Somewhat more of a Sora-centric chapter this one (with the exclusion of one scene) but it was fun to write so let's get down to the nitty gritty and see what terrifying things Neuge has in store for our hero.


Chapter 28

The Road to a Smile

Days seemed more like hours to Sora and Luna as they concentrated on their training with Neuge. They had fallen into a consistent scheduled regimen with starting breakfast early in the morning at Radiant Garden before being transported back to the training hall by Merlin. Breakfast proved to be Sora's favorite moment as it was really the only time he ever got to see Riku and Kairi. Later on in the evening when his session ended, he was too wiped out to even motion the thought of spending time with them. Luna had it slightly easier, as her separate sessions with Neuge were earlier than his. The gap between breakfast and when his session began was taken up by meditation and practicing his magic with Aqua, Ventus and Terra who had both volunteered to assist in any way possible. It was because of this that he got to see a lot more of the three and even began to learn more about them.

The trio told him stories about how they had bonded over their years of training. Their chemistry with each other easily mimicked his own with Riku and Kairi and only made him mourn for the old days when he could have spent the day with his two best friends without the fear of someone going after him.

Meditation proved a necessary calm for him in order to get his mind off of certain things. It wasn't that he had gotten it down exactly, but it proved a fitting distraction that took his mind off other things. Luna on the other hand, found it much more difficult to meditate but it was anything but her own fault. During one of their meditation sessions, Luna had let out a sudden scream before curling into a ball and crying. Neuge had to end the session and Sora helped to take her back to her hotel room.

"I saw a rhino. It was the rhino from one of my first dreams," Luna had said as she clutched her head and looked down at her sheets. Her face was a ghostly pale complexion and she was trembling. Sora acted on instinct and moved in to hug her. Her shivering stopped immediately and she had relaxed but the event had still left a fear in her mind that was to manifest as an obstacle whenever she tried to meditate afterwards.

When it came to fighting, Sora felt that he had vastly improved and only a week had passed since he had started. Neuge's style was completely different from his and Luna's own and she had taken great pride in implying that they were amateurs every moment she could. Her style was that of a samurai. He was instantly reminded of Auron's fighting style when she had first sparred with him and had consequently let his guard down sending him to the floor, not that he hadn't done so several times before then.

"My style wasn't so much as taught by my Master as it was something that I learned through my own experience. I became interested in samurai teachings and incorporated them into my own style. The code of Bushidō is pretty much equivalent to the virtues a Keyblade wielder, or any fighter for that matter, should have. You can't go from one teaching to another without hearing the same principles. You can't escape them. They are the tenets that a hero should live by."

Sora shied away from the word 'hero'. Even with everyone constantly telling him that he shouldn't beat himself up for Yeul's death, he couldn't forgive himself for what had happened, or what could have possibly happened to Luna. There was no way for him to be truly happy until he was strong enough, he felt. His friends were right about one thing though. He didn't need to beat himself up—Moira's Crescent was already doing that for him.

By the end of his last training session, a definite improvement was starting to show. Neuge had taught him to parry attacks rather than blocking them with the Keyblade (with the exception of last resorts). Sora felt that she had instilled a certain fear of always guarding attacks in him after swatting at his leg each time he did so with her training bamboo sword. It was a painful experience that Sora had certainly learned from, though he would keep secret that at one point Neuge had struck him on the leg so hard that he had started tearing up. He was worried Neuge would hold it as some sort of blackmail though.

"You know your body is made out of 60 per cent of water?" Neuge had said as she moved her arm horizontally to attack Sora's side.

Sora guarded quickly against the incoming attack, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't guard, parry!" She yelled swinging his Keyblade in an upward ark. Sora held up his Keyblade up and was knocked back by the impact of metal hitting against metal, "When you drink water, you take it into your system. Oppositely when you get stabbed," She pulled a blindingly quick jab with her Keyblade. Sora shut his eyes quickly and waited but the pain never came. Opening one eye he saw that the Keyblade had stopped just short of his abdomen. "That water leaks from your body."

Sora opened his other eye and blinked, "How did you do that? I didn't even see you go in for the attack."

"Will you be asking that question when you fight your opponents? The only thing you need to know is that I was faster than you in that situation. Those Keyblade wielders may be even faster and they certainly will not give you a hint as to when they'll attack." Neuge retracted the blade from Sora and brought it to the side of her body.

