"May my instincts be my guide…but they are calling out to the darkness," Mitsu murmured to herself
"Mitsu-" Yue placed a hand on her shoulder seemingly breaking her from the trance-like state she was in just moments ago.
"Huh? What's wrong Yue?" Mitsu asked, a half-smile on her face as she looked up at the man. Yue pursed his lips together as he studied her, he knew that something was wrong, something was off about her but he didn't know what.
"It's nothing…you can go first," Yue said as he stepped off the ladder to allow her to climb up into the ship.
"Oh...ok? Are you ok?" Mitsu asked as she looked the man from head to toe.
"I'm fine," Yue replied and motioned for her to enter the ship. After she gave him a curious look Mitsu headed into the ship, a few moments he followed with the door of the ship closed behind him.
Within moments the ship began to hover and rise further into the cloudy sky and to its next destination.
"Sora…when we land...I want to ask some questions…" Yue whispered to Sora.
"Oh ok. What about?" Sora asked, curious about the questions he would ask. He knew the man was usually stoic in every way unless it was a joke on one of their behalf or something important. Sora noted the man's quick glance to Mitsu and then back to him.
"I'll tell you when we get there," Yue replied and sat back into his seat.
"Keeping secrets aren't fun, unless you share them with everyone," Shige commented from his seat.
"That defeats the purpose of a secret," Yasuto replied to the man's comment.
"Why does it need to be a secret?" Sora asked.
"It's none of your business, and it's not a secret," Yue replied annoyed at the citrine haired man intrusion into his conversation with Sora.
"We're all friends here, you can tell us, Yue," Shige said as he turned to look at the man from his seat. Yue glared at the citrine-haired man, he knew the game that he played and didn't need for the others to be involved.
"It can wait," Yue, said as he frowned at Shige, he knew the game and refused to entertain him.
The ship jumped from hyperdrive and into the sky of a different world. As usual, the two teens were out of their seats and at the windows taking in the new environment.
The sky was no longer its normal bright blue, the land seemed as if it had taken some damage and was now in the process of repair. The city itself looked to be in shambles as they passed by.
"Where are we this time?" Sora asked.
"The city that we passed was called Midgar and the world that we're in is called Gaia," Yasuto replied.
"It looks really industrialized…nothing looks healthy here…" Mitsu mumbled.
"Midgar is a highly industrialized city. They have created a way to use the planet's energy to provide them with electricity, and other things," Yue replied. The two teens looked at the man in shock, and excitement.
"What! They can do that?" the two said in harmony.
"You see those destroyed reactors? They used to harness the planet's energy for everyone to use…" Yue began to explain.
"So thermal heating?" Sora asked.
"No. Much worse," Yasuto commented bitterly. Sora and Mitsu looked at each other then to the purple-haired man. The group chose to land some ways out of the city and near one of the few lush green forests.
"Alright you lot, go on, go explore while you can," Shige announced as he stood from his seat. Within seconds Sora and Mitsu were at the exit ready to explore the new world they had just landed on.
"Wow…so woody and you can barely see the sky from down here…it didn't look to be that thick," Mitsu commented.
"I wonder how far away from the city we are, do you think we can see if from the forest?" Sora asked.
"Let's find out," Mitsu suggested. In a mere blink of an eye, Sora had dashed through the forest. With a smile on her lips, she ran after the teen, memories of their times on the opposite side of Destiny Island fresh on her mind.
"Hey~! Wait for me" Mitsu called after Sora.
"Hey, Spikes don't go so far!" Shige called after Sora as he exited from the ship.
"My name is—" Sora said from the bushes, he turned around to continue into the woods but realized that a barrel of a gun was pointed in his face.
"M-Mitsu—" Sora started but was silenced by a smooth voice from the bush in front of him. A man cloaked in red and black emerged from the bushes, his eyes focused solely on Sora.
"Friend or Foe?"
"Definitely Friend. Definitely," Sora quickly replied as he held up his hands to show that he was innocent.
