Guess who's ba-aack~!
Welp, college has started back up, but I have more time than I usually do because of Hurricane Florence. If you guys remember last year, my campus is right on the coast, so we evacuated earlier this week, so that cancelled my classes until further notice. I'll be back before I know it, but for now, I'm gonna get this chapter up and start working on the next one.
Alright, that being said: the next chapter!
Aqua reassured everyone, "The spell is set up so only I will know how to get there. If we run into anyone, it won't be in the room, just on the way up."
A collective nod went through the group as they stepped up to the entrance of Castle Oblivion. The doors opened to reveal the white walls and empty halls that waited within.
The sound of an engine whirring through the air made the group stop, however, and turn their gaze to the sky. Another Gummi Ship was landing next to their own, hydraulics hissing as the platform extended to the ground and the door slid open.
"Riku! Kairi!" shouted a familiar voice as a spiky-haired teen ran out of the ship. Sora bounded from the platform and took off towards his friends.
"Sora!" Riku and Kairi responded. Kairi ran towards her childhood friend, Riku trailing behind her as she met Sora in an embrace.
"It's so good to see you again!" Kairi exclaimed happily, letting go of Sora. She looked over his shoulder to see Donald and Goofy walking off the ship as well. "Hi, Donald! Hello, Goofy!"
"Well hiya, Kairi," Goofy replied, waving at the young redhead. Donald followed suit, giving a signature quack.
Riku caught up with Kairi, offering Sora a smile. Kairi backed away from Sora, who returned Riku's smile with his own goofy grin. "Long time, no see, huh, Riku?"
A chuckle bubbled in Riku's chest. "You said it, Sora." He offered his hand, to which Sora shook gleefully. The two friends joined Kairi, Donald, and Goofy and returned to the waiting group at the doors to Castle Oblivion.
At the sight of the young brunette, Aqua's heart gave a leap of happiness. Her mind filled with the images of two small boys she met on a small island. A smile graced her features, and her heart felt at home as she looked at his face.
'He still looks so much like Ven,' she thought to herself.
Sora bounded up the steps and greeted Lea. After being introduced to Nightly, he turned to Aqua. His bright smile faltered for a moment, and he seemed to recognize Aqua for a second before recovering his smile and holding out his hand. "Hi, my name's Sora!" he greeted happily.
"Aqua," she replied, shaking his hand.
Sora nodded, his heart pounding in his chest. 'What is going on?' he thought. He turned his focus to the open entrance of Castle Oblivion as he desperately tried to fight the urge to cry out of pure joy. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice the reddening of his cheeks as they entered the open doors. Sora's countenance turned from flustered to amazed at the sight of the foreign castle, and Riku watched on anxiously as he watched his friend take in every detail.
As he did so, Sora felt a growing pain in his head. Blaming the whiteness of the castle's interior, Sora rubbed his forehead, only for the pain to rapidly escalate. Feeling as if his head was about to split in two, he grabbed both sides of his head, gritting his teeth from the pain.
Riku instantly noticed this change in Sora. He heard Donald and Goofy make similar groans of pain, and looked back to see them also holding their heads from it.
"What's happening?" asked a fearful Nightly.
"Is the spell affecting them?" Aqua inquired.
"It already did," retorted Riku, rushing to Sora's side and leaving the rest of the group to look on in concern and confusion as the brunette collapsed to his knees. To Sora, he asked, "Sora? Can you hear me?"
To Sora, however, Riku's voice was just another buzz in the droning in his ears. He continued to hold his head as images forced their way into his mind. Memories of an adventure he never had, fights he never fought, enemies and a blonde girl he had only met twice.
It all ended as soon as it began. Sora blinked his eyes open, looking up at the now very familiar walls of a very familiar castle. He stood, slowly and wobbly at first; but when a hand offered assistance, he refused.
He swallowed hard, remembering the confusion and strangeness of Castle Oblivion, remembering the hurt at seeing friends who didn't know him.
Remembering how the story ended.
He turned slowly, looking at his two companions. They looked back at him with equal concern. It finally occurred to him that someone was trying to get his attention.
"…ra, are you okay? Sora," Riku's voice finally cut through the buzz, and he looked to his old friend.
"We…we were here, weren't we?" Sora asked slowly. He looked to Riku, desperate for answers. "Why did we forget being here, Riku?"