"This is not a weapon. This is an extension of one's self. You may not feel it but the Keyblade can feel you. It can anticipate your every movement from the way you hold the tip of the handle to how you swing the blade and at what direction and what speed you do so and it will act accordingly to that," Neuge slashed her Keyblade downwards before pointing at Sora with her unarmed hand, "But make no mistake, your opponent will do so as well if you make your moves too predictable. That is why I am easily able to dodge your attacks. Make your arms flow like water. At times your attacks may be small but noticeable as a trickle of water moving down the mountain side and at others your attacks will be like a tsunami, hard to manipulate. If you can adapt the ability to change styles when appropriate you will soon become a master of your Keyblade. Your Keyblade is an embodiment of your heart. It's only when you both truly understand one another that you can truly work in sync. If you can't and your enemy can, then you're not using your body effectively. Remember the Keyblade is an extension of yourself, if you get disarmed it's the same as losing the water in your body."

Sora looked down at the Kingdom Key. "The Keyblade senses my feelings," he clarified for himself.

Neuge nodded, "Depending on how you feel at the moment, the Keyblade will either work with you or against you. You must not allow your feelings to overcloud your judgement when it comes to facing someone in battle. That's when you start to make mistakes. That said, I am certainly not saying that you can't carry emotions into battle. But make the Keyblade understand why you are fighting. If its emotions match yours you may find the strength you need."

Sora nodded, "But isn't that relying on luck anyway? I mean for the Keyblade to understand what I'm feeling exactly… am I supposed to talk to it and go 'Hey Keyblade, I'm really in a spot of trouble right now, you wouldn't mind helping me out', or something?"

"Don't be ridiculous. As I've said before if your Keyblade is truly an embodiment of your heart it will recognise your desires, sometimes even before you recognise them yourself." Neuge said.

"That's kinda creepy but I think I get your point," Sora said before lunging forward to strike again.

The key to any victory, Neuge continued, was to throw the opponent off their balance and from there never let them recover by keeping on the offensive. It involved a lot of footwork and moving around, never staying in one particular place. In order to make sure Sora and Luna got that through their heads, Neuge threw books their way for them to study up on the theory behind each technique she taught them. For Luna, she seemed quite engaged in a good read but for Sora, it was a gruelling and demanding chore. It didn't help that the words on the page just seemed like pieces of ink messing with his eyes and mocking him. He was more of a visual learner he found. But when he kept reminding himself what he wanted to be, he was able to endure. He knew it would all be worth it in the end, and he was starting to show results after only a week. He just needed to keep reminding himself of his need to become stronger.

But not everything was improvement for the Keyblade Master. Some things stayed the same such as the dark thoughts in his mind regarding Yeul's death or wanting to deal Desiree the same amount of pain she dealt him. The meditation certainly helped but he couldn't be expected not to think of these things once in a while. While he could distract himself by meditating while he was awake, he was prisoner to his nightmares at night.

Some things were even worse. He didn't know what it was but whenever he tried to greet Namine or even looked at her she would avoid eye contact or would have escaped the room before he could better delve into a conversation with her. At first he wondered if there was something on him, but surely someone else would have told him as much. In the end he concluded she was avoiding him on purpose for whatever reason. It was frustrating because he had no time other than the morning and dinner to trap her and enquire into her sudden change of disposition towards him. She even avoided coming to breakfast and dinner making the job of tracking her down a particularly hard one.

"Do you know what happened to Namine? I feel like she's avoiding me for some reason," Sora asked Riku one morning after taking a bite out of his toast.

Riku stabbed his fork into one of the eggs on his plate and ran the knife's blade down the piece of food before lifting it up and putting it into his mouth. "I'm sure it's in your head. Why would she be avoiding you? OW!"

Riku grimaced in pain while Kairi glared at him. Now that Sora thought about it, Kairi had been acting somewhat differently as well although not to the extent of Namine's actions. Kairi had been giving dangerous looks Riku's way every once in a while and though she tried to hide it, as she was doing now, there was little doubt in Sora's mind that there was something going on that he was not privy to.

"Kairi… is there something wrong with Namine?" Sora asked meeting her eyes directly.

"I… wouldn't know. I can ask her if you want-"

"No, don't bother. I'll ask her myself," he said never looking away from her face. Her eyes and the quick and worried glimpse she had given Riku as soon as Sora had pretended to look back at his plate had told him everything he needed to know anyway. They were definitely in on it.


