This is gonna be a weird chapter, I know, but there's meaning in most things. It was also difficult to write for an odd multitude of reasons as certain ideas didn't want to write out even though they've been present for some time in my headspace. Also, we managed a peaceful day/welcome to President Biden, so that was good. Next chapter will bring us into vaguely familiar territory. Please R&R!
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It wasn't long after part of the ocean fell away that Kingdom Key demanded his attention. It was rare that the Keyblade would assert itself, being more passive and attentive to his Heart's desires. So when it summoned itself, he didn't question it as he let it Guide him and his Heart to his next destination.
He opened a Time Gate, and stepped forward to his next moment in time.
What he did not expect was to find himself standing on familiar shores.
His breath caught as he realized he was on a more newly created Destiny Islands. He stood bewildered on what would eventually become the Play Island, missing so many of its familiar markers. No woodwork had been added, for it was all rough and unused terrain. Even plants he'd never seen in certain areas grew tall and strong. The Secret Place was fully covered, unseen and unknown as a fresh new World protected its Heart with thick and dense foliage.
What was most striking, that made him understand just how far from Home he was despite standing on his Island, was the lack of that oh so familiar Paopu tree he, Kairi, and Riku spent so much time reflecting on.
There were barely any growing coconut trees, let alone the strong curved bark he remembered.
Dig.
Sora's hand twitched as Kingdom Key spoke softly to him. He wasn't sure if the Keyblade had ever spoken to him.
None-the-less, he made his way to the tiny islet, using a few tricks to get himself up the uneven side, for there was no bridge for the gap between.
It was fascinating that the islet was so rough around the edges, though he knew over time it would become smooth enough to need a ladder to climb up.
Kingdom Key pulled him along gently, guiding him to the exact spot he knew that tree would find its root.
Dig. Plant.
Sora frowned, "Dig with what?"
The Keyblade became annoyed at his foolishness, burning through his black glove with a sizzling shock.
He blinked as he stared at it, before slowly understanding.
….Was it really alright to use a Keyblade as a shovel?
Sora shrugged as he shucked off the black coat, a simple black muscle tank and loose black pants with boots underneath. He kept the gloves on though, knowing he could easily rub his skin raw as he started awkwardly figuring out how to dig with the Kingdom Key. It finally hummed, pleased as he began to work.
After about an hour of what felt like senseless digging, the Kingdom Key sent a shock through his hand again.
Stop. Here.
Sora huffed as he wiped his brow with a frown, "So are you wanting me to hunt down a Paopu Fruit on the Mainland to plant..?"
Kingdom Key sent a wave of annoyance at him with a buzz.
Inventory.
Sora paused, confused for a long moment before he abruptly remembered.
He'd eaten half a Paopu Fruit when he'd first been sent back.
He made an odd face as he awkwardly pulled through his inventory, finally finding the poor seed and pulling it out. Sora examined the seed in his hand, still fragrant of the fruit he'd eaten. No mold present, as it still felt just barely damp from he'd cleaned it off.
Plant.
Sora stared at the seed for a long moment before carefully setting it into the hole he'd made. He couldn't help but be surprised at this moment, as he stared at it sitting in the dirt before carefully Casting Water over it to wet the area. One Cast was all Kingdom Key would allow before it decided he was done. Gently, Sora began to place the dirt he'd pulled up back into its place. A number of thoughts and Memories, random and free flowing passed through his mind as he completed his task.
Soon enough, he was patting the dirt smooth on the surface.
One day this seed would survive even the fall of their World.
He sighed as he flopped onto his back, laying in the sunlight as he basked in the humidity and heat of his Home.
Sora rested in it, until he fell asleep just like he always did.
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He was fourteen again, laying on his back after yet another thrashing via Riku. He was pouting, the familiar wooden sword near his hand as he frowned at the sky above. "Why can't I beat you?"
Riku chuckled softly as he lazed, sitting with one knee up and a hand resting over it, "For the same reasons you always lose."
Sora huffed as he closed his eyes, "That's not an answer."
"You always do the same thing. You're predictable."