Riku paused, then looked to the ground shamefully. "Look, Sora…" he trailed off, then began again. "You, Donald, and Goofy were here about a year ago. While you all went through Castle Oblivion, Organization XIII tried to steal your memories of your first adventure. But a girl named Naminé helped put your memories back together."
At the mention of Naminé, Kairi put her hand to her heart. Sora looked at Kairi, seeing her response. "Right," Sora said, bringing his own hand to his chest, remembering Roxas and the promise he made him. He closed his eyes for a moment, and swore he could feel Roxas behind him, smiling.
"Sora?" Goofy asked in concern.
Sora opened his eyes again and grinned at his old friends. "I'm okay," he said. "Let's get going. Who are we trying to find, again?"
"My friend, Ven," Aqua answered, offering the teenager a smile. Sora returned the smile, clenching his fist as he felt his heart give an unexplained leap. Whoever this Ven was, he seemed important.
Sora nodded. "Well, the sooner we get there, the sooner we can help him out," he said optimistically.
The group returned the nod and headed to the set of doors that would take them to the second floor of Castle Oblivion.
The second floor went by with no issue, as did the third. The group of misfit friends briskly walked through the ivory halls of Castle Oblivion silently, ready for an attack but hopeful no conflict would come about.
As they traversed the fourth floor, however, the youngest member of the group looked around in fear and confusion. Nightly stopped, the rest of the group walking to the other end of the hall before Kairi noticed her absence.
"Nightly?" Kairi inquired, looking to the wielder on question and drawing the attention of the other wielders in the group.
Nightly looked around the room, her eyes distant and unfocused. She gasped, ducking from an unseen obstacle. She looked to where this supposed danger went and shouted, "No! Wait!" She broke out in a sprint toward the side of the hall, towards nothingness.
"Nightly, wait!" Kairi cried out, running to her distressed friend. As she did, a wisp of ice magic blew past her, coating the floor in a thin layer of ice and sliding in front of Nightly, leaving a trail of ice in front of her. She stepped on the ice and immediately her feet slipped out from under her and she hit the floor, letting Kairi catch up to her.
Kairi grasped Nightly's shoulder, and her eyes immediately refocused. Realizing where she was, a small blush crept across her face as she asked, "What happened?"
"I'm not sure," Kairi replied, helping Nightly stand back up.
"I don't think that was the spell…" Aqua began, trying to explain the sudden outburst.
"It wasn't," replied Chirithy, pointedly looking at Nightly. "It was a nightmare."
Nightly felt a chill go down her back. As she connected the dots, everyone else looked between her and Chirithy. "A nightmare? But she's awake," Lea pointed out.
"Exactly," Chirithy said. A moment of silent confusion passed through the group, but Nightly and Chirithy locked eye, exchanging a silent word.
A strange sound broke the group out of their stupor, followed by an oddly familiar voice.
"Geez, Princess, way to ruin my fun," said the high-pitched, bubbly voice of Chirithy.
Nightly immediately summoned her Keyblade and faced the voice. Wary of the foreign voice, the others followed her gaze to see another Chirithy standing on top of one of the raised walls in the room. But instead of seeing the colors of the Chirithy they already knew, they saw a much darker theme surrounding this new Chirithy.
This Chirithy had purple fur accented by dark purple—almost black—stripes. Instead of Chirithy's usual light yellow and blue cape, this one was consisted of bright pink and dark fuchsia. A black pouch hanging at its front completed the look, while red eyes bore into the young wielder who dared to face him.
"You!" Chirithy said, giving a nervous hop.
"Hello, Chirithy," the darker Chirithy said cheerfully. "Long time, no see, huh?"
"What are you doing here?" Chirithy asked.
"The same reason you are," replied the Nightmare. "I go where my wielder goes."
Nightly blinked. "You mean there's someone else here from Daybreak Town?"
A moment of silence passed as they waited for the dark Chirithy to answer. Instead of words, the Nightmare began to chuckle. The squeaky voice crescendoed in its laughter of madness, coming to an end with a small cough. "You still haven't figured it out, have you? Both of you are absolute idiots. It's adorable, really, your ignorance."
"What are you talking about?" Chirithy asked.
The Nightmare Chirithy was silent for a moment, then answered, "Those Medals you use to fight. How do you make them stronger?"
