtfully. "But let's not get our hopes up."
Taro shrugged.
Sora was silent, lost in thought as they made their way through the jungle. Finally, he asked quietly, "Taro? Who's Riku?"
Taro glanced down at Sora, blinking. When Sora saw his questioning look, he decided to continue. "It's just that…even though I barely know who I am, I sometimes have these fragmented memories. I can hear voices, and sometimes I even get a glimpse of all these different places and faces. I think they're memories, but they're like the scattered, unnumbered pages of a book; I'm having trouble piecing them all back together."
"Huh…" Taro murmured. "Well…hm. What can I say about Riku…?" He thought for several moments, then said, "You know something funny? I knew Riku for a few months; he lived with us. But…I never really knew him long enough to actually describe him. At least, not the real Riku. He pretended to have amnesia until the last minute. Nah, I can't really tell who he was, but I can tell you what he did, and maybe then you can make your assumptions from there."
Sora blinked, then smiled and nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Taro."
"No problem."
"Save the stories for the ship, you guys. It might actually achieve killing some of the boredom. Besides, we're here." Tam said, glancing back at them and pointing up at the stone ruins of the castle.
The two boys nodded and everyone made their way into the castle.
Tam gave the boys a nudge as they walked down what was once a hallway. Taro glanced over at her. Sora was too busy looking up at the canopy that had seemed to have replaced the ceiling.
"What?" Taro asked, blinking.
Tam jerked her head over at some movement in the trees. "See that?" She asked in a low voice.
Taro caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and frowned. "Yeah. What is it?"
"Monkeys. We're not coming in with any surprises," Tam replied.
By the time they had gotten to the throne room, King Louie was indeed well-informed of their arrival.
"Welcome back," King Louie said. "Did you take care of Shere Khan?"
"To an extent, yes. I don't think he'll be back to bother you guys anytime soon. Now hand over the card," Tam replied. Taro and Sora sweatdropped, exchanging glances. This girl really could be in the mafia or something…
"Now, wait, wait, wait! What about the Heartless? Have you sealed the keyhole?" King Louie questioned.
"Er…" Tam started. She, Taro, and Sora exchanged glances. "No."
"Then you don't get the card."
"Now hang on a minute! Getting rid of Shere Khan was hard enough! We all nearly died. I think we deserve the stupid card!" Taro snapped.
King Louie jumped down from his throne to get up into Taro's face. "Now see here, mancub-"
"Look, you dumb monkey! We fought your little battle, now pay up!" Taro shot back.
As the two argued, something caught Sora's eye. The carvings in the throne… They all came together to form one shape, a hole…
…A keyhole…
"Um…guys?" Sora said. Nobody really seemed to notice. Sora shrugged and formed his keyblade, pointing it at the keyhole. The point of the blade began to glow.
Meanwhile, Tam looked around the ruins. Her eyes narrowed a bit as she spotted a dark and gold figure standing atop one of the walls. As soon as it appeared, though, it was gone. She turned her gaze downward, and she blinked, her green eyes widening slightly as she noticed Sora's keyblade beginning to glow, then the keyhole before them.
Sora felt the keyblade. It had life, practically a mind of its own. Suddenly, a light shot from the tip, about to feed into the keyhole…
When it stopped. The darkness inside the keyhole rippled, some sort of barrier. Taro and King Louie fell silent, turning their attention to watch the boy's struggle.
"The keyhole won't lock!" Sora exclaimed.
"Maybe it's the wrong key…" Taro suggested.
"No. So long as the keyblade is of light, I don't think it really matters," Sora replied, frowning with worry. "Hm…" He was suddenly struck with an idea. Maybe if I add my own energy to the keyblade's, it will be enough power to break through the barrier! It's worth a try! Sora began to feed his energy into the keyblade. Taro watched with surprise, seeing the change that Sora was too distracted to notice.
The hair of the young brunette was being upswept. He was encircled with light, several gleams spun around him, growing thicker and thicker, like a cyclone almost, and what looked like glowing snowflakes rose up into the air around him, disappearing when they were high enough. It looked as if he was almost…floating?
The beam grew wider. The barrier began to cave inward, vibrating, swirling, rippling with darkness.
