Author Notes: It's me! But more importantly, my new chappie. This one is a little rough, I still think I need to clean it up a bit. I'm just too lazy, is all. In fact, I'm too lazy to even write these author notes. Just read the chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or the stuff related to it like the Gummi ship, or Sora. Even though I control his free will in this story... kekeke... maybe he'll suddenly break into a hula dance...
"Sora, what's wrong?"
Sora had placed himself on the tarp, setting his head in his hands and his hands in his knees. He was traumatized- where was he, exactly? This wasn't Twilight Town- this seemed like some other world, some dark, lifeless planet. There was a lump in his throat, and he choked back tears. It was no concern why Taiyou wanted to know who he was, and why this bothered him as much as she. He released a shaky sigh, and contemplated her understanding eyes.
"I've seen that same darkness before. Just like I've seen you before, too, Taiyou."
"Well that's just creepy, because I've seen you once as well."
"But if you're from Twilight Town, how come you don't remember me- or any of my friends?"
"Uhh..."
Taiyou was baffled, she couldn't even answer her own questions. What had happened, and why was she here? A reminisce hit her like a rock, and the vision of the inanimate Shanteru and that Keyblade sucking the life from her replayed in her mind. She felt her fists tighten as anguish and blame built up inside her. Suddenly, she burst all her negative feelings towards Sora, huddled in his own.
"Wait, why do you have a Keyblade?"
Sora flinched at her harsh tone, and lifted his head from his arms. "Because..." he began, gesturing at his self, "It chose me."
"But why did it take my friend's life?"
Taiyou stopped herself, realizing she probably wasn't even making sense anymore. However, Sora was interested.
"It... it did?"
"Well, it didn't look exactly like that one you had before, but I know it did!"
Sora rubbed his forehead, apparently filled with stress and confusion. Taiyou was still standing there, her fists so tense she could feel her fingernails dig into her palms.
"What did it look like?" the boy questioned.
It was easy to describe in strict detail to him what the weapon looked like- the image of it was still fresh in her mind as if she were holding it now.
"It was black and dark purple, like the sky," she narrated, disguising her voice from shaking, "On one end, there was a curved, lightning shaped kind of pattern, and a freaky looking jewel was at the tip. The other side of it looked sort of like a key. So it must've been a Keyblade."
Forming a rough idea of the key in his mind, he simply replied, "I can assure you, now, it wasn't mine. Swear it."
"Oh yeah? Then what was it?"
Growing a tad frustrated from this girl asking questions as if he knew everything, Sora narrowed his lips to a pout, furrowing his brow.
"How should I know!" he ended up exploding. He stood up with a sigh. "I'm about just as confused as you are, Taiyou."
Taiyou took Sora's place on the tarp, staring into her torn up sandals. "You're right," she sighed back, "I'm sorry..."
"Nah, it's fine." he brightened up again, "Let's just find out how to get out of here."
"Wha...? W-where else is there to go?"
"So you're telling me you've never been outside this world, huh?"
"This... world?"
"Yep."
"You mean, there are other worlds out there?"
"Yep."
"So how do we get to them?"
Not another sentence was said between the two, as Sora sent her a wink, signaling to follow. He led her through the rubble as if he knew where he was going, and they came upon a shuttle of some sort. It was about four times the size of the pair standing next to it, its cockpit foggy with lack of light. The bright red and yellow paint strained Taiyou's eyes; she was not very used to the blinding colors.
"This is a Gummi ship," Sora explained, "I call this one the Highwind."
"Highwind..." Taiyou parroted his words another time, as if she was learning English all over again.
"You got it." he smirked at her, "I found it when I... woke up here. My friends and I used to ride it all over- we'd visit so many different worlds." He entered, leaving Taiyou standing in awe.
"That's awesome!" for the first time in a while, she was overcome with excitement. She bounded in the ship, nearly tripping on the steps inside.
With a chuckle, Sora handed her a blanket that was tucked under one of the seats. "Here, you should get some sleep. We'll be there sooner than you think."
"Where?"
"You'll see. Now go to sleep."
Taiyou agreed, although yearning to watch every inch they traveled in the Gummi ship, she found a nice spot in the stern and curled up in the bedclothes. Almost instantly, the exhausted girl had drifted away to sleep.
