So many good things happened in the space of a week and a half. Persona 5 trailer, Spider-Man coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and many other things I can't quite remember at the moment. As for the revelation of Luna's favourite type of song, the first thing that came to my mind when writing her story was Florence and the Machine. I actually think it came on my phone while I wrote on of the early chapters of Dual Destinies. Anyways, enjoy the chapter while I get down to playing some Majora's Mask 3D :)
Chapter 23
A Journalistic Revolution
At first, the house no longer seemed her own. It was too quiet, with objects being the only trace of anyone having lived there. The interior of the house was also well kept, and that brief spark of hope did occur to Luna that her parents weren't dead and were just away. These hopes of course died very quickly.
She stepped into the living room where echoes inhabited its space like ghosts. She walked over to the sofa and placed her hand on the armchair. She closed her eyes and imagined her parents sitting and talking. She didn't know what they were talking about, she was perhaps too little to understand at the time, either that or too needy. A younger Luna walked into the room and tugged at her father's sleeve, hoping to get him to tell her a story before she went to bed. She usually wouldn't sleep otherwise.
"Oh, your father's horrible at these sorts of things. Now me on the other hand, that's a completely different story." her mother would say. They would eventually both take her upstairs anyway. Luna opened her eyes and walked over to the cabinet where all the pictures of the family were displayed.
Luna watched as Astra, who had been watching quietly in respect, walked next to her and picked up one of the picture frames. "You as a wee one. You look cute Sea Salt," she said showing Luna the photo. Luna let out a silent laugh as she took in the toddler version of her with some cake icing smeared on her left cheek. It had been taken on her third birthday, when things had been incredibly simple compared to what they were now almost thirteen years later. Her parents were beside her, with her mom prodding Luna's cheek with her index finger and her dad winking. "Well you were an interesting family, that's for sure."
"Interesting is an understatement. We were completely crazy." Luna said with a smile.
"And your crazy somehow infected me. Now it all makes sense, I'm seeing the connection here." Astra said.
"Oh please, you were crazy even before I became your friend." Luna replied.
"And you weren't so outspoken, but here you are now." Astra pointed out seeming quite impressed.
"Around you, yeah."
"You haven't had much trouble in other worlds?"
"Amnesiac, remember? That and it's pretty hard to be shy when you're around Sora anyway." Luna admitted.
"Yeah yeah, no need to start fantasizing." Astra rolled her eyes.
Luna set one of the picture frames down and looked at Astra with a lopsided grin. "You're jealous aren't you?"
Luna could see the cogs inside Astra's head turning as she tried to process the question. "Jealous? Over what?" she finally asked.
"That Sora's been with me for a good few months and you haven't." Luna said inching ever closer to her friend.
"You sound pretty proud of that fact." Astra noted.
"It's wrong to assume things. What I'm wondering is what my best friend is doing with the same group of people who tried to poison Sora." She had finally reached the point of contention and honestly, she wanted Astra to lie to her and tell her that she was not involved. It would have made things much easier.
"I suppose this was inevitable. Look, I'm not with them Sea Salt. The first time we came to Radiant Garden after everything happened in Alexander and that Heartless attacked us, we were separated. They rescued me and took me in. They taught me how to use the Keyblade and in return I helped them defeat the Heartless, but that's it. I don't care about any of this. I just wanted to find you again and I have. That's all there is to it." Astra answered.
"If that's it then you won't mind telling me why exactly they're after Sora." Luna said.
"I've never really enquired into it. All I know is that it has something to do with the seer that Sora let die and some prophecy." Astra said.
"Yeul? But that wasn't Sora's fault." Luna countered vehemently.
"Don't take it out on me, I got nothing to do with this. That's something he'll have to bring up with them. Him, not you."
"Well now I know that someone's after him, I'm not just going to up and leave him to face this problem by himself. Like they saved you, he saved me and you want me to abandon him?" Luna asked.
"Whatever, it's not like we came here to argue about this." Astra dismissed before moving over to the window to look outside.
"Yeah. I dropped by Aunt Kit's by the way, just before I came here. She looks like she's been through a lot and… I'm not sure what to do. Maybe I should just stay here and help her out? I don't know." Luna said.
"Changed your mind about not wanting to live here then eh?" Astra asked looking back at the brunette once again.
"I want to go but I can't leave Aunt Kit alone. I just think about what I saw in there and I don't want her to feel like that again, especially because of me. I've caused her, and this whole town, enough pain." Luna admitted.
