Disclaimer: Bianca would be a much happier person if she owned Kingdom Hearts. But she doesn't. So, too bad for her.

Kairi: Hi, guys!
Toshi: Hey, there.
Kairi: Toshi and I are going to be presenting Chapter Seven to you. Bianca is... er, well, unavailable.
Toshi: Do you think we tied her up good enough?
Kairi: Toshi! Shut up, you don't know what you're talking about.
Toshi: Eh, whatever.
Kairi: And we'll also be replying to your reviews, but that'll be at the end of the chapter. So, why don't we just go on with the story?
Toshi: x.x
Kairi: ;D

Intertwined Destinies

Chapter Seven.

"We're in... Traverse Town?" questioned Sora, watching as the lady found they right key at last and opened the door.

"Indeed we are," the lady replied, closing the door behind them as they entered the Inn.

"But what you said before... about this town being empty and all..."

"Yes. It's been empty around here lately."

"And it always wasn't, right? Because this town used to be full of people." Sora inquired.

The lady raised an eyebrow. "You've been here before, I presume?"

"Yeah, I have. But why is it deserted now? What happened?"

Fixing the ribbon on her hair, the corners of the lady's lips twitched as Sora asked that. "Let's not talk about that at the moment."

"But I would really like to know."

"No, no," she answered in a very parental tone. "You are in no condition to even be talking right now."

"I feel fine, though. Really," insisted Sora, doing a few jumping jacks for proof.

Blinking in exasperation, the lady sighed. "I'll speak to you about that later, I promise, but I really must tend to you. How about a warm bath and some home-made brownies?"

Sora crossed his arms and pursed his lips. "I don't really..." he paused. "Wait, did you say brownies?"

Kairi didn't know if she screamed or not.

Toshi, however, did scream and shout and yell. And curse.

And all the while he was contemplating murder strategies of revenge on Kairi. Ohh, she was gonna get it sooo baaad.

Endlessly later...

"ARGH..."

"ERGH..."

It wasn't like Kairi and Toshi had fallen on stone-hard concrete and were now slowly dying.

They were probably just struggling to find out who would let go of the other's neck first after Toshi attempted to strangle Kairi, and she immediately followed suit, once they fell on to a tree branch.

Kairi's face was turning a bright pink as Toshi's was turning a pale blue.

"You look like a flamingo," choked out Toshi.

"You look like an Easter egg," Kairi coughed in an equally stuffy voice.

"Let me—ugh—go."

"No... agghh... you let me go."

"You first." Toshi sputtered.

"Yeah, right." Kairi rolled her eyes and tried to breathe, unsuccessfully.

Then the strangling contest turned into a glaring contest as well. Light blue against dark blue, their eyes sparkled competitively as they stared at each other like piercing daggers.

Finally, after what seemed like more endless moments, Kairi was the one to release the other first and they both fell back against the bark of the tree. They breathed deeply and profoundly. Sweet, sweet air. Oxygen. Flowing through their tired lungs once more...

"Ha! I am all powerful," bragged Toshi, sitting up at the same time as Kairi.

"All powerful? No way, Mr. 'Mommy, Mommy, get me out of this dark pit,' and 'I'm too sexy and beautiful to die at such a young, tender age.'"

"At least I was superior enough to survive that intense strangling contest, unlike someone."

"Oh, please. I just let go of you so that I could do this." Kairi smirked and placed her hands on Toshi's shoulders.

She pushed him off the tree branch.

"Aaaaaah—OOF!"

Toshi landed on a bed of flowers. He stared menacingly up at the triumphant-looking Kairi. What was up with that girl and pushing people off great heights?

Sugary, luscious, delectable, saccharine, heavenly, pleasurable...

"Brownies..." murmured Sora, biting into another brownie as if his life depended on it. The chocolate tasted so pure and rich... he felt like he could eat those sweets forever...

Sora smiled. Hey, why not? Then he shook his head at himself and furrowed his brow. No, he still had to find Donald and Goofy.

But maybe just one more brownie... or two...

Or three!

"Four more at the max!" Sora exclaimed with a full mouth.