"Sora! What's wrong-" Mitsu started as she came up behind him to see what had caused him to stop abruptly.
"Oh—!"
"They're children! Don't shoot Vincent," A female voice called out to the person behind the barrel of a pistol. The man known as Vincent held his ground his bright crimson-colored eyes still focused on the two teens.
"Yes. Please don't shoot," Mitsu replied nervously.
"What did you guys get into now—" Yasuto began as he approached the teens. Yasuto's eyes widened as they saw the two teens and then the taller man.
"It's you," Vincent began
"Vincent what are you doing here? What happened?" Yasuto questioned worriedly. There was a moment of silence before the man spoke again.
"It's safe to come out,"
Seconds later a woman, a child, and a large feline-like creature came from them being hidden in the bushes. Almost immediately, Mitsu and Sora's attention was focused on the unknown feline creature.
"Vincent it's been a long time…what happened to Midgar, what happened to you?" Yasuto began as he turned his attention to the taller man.
"…Many things have happened since we've last met…" Vincent replied. "We met nearly ten years ago,"
"Time flows differently for us…I must have forgotten," Yasuto replied with a sigh. Mitsu could see that Yasuto was concerned about the man's well-being.
Shige and Yue both stood silently as they surveyed the area everyone in the immediate area. There was something that had the two on edge as if something watched them in the shadows and waited for the perfect time to strike.
"You feel that too…don't you Yue?" Shige murmured as he looked around. In an attempt to remain casual about the situation Yue crossed his arms and nodded in response to the man's question.
"My name is Tifa, nice to meet you…" the dark-haired woman began and nudged the young girl next to her to speak up as well.
"Marlene," the girl replied quietly.
"I'm Mitsu," Mitsu replied with a smile.
"And I'm Sora, nice to meet you, Tifa, Marlene," Sora replied with a smile.
"Um…while they're talking…can you tell us what happened?" Mitsu began. The two teens could see the hesitation in the woman's expression before she spoke.
"So much has happened…I'm not even sure where to begin…Cloud, Yuffie, Cid, and Aerith were sucked into this black hole and we haven't seen them since…" Tifa began.
"Aerith? We saw Aerith didn't we Sora?" Mitsu turned to Sora in confirmation, Sora nodded.
"We saw Cid and Yuffie back in Traverse Town," Sora began. "We didn't know they were from a different world though,"
Tifa sighed in relief at the mention of the three being safe.
"What about Cloud? Have you seen him?" Tifa questioned.
"No…I don't think we've met Cloud before…I'm sorry," Mitsu replied.
"T-That's ok…I feel it in my heart that he's ok…" Tifa replied.
"We were attacked by three silver-haired men…and they were gathering up some of the kids in town for something," Marlene spoke up suddenly.
"We managed to thwart their plans but without taking heavy losses,"
Sora and Mitsu looked down to the red cat-like animal next to Tifa and nearly tripped over one another as they hid behind the unsuspecting citrine-haired man.
"Huh?" Shige said as he looked at the two that hid behind him.
"So you can speak…" Yue started as it looked at the creature.
"It can t-talk!" Sora exclaimed.
"Yes. I can speak…I just choose when it is best to do so," The cat-like creature replied.
"This is Red XIII…" Tifa started.
"Actually Nanaki," Nanaki replied.
Sora and Mitsu cautiously approached Nanaki to get a better look at the exotic creature.
"What are you?" Mitsu asked.
"That is a bit rude don't you think?" Nanaki huffed.
"I'm sorry…I don't know exactly how to approach this," Mitsu admitted.
"They aren't from this world Nanaki. Go easy on them," Tifa commented.
"Clearly," Nanaki replied sarcastically. "The name for my kind has died out long before any of you were born, I'm sure,"
"Woah…you're like the coolest thing I've seen in a while…is your tail a flame?" Sora looked wide-eyed at Nanaki's tail. Nanaki looked at the teen and flicked his tail slightly and delighted the teen.
"The heartless are here but much worse, they've been mutated by the mako…" Yasuto trailed off.
