Kairi sits by herself, resting on a thick root and looking out into the jungle. Its wild noises surround her, accompanied by a light snoring wafting out of Sora, Riku, and Telary's tent. A thermos of tea sits by her side, and every once in a while she unscrews the lid to take a sit. Mostly she just sits absolutely still, staring at nothing. Thinking.
It doesn't take long, maybe half an hour, before Azlyn emerges from their shared tent. She wears her pajamas, a grey oversized long-sleeve shirt with a large Disney Castle seal emblazoned on the chest. She might be wearing shorts as well, but the shirt's so long it's hard to tell. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, the knight trudges over to Kairi, taking a seat next to the Princess of Heart.
"Hey," Azlyn mumbles after a few seconds, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "Whatcha drinkin'?"
"Tea," Kairi answers, offering the thermos. The blonde takes it with a grateful nod, taking a big swig. Kairi instinctively frowns at that, considering how hot that tea was. If Azlyn takes note of the heat, she doesn't show it.
The knight opens her mouth to say something, but all that emerges is a belch. She forces a few coughs, embarrassed. Kairi tries not to laugh, but eventually she finds that she just can't help it. The sound adds to the other noises of the night, Azlyn joining in herself after a moment.
When the merriment has died down, Azlyn speaks again. "I was going to ask, before I was so rudely interrupted… What are you still doing up, after your busy day of chain-breaking?"
"I just couldn't sleep," Kairi answers, looking away from the knight. "Adrenaline I guess, plus…"
Azlyn knows a pregnant pause when she hears one. "You can tell me, Kai. I got no room to judge."
The Princess of Heart maintains silence for another minute, then lets out a breath she wasn't quite aware she was holding in. "La's dead because of me. When I smashed the staff, it must have…"
"She was the bad guy," Azlyn assures the redhead. "If she ever did anything nice in her life, it sure as hell wasn't at any time we were around. Plus, that same staff-smashing freed the leopard-men. That was your whole goal, if you remember."
"I know all that." Sighing again, Kairi stands up and walks a few paces away. Her back still to Azlyn, she says, "I keep seeing her, melting away like she did. I know she was bad, and what she did to those leopards makes me furious just thinking about it. But still…"
Azlyn stands, making her way to Kairi. As tenderly and reassuring as she knows how, the knight lays a hand on her shoulder.
"You did the right thing," she declares, hoping that if she just makes it sound firm enough the other girl will be able to take it as rock hard truth. "You just need to keep reminding yourself that. Like I…"
When the knight cuts off into silence for a few moments, Kairi turns to her. "Like what?"
"Like I," Azlyn finally musters up the gumption to say, "need to remind myself of who my student is."
"What does that mean, exactly?"
"The thing you gotta understand," the knight explains, "is that I pretty much taught myself fighting. Okay, I had some help I guess. Captain Goofy taught me how to handle the shield a little, but he's no warrior. Or maybe he just pretended he wasn't, because he didn't want me to be one. Same thing with the king. He gave some tips, but it was pretty clear he wasn't crazy about me fighting either.
"The point is, if I wanted to learn, to make sure I perfected all of my skills, the only person who could make me was, uh, me. And I'm, as I think you've noticed, not always the nicest instructor. I guess, back in the jungle, I just got so caught up in the moment that I yelled what I always used to in my head."
"That's why you called me by your name," Kairi realizes, nodding thoughtfully. "You were just doing what came naturally."
"But you aren't me, Kairi," Azlyn says. "Every student is different, and I really should have remembered that. Please forgive me, not only for yesterday, but all the times I yelled. I'm sorry if I made you…"
"What you made me, Azlyn," Kairi interrupts, grinning at the knight, "was a fighter. I'm not going to tell you that all that yelling, or telling me I was dead, or kicking me while I was down, didn't hurt my feelings a little. But honestly, without all that I would never be where I am today. Every fight I got in, from the sewer Heartless to La herself, I heard two voices in my head. One was Sora's, and the other was yours."
"Mine was louder, right?" Azlyn asks.
"You're always the one being the loudest, Az."
The girls share a laugh at the joke. Then, suddenly, Azlyn becomes serious again, a little pensive.
"So, uh, Kairi," she says, trying to keep the nerves in her voice from showing up too much. "I know we've known each other a while now, and we've got that whole forgotten childhood history thing, but, um… We're really truly friends, right?"
It's Kairi's turn to get serious. She faces Azlyn head-on, reaching out to place a hand on each of the knight's shoulders. She looks her straight in the eye.
