Me: You see? You see? I said I'd update Friday and I DID so HA!
All:...
Me: (ahem) Er, yes, chapter time... thingy...
Sora: She has a dedication!
Me: I do?
Sora: (whacks)
Me: Ah, yes, I do! ;; This chapter is for Heart of Dreams. She let me bug her about her plot. And let me yell at her for the plot holes XDD.
Riku: That poor girl.
Me: Oh hush. Her brain will be all right... eventually.
All: (sweatdrop)
Me: He-he, on with chapter... (checks chapter) ten! I think it's ten... hmmm...
On a Gummi Ship
It had been steady cruising for the past hour or so. Except for, you know, Sora running into a boulder or two. Not his fault. The rocks moved their on purpose, he swore! He knew someone would kill him for the dents in the ship, but he brushed that fact aside as he avoided death by a hair fore the umpteenth time.
He led the ship a fair distance from the behemoth of rock, sighing in relief.
"WHOA!" he exclaimed, steering it up just in time to avoid a zooming meteor. It was like trouble was just looking for him out here today.
He attempted to keep his mind blank so he could concentrate on piloting the ship through space and rock. It was times like these when he wished Heartless ships were around so he could blast them and pick up some power.
As this thought ran through his head, something caught his eye. "Huh?" he murmured, distracted as he looked out of the side of the window. Maybe it was just because he was thinking about it at the time, but it also seemed that rock was in the shape of...
Heartless ships!
Sora let out a gasp of surprise as the Spectra Ship jostled him in his seat. Shaking his head, his eyes widened at what he was seeing.
Coming towards him were at least ten ships, dark blocks combined together to form sleek black shuttles. Steel shooters were lowered from the belly and aiming directly at the Spectra.
"What the hell?" Sora muttered. Flipping a safety catch, Sora slipped his finger over a switch and pressed down. The machine made a slight humming noise as a shield buzzed to life around it. The shield was good for long range shooting, but not short range. Another few seconds and those ships would be in firing distance. Also, this defense wouldn't help any if he slammed into something... or if something slammed into him.
Sora knew now that Kairi and Riku had been telling the truth when they said Heartless ships were out there. But why? There hadn't been a Heartless ship around here in years.
And as Sora fueled up the guns that lay in front of the Spectra's throttle, his mind couldn't help but drift to the only possibility their was.
Around three years ago, the king had told them of a second door. A back door, if you will. He had said that even though the door to the light, and therefore the darkness, had been closed, there was a back door. The second door to the darkness.
Sora had figured that it was nothing to worry about since he had destroyed all those who would even think of doing something as re-opening the door. There was no one else out there with that kind of power.
And yet, here he was shooting ships out of the sky like he had done four years ago, when the door was open. When Heartless still thrived, feeding off of the hearts of people, both innocent and evil. But if there were ships out here, then Sora didn't even want to think about what his mind was screaming at him.
But as he shot down the last ship, as his eyes wandered off to the screen that showed his approaching destination, Sora just couldn't let it go. He didn't think that place was good and he certainly didn't think so now. Whatever was going on, wherever those Heartless ships had come from, he had a terrible feeling they were coming from there.
Disney Castle
King Mickey had just been about to place a call into the pilot to see how things were doing when he looked at the cameras stationed in the Spectra Ship. What Sora had told him made him no happier then when someone had called and informed him the shipment of his favorite cheese had been delayed. And for those of you who don't know how much Mickey Mouse likes his cheese, he likes it a lot. Which means he hated the phone call. Which means he hated it when Sora told him he was going off to check up on some un-charted planet that he wasn't even sure existed.
He needed a vacation.
Tail whipping out behind him like it usually did when he was agitated; Mickey stalked to the Throne Room to tell others of this 'delay'. And after that, to check out this mysterious piece of space that had grabbed the Keybearer's attention. There was obviously something there. King Mickey knew Sora wasn't the brightest crayon in the bunch, but he also knew that the brunette relied heavily on instinct.
Worse thing was Sora's instinct turned out to be almost always right.
Even worse was Sora had instincts about bad things more then good.