"That's what it seems like… or at least from what we can tell. You've explained that they look smaller than usual but the ones we've encountered are much different," Nanaki explained
"It all stems from…Sephiroth…" Vincent trailed off.
"Sephiroth…isn't—" Yasuto started but was silenced by a shift in Vincent's stance. It had been some time since Yasuto had talked to the stoic man and based on the man's current demeanor many things had happened since they had last spoken. The change in the man's stance was subtle but enough to signal to the man not to pursue it further.
"What has he done?" Yasuto asked.
"His malicious energy amplifies the heartless strength…but…" Vincent trailed off.
"Remove the source?" Yasuto asked.
"He has been dead for five years, but he seems to be alive and walking the planet once again." Vincent continued.
"The ones that forced us to retreat…are his shadows,"
"What are they after?" Sora questioned.
"The Princess of Heart," Vincent began. "But at the same time…Aerith is no longer in this world since you have claimed to have seen her in another world,"
"We didn't know she was a Princess of Heart…" Yasuto trailed off.
"Can you no longer feel the warmth of the light radiating from her," Vincent questioned. "You can't, can you?"
Yasuto remained silent to the man's question, he knew that the King's men went through vigorous training in order to be able to sense who possessed a heart of pure light. It was required in order for them to become knighted and yet to be so close to a Princess of Heart and not be able to feel the warmth of the light, there was something wrong.
On Spira, Yuna exuded a warm, soft glow, on Ivalice the woman known as Ashe exuded a dim glow and with Aerith there was no warmth, and no glow around her, there was nothing but a cold silence.
"She's here…" Riku thought to himself as he peered into the darkened forest. He could feel an indescribable force that pulled him to her. He had joined the three silver-haired brothers on an unknown task and waited for them near a Stillwater pearlescent lake.
"Thinking about her?"
Riku looked over his shoulder to see the taller silver-haired man behind him, Riku turned his back to the man.
"What does it matter to you?" Riku questioned.
"Know your friends, but keep your enemies closer and she's your enemy," Yazoo replied.
"She isn't our enemy," Riku replied.
"Just as much as she isn't a princess right?" Yazoo questioned.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Riku growled as he faced the taller man undaunted by his height. Yazoo smirked as his brothers joined him.
"Should we go say hello to your friends Riku? I'm sure they're just dying to see you again," Kadaj teased, Riku scoffed
Without a word from Kadaj the two taller men got on to their bikes, revved the engines and waited. With a smile, Kadaj turned to Riku as he stood in front of his bike.
"There's darkness surrounding her…waiting, and watching to devour her. A delicious morsel when defenseless," Kadaj said. "Will you be tempted? Or let her slip through your hands?"
"What do you mean? Waiting to devour her?" Riku asked as he stepped forward, worry laced into his features.
"Where there is light, there is darkness…she is darkness and light,"
"So now what are we going to do? I mean it looks like we can get into Midgar pretty easily now since…things have happened," Shige commented as he looked in the direction of the city.
"Going back is not an option, especially not with Cloud and the others here," Tifa replied.
"If you're worried about your safety, you don't have to be. You have two King's men and two Key blade wielders to protect you," Shige commented.
"I'm not worried about my safety. We're supposed to be waiting for Barret and the Turks but…" Tifa trailed off.
"Barret and the Turks?" Sora asked.
"Yes. They were in the city protecting us till we escaped but haven't heard from them." Nanaki added.
"Is there a way that you can get in contact with them?" Mitsu asked.
"We've tried but—"Tifa started when the sounds of an engine revving echoed through the forest. Tifa, Nanaki, and Vincent slowly moved closer together to protect Marlene. Yasuto, Shige and Yue drew their weapons, as growls of an unseen enemy echoed around them.
"They're here," Vincent, said under his breath, as the forest became deathly silent.
"Sora. Mitsu. Don' let your guard down," Yue warned as he cautiously surveyed the immediate surrounding area.
"We got this. Right, Mitsu?" Sora said as his key blade appeared in his hand.