"Listen, I'll tell you what my gran told me. You're never gonna be able to please everyone in life, and that's okay. But the one person you have to please if anyone is yourself, otherwise you're just living someone else's life, not yours," Astra said. "It's either freedom, or subjugation."
"Freedom… you know I only truly felt free when I left this place. I couldn't understand how anyone could just sit there and be content with their lives if somewhere out there, there was the possibility of something more. But maybe the belief that there is nothing out there is what gives everyone here freedom." Luna concluded.
"Ignorance is bliss and all that jazz yeah?" Astra asked. Luna looked at the words for a few seconds before shaking it off and signalling that she was ready to leave the room. Those words were the very same that she had told herself in her dream just before she had woken up in Radiant Garden, or so she assumed it was herself, the details were pretty foggy especially when it was a dream. Why had she even dreamed up being in the Twilight Town mansion anyway? Was her heart trying to tell her something about that place?
She ascended each step of the stairs mechanically until she reached the second floor landing. A hand on her shoulder further forced her to keep moving and eventually she found herself at the first room on the left—her room.
She soon pushed open the door and stepped through. Everything was pretty much the same: the pink drapes that created the unusual effect of filling the room in similar shading; her closet which held her old toys; a few posters around her room of her literary icons and movie posters; the stars scattered across her ceiling that glowed in the dark; her teddy bear which she had been through so much with laying on a pillow against her bed…
"While other girls have posters of crappy boy bands and ugly sparkling vampires, here you are living the fairy tale life. Now I know why you never let me into your room." Astra laughed.
"I figured that you'd probably make fun of me for it. Heck, my dad was still using vinyl. Not exactly the best first impression to make to a friend." Luna said.
"Really, I think that's pretty cool actually. In no way would I make fun of that. That's exactly what I hated so much about Tabitha and her posse, shooting everyone down who were different than them. Urgh, just thinking that they're still around somewhere in this world just pisses me off." Astra growled.
"While I'm not exactly fond of them I wouldn't wish the Heartless on them." Luna said.
"Yeah, I'd feel sorry for them… the Heartless that is." Astra joked. Luna guffawed at this but soon maintained her composure and landed on her bed spreading her arms up and down. She relaxed into the softness of her bed sheets and stared up at the ceiling. She could scarcely remember the very last good night's sleep she had had in this bed. Back then she would have never imagined that it could have been her last.
"The nights all seem to merge, don't they? I can't even remember the last dream I had or if I even had a dream on the last night I was here, but I remember that it was a weekend. It was after my mom and dad had caught me with you going to see the Night of the Werewolf. I was grounded but I had heard that there was a meteor shower that night and I couldn't miss it for the world. My mom had told me that the last time there had been one was the day I was born so it felt like it was destiny that I should be there to see one. I snuck out of the house and went to my favorite spot to look up at the night sky. I saw them: those whizzing streaks of blue racing across the sky while I was grounded here, but then Abraxas… I'm not even sure what happened then, I blacked out and the next time I woke up I was in some container being experimented on like an animal. I wavered in and out of consciousness but every once in a while ever since I arrived in the Realm of Darkness I've had dreams of being tortured and it feels so real. I don't think I had any sense of time while I was there. The next thing I know, I have a dagger and there's blood on my hands and my parents…"
"Sea Salt, I didn't know. I'm sorry." Astra apologized.
"For what? You did nothing wrong."
"But I did. I wasn't as good a friend as I could have been and I know it. When my gran died I just gave up on our dream. We were born here, and we were fated to die here—that's what I came to when I was trying to get over her death. I thought we were fools for even trying to think that we were more special than anyone else here. I'm still not saying we are now, but we certainly made it." Astra chuckled.
"Uh huh, we did," Luna agreed. "So why can't we go farther?"
"Because we were lucky enough to come this far. Don't lay all your eggs in one basket or whatever the saying is. That and, I feel that in a way you're becoming addicted to it Luna. In some small way you might even like when things go wrong and if you're not careful, that kind of thing can get you killed. I've already lost my gran, and you're the only one left who I… no, forget it." Astra had possibly been hoping that Luna would ask her to continue but Luna remained silent mainly because she did not know what to think. It was true, Luna enjoyed the travelling, and maybe there was some part of her that liked the trouble that she, Sora, Donald and Goofy had gotten into during their journey. It certainly wasn't a minor aspect of the journey. Astra continued, "Aaah enough of this sappy crap though. We're living. We're still here. We should at least go catch a movie while we're here… and yes, Sora can come."