"Azlyn," she replies, grinning as the beginnings of tears wet her eyes. "You're marrying my brother. That makes us more than friends. We're going to be sisters."
"Gee," Azlyn says, fighting hard to keep composed even as tears begin to flow freely down her face. "You and Sora really are just freakin' p-perfect for each other, y'know? And you're clearly related to Tel too. All three of you, so d-damn sappy all the t-time."
Laughing once again, Kairi pulls her friend in for a hug.
KH-KH-KH
Everyone sleeps in the next day. They'd had a big night, after all, and this is a vacation. Therefore doing whatever they want is part of the package. Even if "whatever they want" is defined as not waking up until noon.
But, even on vacation, dreams must eventually give heed to cold, hard reality. Said reality comes in the form of Sora, ridiculously energetic as usual. Riku makes sure to tease him that there's no reason for him to not have energy, considering he spent all that time yesterday sitting down.
Eventually everyone manages to drag themselves up into the waking world. In Azlyn's case, said dragging is assisted by Sora very loudly banging his Keyblade against a large skillet. She only makes a single, seemingly cursory threat to kill him for that.
"That means she's in a pretty good mood," Telary informs Riku, whispering with his mouth shielded behind one hand. "Usually she'd respond to something like this by trying to kill him."
Sora's enthusiasm doesn't stop with just waking all his friends up. He cheerfully informs them to eat breakfast (more like lunch, considering the hour) quickly, because they leave soon to go see Tarzan. Everyone moans and groans about the upcoming hike, but Sora is having none of it. They're going, and that is that.
The group dresses and eats more or less silently, even Sora not having much to say. It's a nice silence, though. The kind of quiet groups of people achieve by making the unspoken decision that there just isn't anything that needs to be said.
About an hour after waking, they're on the move. Yet again, very little is said between anyone. Occasionally Sora will ask Azlyn or Telary if they remember this tree or that, to which the reply is generally curt, and uniformly negative. Sora claims to perfectly recall the events that happened at each tree he points out, his happy chatter filling the air in the absence of anyone else's.
"That's where I told Azlyn to go take a hike!" the Keybearer declares, shaking his head at the memory. It seems time has turned what was once pain into a kind of nostalgic fondness.
"I was kind of being a bitch," the knight admits to Riku and Kairi. "Told him you two were dead, and he should give up on looking for you."
"So you've always been this chipper and pleasant," Riku notes sarcastically. "And here I thought age had jaded you."
"Not as much as age jaded your face!" Azlyn shoots back, a dig without any venom behind it.
"We made up, though," Sora continues, like he's oblivious to anyone else. "This really is a magical place, now that I think about it. Where people you just kinda know become your good friends. That's why I wanted to come here, y'know. I knew it would help…"
"Oh look, we're here!" Kairi announces, pointing out the camp, where they'd agreed to meet instead of the treehouse, in the distance.
Tarzan and Jane are already waiting for the group, greeting them all warmly as they enter the couple's home. Terk and Tantor are there as well, acting friendly enough despite the language barrier.
The first thing Sora does is explain his group's adventure last night. Tarzan listens interestedly, occasionally adding a comment about his own past entanglements with La. The part about the leopard-men really interests Jane, who can't stop shaking her head and remarking on the heretofore unknown living conditions of "the poor dears", as she takes to calling them. When the tale winds down, Sora notices the slowly growing look of disappointment on Tarzan's face.
"So, she's really gone?" the ape-man asks, an odd but hard-to-identify note in his voice. "You… I mean, she's not a threat anymore?"
"Nope!" Sora cheerily confirms. "Thanks to Kairi, you'll never have to deal with that crazy lady or her dark magic ever again!"
"That's… Nice."
"Oh man," Azlyn suddenly says, slapping her palm against the table they've all been sitting around. "You're jealous that we wasted your archenemy, aren't you?"
"Jealous!" Tarzan protests, scoffing at the notion. "I, um… I was just…"
"Now, now dear," Jane soothes her husband, a hand on his muscled shoulder. "Whatever the means, whoever delivered it, the good thing is that she can't threaten us any more."
"I wish we could say the same for our enemies," Riku says, leaning forward. "Counting what happened when you guys went to Agrabah, this is the second time in a few months Maleficent has caused trouble. What if she's just laying the groundwork for something big?"
"I do remember someone saying that she wanted me specifically handed over to her," Kairi remarks. "Could she be targeting the Princesses again?"
"Pete never made a move on Jasmine, though," Sora points out. "And she wanted me too. La said that a few times. Maybe it's all just about revenge now."
