With my assignments out of the way, I can now write and actually enjoy it. WOOH! That said, enjoy this latest chapter :D
Chapter 22
Future Shock
Standing tall and proud above all other buildings, the Turm des Himmels was a magnificent yet unusual presence to those that lived in the city of Alexander. It had the exterior of architecture that predated the more modern buildings of the city with an interior that was much the opposite. Of course to know this one would have had to have entered into the tower and unless you were an official for the royal palace, a scientist or a construction worker, it was very unlikely a public member would ever get to see the inside walls of the building.
As for what went on in the building, that was anyone's guess. One theory had to do with it being a research facility which would have made sense with scientists working there. Another was that it was where the rich usually went to relax and have fun, as there had been several reports of opera singer Celes Chere entering the building among other well notified people.
Regardless of its ambiguity however and the lack of transparency among the officials who resided within, the tower was merely a relic of the past and was usually of little insignificance to those who walked by it on a day to day basis. It was known to be the oldest building in the city and the idea that it was in the centre seemed to indicate the city having been built around the tower afterwards. As for how old it was, that too was anyone's guess.
But with all things, there was always a minority. There were some who believed that it was important to know these things no matter how insignificant they may have initially seemed. Although everyone else was crossing the city square where the building was and only seldom glancing at the building in admiration if at all, there was one person in particular who eyed the building with hawkish eyes, a notepad and pen in her hands.
She wasn't a conspiracy theorist by any means, but her profession (or her desired one anyway) required her to question everything, and certainly the tower was the most questionable thing in all of Alexander. On most days she would come here and sit down on the opposite side of the square just watching and taking notes of who entered the building and how long they were there for. She was sure that something was going on in there, not that she had anything on paper to prove it with, but she was sure her eyes didn't lie.
It was on that night when those strange creatures had attacked the city. She, like most of the city had been trying to escape the threat, but the density of the crowd swallowed some and caused them to stumble and fall along the way. She was one of those people, her glasses being knocked off by someone's elbow and subsequently being stepped on by someone else.
At that point the only thing she could do was curl up into a ball and hope that no one stepped on her or the strange creatures didn't notice her. It was some time before she looked back up to see that nobody was around her. Silence permeated the streets, almost like nothing had ever happened. Just then a strange green light emanated from one of the tower's windows. It almost seemed bright enough to fill the entire sky. This light soon faded and then… she didn't remember anything after that. She had fallen unconscious as if some drought had befallen her and put her to sleep.
Had it really all just been a dream? Maybe the others were right to ridicule her for her silly claims. It wasn't as if she by her lonesome was going to be able to convince people that something much bigger in scope was happening than they could possibly imagine. It also wasn't as if a vivid green light that filled the skies like lightning was much to go by either, especially when she had only seen it once.
She scratched something off her notepad having decided to rewrite a sentence. No, she refused to believe that she was wrong on this matter, and no matter how many times she had been called stubborn by her peers, she would prove them right in the end and she would laugh. Just imagining her paper being published and read by the masses gave her goose bumps, or she would if she had gotten anything interesting so far. For whatever miniscule work she had in the field, being patient certainly wasn't one of her strong points and was something she needed to work on as an amateur. She eventually sighed and decided to call it a day. She may not have made any gains today, or the day before that, or even before that but she was of the belief that her luck had to change one day—she just didn't anticipate how soon that day would be.
After an annoying battle against the Heartless in what Luna had jokingly described as a "space opera", the two finally reached Alexander for the first time in three and a half months. For Sora, it was his first time seeing this Alexander, no longer desolate, dark and melancholic teeming with Heartless everywhere. For Luna, it was a place she had been reluctant to return to ever since she had learned of the damning truth from Abraxas. Here was the city she had destroyed. Her eyes saw fire engulfing the city and she backed away a few steps only for Sora to reach out and grab her hand.
"I didn't expect everything to be so… normal. There was a fire through the whole city. I remember Astra holding me up as we walked past the flames but everything seems fine now, like there wasn't a fire. What's going on?" she asked with wandering eyes. She scanned the city from the plateau they were on searching for some sign of falseness about the place, but it really did seem to be her home.
