I think the best part about reuploading this up here, is that eats up more time between now and kh3, haha
Kiss me Twice
"Sora, you don't believe that. I know you don't."
Sora falls and the feeling is familiar. Like he's always falling. Towards something, into something, away from something. He wonders if it's odd to be so familiar with the sensation of falling, and decides it doesn't matter.
Nothing much matters.
-0-
At some point, it all goes black and when he awakes he's in Traverse Town once again. Like he's right back at the beginning, fourteen years old and confused. Fourteen years old and his world destroyed and his friends gone. Fourteen years old, with the weight of the worlds on his shoulders because a key chose him to wield it.
Except this time Leon and Yuffie aren't going to appear and tell him what's going on. Radiant Garden's been restored and they're all there trying their hardest to protect it. Except this time Donald and Goofy aren't going to show up and whisk him away to different worlds. Because, because they're gone and so is everyone else. And Sora's…. alone.
He doesn't fight alone, the only time he fought alone was his Mark of Mastery test (and even then the dreameaters had fought at his side), and look how that turned out. Look where he almost ended up. But he can't mess up like he did then, Riku, the King, none of them are there to pick him up if he fails this time.
They're all counting on him. They always have been, but it's all the more true now.
Except, he doesn't know what to do. When the worlds had been restored Traverse Town had disappeared, with no one who needed it to call it home it had simply vanished, like it has never existed in the first place.
The world seems desolate now, exactly as he remembers just emptier, lonelier. Did it appear again just for him? He's not sure what it means that Traverse Town has appeared again, as far as he's aware the rest of the worlds should still be safe. He also doesn't know what he's supposed to do here. The gummy ship is gone, and there's no here to ask to help. Is he trapped here?
He sinks to his knees, burying his face in his hands. Is this some kind of joke? Sora doesn't know what he's doing anymore. Doesn't know what he's supposed to be doing next, if he even wants to. (What he wants doesn't matter though, he has to.) And the worlds drop him here stranded with no way out.
The only ways Sora knows to travel between the worlds are with a Gummiship or through a corridor of darkness. And he's lost his access to one and he doesn't even know how the other works. What is he… his phone!
He reaches into his pocket, losing his balance and falling back in his rush to grab it, and despite the battle it's unharmed; though the charge is low it's good enough to get at least one call in. One call to someone in Radiant Garden and they can send someone over to pick him up and he can keep going.
Just one call, except, his finger hovers over the screen unwilling to press call. His other hand curls into his hair gripping it tight. What if whomever he calls is taken too? What if calling alerts the Organization and gets all of them taking. He can't be the reason more people he cares about are taken, gone, and disappeared.
But he can't stay here. Sora might not want to keep going but that doesn't mean Xehanort's plans stop just because there's no one left to fight him. He might want a final battle. Might want to recreate the x-blade and take Kingdom Hearts for himself but that doesn't mean there isn't so much else he can do.
And Sora, well he's the only one left with a keyblade that can stop him.
He shoves his phone back into his pocket, rocking forward so he can rest his head on his knees, eyes slipping shut. Riku had no idea what he was talking about, Sora doesn't know how to do things alone. He can't even figure out how to get off one world by himself.
He sits there, for so long he loses track of time, confused, wondering, hurting.
"Wow, I didn't think I could ever see someone more pathetic than my dear other half but you truly take the cake right now." A voice calls from above him and he startles, eyes snapping open as he jumps up and back so quickly he nearly falls back down again. The voice laughs, cruel and mocking, "God if you could see yourself."
"What do you want?" He spits, and tries not to flinch at how pained and bitter the words come out.
The voice, Vanitas Sora notes, laughs again, almost keeling over in his mirth. "Oh," the other says, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye except he's still wearing the mask so it just looks stupid, "You'll know what I want soon enough, but right now? I'd like you to get up and stop looking so useless. It's almost insulting to see you like this."
"W-what?" He asks, bewildered enough that his keyblade dematerializes from his hand. "What are you talking about?"
Vanitas scoffs, slinging his keyblade over one shoulder, "Sometimes I think people like you thrive on idiocy." He tosses something at him then, and Sora is too dumbfounded to do anything but catch. "Figure it out, don't, I did my part."
"Are you," he begins, words faltering in his confusion, "I don't understand, are you helping me?"
Vanitas grunts, and Sora can't see his face but he can almost imagine the appalled expression the other must be wearing at Sora's statement. "Get one thing straight you worthless piece of dirt, I don't help anyone but myself. And right now? Helping you get off this boring empty world is more beneficial than it would be funny to watch you suffer."