Lea brought his arms back to his side after taking out the last wave of Heartless and gave his Chakram one final spin before dismissing both. Quickly he rushed over to the woman's side and offered to help her up. She looked at his hand for a second as if it were some alien object before refusing it and helping herself up. Lea looked at his hands in confusion and the woman laughed.

"Don't worry too much about it, I'm sure you're a nice guy but I'm the kind of stubborn girl that would fall a thousand times and still not ask a man to help her," she said. She had an erotic beauty about her and Lea felt his heart skip a beat. That was certainly one thing missing in his time as a Nobody.

"Stubborn? How about admirable. There's certainly nothing wrong with wanting to do everything yourself, why I'm pretty much doing just that right now anyway," Lea said and she laughed. It was a beautiful laugh of course. Lea was sure that if he kept this up, he would be able to score a date and later be able to brag to Roxas about having a girlfriend. He could just imagine the look on Roxas' face now…

"I'm Esmeralda. I was looking for my husband Phoebus when I was suddenly attacked by those creatures. Heartless, if I remember their names," she explained but there was really only one thing Lea had heard.

Husband...

Lea let out a defeated high-pitched "Huh" before slumping forward and along with his upper body his hopes. "Well I guess there's always next time…"

"What's always next time?"

"Nothing, so what was that problem you had? About your… husband?" Lea asked feeling an utter fool as he stood back up properly.

"Phoebus suddenly took off from our home. Didn't leave a letter or anything indicating where he might have gone, so I came to the cathedral to ask the archdeacon if he'd seen Phoebus recently and I was attacked by the Heartless," Esmeralda told him.

"Maybe he went to buy some milk or something."

"He would have told me as such then. But enough about my troubles. You aren't from around here, are you?" Esmeralda asked.

"Huh, what gives you that impression?" Lea tried to deny with a barely functioning shake but Esmeralda laughed again and held up her hand. She started walking around and analyzing him.

"With those weapons? Please. That and there have been a lot of strange folks around the city lately. As a gypsy, you see things. For example three kids with keys and even more people here and there with similar looking weapons. The prominent one is a strange woman with a lot of make up on her face. Now compared to her, you're not so strange, but you're a stranger nonetheless."

"Masterful deduction," Lea said. "The name's Lea. Say I help you find your husband, can you help me in return?"

"Depends on what you need help with," Esmeralda returned eventually stopping in front of Lea again.

"Claude Frollo's place. Do you happen to know where it is?" Lea asked. This immediately had the adverse effect of causing the playful smile on Esmeralda's face to vanish and he wondered if it was too late to take back the question.

"He's dead. But I'm curious. Why did you want to see him?"

"Not him, his house. It's difficult to understand so I need you to trust me on this one. I just want to see if I can find something," Lea said.

Esmeralda pouted slightly and placed one hand on her hip. "You've found it actually." She gestured over to one of the houses by the far corner of the square. Its defiled door and smashed windows spoke harsh tales of its late owner's reputation in the area.

"I'm hoping someone else didn't get to what I was looking for, of course when I don't even know exactly what I'm looking for, that makes me slightly more hopeful," Lea murmured sarcastically.

The gods up on Olympus had done their best to aid him in his quest to gather information on the puzzle box despite their petty sibling nuisances. The box was incredibly ancient and though the gods could not put a precise date on when it was made, they arrived at the conclusion that it was not made by any magic, but alchemy. Having no idea what alchemy was, Lea had reluctantly returned to the person he wanted to see least. As expected, Even had taken great pleasure in mocking him first and rambling of his superior intellect before telling him what he needed to know.

Riku, who had emerged from the computer room after interrogating Astra, stopped and listened to Even's explanation before making his presence known to them.

"It's funny you bring that up actually. Kairi's been obsessed with the topic lately, that and some other place called Atlantis," he had said to them.

"Atlantis? Impossible! Inconceivable! That simply cannot be!" Even yelled. He strutted back and forth furiously across the room.

"I'm sorry if I should know about this too, but can anyone clue me in on what this Atlantis is?" Lea asked.

"A withered relic lost to the ocean's depths long ago, or so the fairy tales say. A most brilliant and unusual city advanced far beyond its years. Even I was once swept away by its beauty and tried my hand at finding it, but it was all for naught because it's just fiction."

"Maybe, but someone I know didn't seem to think so," Riku said before revealing the name that had brought Lea to the city of lights.

