Chapter 12: Bent Out of Shape
When Riku stepped out into Traverse Town quite a few odd things happened. For starters, a duck and a dog walked right past him. He caught quite an interesting snippet of conversation from the two of them, not to mention their names. The duck's name was Donald, and the dog's name was Goofy. And, it seemed they were searching for Leon. On almost an impulse, he said: "I know Leon."
That brought their attention to him.
"Who are you?" Donald asked, a bit rudely.
"My name is Riku"
"You know Leon?" Goofy asked, much nicer than Donald had.
"Yeah. Here, I'll take you to him."
xxx
"So, you guys are looking for the Key…" Leon said slowly.
"A-hyuck! Yup," Goofy said.
"What?" Riku asked, being pulled back into reality. He had spaced out, due to the fact that the conversation had had nothing to do with him. "What was this about a key?" They looked at him, all confused. "Do you mean Key as in… Key…blade?" Riku asked.
"Yeah," Leon replied.
Riku's eyes went wide with shock, and his jaw nearly hit the floor. "I know who you're looking for," he said after a moment of stunned silence.
"Who?" Donald demanded.
"That's the thing…" Riku muttered, frowning. "I don't know where he is, or whether or not he'd be able to help you. Sora's… not quite right at the moment… I'm not quite sure what his problem is."
"You're friend Sora's the Keyblade wielder?" Yuffie asked, sounding as shocked as Riku felt. "Why didn't you mention this?"
"I didn't think it was important…"
"Every world among the stars has a Keyhole. And each Keyhole leads to the Heart of that world" Leon explained.
"Where are you going with this?" Riku asked
"It was in Ansem's report" Yuffie said, as if that explained everything.
"The Heartless enter through the world's Keyhole and do something to the world's heart," Leon continued.
"What happens to the world?" Donald asked.
"In the end, it disappears" Yuffie replied.
"What?" Riku, Donald, and Goofy all asked at the same time. Riku glanced over at the two of them a bit skeptically, but turned back to Leon.
"The Keyblade, however, locks these Keyholes, and the Heartless can never find them," Leon finished.
"So it is important…" Riku said slowly.
"Yup," Yuffie told him.
"Not good…" Riku whispered, looking at all of the people in the room. People that were depending on the Keyblade wielder to save them, and they all now knew that it wasn't going to happen. A nagging thought at the back of Riku's mind was telling him that it was his fault, but he was doing his best to ignore it.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Donald wondered aloud, sounding less rude and more worried now.
"Gawrsh," Goofy said. "I don't know…"
"Riku," Leon said. "You need to go find Sora-"
"And smack some sense into him," Riku finished.
"I wasn't going to say it like that…" Leon muttered.
"I'll go find him then," Riku laughed, turning and walking out. "Wish me luck!" he called over his shoulder, before opening up a Dark Corridor and leaving.
xxx
"You look unhappy…" Maleficent said slowly as Sora entered the room.
"You think?" Sora asked, angrily. "Riku beat me! Again!"
Unnoticed, Maleficent smiled. Everything was lining up according to plan. "There is a way you can become stronger."
"There is!" Sora asked eagerly, excitement growing in his eyes. "Tell me! What can I do?"
"There are seven maidens the purest of heart, we call them Princesses of Heart. Gather them together, and a door will open to the heart of all worlds. Within lies untold wisdom and power."
A grin spread across Sora's face.
"Don't get your hopes up kid," Hades said, stepping out of the shadows. Sora was not at all surprised. Most of the people in league with Maleficent tended to do this; stand in the shadows while Maleficent talked, only putting in input if they felt it was needed.
"We don't have all the princesses just yet, you see?" Hades continued. A holographic image of Kairi appeared on the table in the center of the room. She sat alone, leaning up against a wall, looking off to the side.
"Kairi," Sora whispered, smiling softly. "Wait…" he said slowly, and his smile fell into confusion. "You think Kairi's one of them?" he asked, looking up at Maleficent, quite clueless.
"Does it matter? You want to find her, don't you?"
"Of course I do!" Sora answered quickly. "But what's the catch? There's gotta be a catch. You guys have to be helping me for some reason."
"It is really quite simple," Maleficent said. "We just need your help in finding the final Keyhole."
"Sweet!" Sora grinned. "So if I just help you guys with the Keyhole thing, you help me find Kairi and the power to become stronger."
"Precisely"
"Alright," Sora's smile fell into a more serious tone, and his eyes grew cold. "But listen, if any of you," he looked at each person in the room in turn, to make his point, "lays a finger on Kairi. The deal's off, got it?"
"Of course" Maleficent said.