He looks down at the oddly shaped piece of metal in his hands, then back up at Vanitas who is already turning away. "Whatever your reasons are, couldn't you get in trouble for this?" Unless this is all a trap, unless Sora is playing right into their hands once again.
Except Vanitas almost sounds angry at the implication, pausing and turning back around. "There's nothing that maniacal geriatric could do to me that could even begin to compare… Whatever, I'm not scared of him, nor will he ever be in charge of what, how, or why I do things."
"But," Sora shakes his head, it doesn't matter, "How is this even supposed to help me?"
"Put it on your shoulder, call upon whatever little light is left in your pitiful little heart and believe you can fly or something. It's not my business." He says, waving a dismissive hand above his head before disappearing inside a corridor.
That… happened.
He looks back down at the piece of metal, some kind of device? Sora doesn't trust Vanitas, not in the least, but the fact that his had nothing to do with Xehanort seemed to be true enough, and whatever this actually is Sora doesn't have any better options. Not unless he can bring himself to call up one of his friends in Radiant Garden.
Its weight feels like lead in his pocket, without the Gummiship he has no way of charging it, and if it was low before it's probably barely alive now. He could probably still get one call in before it died on him but he can't bring himself to risk it.
Sora might not think he can do this alone but he will. He can't afford to let anyone else be caught up in this, not anymore.
He lifts it up, turning it around until it's in a position that at least kind of looks like it would fit on his shoulder without the metal poking right through him. It's pretty in a way, a darker kind of silver with a red tint. At least it'll match his outfit.
He places it on his shoulder, leaving the hand that placed it resting on top of it. He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath and reaches, reaches for the same part of him that he goes to when he tries to summon the keyblade even though it is already in his hand. He does that, and then, just like Vanitas said, imagines he can fly, that he can soar through the spaces between the worlds just as easily as if he were still with Goofy and Donald in the Gummiship.
He does that, and takes a breath.
And then he flies.
.
-0-
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He crashes hard into the ground below him, and is thankful for whatever weird power causes the metal on his shoulder to turn into some kind of protective armour. He groans as he lifts himself up, patting where it would be in thanks and instead finding himself glowing as the armour dissipates and returns back to its original shape and position.
He shakes his head, his ears still ringing from the fall, as he walks towards his… keyblade? He thinks that this thing is his keyblade, it feels like it anyways. (It had burned for a second in his palm before it had disappeared entirely, and the next thing he knew he was floating in space on some weird device). Except, it's currently instead some kind of longer and sharper shaped skateboard, just without the wheels and at one end it has this weird set of pipes extending upwards, shaped weirdly enough like the sharp edge of his Kingdom Key. Also, instead with the ability to somehow float and fly between worlds instead of roll across the ground. The appearance reminds him of Roxas for some reason, and he smiles despite himself.
He reaches out to it and if sensing it is no longer needed, shines and shrinks back into his keyblade. He stares at it for a few moments, before reaching out and grabbing it, dissipating back into the light.
That was surprisingly useful, if not terrifying and horrifying that one second he was flat on the ground and the next floating in space with heartless coming at him from all directions. The skateboard had reacted accordingly, zooming forward past them as beams of light shot out of it. Part of it had been instinctual, like using a skill he hadn't used in ages, but had at one point been second nature to him.
He's still a bit confused about it, but at least he managed to get out of Traverse town.
Sora's almost inclined to thank Vanitas the next time he sees him, if he didn't know that was possibly the worst idea ever. And if he was stupid enough not to think that helping him out was the ends to some kind of means, even if it was just Vanitas' own plans and not Xehanort's.
Whatever the reason was, it got Sora here, and he's here for a reason, someone here, or perhaps the whole world, needs his help. He'll find them, and he'll do it, even if it will be alone for the first time, without even a dreameater as his companion. His phone rests dead in his pocket, and even though he could go over to Radiant Garden right now, let them know that at least he made it back safe. He doesn't, he doesn't think he could face them and let them know he failed. He doesn't think he could stand to look at more people he has left to lose.
So he'll do this alone and maybe that way they'll be safe.
Riku said he could do this alone, so he will.
.
-0-
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It feels like they're laughing at him. That at every new world he visits, despite their involvement being clear, he doesn't run into a single Organization member. They used to hound his every move and now it's as if they've disappeared off the face of the worlds.
They're plotting something, but Sora can't figure out what it could possibly be.
So he just keeps going, keeps fighting, saving world after world until he inevitably reaches the end of whatever ropes he's currently precariously balanced on.