King Mickey sighed, coming to a halt in front of a high, polished doorway. Behind it lay the people who would be questioning him about Sora's not being here yet. It wasn't anything bad, really, but Mickey just had a terrible feeling. Something dark looming in his heart, making it impossible for him to conjure up the slightest of happy thoughts. Something was coming and he didn't like it.
Lifting his head up, his huge rounded ears quivered slightly. They did this whenever it was about to rain. And sure enough, large gray storm clouds were tumbling across the sky, blocking out the suns light and enveloping the world in darkness. A wet, springy smell filled his nostrils and he could pick up the slightest rumbles of thunder making its way through the air.
"Sora..." King Mickey whispered. "Come home safely."
Gummi Ship
Sora stared angrily at the controls as if it had been their fault the Spectra Ship was in even worse shape then it had been before. The space surrounding him was completely empty except for the occasional meteor that zoomed by in the background Sora could just make out the shape of Monstro drifting lazily through the darkness, tail moving in a constant rhythm.
But Sora had no time to worry about those things now. For one, he had to call someone and tell hem that Heartless ships were on the loose. Second of all... was it just him, or was it getting darker?
But that was impossible. He was in space, it couldn't GET any darker. And yes... the meteors were fewer and seemed as if they lay hidden under shadows. The vortex of colors surrounding him were drifting away like fog, dark and dreary in a mass of swirling black, blue and gray; a bruise in the sky.
And what was even weirder was the stars. There were millions of worlds out there. Millions. And Sora knew every one of them. He also knew that they were always too far away to be seen except when in close contact. He had learned it was part of the planet's defenses; invisible to the naked eye, seen only as a star. Normally there should be tons of stars blinking down on him, a sight he looked forward to every time on the Gummi Ship, but he could barely see ten of them now.
Now four.
Now three.
"What the hell is going on here?" Sora murmured, eyes narrowing in suspicion. Whatever was going on here, he was going to find out.
His gloved hand ran along the dark board underneath the wheel until it felt a circular indent. Reaching inside, he pulled on s steel latch and it pulled out like a table. On it was a flat black screen with the exception of a tiny green dot in the middle and a web of spiraling green rays surrounding it; a radar.
Sora touched the plasma screen, the warmth of the dull light sinking into his finger. There were no dots surrounding him at all.
Glancing up ahead, the screen that had showed him the mysterious space was still there. According that, he couldn't be more then a mile away But the sonar was saying otherwise.
In his confusion, Sora didn't feel the Spectra Ship begin to pick up its speed by a hair. He was too busy dialing in the number for Disney Castle. He also didn't notice the small red dot go off in the corner of the plasma screen as he slid it back into his case. If he had, he would have found something rather interesting.
The screen had gone dead.
Destiny Islands
"What are we going to do?"
Riku raised a fine silver eyebrow at the red head who was sitting on the desk, bare feet dangling limply so that her toes drew patterns in the still water. Small fish came to nip at her toes now and then, but she failed to notice. Her head was somewhere off in her own little world.
Riku had been polishing the blade on his Wingblade, a whittling stone lying next to him. (Do you use whittling stones for things like that? O.O) It was chipped and worn, permanently stained with blood. "What do you mean what are we going to do?" He asked.
Kairi jumped slightly; she hadn't noticed she had been voicing her thoughts out loud. But Riku gave her a look and she sighed, resigned to telling him what she was thinking about.
"I meant Sora," she whispered.
Riku nodded; he had deduced as much. "What about him?" Riku asked.
"Isn't there something we could do?" Kairi asked impatiently, eyes flashing.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down," Riku said, setting down his blade. "Nothing to get worked up about."
Riku got up from the support he had been resting on and slid over next to Kairi, plopping down. He slid the scandals off of his feet and set them down next to him, letting his feet dip into the cool ocean water.
"Well?" Kairi asked, hoping to get some ideas from him. "Don't you have anything?"
"Any what?" Riku asked bitterly. "There's nothing to have."
Kairi frowned. "Riku, I know you've been thinking about this as much as I have. Or something pretty close to it."