Sora placed his hands behind his head to become more comfortable, "...But you always start with the same strikes."
He could practically feel Riku's eye roll, "And you always respond to them in the same way. Try blocking sometime."
Sora pursed his lips, "...I guess. Thanks."
Riku smiled, "Anytime. But you should probably wake up."
Sora blinked as he sat up to look at his friend, "Wha-?"
"Sora."
The mixed brunette jerked awake as he abruptly sat up, blinking owlishly as he looked around for the source of the voice, "Huh?!"
A light elderly chuckle came from somewhere behind him, "So it is you."
Sora shook his head one final time before grabbing his coat and standing. He looked down towards the shore to see an older man with a cane, something clearly wrong with one of his legs. He tilted his head confused for a moment until he recognized the wine colored eyes looking at him as if to tease him for being so slow. Sora gasped as he hopped down with a few aerial moves, "Haiiro?"
The old man nodded at his guess, "It's been a long time."
Sora rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. He hadn't been able to discern how long it had been since he'd moved ahead, but for him it'd literally been around a month. He flushed lightly as he responded, "Uh, yeah." He smiled charmingly, "You're still handsome."
Haiiro gave him a look with an eyebrow raised, "You really know how to charm an old man don't you? You're pick up lines suck, for the record."
Sora barked a laugh as he rubbed his head, "I guess. When I like someone, it's no matter what."
Haiiro smiled kindly as he observed him, "Well then. Shall I enlighten you to what I've been up to all of these years?"
Sora took him by the hand and guided him to a spot where he could rest, "Of course."
Haiiro sat, resting his leg as he smirked up at Sora, patting in front of him, "Let me fix that terrible knot you call your hair."
Sora made a face as he went to glide his fingers through, only to almost immediately catch them in a knot. He winced, "I didn't realize."
Haiiro chuckled as Sora sat himself between the man's legs, producing a comb for him to use.
"Oh, so you do have a brush. Do you enjoy looking like a wreck?"
Sora blushed in embarrassment, "Only sometimes."
Haiiro laughed raspily as he began at the ends of Sora's hair, pulling the mess into his lap as he tutted, "It's like you haven't bothered to groom yourself for a month."
Sora stayed silent, for that was somewhat the case.
Haiiro huffed, "Please do take care of yourself. If not selfishly and for your own good, then for the people you hope to reunite with."
Sora nodded, chastised, "Yeah. I'll try harder."
Haiiro hummed, staying silent for a long moment, "When our boat ended up in these waters and rested upon these beaches, I somehow knew this was your home. That indistinct image you showed me of your friends stuck out, and in my Heart I knew that this World was irreplaceable to you. It made it easier to settle in, when so many of us were either shipwrecked here, or simply drafted by the World itself." He thought for a moment, "People began to wax romantic about Destiny, and how it seemed each and every person was paired off with someone who may very well be their soulmate. But I had no such grand delusion. This seemingly endless sea was too small, its borders a simple impenetrable fog." He paused to focus on a particularly terrible snag before clicking his tongue and cutting it out completely with a knife that never left his person, "My crewmates were happy, so I could find peace in it. As sailors, it is rare to find a place to call home and still answer the call of the sea."
"Soon enough, everyone was paired off but me and a lone girl. She was the one to take the first step in being friendly with me. I was not one for tradition as some places mandate, but after some time in her pursuit, I injured my leg. My life at sea was over, and my crew abandoned me to land." He sighed, "I love the sea. It is freedom to me. Yet, though I still had my friendships, they left for long periods of time to fish as I have always loved. I was angry that I had permanently injured myself."
Sora frowned, "What happened?"
Haiiro waved a hand, "The source of my injury is so inconsequential it's embarrassing. I don't even want to speak of it."
Sora smiled, thinking of some of the ways he vaguely remembered seafaring men being permanently benched, "I understand."