"You're the best Astra." Luna gave her a thumbs up from the bed.
"Was there ever any doubt?" Astra bowed. Luna jumped off the bed and gave her room a final inspection before leaving and closing the door behind her.
"Well I think we're about done here. I kinda left Sora by his lonesome so I don't want to keep him waiting." she told Astra before attempting to head back downstairs.
"Wait, don't you want to check out your parents' room?" Astra asked. Luna stopped and turned to notice for the first time the second door farther down the hallway on the left. She had pushed the existence of said door from her mind and silently cursed Astra for bringing it up. Behind that door lied one of Luna's repeating nightmares. All of a sudden the normal hallway seemed like an abstract painting that had become longer and narrower as if leading to some pivotal moment in her life. Her body moved without her permission, and she soon found her hands wrapped around the door's handle.
Sora had assumed a seat on the curb and rested his face against his knuckle trying not to fall asleep. He had been so excited to visit Luna's world that he hadn't gotten an ounce of sleep, and it had worked to his favor as well because the dreams that usually occurred during his sleep were very much unneeded anyway. He dug into his pocket and pulled out Kairi's wayfinder, taking it in as if he had never done so before. The object immediately reminded him of the beach back on the islands. It was a calm in the storm of thoughts that flooded Sora's mind and he started to rock it gently as the waves that hit and withdrew from the shoreline.
An unexpected scream brought his attention not to the house Luna had just entered, but in the direction of the street he had just come from. Up ahead he could see a girl with mousy brown hair and thick-rimmed glasses trying to outrun the group of Neoshadows chasing her and failing miserably. Sora sprang up from the pavement and set off back down the street without a moment's hesitation.
Once he was near the girl and her predators he summoned the Kingdom Key in his hand and shot a Fire spell at one of the Neo Shadows taking them out. The remaining four Neoshadows shot a look at one another before turning and sinking into the ground, reappearing and circling around Sora seconds later. He moved forward to strike but the targeted Heartless dodged, moved behind him and flicked its arm quickly at Sora's calf muscle sending him to the ground. Sora had to roll away quickly to avoid a jump attack from another of the Neoshadows.
"Okay, there is no way you should be this good." Sora said. Had he still not fully recovered from the damage inflicted by the poisoning? He got back up and fired off another Fire spell only for the Neoshadow to jump away quickly before throwing itself at Sora. He attempted to guard with the Keyblade but didn't expect two other Neoshadows to grab onto his feet. With his guard lowered in surprise, the other two Neoshadow team up to latch onto his upper body, preventing him from moving. Sora tried to wrestle them off but it was as if some invisible force was draining away his energy to move. He soon found his eyes being unable to focus and the weight of the Keyblade gone from his hands further signalled by a thud.
He was able to barely make out the figure of the young woman as she swung her handbag hitting both Neoshadows attached to his upper body. They jumped off and Sora soon felt his vision returning. He summoned his Keyblade back to him and used Salvation with pillars of light forming around him before spreading outwards, taking out the Heartless attached to his legs and those approaching the girl.
"Oh man, thanks for saving my skin out there. And here I thought I'd be the one doing the saving." Sora said in relief.
"Are you kidding me? You're a total lifesaver. Holy moley, what is that thing?" The girl asked frantically pointing at the key shaped weapon in Sora's hand.
"This? It's a Keyblade. My name's Sora." He answered offering his hand. The girl walked up and shook it.
"Eleftheria Hollenbeck— ace journalist… if I can ever get a decent scoop. Do you know what those things are?" she asked.
"I suppose you're planning on using that as your scoop? Those things are called Heartless and that's really all you need to know. It's weird though. What I don't get is why those ones were so tough. They seemed too… perfect. I don't know, maybe I'm just getting worse at handling them." Sora chuckled before dismissing the Kingdom Key, watching the already wide eyed expression of Eleftheria increase tenfold. "Oh, I'd prefer you don't mention that by the way. People might not believe you if you mention something about a giant key."
"Duly noted," she replied but all the same kept her eye on Sora's hand. "Say… you dress differently from everyone else around here. There's something about you…"
"You have an active imagination but I guess that's a quality of journalists," Sora dismissed quickly before addressing her profession. "So are you just starting off?"
"Sort of if you count trying to make it big for two years now and failing miserably. I've been put on minor things, too far into the newspaper for you to even care since everyone's only into the main headlines anyway. They say something's always happening in this city and yet I can't find a single thing that others haven't already to make it big. Hmm, I might as well tell you since you saved my life. I'm working on something big… maybe. You know the Turm des Himmels?"