--x--
Taiyou was standing on that same shore before the mountains- the beach where she had received that prophecy, before she met the blonde-haired boy in the caves. This time, instead of a drizzly fog, the sun was beaming down on her. Warming her fragile skin that was exposed through her shredded summer clothing, Taiyou gently closed her eyes, curling her fingers to her chest and letting herself go in the comfort of the everlasting sunlight. She had missed it.
"Taiyou, wake up! We're here!"
Her eyelids fluttered and flipped open at the sound of Sora's voice. "We're here already?" she leapt from her "bed" in the back of the ship and vaulted outside, nearly shoving Sora over in the process. As her nearly bare feet made contact with the ground, a small flicker of hope that perhaps this place would look like the land of her dreams turned her stomach upside down. Her mouth quickly went ajar with disappointment as the view of this new 'world' had emerged to sight, her hopes dashed aside into it's barren territory.
It was a heap of abandoned metal factories and rotted trees sprouting from the deserted ground that seemed as though not a foot had stepped upon it for decades. The sky was the exact same hopeless darkness as Twilight Town. She dropped to her knees dramatically as Sora appeared from the Gummi ship, his posture dwindling at the outlook as well. "What... happened?" was all he could muster, "It seems as though we never even left Twilight Town..."
Taiyou whimpered, for even though she had not known where their destination was, she too had expected better. "What am I supposed to look at... to give me hope?" she whined passively.
Sora switched his gaze on this girl, obviously surprised at her remark. "You don't have to look at anything," he tried to sound as positive as he could, helping her to her feet, "You just... feel it. In here." he softly pounded a fist against his chest. Visions flooding Taiyou, she suppressed a giggle, placing her hand on her heart. Sora smiled at her and nodded.
No wonder Taiyou had seen Roxas in him, for even though she was anonymous about the two boys, she felt a deep connection with them. But who, exactly, were they?
She turned this question over and over in her head, but it began to nag at her so much that she had to know. Thawing Sora from his observant frame of mind, she interrogated him on his journeys.
He took a deep breath, signaling a long story was to follow. Taiyou took a seat near him, her back against the Gummi ship's neon paint.
"A couple friends of mine- Riku and Kairi and I; we were planning on building a raft so we could sail to different worlds. Kairi once told me she wasn't born here- on Destiny Islands, I mean- like the rest of us. Yet she still didn't know where, so we were all determined and very excited to get going. It would just be the three of us, expanding our horizons; traveling to other places was a great dream..."
"Then I started having strange visions of... a door, a closed door, in a far off land. I also started thinking about, well, the Keyblade. Of course they were only dreams, or so I thought. One stormy night I realized the raft we were nearly finished with wouldn't survive that weather out there. So I went to retrieve it. I was attacked by these black creatures with hollow, glowing yellow eyes. They seemed to pop out of the ground. It was really terrifying, trying to fight these things off with a wooden sword..."
"Somehow or another among that black oblivion... that never-ending mob of Heartless, they were called- I stumbled upon the Keyblade, and with it, my friend Riku. He was telling me that this was our chance; our chance to see other lands. He told me he 'wasn't afraid of the darkness.' But then, I was frightened- just a little."
"I arrived at Traverse Town, turns out Destiny Islands was sucked into darkness. But I couldn't find Riku, or Kairi. I grew desperate, and lonely. Soon enough Donald and Goofy found me. They are- or were- servants of the King, told to find some sort of 'key.' We went out on this very Gummi ship to worlds of all differences; places you wouldn't even believe- you couldn't even imagine. I got what I wanted, but I couldn't fulfill my desires with my old friends. So I searched for them. Sure, I met many new friends along the way, and then there was Donald and Goofy, but... there was such an empty void without them." he shrugged.
"Did you ever find them?" Taiyou's eyes glowed with anticipation, "Did you ever return home?"
Just in time for Sora to answer, an explosion rang throughout the oblivious sky. Dozens of black beings poured from a damaged establishment nearby. Taiyou groaned with the awkward timing of events, rolling her eyes a bit as Sora sprang to his feet. "Come on!" he yelled, "Follow me!" Without even checking to see if she obeyed, Sora took off against the crumbled streets. Slipping on the loosened cobblestones, Taiyou pounded after him.
A few minutes of sheer alarm and confusion, and Taiyou started to slow down. Panting hard, she was about to call out to Sora, who was a long distance in front of her. She had never sprinted so fast in her life, and was finding it hard to keep up- to even breathe. "Sora... wait--!" she gasped as she tripped over a stray crack jutting out of the road, something only a great impact could inflict. She skidded across the path, feeling her wounds cramp up again.