Riku sighed, drawing circles in the water. His face reflected back at his and worry lines etched his brow, lines drawn in a tight line. But there was something in his eyes... something he didn't like.
"I don't know what I'm thinking," Riku whispered after a moments silence, breaking his gaze away from the water. "It all feels... so familiar. Like one giant deja vuu... and I have nothing to do but wait to find out what I already knew." He sighed, looking up at the sky. "The thing is... there's one giant problem."
"What?" Kairi asked, leaning forward to get a better view of his face that was still tilted towards the heavens.
Riku let his eyes drift shut, the sun shining through his eyelids and giving his sight a red-marble affect. "I'm feeling... exactly what I did four years ago." His face fell to his chin, eyes still clamped shut. "It's this place... I've been here for three years, Kairi. It's worse then before. Before I still had the doubt it was all just a dream. I thought that maybe there really weren't any worlds out there. But now..."
He finally let his eyes open and locked his gaze with Kairi's. "Now I know what's out there. And just knowing that there is so many new things out there, so many adventures... it just hurts. I'm an adult now, Kairi. And I still feel like the kid I was before this whole mess. I feel like I'm kept in a prison... surrounded by water. It's frustrating... I can swim as far as I want and I'll end up going in a circle right back to this damn island."
Kairi was frowning. "Riku... listen, it's not that bad..."
"No, YOU listen," Riku snapped, eyes flaming. "I don't just get mad at this place; I get mad at Sora, too. That's what I'm thinking about. You said I've been thinking about Sora? Well you're right, I have. He's LUCKY. He can be in a place where all of his dreams can come true. He can go on countless adventures as king; time isn't a problem. The only problem is to decide what to do first! And his first thoughts are this stupid place! This damned island! There's nothing great about it and he wants to return here so bad. The thing is... the thing is I'd give anything to be where he is now and HE'D give anything to be where we are. It's not FAIR!"
His fist slammed down onto the wooden plank. He heard a crack as the wood splintered, cracking downwards in a ditch. But Riku didn't care about that.
"Riku, listen!" Kairi commanded. "Don't be mad at Sora! He has nothing to do with it. He doesn't want to be king because of Destiny Islands. He doesn't want to be king because of US! He doesn't want to come back here, he still wants adventures too! But he knows he can't have them. For the rest of his life he's going to be having people watching over him, people looking up to him, expecting him to behave a certain way! And you're not helping at all! He can see right through you, Riku. He says it himself! He knows what's going on in your head and he doesn't get mad. He feels guilty! All he's worried about right now is finding a way to make us happy. But he's worried that you're too nomadic to see the good when it's staring you right in the face!"
Riku was dumbstruck. He had never heard Kairi spoken in that way before, especially to him. The worst part is... all of it... was true.
Riku's head sunk in shame. "You're right," he murmured, not looking her in the eye. "All I've been doing is thinking bout myself... Sora doesn't really need to be worrying about me."
Kairi's hard expression softened as she watched the distressed teenager. It was hard on both of them, really. There was no set way to be happy without sacrifice, and that was no choice at all.
Kairi rested a hand on Riku's shoulder. "Don't worry," she whispered. "It'll be okay... we'll find a way to work this out."
"No it won't," Riku said through gritted teeth, back to staring at the sky. "Something always goes wrong with stuff like that."
Kairi snorted gently. "That's a bit paranoid. When Sora comes back in an hour or so, we'll work this all out."
Riku narrowed his eye at the sky. "Some things aren't that simple, Kairi. Sora may not be coming back for a very long time."
Kairi narrowed her eyes. "Why do you say that?"
Riku pointed up at the small black mass the size of a marble in the sky. It looked like a miniature version of the sun, only black. A slight haze grew around it, making it seem almost alive. "That's why I say that," he said with deceptive calmness.
Gummi Ship
Sora had pulled down the screen King Mickey had been on an hour before, pressing the intercom button once. A small keyboard lowered itself from the screen with the number 0-9 on it. Sora quickly punched in a three digit number and waited. He had stopped watching where he was going as there was nothing left to dodge. No more Heartless ships had flown at him since the last batch and the only rocks in his way were ones no bigger then his fist and they were easily deflected by the shield, bouncing along the underbelly of the sip to rest in nothingness once again.
