"I was wondering how long you were going to take, you've always been so slow,"
Sora and the two men turned their attention to the white haired teen at the top of the stairs and to the armor clad man on sprawled out underneath the foot of Riku's shoe.
"R-Riku!" Sora began as his eyes lit up with excitement and relief. Riku smirked and kicked the armor clad man down the stairs, the man tumbled down the stairs and came to a halt in front of them.
Immediately Sora knew something was off about his friend, the friend he searched for so desperately. Shige and Yasuto looked to one another uncertain to would come next.
"So you finally made it. About time, we've been waiting for you. I've been waiting for you..." Riku began. Sora eyed the teen warily as he, Shige and Yasuto stood at the bottom of the broken stairs.
"We've always been rivals. You pushed me and I pushed you,"
"Riku…" Sora began and quickly noticed that his best friend had a completely different aura around him.
With the sudden disappearance of Mitsu, the aura around the teen did nothing but fuel the dread that had pooled in his stomach He kept his head high and his fears to himself as he continued with the hope that he would find all three of his friends. Despite the fact that he and Mitsu had gotten wrapped up in their duties of being keyblade wielders but this wasn't what he expected.
And now the two faced each other, tension hung in the air as the two men watched the two teens.
Yasuto knelt down to the armored man and cast a healing spell on the man for any injuries he may have suffered from what he assumed the battle with Riku may have done.
"Sora...it's going to end now. There can only be one true key blade master," Riku said casually as he stepped down on to a stair.
"Riku what are you talking about?" Sora asked confused and took a step forward.
"It's time to let the key blade choose its rightful master," Riku smirked and held his hand out.
At that moment Sora's key blade appeared in his hand and started to pull away. Confused, Sora held on to the key blade in an attempt to stop the older teen from taking it. Despite Sora's hold on the key blade vanished into orbs of light and suddenly reappeared in Riku's hand. The three stood in shock as they watched the white haired teen and with the key blade that Sora once held.
"W-What?" Sora stuttered in shock as he saw the key blade that was once his in his friend's hand, Sora looked at his hand and then to the two men behind him in confirmation about what had just happened, the two men returned the confused look.
"He was right…you don't have what it takes to save Kairi or protect Mitsu..." Riku trailed off. "Only I can do it. Only the key blade master can open the secret door and change the world," Riku said as he studied the key blade.
"What? No way! I-I'm the one that fought my way here with the key blade!" Sora began. fell to his knees, defeated almost at the loss of the key blade.
"You were just the delivery boy. Good job, here's your reward," Riku laughed slightly as he tossed the wooden sword to Sora.
"I'll say hi to Kairi when she wakes up and Mitsu for you. So you can go play now," Riku said as he started up the stairs and to the castle.
Sora fell to his hands knees in sudden defeat, the friend he so desperately sought after, rejected him and took the only thing he felt he had accomplished. With a grimace, he looked down at the wooden sword at his feet and clenched his fists. In a wave of unspoken anger, Sora slammed his fits onto the ground.
He had fought through the worlds with the hope that he would be reunited with his friends, he had searched far and wide for the teen and now he was being left behind, again. Silently, Shige stood next to Sora and kept his attention on the teen on his hands and knees.
The two men stood next to Sora as he watched Riku ascend the castle stairs, discarded him as if he was a piece of useless trash.
"Was that really the person you were looking for Sora? Is that him? He sounds like a complete twat," Shige asked quietly. Sora remained silent, Shige sighed
"Shige…" Yasuto trailed off.
"I know…hey kid…Sora listen," Shige started.
Sora looked up at the taller and older man, Shige could see the disappointment on the teen's face, Shige pursed his lips together as he remembered there was a time where he had felt similar and knew that this was a defining moment for the teen.
He had to choose between giving up or proceeding forward.
"Look…I don't trust your friend…Riku…something is going on but you can't lose hope, you have a lot of promises to keep," Shige started. "We'll go on ahead to find out what's going on. I'm expecting you to meet us in there ok?"
Sora remained silent and turned away from Shige.
"Pick up your pride Sora and meet us in there," Yasuto said bluntly as he watched Riku disappear up the stairs and into the castle.
Yasuto took one more glance at the teen before began he headed up the stairs, both of the men knew what their orders were and were expected to follow them by any means necessary. Their orders were to follow the key blade and to make sure it didn't fall into the wrong hands.
Shige sighed softly as he stepped backward and towards the stairs, his focus still on the teen, without a word Shige turned and started up the stairs, Sora clenched his fists tighter in anger, not at the two men, but at himself.
He had come this far only to have everything he had taken away from him, it made him doubt himself.
Was he really enough?
Was he that weak?
Behind him, Sora heard the clanking of Steiner's armor and quickly turned around to glance at the man.