Trinity, the lady, giggled fitfully. "Oh, you're much too silly. How old did you say you were again? Fifteen?"

Sora nodded, giving her a toothy smile.

Trinity sighed and placed a hand to her cheek. "Fifteen and still so very youthful. It's strange, you know. I met another boy just a bit older than you, not too long ago. Just came out of nowhere, just like you. But he was quite unlike like you, in fact, because he was always so calm, cool, and collected."

Sora swallowed thickly. His excitement and desire for the brownies disappeared. An ill feeling began to develop deep in the pit of his stomach. Calm, cool, collected. Those three words always reminded him of one person.

"Ah! Now I remember," continued Trinity, not taking notice of Sora's sudden sickly silence. "He was about sixteen. Tall... muscular... silver hair... Quite the charmer, actually! Now what was his name...?"

Sora watched weakly as Trinity tapped at her chin inquisitively. His stomach churned. Suddenly, Sora felt as if all those chocolately brownies he downed would begin to come back up.

Trinity finally let out a high-pitched chuckle. "Oh, there we go."

Sora had dropped his gaze down to his shoes and concentrated on them, but now as Trinity laughed at herself he brought his eyes back to her.

Trinity's cheeks flushed a light pink. "I'd say his name over and over again if I wanted to."

Sora bit his lower lip... it certainly couldn't be—

"Riku, Riku, Riku, Riku, RIKU!" squealed Trinity.

"If you stop glaring at me, Toshi," Kairi said huffily as she climbed down the tree, "you'll see that we're out of that bizarre place and in some sort of garden."

Toshi brought himself up and dusted off his clothes. "Oh."

"Exactly." Kairi put a finger to her lips in thought. "Now, where would this place be?"

Toshi leaned against the trunk of the tree. "Who knows."

Kairi sighed at Toshi's carelessness. If Sora were here, he'd care. If Sora were here, he'd devise a plan to get him and Kairi to safety. If Sora were here, he'd make Kairi laugh to refrain her from worrying. If Sora were here...

Kairi blinked to herself. If Sora were here, this wouldn't have happened in the first place.

Toshi closed his eyes, grimaced, and then pushed off the tree. He started walking in a particular direction. "C'mon, let's go this way."

With a puzzled expression, Kairi shrugged and followed Toshi around the corner, past a shed, through a mini slope of buttercups, and down a curving, faded gravel path. They reached a wall covered in vines.

Toshi's azure eyes seemed to concentrate deeply on the wall, and then he stepped to the side and detangled the vines. Ripping off a bunch of the vines, Toshi revealed a frail-looking, old, dusty door.

"How did you know?" Kairi asked for the second time, the first being after the incident of the melted bracelet.

"How did I not know?" Toshi replied with the same answer as before.

Kairi stared at Toshi for a long, long time, trying to figure out this strange boy. She shook her head in wonder and confusion, but by the look he gave her, Kairi knew better than to ask any more questions.

Sora coughed fitfully, his eyes wide with shock.

"Sora? Oh, Sora, are you alright?" Trinity stopped swooning over Riku and patted forcefully at Sora's shaking back.

Sora settled down a little after Trinity gave him a cup of heated, creamy milk. He swallowed the frothy warmth in four large gulps.

"Ri... Riku... Riku? You saw Riku? Here?" stammered Sora, setting down the cup with quavering hands.

Trinity took a seat next to Sora and nodded. "Why, yes. Did I mention how calm, cool, and collected he was?"

Sora blinked. "Um. Yeah, I think so. But I don't think it was necessary to tell me that. I've known him for practically all my life. We're best friends. We were separated, though. About two years ago. When everything changed..."

"Oh, how lucky you are!"

"Huh?"

"To be his best friend, I mean! How thrilling that would be, how exhilarating!"

"I... guess so?"

"Oh, if I were his best friend—not that I would mind being more—I'd be forever grateful and eternally blissful."

Sora laughed emptily. "Riku has that effect on most girls."

Trinity smiled, and after a bit of quietness, she spoke up. "Now, I did promise to tell you about what happened to this town, Traverse Town."