"Maybe," Riku concedes.
"I, for one, agree with Riku," Telary says, frowning at the unknown situation before them. "Maleficent isn't one to go without a plan for long. We'll be seeing her again, and I just bet it'll be something big."
KH-KH-KH
Even after the ruinous destruction wrought upon the city of Opar by the death of its queen, the grand palace still manages to stay upright. Massive chunks of stone have fallen from its infrastructure, giving the entire building a battered, lopsided look. All around it lies the rubble of lesser structures, like corpses among a wounded man left on the field of battle. All is silent, not even the noises of the surrounding jungle able to penetrate its gloom.
Until the loud crack of Maleficent's staff echoes through the tattered ruins. She walks slowly and deliberately from the dark portal that carried her back to this primitive world, Pete following in her wake as ever. With a wave of her hand, the witch dismisses the portal.
"Yikes," the fat cat comments, looking around at the half-destroyed city with a grimace. "This place sure could use a good redecoratin', huh?"
His mistress doesn't deign to respond to the comment, merely makes her way up the cracked stairs to the palace's formerly elaborate entrance. Most of the columns holding up the overhanging roof have shattered, leaving massive sections of it slumping over like a wounded animal. A great pile of stone chunks blocks the main doors.
That matters little to Maleficent. She raises her staff, focusing her dark power and will on the fallen masonry. With a flick of her staff, the rubble flies off to the side. The great double doors stand open to her now, the left one missing most of its top half, and the right with a massive gash along its edge.
The witch and her minion enters the palace through that crack. All the torches that once lit its large foyer have gone out, but there are enough holes in the ceiling that sunlight streams in to brighten it adequately.
"This place got real thrashed up, huh?" Pete remarks, speaking simply to fill the eerie silence that inevitably accompanies the ruins of a civilization. "Musta been some fight, huh?"
"A long overdue collapse," Maleficent says, her first words since arriving.
Pete nods his agreement. He's not really sure why, but it's all part and parcel with the minion business. "Still, reminds ya why the Keybrat and his little buddies are so dangerous, huh? And now if they figured out about you bein' after the Princesses of Heart…"
"Dangerous to an overzealous weakling like La," the witch interrupts, her tone even but laced with undeniable menace. "I have learned from the mistakes I made in my last endeavor. A proactive Keyblade master is more useful to my plans, besides. Like Organization XIII, I shall make Sora's instinctive heroism work against him."
They've entered the throne room now, more intact than might be expected. Maleficent moves directly for the throne platform, stopping just before ascending its staircase.
"What, uh, what are we doin' back here anyways?" Pete asks, taking in this room as he did all the rest. With considerable trepidation and fear, that is.
"I merely wish to satisfy a suspicion," his mistress explains. She reaches out a hand, and suddenly the stairs leading up to the throne dais collapse. The rubble falls, revealing another staircase. This one moves downward, into a chamber that has never before seen the sun. Without hesitation, Maleficent descends.
Pete follows, but with a lot of hesitation. It gets darker and darker the deeper they move, until Maleficent finally lights the magical green orb at the top of her staff. With that eerie jade light guiding them, the villains head deeper into Opar.
"The city obviously operated largely as a religious cult," Maleficent continues to exposit. "Centered upon some ridiculous feline deity."
"I'm guessing… leopard?" Pete throws out. It's not often he gets a chance to provide a correct answer.
The witch nods. The staircase's end can now be seen just a dozen steps down. "Indeed. Most of the buildings I observed paid homage to the leopard's image in some form. But that deity they worshiped was an aberration, a corruption of much a more distant memory."
The villains enter a chamber now, only a little smaller than the room above, and dark. Its obvious no one has been down here in a long, long time. Also apparent is the fact that, once upon a long ago age, considerable time was spent in this place. The symbols carved on all four walls attest to that, words written in an old language, forgotten by most.
But not by everyone.
"La hadn't a clue, what was directly beneath her feet," Maleficent notes sardonically, gazing around the room with a look of wicked glee. "No one in the city did, I'd wager. I imagine that long ago, many people made a very closely concerted effort to vanish this place from living memory."
"W-why would they d-do that?" Pete stammers, holding himself very tightly as he moves along behind his mistress. They walk to the farthest wall, covered in the hanging remains of dead, rotted vines.
"Because," the witch answers, stopping before the wall, "hearts grew weak. Over time, even the barbarity of the leopard god seemed preferable to what was once the center of their worship. A creature so evil that its very presence filled them with such dread, such fear and foreboding, that they preferred pretend it never existed."
