KINGDOM HEARTS III: Final Mix
Disclaimer: I do not own the story or characters featured in this story. They are the sole creation of the Walt Disney Co., PIXAR, Tetsuya Nomura, and Square Enix. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy.
WARNING! Contains story spoilers for Kingdom Hearts III, so read with caution if you haven't played the game yet.
Chapter 6: A Dark Hour & Return to the Tower
Meanwhile in the Realm of Darkness...
Riku and the Majesty of Disney Castle, King Mickey, were wandering through the deepest recesses of the Dark Realm, hoping to find some trace of the missing Keyblade Master Aqua. After taking a couple more steps further, Riku stopped in his tracks and pondered deeply to himself.
"Riku? Are you okay? We can stop to rest if you want," Mickey asked.
"It's not that, it's just that I've been here before; I should know this place. But all that feels like it was in another life."
"Riku, you've really grown up in these past two years, you know," Mickey told his friend.
"I guess so. The first time I came here, it scared me, but now, that feeling is different. At last, I finally feel like I'm in control of the darkness in me," Riku explained. "It's actually kind of exhilirating. And it's because you're here with me this time."
"No, that's not it," Mickey told Riku. "I think it's because you found that inner strength to protect what matters. When you care so deeply about someone, all feelings of fear and doubt just seem to vanish."
Riku then caught a glimpse of a young man in Riku's childhood offering him the power of the Keyblade to protect those he cared about someday when Riku grew older.
"You know, that reminds me of a promise I made to somebody once," Riku spoke up. "But does anything around here look familiar?"
"Kind of, but things have changed since last time. Normally I'd follow my heart and let my connection to Aqua guide me, but it seems like the closer we get, the hazier it feels. Either way, we can't just give up hope!"
"Then let's keep going," Riku replied to Mickey. Eventually, they reached the beachfront known as the End of Sea.
"That's odd, Aqua's trail is gone. I was certain her scent was here..." Mickey wondered.
"I've been to this place before; this is where me and Sora found our way back to the Realm of Light."
'Well, we're not equipped to dive any deeper into the darkness," Mickey told his friend.
"So now what?" Riku asked, just as a swarm of Shadow Heartless appeared, forming a swarming tidal wave.
"Careful, Riku! Even the weakest Heartless can get stronger down here," Mickey explained as the two prepared to fight. Riku's power and finesse with his Keyblade Way to the Dawn proved useful in the fight, as his success in the Mark of Mastery allowed him to easily dispose of the tide of Heartless.
"I was expecting more of a challenge," Riku remarked, before another group of Heartless swept down over the duo, ready to pounce on Mickey.
"Your Majesty!" Riku cried out, as he leapt in front of the King to take the hit, becoming enveloped in darkness.
"Riku!" Mickey yelped in surprise, as he began to strike at the tide of Heartless to break him free.
Inside the tide, Riku felt the sensation of being trapped underwater, gasping for breath as he put a hand to his throat, corpsing and coughing.
"I never expected to see you again. What are you doing out here?" a strangely familiar voice called out in Riku's mind.
"Because there's someone here that needs me," Riku explained. "Who are you anyway?"
"You really don't remember? I'm your other you; that shadow looking to protect somebody too," the voice told Riku.
"How is that even possible?" Riku thought, just as he started to come to, becoming blinded by light.
"Riku? Oh, Riku, you're awake!" Mickey said in relief towards Riku. "Don't scare me like that!"
"Thanks, how did you get all of them?" Riku asked.
"Well, I took out at least half of them, but then the rest got away after spitting you out. But the bad news is..." Mickey began to explain as he showed Riku his broken Keyblade. "They managed to crack my Keyblade and shear apart yours."
"How long are we supposed to keep Aqua waiting? I thought we'd be strong enough to save her," Riku replied in disappointment.
"I know, but Aqua's like Sora. She doesn't give up hope that easily. For now, I think we better head back to the tower and regroup with Yen Sid. Besides, we won't be gone too long."
Riku nodded in agreement, before plunging his broken Keyblade deep into the sand.
"I guess I can't use this Keyblade anymore. It'll just have to stay here, until my other half gets to it," Riku remarked before they set out to return to the Mysterious Tower.
Time had passed, and now Sora, Donald and Goofy had returned back to the Mysterious Tower where Yen Sid made his home. Sora had just finished explaining his adventure in Olympus to the former Keyblade master.
"I see," Yen Sid answered. "A pity your efforts there to regain strength were fruitless."
"It's no biggie," Sora replied. "I still learned a lot down there."
"Besides, your power can't be gone forever. Something ought to trigger that memory sooner or later," Goofy suggested.
"Would a konk on the head help?" Donald jokingly asked, to be met with a flustered glare from Sora.
"Or perhaps, it may be something as simple as that. After all, whenever you are in need, magic comes to your aid. That has always been one of your strongest strengths, Sora." After offering his explanation, a knock on the door could be heard as Riku and Mickey made their entrance.
"Whoa! When did you get new duds?" Sora asked Mickey before Donald and Goofy pushed him away.
"Donald, Goofy! What were you and Sora off doing?" Mickey asked.
"We were trying to find a way to get Sora back his missing power, but it didn't go over well," Donald explained.
"We didn't exactly fare well either," Riku continued, telling the others about the attack against them in the Dark Realm that destroyed their Keyblades.
"Don't I get to say anything? Riku's my friend, too!" Sora complained as he got back up.
"We know that Aqua made it as far as the beach me and Sora ended up at once, but if only we could find somebody close to her to make the dive deeper, then we'd find her."
"I don't even think there's anyone left to ask. Ven is sleeping and Aqua was the only one who knew where he is, and nobody's seen Terra for a long time," Mickey sadly told the others.