Nightly hesitated, unsure where the Nightmare was going with this. "I upgrade them using a power from a bangle Chirithy gave me. The bangle came from the Foretellers themselves, and every wielder of Daybreak Town has one."
"And do tell what, exactly, that power is, Chirithy," encouraged the dark Chirithy.
"Well," Chirithy explained, "it's something the Foretellers called 'Guilt'. It's a way for wielders to make themselves stronger by purifying dark energy to create light energy. This in turn causes the medals and therefore a wielder's own strength to grow."
"So you're saying the wielders of Daybreak Town intentionally use the power of darkness to strengthen themselves?" Nightmare Chirithy asked.
"No," Chirithy corrected, "they collect it and then purify it through their medals."
The Nightmare gave an annoyed huff. "The Foretellers were never the brightest bunch, you know. What they didn't understand was that darkness cannot be gotten rid of. You cannot simply 'purify' it. It bleeds into your being and wraps itself around your own power, all under the guise of your 'Guilt'."
"Is that why you're here?" Nightly asked. "Is that darkness what causes you to show up?"
"Not quite," responded the Nightmare, a smirk easily heard in his voice. "If just that darkness causes me to be here, then Daybreak Town would have been overrun with Chirithy like me. Oh no, I'm here for a very special reason. Not only does my wielder have the Guilt granted to them by the Foretellers, but they also suffer from their own inner guilt; a guilt they've been suffering from for a very long time."
"What?" Chirithy asked, slight confusion coating his voice.
"Lowercase 'G'," the Nightmare explained. "as in the emotion. My wielder's guilt gives me the power to be here. And her own darkness lets me toy with her dreams."
Nightly grit her teeth. "Would you give us our answer already? Who is your wielder?!"
Another breathless pause before the answer was finally given. "Why, my dear Nightly, you are my wielder."
The group stepped out into the hallway of the next floor of Castle Oblivion. They looked around for anyone coming their way, then let out a collective sigh.
Aqua looked over her shoulder. "Nightly, are you okay?"
The girl in question looked up at the older wielder. "I…I think so." She looked back down, staring in front of her in thought. "Yeah, I'm okay."
Chirithy hopped in front of her. "Are you sure, kiddo?"
Nightly nodded. "Yeah." She paused, eyebrows furrowed. "But, I just don't know what he meant by guilt. What guilt? I mean, the only thing I can think of that I'd be guilty about would be the argument with my friends, but...I just feel like that's not what he's talking about."
"That Nightmare said it comes from your own darkness. Doesn't that worry you?" Kairi questioned cautiously.
Nightly thought before answering. "Honestly, not really. I can't really explain it, but I'm just…okay with it. Maybe I do have darkness in my heart, but I won't let it get to me. Besides, I don't think Nightmare Chirithy is necessarily bad. He's just been tainted by my own darkness, and that's my fault, not his. And, in the end, he's a Chirithy. His purpose is to help me. Whatever he showed me, it was to help me or guide me or…or something."
"What did he show you?" Riku asked.
"The same nightmare I've been having for a while now," Nightly replied. "I first started having it after I learned about the upcoming War. I keep seeing myself on the battlefield, trying to stop the fighting. I'm unable to do anything, and only end up exhausted by the time everything is done."
On the outside of the group, Goofy looked to Donald and Sora in confusion. "But, didn't the Keyblade War already happen?" he asked the two quietly.
"Ah-hah," Donald confirmed with a nod.
"Hmm," Sora hummed to himself, hands behind his head. "Hey, Nightly?"
"Yes?" she replied.
"What do you mean by 'upcoming War'?" Sora asked innocently.
Everyone else froze, suddenly realizing he didn't know what the rest of them did. Nightly replied, "The great Keyblade War. It'll be a huge war between all wielders that will tear the world apart."
Sora opened his mouth to ask another question, but was interrupted by Lea saying a little too loudly, "That's right. Nightly was telling us all about it. Real scary stuff, but I'm sure we'll all be fine." Lea clapped a hand on Sora's shoulder, throwing him a look that told him to keep all further questions to himself. Sora complied, deciding to ask questions later.
The group migrated to the door at the end of the hall, making their way up to the next floor. To their delight, no trouble came about on the 6th floor, but the heroes knew not to take it for granted.