"Steiner—" Sora started before the old knight silenced him.
"I am fine, your pride is wounded…mine as well…but I have a mission to save Queen Garnet…and I will not stop till she is safe in Alexandria," Steiner began as he stumbled towards him. "You have a mission as well, correct?"
"…I thought I did…" Sora mumbled.
"Your friend..., if you could call him that mentioned two people..Kairi and Mitsu was it? You said you were going to save them and all, correct?" Steiner questioned as he stood.
Sora remained silent as Steiner spoke.
"You may have lost your blade…but your will is stronger than any weapon that exists and will lead you to success," Steiner said as he continued to pass Sora and up the stairs.
"My will…" Sora trailed off as he watched the armor-clad man barely climb the stairs.
Sora knew that Steiner was right even though his pride was wounded by how easily his friend was able to take away the one thing he thought he could manage. In addition to Riku had mentioned that both Kairi and Mitsu were here.
"Mitsu…and Kairi would probably kick my butt if they knew I gave up," Sora thought to himself as he turned his attention to the wooden sword at his feet.
It was just a toy but with his determination renewed, he reached down and snatched the sword from the ground. He would show Riku that he wasn't the little boy he thought he was, he would prove him wrong
"I made promises to everyone…I have to see Kairi and Mitsu," Sora murmured to reassure himself. "Alright, Riku! I'll show you that I'm the true key blade master,"
Hearts of Light attract and exude darkness.
Don't you get it? He was using me to get to you to change…he was worried about the darkness in your heart…and that's why I came…but now… I don't know if I can stop it…I can't stop it…
This feeling in my heart… I don't know what it is but I…I…I just really care about you
The once blurry image of a dark haired man in Mitsu's mind began to clear into an image that she could make out but as soon as the man turned to look at her his hair turned white and bright golden eyes stared back at her.
The voices within her mind spoke to her, told her a story of the unknown woman that plagued her dreams and mind. As she continued to listen, absorb what they spoke of the words, stories seemed to apply to her in ways she didn't understand.
"You can do this…I believe in you," the female voice whispered into Mitsu's ear as if she stood next to her.
At that moment, Mitsu stirred from her slumber.
As if someone had hugged the girl as she slept, a sense of warmth lingered around her she lifted her head from the table. She looked around and found herself still alone in the library.
"These voices…" Mitsu trailed off as she placed her hands over her heart and seemed to give thanks to the unknown voices.
With a soft sigh, she turned her attention to the neatly placed journals placed neatly in front of her. With her research, she discovered that the journals that belonged to Ansem the Wise and had been numbered from one to thirteen. She had managed to gather the journals and placed them in order and quickly realized that some were missing. She had scoured the library in search of the missing journals but to no avail she found none.
Absentmindedly she picked up the eighth journal and began to glance over its contents.
"The Eighth Princess…The legend of the dual key blade master…how am I connected to all of this?" Mitsu mumbled as she looked out the large window in front of her.
An image of Riku flashed through her mind to remind her that he bought her to this place for what reason she didn't know, he didn't stay around long enough to tell her. In most cases, the thought of the teen would cause the girl to flush in embarrassment but she was worried for her friend and needed to know what had happened to him while they were apart.
"Riku…where are you?" Mitsu said to herself and stood from the table. As she turned towards the door, the image of a dark haired man flashed in her mind, she hesitated and rubbed her eyes. The person that stood in front of her was fully cloaked but the image she saw clearly had the man with no hood.
"That man…his hair changed to silver in my dreams…but he's not Riku," Mitsu whispered to herself.
"Riku this, Riku that...you sure do like this Riku kid,"
"You again?" Mitsu frowned.
"Sorry, you have me mistaken for someone else...unless we have met and I don't remember. In that case, I apologize," the man replied.
Mitsu narrowed her eyes at the man as she realized the man's voice was indeed different than the first person she had met before.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Mitsu asked as she prepared herself to fight if she needed to. Even though she hadn't encountered any heartless in the library but she was still on alert, just in case.
"I'm not here to do anything in particular…just to watch…and my name is unimportant at the moment," the unknown man replied.
"So there's more of you in this castle…" Mitsu trailed off.
"There might be, but you make it sound like it's a bad thing," the man replied with a shrug.
"Are you going to call me the eighth princess too?" Mitsu questioned as she scowled at the figure in front of her.
"I could…but it seems like you already know…and I know that's not your name," the man replied and shrugged again. Mitsu quickly looked the cloaked person from head to toe, they were indeed different than the other cloaked people she had encountered.
"Tell me…what do you know about the eighth princess?" Mitsu asked suddenly.
"As much as you do," the man answered bluntly.
"Are you joking with me?" Mitsu asked firmly.
"My my my…you really are a sensitive girl…just like he said," the man said almost mockingly.