"I'm coming with you, you know? There's no way I can pass up this chance to find out what's going on," Esmeralda said hooking her hand around his arm. Lea coughed with his other hand to hide his embarrassment.

"I didn't have any intention of leaving you behind," he lied. He would have preferred to examine the room in quiet and not with a beautiful woman who happened to be married staring at him or asking questions but he would just have to be quick about his business.

Arriving at an unhinged door was a relief for Lea. It meant that he didn't have to break it in himself since someone had already done for him. Regardless, he kept his hopes down about what he would find as he and Esmeralda entered the dusty residence. The place was unkempt and devoid of life. Ashes permeated through the rotten wood of what would likely have been a constantly lit fireplace. Thick dust coated the room and its objects and immediately any idea of him searching the place in some record time left his thoughts.

"I don't know about you but I'd rather not be here any longer than I have to. You say you don't know exactly what you're looking for but you must have some idea. I'll try to help you," Esmeralda offered.

"Well, you might not have heard of it but if you're sure you want to get involved, I'm looking for anything to do with alchemy. From what someone told me it seemed this guy dabbled in that stuff so if you're able to find anything around here, that would be helpful," Lea told her.

"Alchemy? I've never heard of it but I'll see what I can find." Before Lea could even begin to thank her, she was already smacking away the dust and opening up her first book. He smiled at this and followed her efforts by starting with the pile of books and papers scattered across the floor.

Claude Frollo was one lulled into the most odd of fascinations, Lea soon found. Various texts lay strewn on the floor, some dated much older than others. Some had various illustrations of unknowable symbols that had been annotated by its owner but even they were useless to a novice's eyes who found little worth in the terminology.

"Lea, I think I might have found something," Esmeralda called and he looked up just in time to see the book thrust into his face. "He really was nuts. He marked this page down in particular out of anything else in the book."

"An elixir of life," Lea read. "With the ability to provide longevity and youth, in other words, immortality? Can't say I've never dreamt of it but that's why dreams are dreams and reality is reality."

"He also wrote something at the bottom. Atlantis. What do you think it could mean?" Esmeralda asked.

"It means we're on the right track. I'm going to hazard a guess here and say that he believes that this elixir of life is found in Atlantis," Lea said before laughing out loud.

"Something funny I should know about?" Esmeralda asked.

"It's just that when I was a kid I would never have dreamt of going on wild goose chases like this, and yet right now I feel as if this I'm more a kid than I ever was growing up. When I was a kid I'd pretend I was going on these sorts of adventures and now I'm actually doing it," he answered.

"I'm a bit different in that regard I suppose. I've known adventure my whole life primarily because of who I am. We gypsies seldom like to stay cooped up in pens. This city is our adventure from the depraved alleys to the bells of Notre Dame, there's always something to be found," Esmeralda said.

"I can see that. You seem pretty free-spirited compared to most of the folks around here," Lea complimented before compiling a few of the books including the one Esmeralda had given him neatly on top of each other. "Even's gonna have a field day with this, that's for sure."


Sora couldn't concentrate enough to meditate. Not when Neuge had asserted herself as the domineering hound over the obviously tired and stressed Luna. Each time Neuge ordered her to do this or that, Sora felt himself growing impatient at Neuge's lack of care. She hadn't even wanted to take them in initially and she probably still didn't now. What was it to her if she continued to hurt Luna's feelings without regard as long as the day was over and she could have herself a nice drink at the bar?

"Concentrate, it really isn't that hard."

"I'm trying."

"Not enough clearly."

In frustration Sora was out of his sitting pose and standing up in no time flat. "Can't you see that she's tired? Give her a break!" he shouted at her. Neuge's attention switched from Luna to Sora and she walked up slowly to him. It was her silence that spoke more than words than words ever could as usual.

"Luna is not what you should be focusing on. Concentrate on your task at hand Sora," Neuge said. Ignoring the fact that that was probably the first time she had ever said his name, at least in his presence, he planted his feet firmly on the ground and never averted his gaze.

"How can I when you keep demanding so much from her? I get it. You're perfect. You must have pinned it down so easily when you first started. But unlike you, most people aren't. We make mistakes, we get tired, we find it harder to concentrate when there's something on our mind. It's why we're human, and you're not."

It seemed he had gone a bit too far with the last comment because Neuge's face seemed to all at once display a plethora of human emotions that he had thought she wouldn't have been capable of. There was anger, sadness and worse, one that Sora had come to synonymize himself with other the last few months, suffering.