Maleficent raises her hand, swiping it once over the wall to clear away the dead vines. They fall away, revealing part of the stone beyond. Something more than words is carved here, a mural of some kind.
Pete takes a step closer, hoping to get a better look. A small squeak emanates from downwards at the motion, the curious fat cat glancing down. A tiny, brown-furred mouse looks back up at him, somehow managing to school its rodent features into defiance.
"Ah," Maleficent says, momentarily stopping her work on the wall to see what her minions has uncovered. She bends low, scooping the creature up in one hand. Looking into the mouse's eyes, she sees the tiniest glimmering glow. A few specks of pink light up the blackness of its pupil. "More resourceful than I would have though, La."
The mouse's eyes go glassy, rolling back in its head. A fine pink mist gathers around the creature's body, but with a single squeeze of her hand Maleficent sends the cloud back into the rodent.
"Ah, what was that!" Pete yelps, leaping back and raising his hands over his face.
"La's spirit lives on, despite the destruction of her physical form," his mistress explains. "It found refuge in this creature, and just now thought itself capable of taking over my body as well. A foolish effort."
"What, uh, what are ya gonna do with her?" Pete asks.
"Nothing." The witch sets her former ally/opponent on the ground. "This seems a proper lesson for her arrogance."
La tweaks her nose up at the jade-skinned woman, squeaking defiantly. But Maleficent pays no mind, returning to her task of clearing the wall. When the last dead vines have fallen and crumbled to dust, the image stands revealed.
The carving depicts a monstrous creature, towering over all. Its powerful arms stretch upward, two massive wings spread wide. Its monstrous features stretch into a look of wicked glee, fanged mouth open in a malicious smile.
Pete looks the carving over, feeling a sudden dread come over him, deeper than he even thought a simple image could evoke. La recoils, scampering behind the fat cat's leg. And Maleficent regards it with a gleam in her eye.
Beneath it, written in the ancient language of Opar, is a single word. A name, just one name among many for the dark deity. Maleficent runs a reverent hand over it, translating aloud as her hand slides across.
"Chaos."
KH-KH-KH
After much friendly talking and an early dinner, Tarzan offers to lead Sora and his friends on a short hike to a very beautiful spot nearby. Everyone agrees eagerly, with minimal grumbling. Sora pouts about that for a while, citing his friends' earlier moaning and groaning when he suggested a walk.
The Keybearer watches Telary and Riku, standing a ways away having a light conversation. Kairi comes up beside him, noting the absolutely ecstatic look on his face at such a simple thing.
"Everything ended up working out, huh?" she says.
Sora flinches, suddenly noticing the presence of his girlfriend. When he recovers, the Keybearer turns to her with a smile.
"They really did, didn't they?" he agrees, putting an affectionate arm around her. "I knew it all would. Everything went just the way I planned!"
"Yeah," Kairi replies skeptically, rolling her eyes. "Pretty sure your getting captured wasn't anything you anticipated."
"You kidding?" the Keybearer scoffs. "That was totally part of it! I mean, c'mon Kairi, do you really think I couldn't have taken those leopard-men that came after me if I'd wanted to?"
"Um, yeah," the Princess of Heart replies, frowning at him. "I very easily think that."
"But are you sure?"
"Sora!" Kairi, having had quite enough, pulls Sora's arm off her shoulder and walks away. Tarzan is signaling the hike's start to the group anyway.
"C'mon!" Sora calls, following the redhead with dogged determination. "Just think about it, huh? Maybe you've been underestimating my… Kairi, wait. Please come back. Kairi, I was just kidding around. KAIRI!"
Riku and Telary turn their heads, watching as Kairi places fingers in both her ears, walking further into the jungle, away from the apology-babbling Keybearer. Both young men sigh, exchanging knowing glances.
"That boy is… something else," Riku declares fondly.
"That's as accurate a description as I can think of," Telary agrees. "A good kid though, of course. He just occasionally needs a bit of guidance. A helping hand."
"Or two," Riku says, giving the wizard a small grin and offering his own hand out in front of him.
"Y'know," Telary replies, taking Riku's hand and giving it a firm shake, "two would be better, I think."
Their little moment of mutual admiration doesn't last long, as Azlyn comes stalking out of the jungle. Her eyes dart briefly to the young men's handshake, before rolling exaggeratedly.
"Would you two hurry up?" the knight snaps, hands on her hips and foot tapping impatiently. "And Riku, I know Telary deftly combines the hidden feelings you have for Sora's taut, manly body with your Kairi-inspired redhead fetish, but could ya stop trying to snatch him away from me? It's just pathetic."