"Excuse me?"
Eleftheria eyed him suspiciously while adjusting her handbag over her shoulder. "You're actually being serious right now? The tower? Are you sure you're from around here? Now that I think about it, you seem to know a lot about those things. The Heartless, you called them?" Sora flashed an awkward smile but said nothing to confirm or deny her suspicions.
Suddenly remembering that he had left Luna behind, he looked around to see Astra coming his way and on her back what was undoubtedly a passed out Luna.
"Oh no… Luna! What happened?" He ran up to them only to have Astra push him away forcefully.
"And where were you supposed to be? Don't you dare touch her," she warned pushing past him.
"Wait a minute, what's going on? At least tell me that." Sora said.
"She went to her parents' bedroom and then all of a sudden she started clutching her head and repeating 'I'm sorry' over and over again. She screamed and passed out. I called for you from the window! I called… and you weren't there. You really can't do anything right." Astra stressed disdainfully.
"But I…" Sora stopped upon seeing the fury in Astra's eyes and lowered his head disappointed not just because he had failed Luna once again, but because Astra couldn't or wouldn't place her faith in him no matter what. She seemed the type who was couldn't be persuaded once her mind was made up and that no matter how trivial something was, if it seemed detrimental she would make the most out of it. But he couldn't fault her.
Eleftheria looked between the two and quickly ran in between them. "It's not his fault. He saved my life. Those things, Heartless, they were chasing me and he saved me," she asserted. Astra looked at Sora for confirmation but he remained silent and remorseful.
Feeling the stirring motions of Luna on her back, she set her down quickly and grasped her hand affectionately stroking it with her thumb.
Luna opened her eyes, her pupils whizzing around in confusion before finally settling on Astra. "Astra? What happened?"
Astra nodded and summarized what had happened just before and after she fell unconscious. "You scared me silly, and I don't get scared easy."
"Well maybe I'll treat you to some Sea Salt Ice Cream afterwards," Luna sat up and quickly caught sight of him offering a smile. "Sora, there's nothing to worry about. I'm fine, and I'll even treat you to some too."
"I left you again. If Astra hadn't been there I don't know what would have happened. I just feel like I can't do anything right at the moment." Sora mumbled.
"Well you helped me. If I'm still alive then I guess you just did something right," Eleftheria pointed out with a smug smile before wincing as if she had just been hit on the head. "Oh right, I forgot to introduce myself to the two of you. I tend to do that sometimes…"
After Eleftheria reintroduced herself to both Luna and Astra, the four of them made what was a short trip to the street crossing where they found themselves lost in attempting to measure the height of the Turm des Himmels. It was impossible. Eleftheria had told them that they were on the verge of a huge scoop, if she could prove it to be true. A bright flash of green had erupted from the tower on the night of the fire that had covered the sky like a great aurora. When Sora had asked about the history of the tower, this was what she had to say:
"I don't know too much about it actually. No one does which is what annoys me the most, that there's a part of our history that we don't know about and we simply don't care to question it. A pretty common rumor is that the tower was built to commemorate the unity of those living in the old world or something like that. Because of that unity there was no place, the earth or the heavens that humanity could not one day reach. The tower was said to be a symbol of those who created it, those who could see into the future, but that's just nonsense!"
Both Sora and Luna were not as quick to dismiss this however and exchanged raised brows at this information. Those who could see into the future… who else could fit such a description if not the seers? If it were coincidence that Maleficent had taken over the very same tower and had even brought Yeul there then it was a very strange coincidence indeed.
"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbably, must be the truth. There may be some truth to those rumors." Luna provided.
"Those rumors are actually stories that were apparently passed down over the generations. I'd imagine they got lost in translation at one point or another though, if they were ever true to begin with," Eleftheria clarified.
"Well as journalist shouldn't it be your job to question everything? To leave no stone unturned?" asked Luna.
Eleftheria shook her head and smiled. "Yes if you want to get fired or tracked. There are some things that not even a journalist can or will want to find out because of interests and secrets. Even so, I'd like to think I can change this place. I don't have a fancy weapon like yours but they do say the pen is mightier than the sword. They also say sticks and stone may break my bones but words can never hurt me but those people haven't lived to know that's all too wrong."
"I guess I can say I've lived then," Luna mused.