"Don't take this as fact but if I had to guess maybe when you brought back the world from the Realm of Darkness it chose the closest memory of the world before it was taken over by the Heartless. It's kinda like choosing from save data in a video game I suppose." Sora chuckled at his own analogy but upon seeing Luna's face he replaced his smiling face with a straight one.
"If that's the case, do you suppose my parents might still be… no, let's get closer." Luna said. She'd rather not think about such an unlikely scenario as that happening. As they trudged down the downwards slope, they felt the wind carry them closer to their destination more so than their feet. The ground they tread was rough and bumpy, at least until they hit smooth ground upon officially entering the city.
The first thing that Luna took notice of was there were people. It may have seemed an insignificant detail to anyone else but to her, that was all she needed to know she was back in Alexander. The ambient noise of people going about their daily business, the density of the populace, it was all too much for Luna to handle.
"Earth to Luna, you still in there?" she had almost failed to hear Sora's question the second time he uttered it.
"None of this seems real. It really is like nothing ever happened." Luna shook her head trying to absorb everything in. Meanwhile, Sora was gasping at the amount of people, the tall buildings, and the trees that lined themselves in equal spacing down the road. He had never seen anything like it before.
"Well unless you're also imagining me here then I'd say it's pretty real, and something else at that," Sora said. "On my islands we never had anything as fancy as this. I guess we didn't really need to either. What we had was enough. But still, this really is amazing! I'm overwhelmed right now."
"That's one thing I like about the place I guess. It's pretty big, but it's just not for me. Oh dear, why am I talking about the negatives so much? You don't mind if we check out the bakery do you?" Luna asked.
"Oh right, your Aunt Kit, right?"
"She isn't really my aunt but she's close enough to the family that she pretty much became that for me." Luna corrected. The two started walking down the cobblestone paved street while taking in everything. Even Luna, who had seen all this before, had found a new perspective after seeing other worlds and was starting to make note of similarities and differences between Alexander and other worlds she had been to. Sora ran over to the waterway which Luna described as a route that ran throughout the city and looked down to see numerous canoes and passenger boats travelling up and down the river.
"Heeeeey!" Sora called with waving hands hoping to gain the passengers' attention.
"Sora please, you're embarrassing us both." Luna said.
"Huh, how? I was just saying hello to them. Oh, hi!" He greeted having seen two passers-by looking at him strangely.
"Someone had too much coffee this morning I'm guessing. Well, I'm sure Aunt Kit can't wait to see your enthusiasm." Luna said half signalling that she wanted to hurry on before more people started staring. Sora smiled and the two continued on down the street with Luna informing him about the different places in more detail than she had before she had regained her memories.
"And you see that place behind all the trees?" Luna directed pointing across the river where they could make out a grand building in the distance. "That's the city hall which… get this, has an ice skating rink at the front."
"No way… you're kidding me right?" Sora asked in disbelief.
"I wish, and there's an observation tower there where you can see the whole of the city. I've been there for my birthday a few times with my parents and I went once with Astra. It's wonderful." Luna said.
"Then we should go after this. We have to make every moment of this vacation count," Sora looked up to the blue sky and sighed. "I really wish I could have taken her to see these other places. She would have liked it I think, after being chained to what she was born with her whole life. She even knew when she'd die. Just what kind of power is that? Well, whatever it is, no one should have to bear that kind of pain."
"When you put it that way I kind of feel bad about wanting to leave this place, knowing that there was someone out there who wasn't able to have the same opportunities as me. But, in a weird way, she was free of that pain in the end, wasn't she? Yeul smiled at us. Oh, we're here already?"
Sora looked away from Luna to see that they had stopped in front of the shop to find its doors completely boarded up. Luna moved closer to the windows and moved her fingers along the glass where any baked goods that were usually on display were no longer there.
"It's closed." Luna may have stated the obvious but to her it meant everything. This was the place she had mostly come to during her childhood if she wasn't at home or school.
"Well… since it means so much to you…" Sora summoned his Keyblade and severed the boards in half causing them to drop to the ground.
"Sora!" Luna screeched watching in shock as Sora quickly dismissed the weapon.