"Listen, I don't give a damn about what you want to call me. You want human? Then recognize your own mortality and wait patiently for your death. I may not be most people, but I am myself and I know what it's like to bear your humanity on the brink of an inhumane world and I'm sure you know what it's like too by now. So call me human, call me a Heartless if you want, but at least I survived the hell I was put in because of it."

But Sora refused to listen to anymore. It was as if some rebellious streak had taken over him that had finally allowed him to see reason, or maybe it was guiding him to irrationality. He had no idea which, all he knew was that he was angry. "What works for you does not work for us. You want to give up on humanity, that's fine. But we're not like you." Having said his piece and realizing shortly thereafter that he had messed up any possible chance of her wanting to train him, he turned and left through the large double doors.

It became clear as he traversed its halls that Sora did not really know the place at all. He had only been using the one room with Neuge and Luna to train so it wasn't that surprising that he found himself easily lost most of the time. He soon encountered what he had first thought was a broom closet only to find as he peered into the corner of this not very spacious room that there were stairs ascending upwards.

The tinge of curiosity outweighed his feelings of being lost and he soon found his feet carrying him upwards to the apex of the building he was in. He pushed open the door at the end of the very long flight of stairs and was greeted by a grand landscape of green stretching out beyond the horizon.

He was in a castle, it seemed, as he looked down at the white limestone that kept the infrastructure together. It was certainly a long way to fall. He leaned against the balcony and took in the full beauty of the scenery.

"I just knew you'd be here."

Sora looked behind in surprise to see Luna eyeing him with a lopsided smile. "How?" he asked.

"This probably might surprise you Sora but I've explored this place a fair more than you have. This was where I stayed the longest too, just admiring everything," she replied leaning on the balcony too.

"It is beautiful," Sora remarked sadly. He looked down at his hands.

"What you did for me back there? I appreciate it, I really do but it's nothing to make enemies out of. In all honesty I haven't been feeling like myself ever since I left the Realm of Darkness. I feel… well, I'm not sure and that's what's worrying me," Luna began.

"And can't she see that? She has some sort of grudge against Keyblade wielders and she's taking it out on you for no reason," he responded bitterly.

"Do you think she's a bad teacher?" Luna asked.

"I don't know. I find it weird that Yen Sid picked her to train us instead of himself. I guess she has a rather… interesting view of the world that you wouldn't find anywhere else," Sora said. "But a good teacher wouldn't allow their views to come in the way of their teaching in the first place, right?"

"I'm not a teacher," Luna pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess you wouldn't know," Sora chuckled. "You should get some rest though. Take a few days off so you'll be good as sunshine when you come back."

"And let you surpass me? I don't think so," Luna said. The smile from her face faded and she watched as a flock of birds flew over them. She soon looked back at Sora. "This place is fake you know?"
"Huh? Whaddya mean?" Sora blinked wildly at this sudden drop of information.

"According to Merryweather, we're in a… bubble outside of the real world. This entire place is a recreated construct of Aurora's world from the three fairies' memories. The interior is a bit different though since they only imagined the exterior," Luna explained.

"Neuge must have something to do with it. She did mention how this place resembled her own home… wait, does this mean we're inside the three fairies' mind right now? That's kinda creepy," Sora said.

"If we are then it just shows how amazing magic is. Everything here from the sights and sound to the touch isn't real," Luna said before gawking. "Are we even standing on solid ground?"

"Oh please don't go there, you're gonna make me sick." Sora laughed despite his words and Luna quickly joined in.

"You're right, we've had enough illusions for one lifetime," Luna said referring to Abraxas.

Sora nodded. "She told me his name before all this was Kyle. Desiree, I mean. Not that I care. I only knew him as a twisted and horrible person and that's all he'll ever be. He's hardly defined by his name," he said. Luna was about to reply when she noticed Neuge standing behind them still inside the tower.

"Luna, you don't mind if talk to him for a second do you?" Neuge asked. Luna shook her head in response and returned downstairs leaving Neuge and a lukewarm Sora. He kept his eyes on the greenery as she moved closer to him.

"I'm not going to apologize. I'm not very good at words and I hate it when a person apologizes only to never mean it. It's happened too much to me in the past for me to let it go. It's too late for me," Neuge said.

"It's never too late. You just won't try," Sora responded drearily.