"It's working! Sora, keep trying-I think you've almost broken the barrier!" Taro cheered.
The light suddenly blew a hole through the darkness. They heard an echoing click inside as the opening of the keyhole was covered over with stone. Whatever was left of the barrier dissolved and disappered into a dark mist.
Taro grinned. "Alright!"
The encircling light around Sora disappeared. The brunette dropped to his knees in a sudden wave of weariness, his keyblade disappearing, but smiled.
"You okay?" Taro asked, blinking.
Sora glanced back at Taro, still smiling, and nodded. "Yeah…"
Taro nodded and then turned to King Louie, smirking. "You were saying…?"
"…Fine. Take the dumb card," King Louie grumbled, tossing the card over to him grudgingly.
Taro caught it. "Thanks…"
"Hey, Taro," Sora called, "Come take a look at this…"
"Hm?" Taro asked, walking over. He looked at the floor in front of the keyhole where something had fallen. "What's this…?" he wondered aloud, picking it up and turning it over in his hand.
It looked like a keychain. It was shaped like a small yet somewhat wide, single-pointed leaf, and it was striped orange and black. The thin metal was hard, like gold, yet somewhat flexible. Though along one side, it read in gold letters, 'Tigerfire.'
"It looks like some kind of keychain," Taro replied.
"For your keyblades?" Sora asked. Taro blinked at him, then closed his eyes and grinned.
"Nah. You keep it. You deserve it," he said. "Besides, you're supposed to be the hero of this story; I'm just the bodyguard, from what I hear. Here." He tossed the keyblade to Sora. Sora caught it and blinked, then smiled.
"Uh... Thanks..."
"Don't mention it," Taro said.
They suddenly heard a 'thud' behind Taro. "What the…?" Taro muttered. He turned to see that Tam had collapsed, unconscious. His eyes widened. "Tam!" he exclaimed, rushing over and kneeling by her side. "Tam! Tam! Wake up!"
"Taro, what happened?" Sora asked, too weak to stand up and see.
"I don't know. She just suddenly passed out," Taro replied tersely.
"We should probably start heading back to the ship, then," Sora said. He stood up about halfway, then fell back down again. "Uhm…"
"Right…" Taro said, standing up and shoving the card into his pocket. He turned to Baloo and Bagheera. "Can one of you guys help out Sora? I can get Tam," he said.
Baloo nodded, walking over. "I can," he said. "Let's go, Spiky-Head." He picked up Sora and turned to Taro, who was picking up Tam. "Lead the way, kid."
Taro blinked, having just then realized that he wasn't all too clear on where exactly the ship was. "Well, uhm…" he started, looking around. "Crap…"
Bagheera, seeing the blonde teen's plight, turned to King Louie. "Perhaps you could send us an escort. I'm sure you monkeys all know where this ship of theirs is," he suggested.
King Louie rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine…" he said. He called one of the monkeys over. "Go show them where their gunni-"
"Gummi," Taro corrected a bit absently.
"Gummi ship," King Louie corrected, once again rolling his eyes. "You know where it is."
The monkey nodded and set off for the ship. Bagheera, Baloo, Mowgli, and Taro followed, carrying their two friends along with them.
Author's Note- Meh…not much to say here. I gotta say, though, I'm a bit relieved that school is ending so I'll have more time to work on this. Not to mention that my little sister's birthday was today… It's a busy month. –swirly eyes- Heh, Doghouse, don't worry. Like I said, I'll get more into Tam's past. In fact, we may have a couple of character appearances, though I'm not making any promises.. –grin- And yes, Demonsurfer, I do agree. FMA does rock. Even though the 'Farewell Ceremony' episode ish sad… -sniffle- But, I think the character that died in that episode is still going to be alive in this story, so no worries...I think… Namine3419, Riku is my favorite KH character, too. He's cool and he's easy to torture! –insert evil anime girl laugh here- But seriously, he is awesome. Shion20, FMA is somewhat easy to identify, isn't it? But, it's not entirely an anime. In fact, I heard that the video game came out first and the anime was built around it. Anyways, hopefully I'll have the have the next chapter out quite soonish. Just gotta get through finals and all that other crap over the week… So, please review! Ja ne!