"I won't tell if you won't." Sora replied winking furtively.
"Except there's nothing to tell about me so… oh forget it." Luna said uncomfortably. She pressed her hand against the door, told herself inwardly once more that everything would be alright, and pushed. The familiar sound of a jingling bell came as the door opened to notify the shopkeeper of a potential customer. Luna looked down to notice different floorboards from the wooden ones that were usually there. Other than that, Luna's focus was on locating the currently vacant owner of the shop.
"Aunt Kit, are you here?" she yelled.
"I don't think she was expecting customers. Oh, that reminds me, you remember that baker in Quasi's world that you were at? He was disappointed you couldn't make it the last time me, Riku and Kairi went there. No doubt you are now his favorite customer." Sora notified.
"Well it was some pretty amazing bread. I guess I just have an affinity for these sorts of places." Luna replied. She called out to Kit once more hoping to salvage some sort of response, but no one replied. She was about to suggest that they leave when she barely managed to pick up muffled footsteps from the floor above.
"Aunt Kit?" Luna repeated sanguinely.
A woman who could only be described as a tired out mother soon appeared from the soon revealed herself on the second floor landing. Her usually well-kept red hair was now dishevelled and the dark circles underneath her eyelids told quite well that she hadn't gotten any sleep for a while.
Even her reactions were delayed, though perhaps that may have been because she hadn't believed her eyes. She didn't dare to. But the more she stared at the familiar looking girl the more she began to see that she wasn't going insane.
"Luna?" she asked tiredly.
"I'm here Aunt Kit." Luna affirmed. She hadn't realized until witnessing the distraught look on Kit's face that she was going to feel very badly about leaving her once again. She had never seen the shop owner like this before, and the more she thought of what that could mean, the less she wanted to know.
Kit scurried down the stairs and was at Luna's side at an instant. She was pale, very pale, Luna noticed as Kit reached forward to touch Luna's cheeks. "Luna… Luna… Oh thank the Chocobos! Luna, thank goodness you're safe!" Luna was immediately pulled into a hug which she wouldn't try to resist. She buried her head into Kit's neck lovingly and patted her on the back as if she were a child. After a while they soon pulled away with Kit holding onto Luna's shoulders and staring her up and down. "You look different somehow. It's the way you carry yourself I think…"
"So do you. What happened?" Luna enquired.
"That's a question I could ask you. Your parents told me that they couldn't find you anywhere. We searched the whole city for you for weeks, we even asked the neighbours to help and put it in the newspapers. But we still couldn't find you. And then the fire happened and your parents…" By the drop in Kit's tone of voice, Luna could tell that her parents had not escaped their fate.
"How long has it been since Luna went missing ma'am?" Sora offered to move the conversation along.
Kit inspected him inquisitively as if she had just noticed him for the first time. "Is this a new friend Luna? Now I'm really curious to know what happened. I've only ever seen you hang out with Astra. Oh, where are my manners? My name is Katreen but everyone calls me Kit, excuse my appearance right now. I was a bit… yeah."
"Oh, no bother ma'am. I'm Sora. So, how long has it been exactly?"
"Would be four months now. You're parents… oh I'm so sorry Luna, I don't know how to tell you this." Kit had started sobbing and Luna brought her closer to give her another hug.
"I know Aunt Kit. I know." How hard was it to tell someone who was grieving that you were responsible for that person's grief and so many others'? It was not a question that Luna would have answered now, not when she needed comfort the most. This brought up another question. Was she concealing the truth because she didn't want them to fall into a worse grief, or because she herself didn't want them to think badly of her, and if it was the latter, then did that make her selfish?
"So someone else has already told you then. I even promised them I would look after you and just look at what's gone and happened. I just know I'd be a terrible mother." Now she was fully letting her tears flow.
"I'm sure you did the best you could. I may have only seen it briefly but a promise is only as good as the action behind it and I can tell you care deeply for Luna. Even if you weren't with her, the fact that you care for her is probably the reason she's here with you right now." Sora said. His own words pricked him like a needle. Had he just not cared enough to prevent her death? But then he remembered Luna's words. She smiled.