"Maybe you're right, or maybe you aren't. Either way I've come here to tell you that you give Luna too little credit. I was tough on her, maybe more than I should have been, but I won't take it back either. I wouldn't have pushed her the way I did if I didn't believe she could overcome it. Her fear is one that sits there eating away like a parasite through her light until there's nothing left. It's a fear I know all too well," Neuge told him.

"What happened?" Sora asked. When Neuge looked away, Sora moved around and trapped her. "Oh come on, you can't just leave it like that now. Don't you think we deserve to hear it?"

Neuge smiled at him, a genuine first. "Good things come to those who wait," she said. Taking it as a promise, Sora smiled back before bowing respectfully.

"I… I'm sorry Master. My anger got the better of me and… it's just that I've been so frustrated lately, with everything. I just want to be able to smile again, no deceiving myself. I'm sorry, and I really do mean it," he admitted. He was thankful he could easily look past his pride in matters like these or he would have gotten himself in a lot more trouble by now.

"I believe you, enough with the formalities already, I'm not deserving of that kind of respect." Neuge laughed and watched as Sora straightened back up before continuing. "But it would be best to compartmentalize your thoughts of anguish and joy. If you let them manifest as one then it will end up manipulating your actions, and then it will destroy you, like it almost did me," she said. For a moment, Sora thought she was going to say something else. Then he realized it was Neuge.


Sora watched from afar as Namine came out of Merlin's bookshop. In her hand was her sketchpad, her handy utility that could never be separated from its owner, or at least that was the impression Sora got from the way she clung to it.

Namine turned and began walking his way. Sora quickly slipped over to the nearby building to hide, waiting until she had passed him before he began following her. It hurt him to have to spy on one of his friends like this, but he was past the point where he could just sit on his hands and do nothing. It wasn't a question of wanting to know, but of needing to know.

They eventually arrived at the park just outside of the hotel. Making sure there was no one else around, Sora finally chose to jog up to her and give her a light tap on the shoulder. The frightened Namine flinched at the sudden touch and spun around to look at him.

"Sora! I almost jumped out of my own skin. Stop laughing, it's not funny," Namine implored as Sora let out a round of laughter at her response.

"I've heard of a snake shedding their skin, but a Namine too? Now that would be interesting," Sora joked. All this banter made it easier to catch her off guard with his next question anyway. As he spoke to her for the first time in what felt like a lifetime, he tried to ignore the overwhelming feeling that was stirring in his stomach. He thought he was done with this by now but the feeling would not subside for whenever he had looked Namine's way, he couldn't help but see Yeul in her place. It drove him to question his own sanity on more than a few occasions.

Namine soon seemed to remember her commitment to avoid him and looked away. "I- I sh- should get going n-now," she stuttered clearly uncomfortable being with him. She was about to leave but Sora refused it by grabbing her wrist.

"Wait a minute Namine. I don't understand. Why have you been avoiding me so much lately?" he asked.

"I'm not. I've just… been thinking a lot lately. I need some time alone," Namine responded but it wasn't a satisfactory answer to Sora as he still held onto her.

"You know that's not true and you know I know that's not true. If it were that simple you wouldn't be avoiding eye contact with me right now," he indicated. "If it was something I said or did just tell me, I won't get mad at you if that's what you think."

"I know that, but everything really is fine," Namine falsely promised.

"You're a lot of things Namine, but a liar is not one of them. Why can't you tell me what's wrong? It hurts when you avoid me like this. It's like… you don't trust me." Sora's grip loosened on Namine's wrist allowing her to slip free, but she stayed frozen in her spot looking at Sora.

"I do trust you but I can't tell you because if you knew, I'm afraid it would break you," she told him.

"You know whatever you throw my way I can handle it, right? You saw through as much in Castle Oblivion. I'd love to say right now that we don't need to talk about it and I just want talk to you like normal again, but I can't. It would probably hurt me more not knowing than it would knowing at all so throw everything you got at me. You'll find me to be quite absorbent," Sora said.

"I'm not sure-"

"Tell him Namine."
A shiver seemed to run down Sora's spine as Kairi walked up to them, she wasn't looking at Sora though but Namine. There was a serious expression on her face resulting in Sora having to second guess his wants and needs.

"Are you sure Kairi?" Namine asked.

"You shouldn't have to do this. None of us should," Kairi answered. Namine nodded thoughtfully before slowly looking up to meet Sora's eyes. He was at the point of no return, he knew that, and he may as well see it through to the end anyway.

"I'm… a seer, and I had a vision that... you're going to die."