Even if he does feel, odd, empty, fighting through all these battles by himself. Insisting that even the residents of the world stay clear, that he'll handle this by himself. He doesn't want to risk them getting hurt somehow after all. He doesn't want anyone else in danger if he can help it.
Even if he feels like the one hurting because of it. That just doesn't matter.
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-0-
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Flying on his keyblade skateboard(?) – there's probably a better name for it, but this works just fine – is still a bit odd. It maneuvers oddly, and he's still unused to how it works so sometimes it'll accelerate and deaccelerate at random. For the most part though, he's getting the hang of it –he hasn't had a crash landing since the first time!
Which is probably the thought that jinxes him.
The air around him seems to shift, and a feeling of dread builds as the shield around him springs to life. There is a loud groaning kind of sound, and a stream off heartless appear in the distance. Sora shifts, intent on moving and evacuating to the nearest world to avoid it but instead freezes, gaze locked on the heartless heading towards him.
They're a different type then the ones who took his friends, but their movements are similar, a tight chaotic line as they move haphazardly through the space. For a second he's there again, and the pain in his heart is so sudden and sharp he cries out, the keyblade beneath him wavering as he stumbles. It's a second long enough that the swarm reaches him, his shield breaking apart quickly under the onslaught.
Still dazed he's not able to react quickly enough and the keyblade falters as it jerks down, before giving out completely and plummeting downwards. Sora falls with it, holding on for dear life to avoid being cast out alone without it.
It feels like forever before he comes across a field of rocks floating about, and unable to control it they fall right through it. Scraping against them, just barely missing until one hits him straight on and he blacks out, hands still wrapped tight around his keyblade.
-0-
"Oh good you're awake! I was beginning to get worried. But you keyblade wielders have always been a sturdy bunch." Is the first thing Sora hears as his eyes blink open. The voice is cheerful, almost childish, and something about it feels trustworthy.
He sits up, looking over to see a… dreameater? That doesn't seem right either, dreameaters don't talk after all, but something about it is similar. It's standing next to him, and even sitting down Sora towers over its tiny frame.
"I'm Chirithy!" It, Chirithy, greets, "Nice to meet you!"
"Um, I'm Sora, same?" He offers hesitantly, still rather confused. The world around them is vast and empty. A blue, clouded sky above them as far as the eye can see, and what seems to be water you can stand on for a floor. It's nothing like he's ever seen before, it's beautiful, but so very lonely.
"It's been a long time since I've met a keyblade wielder," Chirithy says, but they're not looking at Sora when they say it, "a very long time. So it's nice to see you're all still as I remember!"
Sora isn't sure what to say to that, so he doesn't. "Do you know where we are?"
Chirithy, hums, waving one paw at him, "That doesn't matter, you came here for something didn't you?"
"… No?" He doesn't even know where here is, how could he have meant to come here.
"Oh but you did! You wouldn't be here otherwise. And, I think I know, just by looking at you. You have a very heavy burden to bear Sora, you remind me of someone I used to know."
"Sorry," he says for some reason, but Chirithy simply waves their paw dismissing his concern, motioning at Sora to stand up.
He does so, finding that despite the water beneath them his clothes are not wet. "Let me ask you something Sora; haven't you already learned how to restore someone's heart after it's been lost?"
He startles, bewildered, before shaking his head.
Chirithy smiles at him, before jumping onto his shoulder and beginning to whisper in his ear. They talk for a while, and when it's finally time for Sora to leave he kneels back down, meeting Chirithy at eye level.
"I'll come back when this is all over, I'll come visit."
Chirithy looks at him, quiet, somber, before replying, "Maybe you will." Sora hesitates at that, but when he tries to speak Chirithy speaks over him, "Come one now, get going, I know you have more important things to be doing."
Sora nods resolutely, "I'll be back," he says again, more firmly, and grins at the way Chirithy startles when he says that.
Then he's off, and when he leaves the world, finds that there's nothing in the space that he just left behind.
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-0-
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When he finds Chirithy again he's going to squeeze the life out of them in the biggest hug he can manage, he decides as blue-black chains wrap around him and a boy who looks strikingly like Roxas but isn't.
Ventus, a part of him says, the same part that knew who Vanitas was before he'd even introduced himself. Sora looks at him and feels the same ache he felt whenever Vanitas spoke to him as if looking at someone that wasn't him. Sora looks at him, and knows exactly what it is he need to do here.
He's not sure what Vanitas is trying to do here, but he does know that he's not going to let him do it on his own terms. They chains pull them up and around, but they swing and sway as they do, and when one leaves him close enough to grab the other, he does, hand reaching out as best as he can to grab his and he can't but grin when they make contact.