"But I'm not like that. A photographer can capture life through a single image, a painter can do it with a painting, and I can do it with words. I've always been seen as clumsy and out of place compared to my peers and I want to prove them wrong, but I'm also doing it because it's my passion. I have to prove to myself that I deserve to do something like this first and if I can do that, then I won't have much trouble proving it to them." Eleftheria tipped her glasses up and down and gave a confident grin.
"That's pretty admirable. You're fighting with words, not violence. You might become an inspiration to those who feel the need to speak out," Sora said.
"That's what I'm hoping. Somewhere where everyone is free to speak and write to their heart's content. I don't want our past covered up in deceit and mistrust. Of course I really need that scoop first," replied Eleftheria.
"Well, is there any way we can get inside?" Sora asked.
"Huh? Nonononono, you aren't planning on doing what I think you're doing are you?" Eleftheria's calm composure left her and a shade of anxiety and panic took its place.
"That depends on what you're thinking." Sora gave a wry smile.
"This is serious. You really can't do that, you'll get me in trouble," she took another look at the tower before looking back with a furrowed brow. "I understand it's tempting, and I myself would love to check it out but that's just not going to happen. It's restricted to certain people for a reason. I mean, this absolutely insane!"
"I agree. This is crazy, and I usually love crazy so if I'm against this, then you know it's really bad," Astra said.
"We're not going to get you into trouble, we promise. Besides it's not like we're planning to go do this right away, but there is something that we're curious about that we need to find out and as far as we know this is the only place that has the answers we're looking for," Sora told her.
Eleftheria was sceptical. Sora could only imagine that she was lulling through her head how her day had possibly gone from a typical normal everyday scenario to anything but that. Eventually the wrinkles on her forehead disappeared and the smug smile that they had seen before took over once more.
"Alright, I might know a way in. I'm not daring enough to try it but if you think you can without getting caught go on right ahead. But first you're going to have to tell me who you guys really are. I'm not stupid you know, you carry yourselves differently from everyone else," Eleftheria said.
"Fair enough. I'm from another world and I journey to each one to defeat the Heartless and seal the keyholes in order to make sure the Heartless don't destroy said worlds," Sora explained quickly before Astra could get a word out to stop him.
"No seriously, who are you?" Eleftheria repeated cynically after a while.
"I'd like to point out that you're the only person who's completely paranoid about that tower so I don't really think you can call us crazy here," said Luna.
"You're right… maybe I'm crazy too!"
"That's not the conclusion I'd have liked you to come to," Luna shook her head and buried it into her hands. "Well, we told you what you wanted to know. Whether you want to believe it or not is up to you but at least tell us what we want to know."
Eleftheria rubbed the bridge of her nose no doubt dwelling over whether she was going to make the biggest mistake of her life. After some time she dug into her bag and pulled out a notebook.
"I spent some time taking note of all the people who entered in and out of the building as well as the guards and their different positions around the clock. I guess I just didn't have the nerve to go ahead with it. I might not be able to, but you might. From what I can tell, whenever someone has to enter the building they have to show something to the guards. Papers, an ID card… I've never gotten close enough to check it out so I can't be sure what kind of proof you need. Maybe if you can intercept one of those people you'll be able to find out and use them as a way to get in. Good luck with that though," she said handing the book to Luna. Sora and Astra leaned in and took in what could only be described as anything but notes, at best they were long sentences and at worst, paragraphs. The notebook was so incredibly detailed that both of them, not exactly avid readers, were just as glad to take their eyes away from the pages and allow Luna to peruse them by herself.
"Thanks. Wait, Celes Chere?" Luna stared at the name pensively for a few seconds before looking up. "The Celes Chere? The opera singer was here?"
"I know, I was surprised too but there you go. So just in case this thing goes south, I want to know where you're going with this. What's your next step?"
"It seems like we'll have to pay Miss Chere a visit," Luna told her. "Do you know when the next performance she'll be in is?"
"No but I think you can usually find pamphlets on the performance times and who's in them outside of the opera house though."
"Wait a minute. Wouldn't it make more sense to try and go for someone else who will attract less attention?" Sora felt the need to bring up.
"Sora, please don't deprive of me my one chance to meet someone famous," Luna answered in what could only be described as an overly wistful defence.
"And she's not even trying to hide it. Now I'm really beginning to think she gets some sort of euphoria out of this," Astra said with a grimace. "Okay Sea Salt, say we do go along with this crazy plan and find out when her performance is. That's all hunky-dory, out of the window. But so what? That doesn't mean a thing if we can't get her by herself and how exactly will you convince her to co-operate?"
Luna gave a reply with a lopsided smile and a tap on the nose. "Just leave that to me."