Haiiro nodded as he continued his careful brushing out of his hair, "The only one who cared for me, despite my anger and resentment, was the girl. She had become resigned before finally breaking down that I was not the only one who had lost everything, and that if she had to choose between being alone for the rest of her life, or dealing with my resentment, she would rather not be alone. I was far too into my own grief to see beyond myself, and I realized she was just as alone as I was. I finally allowed her to tell me about herself, and what she had lost in being drafted into this little Island World."
He hummed to himself, "In the end, she was the one to help me walk on my own again. We made our deals with one another, made our vows, and fell in line with the rest of those around us. We may not have been what the other desired, but at least in having each other we were not alone." Finally Haiiro managed to get to his scalp without snagging his hair, continuing, "It was after our daughter was born that I remembered the wayfinder you showed me. So I went out and began to figure out for myself how to make them, and once I had the method down, I began to tell her stories about it. Romantic stories, sad stories. I made the charm real to her, so that by the time she became old enough she began to circulate the supposed legend of the wayfinder. Soon, she taught all the girls how to make the charm, and it became infamy."
Haiiro gently rested his hand on Sora's head before carefully running his fingers through, "I gave my first completed wayfinder to my wife. Buried her with it as well." He sighed lightly, "She may not have been what I thought I wanted for myself, but in the end, she was someone irreplaceable to me." Sora felt his hair be separated into three as the older man began to carefully pleat his hair in a braid, "The time you and I spent together was short, but it has never faded from my memory. I don't know where your road will take you, but I hope that you come to understand yourself better from here on out."
Sora frowned, "Shouldn't I have a decent grasp on that at my age?"
Haiiro chuckled softly as he didn't deign to answer, completing the braid with practiced ease as he tied his hair at the end before laying it down. He sat the brush beside him before pulling out a charm. Sora blinked as it hung in front of him. Gingerly he took it, examining the piece as it made him ache for his youth. Yet, he was surprised that Haiiro had managed to so thoroughly change the shell's original coloring. Whitish grey tips bled into wine in the middle, a tiny gold crown set in its center. It was topped off with a tight and complex braided cord that was red and white. Sora tilted his head, "It's beautiful."
Haiiro smiled as he observed, "It's for you."
Sora gasped lightly as he turned, shifting himself onto his knees in front of him, "What?"
Haiiro laid his hands on his knees, "You have a long journey ahead of you, don't you?"
Sora looked down at the wayfinder before slowly nodding, "Y-yeah." He felt warmth behind his eye.
"My years may be short compared to your own, but that is precisely why I felt I should make you a wayfinder as I foolishly hoped to see you again. Though I may not be there on the other side of your long and difficult journey, I have placed every hope and prayer I have for you into that charm." Haiiro looked Sora in the eyes as he spoke his prayer, "Though the sea is deep and vast, though wave and storm may beat upon you, may you return Home safe from your journey."
Sora wiped away a tear as he sniffed, carefully putting the charm away, "Thank you, Haiiro."
The man nodded, "Safe travels."
Now-xXx-I-xXx-Will-xXx-Step-xXx-Forward
Another Time Gate, another spring forward. Sora spent five years silently lurking in his locked Tower. He experimented and wrote journals as he took the time to truly delve into uncharted contemplations he had steadily ignored over the years.
He wondered how he might be able to make a Dreameater that could stay with its owner without having to be summoned. Something familiar niggled in the back of his mind at the idea of it, but it was like sand through his fingers.
There were certain Memories that were simply too slippery to retain, and it bothered him that he was kept from them.
He sighed as he scratched at his head, frustrated with the equation he was working through with a deep set frown.
Obsessing again?
Sora's hand twitched, making a long line through his work and ruining it. He sighed gustily as he looked to the side at the familiar shadow that had stayed close by his side all of these years.
It grew in many ways while mostly retaining its shape.
However, it had shifted between his last and current jump. No longer did it seem like a Flood, but a strange and inquisitive four year old child.
A freakishly indistinct one as it was more like a blob, but it was what it was. It was pressed against his thigh as it watched him, though it no longer had 'eyes' for him to discern where it was looking.
"Does it matter?"
The Shadow shrugged, You have a lot built up.