"Sorry about her, too," Telary apologizes, dropping the silver-haired Keyblade wielder's hand.
He shrugs, seemingly unbothered. "It is what it is. Besides, it's nice to have a little outlet for my anger issues. At least with her, I can expect a fight right back." Riku jogs forward, directing a glare at Azlyn. "Well, excuse me! It isn't my fault you can't keep your man satisfied."
"Well," Azlyn scoffs, "if anyone would know about satisfying a man…"
Heaving a deep, long-suffering sigh, Telary trudges after his friends.
KH-KH-KH
Tarzan leads the group through the jungle at a brisk pace, Jane all the while giving scientific commentary on pretty much everything they see. They're obviously heading uphill the whole way, until Tarzan finally leads them to a massive tree. A long vine hangs down, rising all the way up into the foliage-thick branches.
The group climbs up, high into the network of thick, interconnected branches. Tarzan once again takes lead, the ape-man guiding his guests from branch to branch, tree to tree. A gap between two trees leads to an impromptu vine swinging lesson, which thankfully everyone takes to without injury.
"Almost there," Tarzan says, leaping across a smaller gap. By now, the whole group can hear the dull roar of a lot of running water nearby. After another few minutes, they reach the end of their trip, the last few feet blocked by an intensely intermingled system of leafy branches. "Okay everyone, get ready to be amazed."
Tarzan pulls the "curtain" back, and everyone steps out to the edge of an almost impossibly thick limb. Telary expresses a little trepidation about the stability for a moment, but the protests die down when he sees the sigh waiting for him.
They stand high above the world's largest lake, a might waterfall tumbling down a cliff. Light hits the falling liquid, casting hundreds of bright rainbows off the reflection and out into the air. Combined with the clear blue skies above, it's an awe-inspiring sight.
"Awesome!" Sora declares, throwing his hands up in delight. "On top of the world, we're on top of the…" An idea suddenly strikes, lighting up the boy's face like holiday tree. "Okay, I just had the greatest idea! Everybody's gonna Tarzan yell!"
"Tarzan yell?" Azlyn repeats with a scoff. "What's that?"
"Yes, Sora," Tarzan chimes in, hands on his hips. "What exactly is a 'Tarzan' yell?"
"You know," the Keybearer retorts, rolling his eyes. "That thing where you get up all high, beat on your chest and go 'aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaa'! Y'know!"
"Oh," Jane says, giggling behind her hand. "I must agree dear. You do tend to do that."
"C'mon, this is the perfect place!" Sora continues, bouncing on the balls of his feet. An unwise move from this high up, but he doesn't seem to care.
"Let's go for it," Telary says, sighing exasperatedly. "If it makes him happy."
"If it makes him happy," Kairi repeats, giving Sora a peck on the cheek.
Sora, Kairi, Riku, Azlyn, and Telary line up next to one another looking out on the vast, beautiful landscape below. Sora, standing in the middle, glances to both sides. On his left, Riku and Kairi, his oldest friends. To the right, Azlyn and Telary, his foremost world-traveling companions.
Rocky start aside, leopard-men or no, the murkiness of Maleficent's future plans hanging in the balance… This is the greatest vacation in the history of the universe.
"On three!" Sora announces, his whole body thrumming with anticipation. "One…"
"Two…" Riku and Kairi simultaneously declare.
"Three…" Azlyn and Telary say in unison.
With absolute joyous excitement, all five unleash their best, loudest yells.
Put your faith in what you most believe in,
Two worlds, one family.
And so ends another story from Keys to the Kingdom: Life Goes On. I really like this end chapter here, and I hope it gives you all just the same feels as it did me.
Yeah, got some Keys to the Kingdom III foreshadowing there. What does it mean? Well, you'll just have to wait to find out. And remember, as you contemplate, that the Keys to the Kingdom universe ultimately isn't quite the same as the games. Well, okay, backstory mythologywise it's pretty different, actually. But, all that will really be hashed out in Keys to the Kingdom III.
Anyway, shout outs to Beserker21, Librarian 343, and theIrishWriter for their reviews of the last chapter. Thank you all so much, I love hearing from you.
The next part of Life Goes On is a little different as far as plots go, which I hope will make me look creative instead of just crazy. It's set at the very familiar location of Olympus Coliseum, and a tournament is involved, but the plot that accompanies that tournament is a little out there. Let's just say Azlyn gets what she's always wanted, and it ends up putting the rest of Team Keyblade in a bit of danger.
Well, thanks as always for reading, and I'll see you next time!