Trinity wasn't smiling anymore. Her mood darkened and it seemed as though her happiness evaporated as an unfortunate memory pricked at her.

Sora's attention perked. "Yeah, um, I'd really like to know."

Trinity hesitated, and then began. "About a month ago, when everything was perfectly well and normal in this town, there was a sudden fog. It was heavy, dark, and mysterious. It blanketed over Traverse Town in sort of a bitter, wicked way. No one could see. Voices felt captured and no one could talk, either. Bodies felt frozen, so no one couldn't move, at all..." she took a deep breath and looked at her pale hands. "... Then everyone just disappeared. Except for me."

"Why not you?" asked Sora, concerned.

Trinity's voice was weak. "Because it was all my fault."

"What?"

Trinity burst into tears. "It w-was all... m-my f-fault..."

Sora knitted his eyebrows together and wet his lips. Finally, he asked, "What happened?"

Trinity dabbed at her eyes with the handkerchief she fished out of her dress pocket. She took a few deep breaths so that when she spoke she would not stutter. "A few weeks before the incident... my younger brother, he passed away. He was so young. He was about your age, actually. Fifteen. He was the only one I had. We were the only ones we had left of our family, since my parents died when my brother was just a toddler and I was about ten years old. After our parent's death, we lived on the streets. We got through our troubles together. We stuck with each other no matter what. But then he got terribly sick... I don't even know what the sickness was called or what caused it. Maybe it was because of malnutrition—we had scarce amount of food a lot of times. He was sick for about two years... we couldn't do anything but hope for the best, because we were too poor to even pay the doctor a visit. Finally, after those two years, I was barely old enough to take a job here... at the Traverse Town Inn. The owner happened to be a good friend of my parents and let my brother and I stay in a room in the Inn. In several months I earned enough money to get him to the doctor... but when I paraded up to our room to tell him the good news..." Trinity stared up at the ceiling to keep the tears from falling, "... I was too late. He was gone. The life had drained out of him a moment too soon."

Sora stared at Trinity with supreme sympathy. The loss of a loved one...

He knew how she felt.

But he felt worse for Trinity because it was a death, not a parting.

Sora sat there in understanding silence, knowing that this had something to do with what happened to Traverse Town and that she'd get to the point sooner or later. He knew that it was actually more important to listen at the moment. Trinity needed comfort. She needed someone to talk to, someone to listen. She had been alone, in this empty town, for too long.

Trinity lowered her head. "I used the money I earned for my brother's doctor appointment for his funeral. The only ones who attended was the owner of the Inn and me. Two people."

Sora bit his lower lip and Trinity wiped at her eyes with the already-soaked handkerchief. Trinity continued on, "At that moment, I was so very willing to do anything to get my precious, younger brother back. I knew it was probably impossible, though. But... then I met Merlin."

Sora's eyes widened. "Merlin? The powerful wizard?"

"Why, of course. Have you met him?"

"Yeah, he helped me train with my Key—" Sora cut himself off. "Uh... I've met him before. But, please, go on."

"Alright. I told him about my predicament and he took me to his hidden home. I practically went to my knees, begging Merlin to help me bring back my brother. I even wept. Kind Merlin brought me back up to my feet and wiped away my tears like the grandfather I never met. He told me he'd been watching me faring through hardships almost my whole life. He told me he admired how I like to remain optimistic. Then he told me that he'd help me get my brother back." At this part, Trinity delivered the tiniest start of a smile. "Merlin gave me a book, a book of spells. It was written in an entirely different language, so of course I didn't know how to read it. But Merlin helped me. In time, I was able to understand quite a bit of the magical language. I desperately wanted to start the spell so that I could get my dear brother back, but Merlin told me that I needed more honing and practicing. I was so impatient, though..."