"Thank you dear but it really is unfortunate that things had to end up like this. It's just one tragedy after another nowadays. Those strange creatures have started popping up every now and then to terrorize the city. There's not one place you can go without people fearing for their lives now. Nothing makes sense anymore." Kit informed them.
"The story of my life." Sora muttered transitioning into a lax pose.
"But what about the bakery?" Luna asked.
"A consequence of my failure to protect you. I told myself that as long as Luna wasn't here with me to bake this wonderful bread, the shop would remain closed. It just didn't seem right to continue the business when my right hand girl was missing." Kit said.
"But you're going to continue the business aren't you? There are so many people who love your stuff. I know I'd certainly pay a lot of munny for it and so would Sora." Luna said, Sora coming in to support her with a firm nod.
"Ha, bless your heart sweeties. I do suppose I have an audience that I simply can't let down and with your help I think we can make this shop flourish. Why there's not a person in Alexander who won't think Kit's Bakery when they feel like having some freshly baked delights." Kit laughed. She seemed almost the opposite of the person she had just been a few seconds ago. Ostensibly, Luna was smiling, but mentally she wanted to hit her head against a streetlamp. Of course Kit was going to want her partner in baking crime back to help her, it was only natural. But she was also travelling.
"Yeah…" was all Luna could muster out and weakly at that.
"Before that we have a lot of catching up to do. Where were you all these months? Did you find her young man?"
"Me? Oh, no. Well I guess you could say it's more like she found me." Sora laughed while placing a hand on his head. He still remembered exactly how they had first met, mainly because it had been a dead on replication of a similar event when he had met Donald and Goofy.
"It really is a long story. Do you think I could go and explore the rest of the city first? I want to show Sora around and I also want to check out my house." Luna said.
"What do you mean show Sora around? Doesn't he live here?" Kit asked suspiciously.
"I'm a hermit. Just can't stand the outside y'know?" Sora lied. She wasn't convinced—that much was clear.
"Well, maybe I should come along with-"
"No! Sorry, I mean, that will be fine. Really! I'll have Sora along with me anyway and I'll be back before evening." It almost seemed like Luna was begging. If it made her seem as if she didn't want to spend time with Kit after such a long time, she didn't intend it to be that way but she also didn't need to be pestered with countless questions just yet.
"Alright… I've been tending to the house these past months as a favor to your parents. You'll need the keys. Just be back before night. Oh, and don't go down any alleyways… and make sure to stay near crowds-" she was cut off when Luna hugged her again and kissed her on the cheek.
"Gotcha covered. Love you! Let's go Sora." Luna said somewhat feistily before moving to open the front door again.
"Yes your highness," Sora expressed dully resulting in Luna having to march back and drag him by the sleeve along with her. "Well that was awkward." he said normally once they were outside.
Luna took a few steps away from the door before pivoting around on her foot and looking at it. "What am I going to do Sora? I want to keep travelling but I can't leave her alone like this. There's no way!"
"Honestly, I'm not really sure. This really sucks. I guess I can only tell you what so many people say in this situation even though it might not be helpful. You have to do what you think is right." Sora advised.
"You're right… that isn't helpful, especially when everything feels so wrong. Like, I keep thinking that I shouldn't be here. That I've lied to her and I can only imagine it'll eventually backfire like so many things do. I'm a horrible person. Oh dear, maybe I shouldn't have come back." Luna fretted.
"So you regret seeing her?"
"Of course not, I guess I'm just pretty indecisive at the moment," Luna said. "But it's really been four months since I've been here? I know time is different in each world but that's still pretty crazy. It's like Maleficent hasn't even been here. But there are still Heartless around which I don't think were around before…" Luna's eyes soon settled on the newspaper stand across the street. She quickly ran over, paid for a newspaper and returned to Sora's side. "If nothing makes sense, always look to the news for information." She proceeded to open the paper flicked through each page scanning their contents for interesting information. They soon found what they were looking for a quarter of the way in.