Light shines as they touch, the chains around them disappearing as if burned, and as they fall Sora pulls a still unconscious Ventus towards him, pressing their foreheads together.
'Wake up, he thinks, he pleads, 'please wake up. People here still need you,' he says, thinking of what King Mickey told them, about Aqua and Terra, 'I need you.' He finishes, because he doesn't want to do this alone.
For a moment, he's somewhere else, floating above a stained glass platform, something that feels far too familiar to him, like he's been here before. Like part of him wants to stay here, like part of him belongs here. The feeling overwhelms him and it's almost scary but Sora pushes past it, slowly landing on the platform.
He walks around it, waiting for something to happen, and instead takes in the space below him. Ventus is on it, large and sleeping, and around him are three small circles, each with something shaped like a papou fruit in it –or more like Kairi's seashell charm of it, except they are oddly coloured, one green like the rest of Ventus' stained glass platform, and then one bright blue, and a sandy brown, almost orange. He wonders what they mean, he wonders what exactly he's supposed to be doing here.
"Ventus," he calls into the space at large, "If you're here can you just, give me a sign." He didn't think this through.
The call of his voice seems to be enough though, the space shakes with his declaration, the station below him beginning to glow brightly, a shine of green so bright Sora has to shield his eyes from it.
He thinks he hears a voice, familiar and friendly, and then he's back in the outside world, the other still but a hairs breadth away from him.
Did that work? Sora doesn't know what working would even look like, but that light had to have meant something good though right?
The light around them expands as he comes back, and for a second they are floating instead of falling, or maybe they have been the whole time Sora was somewhere else. For an eternal second Sora feels like something inside him has been pulled out leaving him cold and empty, like someone has taken a pick at him and worked him hollow. It is eternal, and crushing, painful in a way he can't even begin to describe before warmth and happiness rush to fill it back in, like a parting gift goodbye as he can feel tears drip from his eyes. The light dims as they slowly lower towards the ground, and when they finally touch ground, foreheads still pressed together, Ventus' eyes open and he smiles.
"It's nice to finally actually meet you, Sora."
Sora's reply is cut off by Vanitas' scream, pained and angry in a way that startles him but makes Ventus' expression turn resolute as he slowly disentangles himself from Sora's grasp.
"You always do this! I plan, and I plan, and you ruin it with what? Hope? Belief? You're stupid so-called friendship? Well you don't have any anymore. Both your precious Terra and Aqua are gone, or at least no use to you anymore as friends. So what's the point of fighting this, fighting me?"
"You still don't get it," Ventus says, summoning his keyblade and a similar armour to Sora's in the same motion. "My friends are my power, they're with me, pushing me forward, no matter how far apart they are. Even if they're gone. I can still fight, my body can still move to defend what I know is right, so I will." He says and Sora flinches, despite not being directed at him the words strike a chord in him that hurt.
Vanitas looks absolutely enraged at the statement, but Ventus turns away from him looking back at Sora, eyes landing on the metal on his shoulder. "Oh good you have one, that makes this easier." He says, reaching over to touch it and, as always, light shine arounds him as the armour appears.
"What the hell are you doing?" Vanitas shouts, apparently catching onto something that Sora is still missing.
"I just woke up; excuse me for not wanting to jump straight into fighting you."
Vanitas anger snaps away at that, his next words somewhere between bewildered and desperate. "You can't do that, that's now how this was supposed to happen."
Ventus hesitates at that, but still reaches forward to grab Sora as he lifts his keyblade high, tossing it into the air. "Your plan didn't work before, and it's not going to this time. I've seen a lot since leaving my 'tiny little world', and the truth of the matter is that in the end you guys will never win."
And then they're gone, back in the spaces between worlds on what he assumes is Ventus' keyblade.
"I hope you have an idea of where to go," Ventus says, looking far too pale all of the sudden, swaying slightly as he stands atop it, "And how to use one of these because I don't think I can do it right now."
"Yeah," he says after a moment, motioning for Ventus to sit down, "I do." He continues as he sets a path for Radiant Garden.
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-0-
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He thinks he understands Riku's words a bit better now. Sora is strong enough to go at things alone, he's strong enough to do these things even without his friends with him because his faith in them, and their faith in him, isn't rooted to just them being physically there with him. As long as he carries them here in his heart, he'll never be alone.
But even so, just because he can do things alone, doesn't mean he has to. And that even if he's worried and afraid, hiding from them won't make anything better.
It's slightly better now though, and it'll be even better when he gets all his precious people back.
Next chapter? thursday maybe? if not probably not till sunday or next monday