Their wariness served them well. As the door opened to the seventh floor of Castle Oblivion, a Corridor of Darkness opened up at the opposite end of the room. Emerging form the darkness came a figure sporting blue hair and an impressive scar that crossed his face in an "x" formation.
"Hello, Axel," Saix greeted as he entered the room.
The sudden appearance of his childhood friend's Nobody made Lea give pause. "Isa," he finally said indifferently.
"I would say it is good to see you again, but I don't believe you share the sentiment."
Lea scowled. "Is there a reason you've decided to get in my way, or should I just ignore you like I always have?"
Saix smirked. "I'll leave that for you to decide."
Before Lea could respond, another Corridor of Darkness appeared right behind the group. Lea could barely hear the light bullets coming their way before he could turn.
Lea heard Kairi gasp before the sound of metal hitting the oncoming blasts struck his ears and a bright light filled his vision. When it cleared, he saw a determined Kairi shielding the group from the oncoming Arrowgun blasts.
A moment after the volleys stopped, the owner of the guns stepped out of the Corridor, smirking at the startled troupe.
"Braig" Lea growled.
The sharpshooter in question grinned maliciously. "Well, well, well, looks who's joined the big leagues. Never thought you'd become a Keyblade wielder, Axel."
Aqua blinked at the newcomer, she knew she'd seen him before. Her heart skipped a beat when she finally remembered. 'He's the man who attacked me and Ven.'
Her thoughts kept her from hearing Saix summon his claymore. Before she knew what had happened, she heard Lea shout, "Look out!" He ran into her as he blocked the blow that was coming straight for her. Aqua's attention snapped to Lea, and she nodded her thanks.
Lea looked behind him and caught Kairi's eye. They shared a look before Lea said, "You guys go on ahead. Kairi and I can handle these guys."
"But-" Sora began to protest.
"Don't worry, Sora. We can handle it," Kairi reassured him.
Sora and Riku looked to the red-headed Princess of Heart. She gave them a confident smile and said, "Go. I'll be fine, I promise."
"Alright, then," Riku confirmed. "Let's go."
"Stay here. We'll come find you after we get Ven," Aqua instructed, winning a nod from both Lea and Kairi.
The two red heads took their stances to face the foes in front of them, letting the rest of the group go on to progress and fight their way through Castle Oblivion.
NightOwl9810: *types a sentence while eating a jelly bean*
NightOwl9810: *stops* *scrunches up face and shakes head*
NightOwl9810: Ugh, cinnamon.
Nightly: *sneaks up behind NightOwl9810* A-hem
NightOwl9810: Ah! *looks around frantically and sees Nightly* Geez, don't scare me like that!
Nightly: You owe them.
NightOwl9810: I know, I know. I couldn't help it. I mean, what could I do: two jobs, a wedding, getting back to college, a hurricane. I've been busy. I am really sorry, though. I never meant for it to take this long.
Nightly: *smiles helpfully* Well, on the bright side: we're a year old!
NightOwl9810: Yeah, I know. I posted a chapter last year during a hurricane.
Nightly: Oh, yeah...
Ephemer: *pops head in* Is it our time to join the story now?
Nightly & NightOwl9810: No!
Nightly: *shoves him out of the room* You don't show up until Chapter 12: Realm of Darkness: Part 2!
NightOwl9810: Spoilers, both of you!
Nightly & Ephemer: Sorry! *leave room*
NightOwl9810: *groans and pinches bridge of nose* Well, at least now you know I have a plan for the next few chapters, right? I promise, I'm not leaving you guys hanging. I know where I want the story to go and even know how it ends, I'm just trying to figure out how to incorporate certain story aspects that are being a bit finnicky. That and life in general just keeps on truckin' and I have had a hard time lately with just sitting down and reaching the next checkpoint in the story.
That being said, the next chapter is underway. I don't know when it will come out, but I will keep you guys up to date with the progress of the story as often as I can.
In other news: AAAHHHHH! Guys, we have a release date! Although, I did run in to a fellow fan at one of my jobs who believes it will be delayed again. I, for one, am willing to stay optimistic about it. *whispers* I am literally crossing every finger and toe and squeeing inside my head so I don't wake up my parents and brother.
Heh heh! Well, I'll see you guys next time!