Merry Christmas, readers! Lilith here.
And since a guest reviewer requested the explanation of where Luna had been all those years ago, here it is: signed, sealed, and delivered!
I apologize if this chapter was much shorter than the last one, but I promise with the third part of our business in Traverse Town, it will be longer than before.
That being said, hope you enjoy the holiday and enjoy what I have!
Constructive reviews are welcome, rude ones are not.
I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts except my OCs.
Read, leave a review, but no flames allowed.
Chapter 8: Explaining Luna's Past
Not long after the group stepped back out into the familiar streets of Traverse Town, it was pretty clear that they still have some work to do in town. In fact, it was remembered by Donald (quite surprisingly) that they have those peculiar gummi blocks that they have no clue about, so it was unanimously agreed that they should pay a visit to someone who can explain about it and help them out on their usage.
"Maybe Cid might know how best to handle those gummi blocks," Donald said as they moved on.
Luna showed a puzzled look to Sora. "Who is this Cid? I don't think I've met this person."
Sora quickly remembered that she was somewhere else at the time. "Oh, yeah! You never met Cid, didn't you? I met him when I was trying to flee from the Heartless. He's a little gruff and sounds like a bit of a jerk, but he wasn't too bad."
Medea raised a brow at this. "Really? What'd he do, try to boot you out into the open so that he can do whatever the hell he pleases?"
"No, nothing like that! He just told me to keep searching for my friends when I didn't have a clue what to do on my own!" Sora insisted defensively.
"That's rather kind of him," Luna commented softly.
With Sora taking the lead (since he knew where this new face for Luna should be), they were able to follow the trail to a shop nestled within the district where the businesses would be at work. Upon entering the shop, Luna was able to get a look at the person she hadn't had the opportunity to meet yet.
The man inside the shop was apparently older than most of the fellow refugees (although nobody has bothered trying to ask about Shantotto's age previously, so what would they know?), with blond hair that stuck up like gathered straw and slightly grizzled facial hair around his chin; he had on a white short-sleeved top and blue pants with a wrapped orange belt around him and googles atop his head, as well as dark shoes and a bauble around his neck.
When he noticed that they had just come in, he certainly had something to say. "So, you're back, eh? I see you found one of yer friends. She looks kinda cute."
"Yeah, I found one so far. Cid, this is Luna," Sora introduced her, "She's lived on the islands with us ever since she was about five years old."
Luna gave a little bow of respect. "It's nice to meet you, Mister Cid. I'm sure Sora must've told plenty about me after finding you."
Cid gave a laugh when he heard that. "Wow, ain't she the polite one! You didn't mention that tidbit last I checked." Then, he noticed that she wasn't the only female outsider around here. "And who's the fiery redhead lurking right behind you? Never seen her around here."
Luna looked to her guardian and replied, "Her name is Medea. She's my Shadow Guardian. She may be a bit rude and short-tempered, but don't get her wrong: she's actually a very good person."
"'Sup?" was all Medea said back.
"So, what'd y'all come over here for? You got something to talk about, or do ya have a little business with me?" Cid asked them, getting straight to the point.
"Look what we found!" Donald said as he presented the gummi blocks they had discovered during their travels.
Cid took the blocks and examined them closely. "Well, if it ain't a gummi block…"
"What does it do?" Goofy asked.
Boy, was old Cid shocked to hear that. "What, are you kiddin' me! You're flying a gummi ship and you don't know nothing about navigation gummis? Bunch of pinheads. Interspace ain't no playground."
"There's a lot we don't know about. So what!" Sora protested. "We have to use the gummi ship to go to other worlds. We don't have much of a choice."
"Whoa, easy. I didn't know. No hard feelings, all right?" Cid insisted. "Well, I guess I could lend y'all a hand, then."
"Any help you can offer would be very appreciative, Mister Cid. Thank you," Luna said in gratitude.
"Hey, cut the whole 'mister' off, why don't 'cha? You're making me sound old!" Cid felt embarrassed at this. "Say, I got this thing I gotta go deliver. It's a book, and it's real old. When the guy brought it in, it was practically falling apart. In fact, it was too beat up to restore it to the way it was. But overall, I did a decent job puttin' it back together. Anyway, you mind deliverin' it for me?"
At his cue, he pulled out what appeared to a child's storybook with vintage touches on it; it was certainly a marvel to see such a rare thing around these parts. It certainly made them wonder why it was so important…
"Medea, have you ever seen this kind of book?" Luna asked, though she knew the answer already.
"Nope. I've never seen this kind of thing," Medea replied bluntly, "Who's supposed to get this old thing back?"
"I think I know: if he's saying 'old guy', he's most likely talking about Merlin," Sora guessed out of the blue.