Trinity paused, a look of regret washing over her face. "So impatient, that when I returned to my room at night, I dared to open the book of spells and begin the magic." Trinity squeezed her eyes shut. "I must've been very nervous and jittery or just plain not ready, because I believe I made a mistake of pronunciation or added an extra syllable to the spell's words. I dropped the book in shock and watched as, out of my window, fog began to take residence in Traverse Town. The night was full of sounds because there was a festival out in First District, but then everything became deadly silent. Finally, when the fog subsided, I found Traverse Town to be empty and myself the only one in it. Even Merlin had disappeared. The magic was strong enough to do that. The mistake was strong enough to do that. So now I've just been... here. Alone."

Trinity opened her eyes. Sora was staring at Trinity with mixed emotions.

It was all a mistake. One, big, gigantic mistake.

It wasn't on purpose, not really. It was out of longing, out of love.

Trinity fidgeted slightly in her seat. "I... I think my brother still came back to life, though."

Sora raised his eyebrows. "Really? Where would he be?"

"I don't know... but I remember the lesson Merlin taught me about faulty spells. If you make the slightest accident, then the spell will most likely still work... but at a cost. It really depends on what you did to contort the spell. Sometimes something very terribly happens, and sometimes the spell actually functions but it would end up different in a way. In my case, both happened."

"The spell would work, but it would be different? I don't really understand that."

"I questioned Merlin about that. In other words, if you don't do the spell right but you still manage to make it productive enough, then you will sort of succeed with the spell... with some side effects."

"Side... effects?"

"Merlin told me that if I messed up on that spell, my brother would still come back to life... but in different shape and size. He'd have a different personality, too. But what good is that, bringing someone back when they'd be absolutely different? I would not recognize him." Trinity sighed. "It would be like creating a new fifteen year old and having him pop out of no where."

Sora looked at Trinity curiously. "But... would you still like to meet your revived brother? Even though he'd be different?"

Trinity smiled, her mood seemed to brighten. "Yes. Because, deep down, his heart would be the same."

Toshi: Now it's time for... REVIEW REPLIES! Drumroll, please.
Kairi: -coughcough-...
Toshi: No drumroll? Fine then, be that way. Well... here we go!

BattleAngelKurumi
Toshi: I, however, hated that part.
Kairi: I rather liked it!
Toshi: But you loved it, BAK, so that was good. -grin-
Kairi: But she doesn't love you, idiot...
Toshi: RAWR! -brings up fists-
Kairi: Bring it on.

paopu
Kairi & Toshi: O.O
Kairi: That was... long.
Toshi: It sure was.
-pause-
Kairi: Wait. Did we actually agree on something?
Toshi: ... Kairi, dear, the Apocalypse has arrived.

weilder of the keyblade
Toshi: Of course you need more. No one can have enough of the TOSHI!
Kairi: Yeah. Except for everyone.
Toshi: x.x Eh, well, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter as well.
Kairi: YUP!

MagicV
Toshi: I don't feel so sorry now. Did you see what she did? Pushed me right off the edge, just like that. The nerve! I can't believe she'd do such a horrid thing! I didn't even deserve it! I didn't do anything to... okay, so maybe I did deserve it a little but—
Kairi: You deserved it a hecka lot.
Toshi: You just broke my heart, Kairi. -teartear-
Kairi: Oh, gee, and I half suspected you to be some sort of heartless person.
Toshi: Ehh...
Kairi: But as for Sora and I meeting... that's up to Binki. But I DO hope she makes it soon. I miss my little Sora-poo.
Toshi: What. The. Heck?

Dragongirl920
Kairi: And we'll make sure that she'll update as much as she can—
Toshi: —no matter how much her freshman butt aches. ;D

daaku
Kairi: -hands you a tissue- Sorry, but we don't know who the blonde girl is.
Toshi: ...
Kairi: Why are you being so quiet all of a sudden, Toshi?
Toshi: ... I think I... the blonde girl... she... OH, never mind. -walks away sulking-
Kairi: 0.o...

Mysterious Prophetess
Kairi: Toshi left. The bum. So he doesn't have a say in this review reply. But, yeah, Binki updated. :)

Kairi: Well, that's the end of the review replies. I don't know if Toshi and I will be back next time. This'll probably be only a once-in-a-while thing. You know how that goes. Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter. See you in Chapter Eight! Well, at least you'll see us. xD I'm going to go fetch that Toshi now...