Sora furrowed his brows, "A lot of what?"
Guilt, Sin. It is all the same to us.
A strange shiver ran down his spine, "I'm old."
Is humanity not taught control? Aren't negative feelings to be denied as you bury them and yet allow them to fester? Doesn't it hurt your Hearts and open them up to us?
Sora bit the inside of his cheek, "...Yes. Maybe." He paused, "What do you want?"
To revel.
Sora looked at the shadow, displeased with its words.
It seemed to grin at him, white teeth gleaming against terrible smokey Dark, Wrath, Sloth, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Greed, and Pride. You fester in every one.
Sora sucked in a sharp breath, "No I don't-"
You need not indulge all at once. You Heart splinters with each you devour greedily. Did you not terrorize the Townspeople? Did you not waste away quietly after harming your child? Did you not feast unending? Did you not divulge in the desires of flesh?
Sora gasped as he glanced away as shame pooled in his stomach, as he realized just how easily Darkness could creep under one's guard. "Leave me."
The Shadow giggled childishly as it melted away into the Dark, leaving him confused and unsure. He placed a hand on his chest to steady himself, closing his eye as he thought of his friends.
My Friends are my Power. Let my Heart be my Guiding Key.
He made that his mantra for the rest of the night.
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Auron listened to his grievances, and the man had no mercy for him.
"The darkling is correct. You have strange bouts of lost control. If SIN were a concept here, it would have well and destroyed most of the World by now by your actions alone."
Sora gave the man a confused look before recalling that he must be referring to the force that had made a hobby of destruction in Spira.
Sora rubbed his face, "Why didn't I notice?"
Auron was quiet for a long time before he finally answered, "I may be going on a limb here." Sora waved him on, "I don't think you're compartmentalizing your experiences correctly." Another odd look as Auron rolled his eye, "You've Looped countless times. You've lived longer than any man should in each one. If you include all of your previous Loops, all of those experiences that will help aid you to gain what you have lost. Is it then no surprise that you are essentially even that many more times more ancient then the years you are currently living mentally? You may have been able to unintentionally place into "boxes" the Memories and experiences of Roxas, Xion, and Ventus… but can you truly and properly do that for yourself?" He huffed, "You can suppress, you can ignore, but it all comes down to Will and Ability."
Sora mulled that over, "And I'm lacking?"
"Miserably."
Sora smiled bitterly, "Well, I am just a normal guy. The dud."
Auron shook his head, "Speaking of yourself negatively is not humility, Sora."
The mixed brunette smiled sadly, "But it is what I've been told many times."
"When you were a teenager."
Sora nodded, "My most definitive years, sir."
Auron couldn't exactly fight that thought. He shrugged, "Do with this knowledge what you will. But Guard and examine your Heart, for I can only protect your life, your Heart is your own battlefield."
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Vanitas tossed the ꭙ-blade at his feet, "Were you not given the Key to the Kingdom?"
Kingdom Key hummed in his hand.
Sora opened his eye with a deep breath as he awoke in the middle of the night. He held Kingdom Key in a tight grip as he allowed the Dream Memory to settle in his mind.
"Talk about ancient history."
Sora groaned as he got up and laid his Keyblade across his lap, "Yeah…"
"Which means nothing good."
Sora nodded absently as he pushed himself out of bed.
The Keyblades had their demands, but sometimes there was another force behind their actions.
Sora wasn't looking forward to what might be calling out to him.
He had lived so many years, a simple goal in mind to save his friends and see beyond that great and terrible Darkness.
To defeat Xehanort.
Yet, what lay beyond that goal? That terrible Darkness? Was there yet another force to cause them trouble, or would there be peace?
Could he even live in peace anymore..?
Sora shook his head as Kingdom Key urged him, barely allowing him to get dressed in the black coat and pull on his gloves.
Kingdom Key pulled him along, singing silent tunes with a warm hum down its shaft. Sora couldn't recall ever feeling so much from the Keyblade as he followed its lead.
He eventually found himself just outside the Town with a good vantage point to watch over everything. Flowers of many colors decorated the tall cliff face, a smattering of dandelions throughout.