"Who?" Mitsu frowned again, she had hoped that the man would know more about the eighth princess and the dual key blade master. She needed more information, she needed to know what did this so-called legend mean to her and why was she involved in it, as far as she knew there was nothing special about her.
"The door to Kingdom Hearts needs the seven princesses of heart or just the eighth princess, at least that's how the legend goes…got it memorized?" the man began as if he recited the verse from memory and pointed to his head to emphasize the memory.
"Tell me about the legends," Mitsu started.
"You're smart enough, why don't you go find out?" he replied with a shrug.
"Well, I thought you would be nice and at least tell me a little bit about it since you know…you seem to have it memorized," Mitsu as she mocked the man's movement and pointed to her head in the same way he did.
"Oh! She has bite," the man chortled.
"But…it would probably be best for you to find out about the eighth by yourself. You know, learn more about yourself," the man suggested.
"Maybe I will since you're not helping," Mitsu scoffed.
"She's determined. Nice," the man quipped.
Mitsu glared at the man as she walked past him and out of the library. The man chuckled and summoned a black portal with a wave of his hand.
"Heh, maybe we did know each other… but don't remember…" the man said to himself as he walked into the dark portal.
"Kairi!" Sora darted into the large chamber and towards the unconscious girl in the middle of the room. Shige and Yasuto followed cautiously followed after the teen and stopped a few feet behind him as they looked at the large chamber.
"Kairi! Kairi! Wake up!" Sora shouted as he gently lifted the girl's head from the floor.
After Sora had battled with Riku and regained his key blade he joined up with Shige and Yasuto before they fought the man known as Sin and the heartless produced. Despite all of the battles he was near exhaustion but with his promises fresh in his mind, he continued to push forward.
"Something isn't right here Yasu…" Shige whispered as he looked at the dark ominous portal in front of Kairi and Sora, Yasuto nodded in silent agreement. They were too slow to stop the portal from being manifested but was truly thankful that the portal was not completed as Kairi was the last Princess of Heart that did not, in fact, have a heart.
Yasuto studied the portal from a seemingly safe distance, he was sure that Shige could feel the eerie presence that permeated through the large chamber, the unknown energy seemed to latch on to anything it could.
The energy of dread, darkness...
In the large chamber, an eerie presence permeated through the room, its unknown energy sunk into their pores, seemed to attach itself to them. With a quick scan of the room, there was nothing out of the ordinary besides the ominous portal at the top of the stairs.
"Kairi—" Sora started again when a deeper voice spoke over him.
"It's no use. That girl has lost her heart…she cannot wake up,"
The teen and the two men turned their attention to the white-haired boy lounging on the stairs in front of the portal. Yasuto and Shige quickly stood in front of Sora as if to shield him and Kairi.
"You decided to show your face again huh Riku," Shige sneered as he prepared for a fight.
"Wait—" Yasuto started before Sora spoke up as he gently laid Kairi back on to the ground and stood.
"I don't know who you are, but you're not Riku," Sora said as he glared at the person who impersonated his friend, Riku smirked.
"The keyhole cannot be completed so long as the seventh princess of heart still sleeps," Riku continued, his voice deeper than normal.
"Her light is being blocked by something..." Yasuto thought to himself as he looked at the girl behind him. Riku stood and began to hover above the stair he once sat on.
"Yes, without her power, the keyhole will remain incomplete. It is time she awakened," Riku replied his voice became deeper, distorted as wisps of sickly green energy flowed around him.
"Whoever you are…let Riku go! Give him back his heart!" Sora shouted, Riku, in turn, grinned at the teen.
"The boy wanted power...and that's what I gave him...he cared not for his heart," Riku replied.
"That's not true! Riku would never do such a thing like that!" Sora retorted his keyblade in hand.
"You will understand shortly...but first you must give the princess back her heart," Riku replied as he pointed to Sora. Sora suddenly clutched his chest and began to fall back as if he had been pushed off an edge. Everything seemed to slow as he fell backward, Shige and Yasuto turned to reach out for the teen but he was suddenly caught by the shoulder and pulled up.
"W-What?" Sora asked confused as he looked at the person who reached out to him and helped him stand. "Yue?"
"Y-Yue?!" The two men said confused as they looked at him. As Sora straightened himself he looked at the man confused, his clothes were tattered and his face slightly bruised.
"Stop slacking," Yue replied as he stood next to Sora.
"What the hell happened to you—" Shige started.
"Ah…the elusive Eighth Princess…how wonderful of you to join us," Riku replied as he smirked. Yasuto, Shige and Sora turned around to see Mitsu step next to Sora, her head held high as she looked at the teen.
"M-Mitsu-!" Sora said breathlessly.
"Hey, Sora," Mitsu replied with a smile.