"Then I'll go," Sora offered.
"What?!" everybody else in the room remarked in shock.
"Sora, if you are to have any chance in rescuing those joined to your heart, you must find the Power of Waking by any means necessary. Explore the many worlds and perhaps you may find a clue to gaining the power," Yen Sid instructed to Sora, before he turned his attention towards Riku and Mickey. "As for you both, I suggest you retrace Aqua's steps to find a way to bring her back. Going to the other worlds may lead to an answer for where she is now. And I request you deliver these to Kairi and Lea." Yen Sid then summoned forth three cases with a wave of his hand.
"Is that..." Mickey asked.
"Yes, they are similar to the ones I gave you and Riku. I want you to take them to the space where Kairi and Lea are training, and they also contain new Keyblades for you both. The other case, however, is a gift to Sora from the three fairies, containing new clothes with special powers. I also give you this charm called a Heartbinder. Focus on the bonds between you and your friends, and help will come your way."
"Thank you, Yen Sid. We won't let you down!" Sora told the elder Keyblade Master as the group set off to continue on their adventure. Before they left, Sora could see Yen Sid mouth the words "May your heart be your guiding key".
"See, I told ya!" Goofy whispered.
Back in the Gummi Ship, Sora donned the new outfit- a vestment colored red and black, as the heroes thought about where to go next. However a ringing noise from the inside of Sora's pocket caught their attention as Jiminy Cricket, the chronicler of the team's adventures suggested for Sora to find the source of the noise. As he rummaged through his pocket, he pulled out a touch-screen phone which was ringing a familiar tune.
"What do I do with this?" Sora wondered before he hit a green button to make the ringing stop.
"...Finally, he answered!" the familiar face of the chipmunk engineer Dale piped up. "Hey Chipper, get over here. Sora's callin'!"
"Chip, Dale! Boy am I happy to see you both!" Sora beamed.
"Sora, you need to answer the phone or else we can't give you updates. That's why we wanted to make sure Yen Sid gave you the Gummiphone we made for you," Chip told Sora. "This nifty little thing takes pictures and allows us to stay in touch with you at all times."
"Well, I'll be, it's finally finished!" Jiminy remarked. "I might even try to write my journal entries in this."
"So what's the important thing you wanted to tell us?" Sora asked.
"Oh, it's this! When Riku explored the Sleeping Worlds with you, he found that Ansem the Wise left some very important data inside you. We've been trying to crack it and see what it says. And that is where our new friend comes in to explain."
"New friend?" Donald and Goofy asked. Instantly, the phone call switched over to a young man with silver hair in a white scientist's robe.
"The data inside you is encrypted, Sora, so we need more time to evaluate what the code means," the new figure explained.
"Wha- who are you?" the trio asked.
"Oh, I guess we never properly met before. My name is Ienzo, and one of the castle guard members, Aeleus, is here with me as well."
"Hmph," Aeleus grunted solemnly in response.
"Listen, whatever happened between you and Roxas is in the past, brother," Ienzo assured his partner who was already walking away.
"Your friend isn't exactly the most sociable feller, is he?" a familiar voice added.
"Cid, is that you?" Sora asked, as Ienzo directed the phone screen over to the gruff Gummiship and computer expert of the Restoration Committee.
"Well, Sora! Seems like you did a bit of growing since last time, squirt." Cid remarked. "I just want to let you know that you don't need to worry about Leon and the others. They're taking care of things in Radiant Garden, but I'll always be around helping Ienzo and the chipmunks in crackin' that code for ya, so you can focus on finding those missing folk of yers."
"Anyway, the reason the two of us are here right now is because you and Riku managed to defeat our Nobodies, which made us complete people again. Make no mistake, we cast off our hearts by choice, but never did we imagine that Xehanort- or rather, Xemnas, was deceiving us."
"How should we trust anything you have to say?" Goofy asked.
"It must be an Organization trick!" Donald added.
"That's what I thought at first," Cid told the others. "But he says that now they're nothing more than students of the heart, just as they were before Xehanort came 'round."
"Settle down now, Paw," another new voice said as a blonde-haired woman took the phone and directed it toward her view. "What Ienzo is trying to say is that they have friends they're trying to bring back, just as you are."
"Okay, thanks for telling us that, Miss... uh..." Sora replied to the stranger.
"Name's Cindy; I'm Cid's grease monkey of a granddaughter." Cindy introduced herself. "It's nice to finally meet you, Sora, Donald, Goofy."
"The most important thing we found from the code is that there is not only one heart inside of you, but three different hearts as well."
"Ah! Does that make me some kind of freak, then?" Sora panicked, fearing that those extra hearts were some kind of deformity from falling into darkness before.
"No, it just means that along with your heart, there are three others who rest inside of you," Ienzo explained.
"Well, I always knew that there was another heart inside mine. I think one of them might be Roxas's, just like how Namine is inside Kairi's."
"I've honestly never thought of it that way before, but your theory does have merit. It's settled then, all of us will be working to solve the mystery of the code, and update you on anything that comes up."
"Thank you!" Sora replied.
"And one more thing, can you keep an eye out for our assistant Even, or Vexen, as you knew him? He disappeared a while after we were recompleted, and he hasn't shown up since then," Ienzo asked. "I sincerely thank you in advance. Good luck to you, Sora."
"And Jiminy?" Chip asked, as the camera went back to the two chipmunks in Disney Castle. "Please make sure to teach Sora how to use the phone, okay? Well, goodbye for now!" And with that final message, the line cut and hung up.
And that finishes this another chapter. I hope you enjoyed this little update, and remember to leave a review!