Sora slid to a halt, swiftly turning his footing to retrieve the fallen girl. "Taiyou!" he called, grabbing her arm in an attempt to help her up. The black creatures were in hot pursuit, ready to pounce in a split second. Sora clenched his teeth, his eyes darting about the mob as they approached with haste. Wavering over what he had to do, Taiyou's broken scream had suddenly pierced his ears as the lead of the riot leapt at her. He had no more time to think.
Dropping the girl in his hold and calling forth his Keyblade, he bounded at the blur of darkness, avoiding its ominous golden glare. With a single strike, the creature simply disintegrated into thin air. Sora turned to Taiyou, his eyes narrowed in resolution, "We have no choice; we have to fight!"
"Fight...? Them...?" she cowered.
"Use the Keyblade!"
"Are you insane! I don't have a Keyblade!"
"C'mon Taiyou- light or darkness, the Heartless fear the Keyblade!"
"The Heartless...? Is that what they're called?"
"Hurry!"
Sora was outnumbered by far- and would not last without assistance. Taiyou got to her feet, staring at her empty palms. How does he do that? she wondered, referring to the boy's ability to make the Keyblade form from nothing. She closed her eyes, trying as best as she could muster to focus deeply on that scene- more on the weapon of darkness that caused this whole nightmare.
Unexpectedly, a large blow knocked Taiyou over, and she let out a muffled shout as she opened her eyes to discover one of the many black demons had attacked her. Staring into its hypnotizing yellow eyes, she was overwhelmed with rage. Clenching her fists, she was ready to return a strike with her bare hands. Flipping her body over to throw the Heartless creature off, she realized that she was holding onto a long girder, cold in her clasp. The Keyblade! Without even looking at her grip to see if it was, she swung with all ferocity at the monster, watching smugly as it dissolved into nothing.
As if telepathically, the two fighters leaped together so they were standing back to back, facing against the throng of Heartless that surrounded them on all angles.
"You okay?"
"No. Let's go!"
The two split up, bounding into the fray, and frantically slashing their weapons at every plot of darkness their eyes met. Taiyou was a little maladroit, for she had never brandished such a weapon, nor was ever in such a battle. The power surging from the blade and into her hands was slightly overwhelming, and even seemed to weaken her somewhat.
Many Heartless later, Taiyou resisted the urge to give up, and was trying even harder to not lose her position. The Keyblade was beginning to feel heavier and heavier, slippery in her grip from sweat, and her arms were slowly going numb. She couldn't last much longer.
"Sora!" she called desperately, "I can't..."
"Taiyou! This way!"
With a hastened swing he lunged past Taiyou, opening a path for her through the crowd of Heartless. The black creatures were dwindling, but still swarming by the hundreds. Taiyou dove off after him, and they ran towards a small group of buildings, which looked like they were once homes. Now they lay rotting, but not in as much destruction as the other areas of this world. Sora muttered inaudibly to himself, pointing at the houses that looked very similar in appearance. Taiyou panicked, realizing the Heartless felons were gaining.
"This one..." he exclaimed, grabbing hold of Taiyou's wrist and pulling her towards one of the abodes. Swiftly opening the door to enter and closing it behind them, Sora let out a sigh of relief. "We should be safe in here." he said, letting go of Taiyou to wipe sweat from his face.
For a second they both stood there, eyes closed, leaning against the doorway and breathing heavily. "Sora...!" Taiyou's throat was sore, and her voice was strangled, "Where are we?"
"This... this is the Radiant Gardens."
"Have you been here before?"
"Yes, many times. It's changed, too, though."
Taiyou finally opened her eyes, curiosity besting her once more. "And this is...?" she asked Sora, exploring the old, dusty wood furniture and trashed books laying everywhere.
"This is Merlin's house." he replied simply, strolling to a bed in one corner of the room. The cushions were matted with dirt and dust, feathers sticking from the mattress signifying where it was torn. Sora's eyebrows raised when he found a pile of clothing resting underneath the tousled bedcovers. A yellowed piece of torn parchment was pinned to the clothes. "Hey Taiyou..." he said without lifting his gaze from the note, "Look at this..."
Taiyou approached Sora, taking the paper from his hands. "What's this?" she wondered, turning the message over in her hands before reading it again and again.