It would have been pleasant had it not been for the strange feeling in his gut.
The Kingdom Key sang brightly as it changed and morphed, pulling on Vanitas's Darkness in his Heart as he gasped and clutched his chest. It changed and transformed into the ꭙ-blade as he struggled.
He was unsteady on his feet as he tried to keep upright, Vanitas's Remnant going silent with a pained gasp within his Heart.
His eye was clenched shut, yet he felt something touch his face gently, coaxing him to settle. No sound was made, but there was a strange Light before him. He breathed for a moment as he regained his bearings, slowly pulling his hand away from his chest. Slowly he opened his eye and took in the one who was trying to gain his attention.
Whatever this being was it was not human, though it pretended to take on feminine shape as it floated before him. Skin and lips of the deepest dark while their hair, brows, and lashes were of palest light. Their eyes were a strange multitude of pale blues, while their clothes shimmered in golden rainbow as it flowed in a breeze of its own making.
It felt like he was seeing something Divine.
Sora's breath caught as fear bounced throughout his blood and veins, his nerves trembled at this being's presence as he barely whispered, "Who are you?"
Why was it calling out to him?
They smiled with a deep affection as they spoke with a voice that only he could hear, rattling his bones with their indiscernible tones, "I am what has always been, my Dearly Beloved."
He clenched his teeth and stared at it, as it still held his face gently and would not let him go, "And that is?"
They floated close to him, nearly nose to nose as it seemed to lovingly whisper, "I am Kingdom Hearts, for you are the one who holds that which calls out to me." They lovingly traced a hand down his arm as he felt goosebumps and a disgusted chill run through his body.
Sora found himself still unable to move, "You mean the ꭙ-blade?"
They smiled as if he were a foolish child they dearly loved, moving close to his ear as they seemed to whisper, "The Kingdom Key. I merely wanted to meet the child chosen by my most precious Key."
The being left him, the ꭙ-blade dismissing as he fell to his knees in breathless terror.
Now-xXx-I-xXx-Will-xXx-Step-xXx-Forward
Sora moved forward again in time after that incident, freaked out with Vanitas in full agreement of his assessment.
Kingdom Key was the only one who would answer his call as it laughed and chided him along his journey.
Sora wanted to chuck it, when up until then he couldn't bear even the most stray of thoughts to let it go.
Why me?
He shuffled around the Tower, spending time on further experimentation. Occasionally he would be pulled to some of the newer Worlds, to pull teenagers of varied age into Time Gates to fill his Town someday for that Fated Battle he saw glimpses of.
He sniffed as he thought to himself ironically, I'm leading all of these random teens possibly to their deaths, not because I want to, but because the Worlds demand it. I'm an absolute villain.
Vanitas rolled his eyes at the mixed brunette's thoughts, 'I'm far more insidious than you. You're a poser in comparison.'
Sora smirked as he let Vanitas have that.
Yet, once more he found himself awoken in the dead of night after a strange Dream.
Kingdom Key pulled him anxiously along as Sora groaned at it, "If this is gonna be like last time, I'd rather not."
It burned his hand in retribution as he nearly dropped it with a scream.
Again to that hill where flowers bloomed, yet barren with snow in the deep chill of winter.
Sora breathed out, his breath foggy as he took in the immaculate glittering snow he was ruining like a blight.
The coat wasn't exactly warm enough for this sort of cold weather, but it was enough for now.
Once more that nauseating pull raked at his and Vanitas's Heart and pulled out the ꭙ-blade in all of its glory.
This time he was able to keep his eye open as he glanced up at the glow forming in front of him.
The being- no, Kingdom Hearts had changed its form as if to try and appeal to him. It appeared in a male body this time, skin and lips palest light while their hair, brows, and lashes were of deepest dark. Their eyes were the same mix of light blues, and the golden robes that shimmered in rainbow color flowing in a nonexistent breeze.
However, Sora wasn't fooled by them. He frowned with a slight glare, "What do you want this time?"