"Y-Yeah," Mitsu replied. Mitsu gripped the handle of her dark Keyblade; her free hand went to her chest in an attempt to stop the sudden pain.
"Something…is…wrong…my chest it stings…I have to pay attention," Mitsu thought to herself as she pushed the pain to the back of her mind.
Without warning several heartless shadow hounds launched from the shadows of the bushes in a surprise attack. Several heartless shadow hounds tackled Vincent to the ground.
The enemy multiplied much quicker than the group could react, more of the shadow hounds jumped from the bushes and attacked everyone and anyone in their way. Shige round housed kick one of the hounds into the bushes as Yasuto fired his guns as they moved closer to protect Marlene.
Sora swiped at the hound that charged for Mitsu, Mitsu spun around her Key blade as her white-colored Key blade appeared in her hand. Spinning in a circular motion she took out two of the hounds behind Sora, she quickly looked over to Tifa and noticed three figures behind the woman as she busied herself protecting Marlene from the heartless assault
"Tifa-!" Mitsu shouted as a sharp piercing pain shot through her right eye causing her to drop her pearly white Keyblade. In an attempt to stop the pain she placed her hand over her eye and realized that time seemed to slow around her. Her movements sluggish, her throat dry, vision hazy.
Though time seemed to slow, the figure that came from behind Tifa was in clear sight, tall, bulky, short silver hair, green Cheshire cat-like eyes.
"There were three…where are the other two?" Mitsu thought as her vision and mind had finally cleared the haze and the pain dissipated.
"There are other things you should be worried about,"
Mitsu quickly turned to see the same-cloaked figure that she had seen in Ivalice next to Yue. Her heart hammered in her chest from the rush adrenaline from the battle that seemed to be frozen, but he moved without issue.
Again the figure felt familiar as if she had met him once before but his features have been lost to time and her memory.
"You look as if you are trying to remember…Good"
"W-Who are you?" Mitsu stuttered.
"You have forgotten me…on that faithful day you and I were together…you were thrust pass the door that led to Kingdom Hearts,"
"Kingdom Hearts? Are you a heartless?" Mitsu questioned as she gripped her ebony key blade.
"Ah…not yet I see…your memories are fragmented still…"
"What are you talking about?" Mitsu asked.
"You are not her…not yet. Dream more, dive into your dreams to regain your memories…that is your guiding light…,"
"My guiding light?" Mitsu questioned confused.
"Remember me. Come to me. Dive into Kingdom Hearts once more…"
The cloaked man suddenly vanished and time flowed as quickly as it stopped.
"Tifa!" Shige shouted as he was tackled to the ground by several shadow hounds. He used brute force energy to push the hounds off of him. Yasuto clicked his tongue as he protected himself and Marlene who hid and move with him from the attack of the heartless.
Faster than she moved before, Mitsu had dashed over to Tifa in an attempt to stop the unknown man's back attack on the woman, but instead, someone blocked her advance.
"You are faster than I thought you were." A longer haired man commented and shoved Mitsu back and away from Tifa. Mitsu watched in dismay as Tifa barely had enough time to block an attack from a heartless hound and from the man.
Nanaki snarled as his large talon claws sliced through hounds, as did his razor-sharp teeth. Nanaki growled as the flame on his tail grew; suddenly a large explosion hit the shorter-haired man.
"You're mine!" Sora shouted as he jumped through the smoke at the longer haired man.
Effortlessly the man knocked Sora back, Mitsu took the small opening and swung her dark key blade at the man in a series of quick attacks, Sora followed doing the opposite of her attacks. The man effortlessly blocked their moves with his pistols when suddenly the man was sent crashing into a tree.
"Shige!" Mitsu called out to the man
"Nice one Shige," Sora commented as he watched the taller man step in
"Mitsu! Get Marlene out of here!" Yasuto shouted.
"What? I want to fight!" Mitsu shouted back as she threw her key blade like a boomerang at the shadow that quickly charged at Marlene.
"Do as he says Mitsu!" Shige shouted.