He waited for several seconds, frowning. The screen remained black. A slight blip of color flashed across the screen before disappearing again.
"Hmph," Sora snorted, dialing in the number again. But there wasn't even a blip this time.
Starting to get worried, Sora tried the manual intercom placed by the weaponry switch. Lifting the speaker to his mouth, he started speaking in a message to the port at Disney Castle. Releasing the button he had been holding in to speak, Sora heard a large static noise. Something was intercepting the transmission.
This was really ticking him off. "Spectra Ship to port, come in."
"..." static.
"I repeat, Spectra Ship to port, come in."
"..."
Nothing.
Now Sora started to get worried. And when you get worried, you're bound to get a little bit paranoid.
But what Sora felt was real, the paranoia sinking into his brain opening his senses to what had been happening for the last half hour.
He could see the speed dial slowly starting to pick up. The numbers were slowly increasing: 60.7... 61... 61.4...
He could hear the fuel in the engines starting to make a louder hissing noise. The stream of fuel flowing through the tank was quickening in pace.
He could feel the shock waves of the worlds becoming less and less. As if he were drifting farther and farther away from them to where no barriers existed.
His taste senses had been completely shut off. His mouth had run too dry to taste anything, not even the syrup he had drenched his pancakes in four hours ago.
He could smell the scent of sweat that was beginning to form on Sora's body in small beads. It wasn't hot in the car, but sometimes you didn't sweat because of the heat.
Now was the time to start panicking. His hands fumbled with the catch beneath the wheel, frantically pulling the radar from its original home. His eyes widened. The swinging band of green light that wound around the center was gone. The screen was completely black; not even small dots of light that indicated rocks could be seen anymore.
His eyes caught sight of the speed bar as the Spectra gave a lurching jump. 160... 161... 161.5...
He felt his body shake as it was pressed farther against the seat. He brought the black box from the transmission back to his mouth. "Mayday, Mayday! Spectra to port, Spectra to Port!"
But there wasn't even static anymore. No, he could hear something else. That sound...
...the sound he had heard only hours before. But there was something else mixed in with it. A small, cold chuckle.
"MAYDAY, MAYDAY!"
But it was too late for anything now. 195... 199... 205...
Sora was pressed harshly back against his seat, G force grabbing a hold of the skin of his face and pulling back his lips. Sora grunted as he fought the steering wheel which was going crazy; it was twisting constantly now to the left, bringing the ship down into a spiral. It was like he was falling into something. But how can you fall into something in space, there was nothing there!
The spiraling force sent Sora's ship looping upside down so that he was forever pinned back to his seat or straining to break loose from his seat belt.
The steering wheel finally whacked his hands, sending a sharp jolt of pain spiraling through the nerves of his arm.
His arms snapped back against the chair, his body unable to move. It felt like the very blood in his veins was being held still, building an immense pressure inside of his body. Sora's eyes were bulging, pressure adding up there as well. Sora clamped his eyelids shut; he had learned that if the pressure was to extreme, the first things to go would be the eyeballs, popping right in their sockets.
He could almost feel his bones begin to bend, soon to snap. But the speed continued to increase. It was going to go on forever. Sora didn't need to look at the speed bar to know they were going over 300 now. It was too much. Something was going to go...
...and then it stopped.
End
Me: I DID IT! I DID IT! I wrote this chapter in TWO HOURS! And I haven't had ANY sleep for THREE DAYS!
Digitaldreamer: (twitches)
All: O.O
Riku: Isn't that a bit... extreme?
Me: Hell no! I'm thinking of a fourth night!
Cast: (jaws drop)
Digitaldreamer: If you do that, I am going to drive down there and kill you. I will.
Me: Just kidding (sweatdrop). Oh, cliffhanger! Ah ha ha, DON'T HURT ME! Next chapter is next Friday, review me please!
Sora: (waves good-bye) Save me! You know something bad's gonna happen!
Me: (grins while pushing Sora out of picture) Eh he he he... BYE!