CHAPTER LXXIII
FIGMENT PLATEAU
The Barrett had flown for nearly a half-hour over the skies of The World That Never Was until the ship's computer beeped incessantly, telling them that they had arrived at their coordinates. Looking all around the ship through the clear windows, Sora, Kairi, Riku, Donald and Goofy couldn't see a single thing of interest – the lines of buildings had stopped, and below them was only a long stretch of muted wheat-fields.
"Up," Biggs croaked, falling asleep once more from the strain. Sora took the ship upwards, weaving between the thick clouds. As they got higher and higher, they noticed the clouds lightened from black to gray, then to a beautiful, ethereal white.
"There!" Kairi gasped, pointing out of the ship's view screen. A massive upside down dome sat floating in the sky, seemingly resting on the clouds below. The silver and white dome gleamed in the sunlight – it was the first time Sora had seen sunlight in quite some time…
"Figment Plateau, huh?" Sora said, reading the back of the coordinate card once again. As the ship touched down on the crystalline launch pad near the edge of the circular city, the friends all were able to grasp the scope of where they had landed: a huge cathedral was straight ahead, the one road in the city leading to it. Several small, white houses peppered the streets of the floating city, but it was a relatively small town. Sora carried Wedge over his shoulder while Riku and Goofy shared the weight of Biggs – Kairi, Donald and Eddy followed them as they awkwardly walked toward the center of town.
The roads were crystalline, almost like a rock-paved road, but one-hundred times as shiny. Each house seemed almost cloudlike – Sora could have sworn that they swayed with the wind as he passed – and the entire village was beautiful.
Suddenly, the doors to the cathedral burst open, revealing a tall man in white robes. Black strings hung down in front of his stark-white chest, making the man look quite ghostly. He dashed down the stairs, holding the front of his robes up skillfully so he didn't trip – as he stopped in the center of the town holding his hand out to halt the weary travelers, Sora looked him over carefully.
The man was handsome, bearing a strange 'smug' attitude on his face. It didn't look oppressive – just…individual. He pursed his lips as Sora stared up at his head – a flowing mane of red, fiery hair came down to his neck, creating two distinctive sideburns in front of his ears. His eyes had a tinge of yellow in the pupil – but the most interesting parts of the man were his facial tattoos – diamond shaped black markings adorned his face, right under his eyes.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa…you kids in a hurry to get your asses kicked?" he said smugly, looking at each of the heroes in turn.
"No…it's not like that – our friends Biggs and Wedge need help…they told us to come here…" Sora explained, desperate to start out on this man's good side. There was something friendly about him, though he spoke harshly. Sora couldn't put his finger on it…
"Biggs and Wedge?" asked the man, a hint of panic in his voice. "Bring them to the cathedral. BOYS!" he called, turning to lead Sora and his companions into the cathedral.
After a few minutes of intense healing from the red-haired man and his two apprentices, Sora spoke up.
"Are they…gonna be alright?" he asked.
"Shh…the most important part of healing is…well…giving the patient time to heal. Got it?"
"Memorized," Sora said instinctively.
"What?"
There was a long, awkward pause in the cathedral as the red-head stared intently into Sora's eyes.
"Lae?" Sora half-asked, half-knew. "Your name's Lae…right?"
"…Yeah," said Lae, shaking off the odd situation. "Boys, take Biggs and Wedge to the spare cabin…let 'em rest. It's gonna take 'em a few days to fully recover."
"Lae…" Kairi said under her breath. "Hey Lae – would you mind telling us where we are?"
"Sure – this is Figment Plateau; right now, you're standing in the cathedral. The Cathedral of Chasers."
Later that day, Lae and his two partners prepared a meager, but appreciated meal for the travelers. Biggs and Wedge were doing fine – it would take a few days until they could move about freely, but at least they were breathing. Riku and Kairi ripped into some bread while Sora toyed with a glass of water. Donald and Goofy ate quietly, trying to show some manners…
"How did you know…" Lae finally began to ask. Sora replied by sliding the slip with the message on it across the table towards Lae. "Oh," he replied, stabbing a piece of steak with his fork. "These are my assistants – Yod and Heiro. Look – I was honest with Biggs and Wedge, and I'll be honest with you."
Sora, Riku and Kairi stared at Lae with undivided attention.
"We're not normal…a few years back, we were turned into Heartless…a Heartless is this-"
"We're familiar with the term," Riku said through a mouthful of bread, slightly tensing up at the news. They sure didn't act like heartless…
"Okay, well then I'm sure you understand how they work…traveling the universe, seeking hearts to feed Kingdom Hearts…blah, blah, blah…"
"Right, right…" Donald said, tapping his flipper impatiently.
"Basically, we know that when a Heartless is destroyed, the heart goes to feed Kingdom Hearts. Last year, we had a huge battle outside of Kingdom Hearts, and it's stopped taking in hearts like it used to – it leaves them in something called 'limbo'..." Sora said, switiching on his micro-com. "Hey, Cid, Cloud, Merlin…you guys should hear all of this…" he said, leaving it on so everyone was caught up all at once.
"Yeah, okay, thanks for the history lesson," Lae said, frustration growing in his voice.
"For a religious guy you sure got a weird attitude," Riku said, staring at the robed man.
"The Almighty helps all kinds, smartass. Got it? Anyway, Yod, Herio and I have conquered the darkness in our hearts. We're no longer heartless drones…"
"That's great!" Kairi emphatically yelled, bouncing in her seat. Riku grabbed her shoulder and forced her to sit – Lae had much more to say.
"But we're also not whole…"
"Your Nobodies…you need your Nobodies…" Sora stammered, staring down into his drink. "Of course…"
Shocked at how quickly Sora was getting the gist of things, Lae continued. "By beating the darkness and ceasing to be Heartless, we became Chasers…searching for our one, individual Nobody…our completion…that which would make us whole again. It's kind of like what the Nobodies do…but we're a heck of a lot smarter." He stopped toying with his food as he pushed the plate away from him, continuing his speech. "Most Chasers give up hope after a while…but those who believe that the Almighty will make us whole are welcome to live in Figment Plateau. It's a religious community of sorts…got it?"
Sora blinked. "Uh…yeah," he staved off the urge to finish Lae's statement.
"Lae…your Nobody…" Sora said softly.
"You've seen him!" Lae's eyes bulged, almost leaping across the table with excitement.
"Yeah…he's…dead," Sora said. "He died while saving me…Lae, I'm sorry…"
Lae shifted his eyes from Sora's. He stared off into the clouds through the skylight thoughtfully for almost a full minute before his watery eyes clinched up in an unmistakable grin. He smiled and laughed harder than he ever had before, rising up and dancing around the table.
"Uh…what's so great about that?" Goofy asked, milk dripping from his mouth.
"Don't you know! If a Nobody dies doing something noble, he goes on to the Nobody Graveyard! Nobodies don't have hearts – they don't have emotion – so for a Nobody to die doing something noble like saving a life, well, the Almighty rewards them by placing them in the Nobody Graveyard! Now I'm practically guaranteed to meet him!"
"So…that's just a religious belief…" Riku said, dismissing the idea. Lae grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, holding him at eye-level.
"For some people, religion is all they have. Got it?"