Without wasting time Mitsu quickly dashed over to Marlene, took her hand and dashed into the forest. Heartless Hounds chased after the two unknown to Mitsu, instinctively Yue ran after the two to provide support. Yue chased after the hounds and destroyed them as they went, in doing so he had temporarily lost sight of Mitsu and Marlene.
Vincent growled baring his fangs as he shot and shredded the heartless hounds unaware of his comrade's conditions. His thoughts were clouded with anger, despair; he had lost control of himself and was going on a rampage of destroying the heartless hounds.
Several of the hounds were encased a blue sphere that exploded shooting off shards of ice. Sora charged through the shards and swung his blade at the shorter haired man only to be electrocuted.
"Sora!" Tifa shouted and charged full speed at the man.
"Come and get it girl!" the man yelled as he let Tifa charge at him.
Tifa easily dodged his punches and dealt a few of her own, she caught him in the chest, grabbed his arm she tossed him over her shoulder and pulled her glowing fist back ready to deal the final punch. She was caught off guard when something struck her from behind. She fell to the ground unconscious.
"I think we've had enough fun…don't you think Riku?!" Kadaj shouted a large grin plastered on his lips as he kicked back Yasuto and dodged Shige's attack.
"Tifa!" Sora charged at Loz only to be tackled by a shadow hound, Nanaki tackled one of the hounds off of Sora and threw a fireball with his tail at the other.
"Tifa! Get up!" Sora yelled as he stumbled to his feet. Sora frowned at the men and charged at them with full speed.
"You are a persistent one aren't you?"
Mitsu growled at the man as she chased him through the forest. She was attacked from behind and Marlene was taken from her.
"Stop flying and I'll show you how persistent I can be!" Mitsu shouted as she ran. She kept her attention focused on the man that floated effortlessly in front of her. He watched as she was determined to recover Marlene from him.
"I'm not letting you take her!" Mitsu shouted.
"Really…?" the man replied as he watched Mitsu chase after him, an amused look plastered on to his face.
Mitsu's mind was raced back to the time on Spira where she chased Shuyin into the Besaid jungle and still lost Yuna in the process. She was slightly aware of Yue behind her but ignored him and the pain in her chest, and head. She suddenly tripped over a root that was hidden by the brush. Quickly she stumbled to her feet she yelped as she felt a sharp pain in her ankle.
Mitsu cried out as she tried to run, pain shot through her leg as she continued. The man suddenly stopped and stood several feet in front of her. Out of breath and in pain, Mitsu stood confidently.
"I'm not letting you take her," Mitsu growled and began towards the man, she limped with each step and almost fell over. She used her key blade to help stable herself before she continued.
"You aren't going anywhere," Mitsu said hoarsely as she limped closer to him, the man smirked.
"You're a lot stronger than you look…I expected less from you and you have shown me differently," the man continued. "I don't need the girl…she was just a ploy for me to meet you,"
"W-What?!" Mitsu said confused as she watched the unknown man drop Marlene's unconscious
"I think it's time for you to rest with no worries… Let me quell the darkness inside of you. Sleep princess," The man said softly as he waved his hand slowly in front of Mitsu.
"No! W-What—!" Mitsu stumbled over her words. "W-what did you do...to me-?" Mitsu started, as her eyelids became heavy and her body sluggish.
The spell cast on her forced her into a deep sleep where she stood, her eyes closed, her Keyblade vanished as she began to fall. Just a few feet away from the girl,Yue cursed to himself as he rushed through the forest and to where Mitsu had run to.
"Mitsu!" Yue shouted as he saw the girl fall unconscious. Without hesitation, Yue ran, he ran at full speed to hope to catch the girl before she hit the ground. Just as he reached for her, an unseen force threw him back.
The force knocked him to the forest ground and to slide a few feet before he quickly regained his footing. Nearly blinded by anger, Yue controlled himself as he realized that his lance was now broken, his attention focused on the person that knocked him back
"I didn't think we would have met this way...Riku,"