"Then we'd better be on our way," Goofy stated the obvious.
"Alrighty, since we've got all of that taken care of, I'll get to work on your gummi ship and make some modifications on it," Cid said, "You guys go take care of whatever it is you're doing, and we'll talk later, eh?"
With all of that taken care of, Luna and the party left the shop so that Cid can do his work without disturbance while they searched around the town a little more with an important item in tow. Of course, just as they were passing by the tables outside another building, one inevitable thing had to be brought up once again.
"Well, since we've got matters with the ship covered, the only thing left we have to do is find the keyhole," Sora said.
"Not so fast, Sora! You promised to explain Luna's whereabouts when we got back from our travels, remember?" Donald stopped him.
That hit the two teens like a bunch of bricks on their heads; they did agree to explain everything to the best of their efforts after they've made their first trip across the worlds since Luna wasn't ready to tell her old friends where she had been all those years. But now that they're back in Traverse Town, a promise that was made had to be kept.
"Oh…right. Yeah, we were gonna do that," Sora remembered.
Luna hung her head a bit. "To be honest…I have no idea where to begin explaining everything."
"Well, how about we hear everything from Sora first, and then Luna can confirm anything she knows?" Goofy suggested.
Thinking that would be the best way to go, the group took some seats as the two islanders told their story, starting from the perspective of Sora.
"I'll be honest about it: the earliest memory I had about Luna was about ten years ago, at the very least. She was a curious and sweet girl, but a little shy," Sora told his side of the tale, "After she left the island for reasons I don't know, we had no idea whether we'd see her again. But then, a year later, we heard that an ill girl was discovered by the townsfolk and brought to the hospital for examination. When we heard about it, Riku and I went to see who it was, and…well…to our greatest shock, that girl was Luna."
"How was she ill?" Donald asked, rather uneasy about it.
"Her illness, according to the doctor who was monitoring her, was more on the mental and emotional," Sora replied, "What caused it and why, I don't know. All I know is that, after Kairi arrived on the island and both girls were adopted by the mayor of the town, all three of us did everything we could to help her overcome her mental instability until she was able to learn to be more independent."
This was certainly a lot for Donald and Goofy to take in, but when they heard this from Sora, they were certainly shocked to hear what Luna's conditions were prior to the disappearance of the worlds and the king's sudden departure.
"Gawrsh…we had no idea…" Goofy finally admitted, quite shocked to hear all of that.
Donald, unsure what to make of this, turned to Luna. "Say, Luna: do you remember how you got to the island?"
Luna shook her head sadly. "No…I have no idea how I got to the islands. In fact, I hardly recall what I was doing the moment I arrived. Some of it is a blur…The most clear memory I have is waking in a hospital, with a doctor and nurse checking me and talking to me."
Now it was the duck's turn to be stunned. "Really…?"
She nodded. "Later on, I not only saw Kairi again, but a kind couple came to see me and – under Kairi's persuasion – I was adopted along with her. I will not deny that it wasn't easy adjusting to the new life I had been given, but Hiroshi and Yoko were very patient and very kind to me. Even Sora and Riku made a lot of effort to help me get better and…well…I will admit that it was wonderful having the three as friends. I'm not sure where I would've been if none of them had been there to support me and take care of me when I was broken."
Again, this was a lot of information for Donald and Goofy to digest in one sitting, but just hearing what was wrong with Luna and where she had been living quietly all those years certainly helped verify where she had been without anyone knowing it. It was easy for the two to understand that Sora was being honest about what he knew of Luna's conditions and his experience with her, but to think that Luna herself had been living there, unknown to those who hadn't seen her in years and safe from intrusive eyes.
"Huh…So that's where Luna's been all along," Goofy finally said after putting the pieces together. "I wonder what the king would think if he learned about it."
Now Luna showed a puzzled look. "What do you mean, Goofy?"
"Oh, we didn't tell ya? Ever since you disappeared, King Mickey was afraid that something might've happened to you," the knight explained, "His Majesty tried to search for you whenever he could, but no matter where he looked, he couldn't find you anywhere."
Medea raised a brow at this. "Really? So that rodent actually tried to look for her, eh? That's a surprise."
"But now the king's disappeared for a different reason, and we have to find him," Donald had to put in.
"Don't worry about it. We'll find him, and we'll find our friends as well," Sora assured them. "They're out there somewhere."
"Maybe if we find them, we can figure out a way to help them," Luna agreed, "and maybe I could get answers from Mickey…"
As the party started to continue making their search in the town for the keyhole (and to take care of the delivery), none of them suspected that all of them were being watched somewhere from the shadows; whoever – or whatever it is – had their eyes clearly set on Sora and Luna, with neither of them aware of what is to come to them for the rest of their dangerous journey…