They smiled the same as last time, coming close as Sora found himself unable to move once more.
Instead of fear, annoyance ran through him, "Why are you appearing to me like this?"
They hummed as they took hold of his face gently, looking him over as they ran ethereal fingers over his lost eye. The feeling of someone touching that spot made his skin crawl as he bared his teeth and hissed in displeasure. Their eyes became lidded as they smiled to themselves, "Splendid."
Sora began to sweat as he tried to fight against his inability to move, Had this being used Stopga on him or something?
But he could still move to a small extent, so perhaps it was the Divine being's pressure?
They chuckled breathily, their tones still indistinct and musical. They pushed back his bangs and kissed next to his missing eye, "Who do you yearn for, Dearly Beloved?"
He growled as he murmured through clenched teeth, "Like I'd tell you."
Kingdom Heart nuzzled him in his blind spot before speaking whispers into his ear, "Is it not Kairi and Riku?"
Sora felt terror run through him as he tried to pull away. He could barely move an inch before they spoke once more, "Aaah, my Beloved Sky. Just as you connect all Worlds, so does the Light. For every Light creates Shadow, that is an infallible Truth, is it not?"
He glared at them as they pulled back and looked him in the eye lovingly as they put his bangs back into place, "I will follow you to the ends of the Worlds, through Time itself. No matter how many fall in my pursuit, none matters more than you."
He took a sharp breath, "And the Hearts you collect into yourself at their End?"
They smiled passively, "What of them?"
Sora screamed as he nearly broke himself in his bid for freedom, gaining the strength to push away the shining being before stepping back. Tears abruptly fell down his face in grief as he focused on them once more, "Don't you care about the Hearts that find rest within Kingdom Hearts!?"
They tilted their head, "But they merely become part of the greater whole. I don't know what else they desire," They pouted, "Some desire for the Worlds to change for their ideals, others merely power. I have seen your Memories, and so long as they have the Key of my Beloved, they may ask whatever they Desire, and I shall grant it to them. There is nothing to be done for it. I simply desire you,"
He heaved gulping breaths as he tried to control his breathing, "I will not be bound to you, something that refuses compassion and love. To discern what is good and wrong."
They smiled at him as if they Knew better than he, "You cannot escape my affections. Even if you do not love me as I am, I will find a way to Love you in whatever form I deign to exist." They pulled away from him, "Until I am made manifest again… My Beloved Sky."
Sora threw the ꭙ-blade as it dismissed itself, appearing in his hand once more as the Kingdom Key.
Darkness was not the only enemy of man.
Now-xXx-I-xXx-Will-xXx-Step-xXx-Forward
Guest Review Zui FFnet: Chapter 15:
"Not fond of all the projection in this chapter, and you kinda ruined Sora in that last bit just making him some weirdo who seeks to live out his days to screw similarities by that logic he wants to mess with someone who I have at least come to see as Sora's older sibling figure literally like Terra is for Ven and you go and pervert it like this when we all saw the finale. I look at these types of stories that take such turns and wonder how you would like the same treatment from an interloper on your take the story that has come to be which in all honesty can be called a romance story between Sora and Kairi and then see these results. I feel overwhelming disappointment and shame Tetsuya Nomura has such backwards fans. Chloe can be forgiven, he's a broken man looking for something to fill his lonely heart what you did with his guardian figure however is messed up on levels I can't explain I mean I stewed on it and wondered why you couldn't make him a new friend he connected with
and lost tragically but then you went and did that dirty disgusting mess before that ending where you "explained" I have nothing more to say I'm baffled and appalled but mostly confused on how you mishandle specific affection and label it with animalistic desire, its messed up dude just messed up like a Roxas x Axel fanfic it shouldn't exist"
-I have been accepting your reviews and posting them on FFnet in good faith, and I honestly don't believe you're reviewing in good faith anymore. If you want to talk, make an account so I can talk to you in PM, otherwise, I will be deleting any and all reviews written in this manner. This is a work in progress and free entertainment, and I don't have to take your railing laying down. I give you a respectful good day and goodbye.