"Sweeping new measures taken to tackle shadowy threats. A curfew is to be put in place starting next week to stamp down on the recent number of attacks by strange creatures that infamously made their first appearance only three months ago during the fire of Alexander. The curfew is to start at 9:00PM sharp and will continue on until 6:00AM the following day. The curfew had previously been intended to take immediate effect but concern among businesses has resulted in postponing the rule to allow for business adjustments. Many have warmly welcomed the new approach, although there are some who believe that the curfew is just one part of many regulations within the next few months that will stifle the basic Alexandrian tenets of freedom." Luna read before closing the paper and shaking her head disapprovingly. "Freedom… if that's something that exists here I've never really felt it."
"Compared to my islands? I'd probably say yes. Well at least we have something to go on, though I'm not really sure that having a curfew at night will do much. The Heartless don't care about the time of day. It's not like they have a concept of time or anything." Sora commented.
"I guess they must have found a correlation between the time of day and the incidents. It makes sense I guess. It's not as crowded at night so you'd assume it would be easier to pick people out. But yeah, I doubt it would prevent them completely." Luna replied.
"I guess that's why we're on the job. Oh, chocobos!" Sora exclaimed, his eyes twinkling at the yellow feathered wonders as they made their way down the street. The two watched as the group waved their wings up and down and hopped from one foot to the other rhythmically as if they were performing a dance. Even everyday passers stopped to look on in admiration as the dancing chocobos fluttered like a soft breeze down the street.
"I think they're heading to the theatre or opera house. I wonder how long it takes to train them to do that stuff." Luna said before taking off after them.
It was some time before they diverted from the chocobos' course into a suburban street of houses all attached to one another and each having neatly trimmed hedges and perfectly cut grass. Luna and Sora reached the end of this street and turned left into another one with Luna freezing on the spot after seeing something catch her eye.
"Something wrong?" Sora asked.
"My house…" Luna pointed to one of the houses on the left which as Kit had said, seemed to have been kept in pristine condition or at least from the outside anyway. "Sora, you don't mind if I go in first by myself do you? I'm not sure what I'm trying to prove to myself here but whatever it is I think it's something that I have to do alone."
"Okay, feel free to call though if you need something." Sora said. Luna nodded stiffly before starting her approach to her house. She never took her eyes off it. It almost seemed entrancing, and Luna would even dare to compare it to a criminal going back to the scene of the crime.
It's going to be okay Luna. You have Sora with you and… Astra?
There she was sitting on the front steps of Luna's house looking bored. Seeing Luna's trainers, Astra looked up to meet her eyes. "Yo Sea Salt! About time, I was beginning to think you weren't going to come."
"I had no idea you'd be here, or waiting for me for that matter. How long?" Luna asked.
"An hour. I've been staying at my gran's house for a few days and I guess I just happened to see a beam of light from my window. I figured I could intercept you before you came here and voila!" Astra said jumping up to show how tall she was compared to her friend. Luna wondered if there would be a moment when she would stop growing.
"Nice to know I have my guardian angel looking out for me. I kind of want to go in first on my own. I hope you don't mind." Luna said.
"I do actually. I know what it's like to lose someone you loved Sea Salt. I lost my gran remember? It wasn't easy going back into her house with every single thing reminding me of the time we spent together. We're both alone now so we may as well stick together." Astra said. It wasn't entirely true, she still had her father but they weren't exactly on the best of terms for her to even consider him as such. For most of their friendship, Luna had spent her time sympathizing for Astra and her lack of familial ties. She had never once considered that one day she would end up in the same boat.
"You're not gonna give up, are you?" Luna asked.
"You know I don't do giving up, except in most of my classes but that's beside the point." Astra said.
"You're a model citizen. Okay, we'll both go. And promise me something. You'll stay by my side?" Luna asked. She walked up to the door and shakily put the key in that Kit had given her. The key stubbornly missed the mark the first few times before finally finding its way in. Now she had to twist it...
Astra smiled and nodded her head. "Always."
It was all Luna needed. The word had a special meaning to them after all. Astra took hold of her hand to steady it and exchanging a nod of affirmation with each other they both pushed, opening the door to Luna's past.
So I've been thinking as to what music Astra would like since you can supposedly tell a lot about a person from the music they listen to. It came down to mainly punk and hard metal. As for Luna, find out on the next chapter of Cracks of the Past. Yep, that's the real cliffhanger right there.
