"What are you up to?!" Riku yelled.
"Foolish boy, did you really think I disappeared when Xehanort fell to his doom?" Riku angrily grunted back before Maleficent continued. "Such a shame that all that potential went to waste. You really could have made an effective seeker of darkness."
"Well fortunately for everyone involved, even the greatest 'masters' over the power of darkness were no match for the guardians of light," Riku responded confidently, wielding his keyblade.
"Put your little keyblade away, I am not looking for a fight at this this time. I want to know where your friend that other keyblade brat is."
"If you're talking about Sora, I don't know why you would want to find him, considering he's beaten you before. On more that one occasion."
"So you do know of his location!"
"Like I would tell you!"
"Then perhaps you know of her location."
"What do you mean?!
"Like your imbecile friend, she is one of the keyblade's chosen through destiny. Now where is she?!"
"I guess you think you can psych me out by saying really random stuff!" Riku exclaimed. He really did need to stop spending so much time with Sora, given he said that line about five times daily.
"You'll regret your silence," Maleficent answered. At that moment she snapped her fingers, and a giant blue dragon-like heartless flew out of her staff and into the sky. She then summoned a dark corridor and disappeared.
"Get back here!" Riku yelled, chasing after her. It was too late, though. She was gone. Riku then grumbled in anger. He always felt guilty for giving into the darkness and betraying his friends this time each year, but he was still mad at the witch for using and controlling him. He then sprinted off in the direction towards which the heartless flew. Despite his anger, he could not let that heartless harm innocent citizens.
"So do you remember where you last saw who you are looking for?" Krissa asked Rufus. The naked mole rat just shook his head and pointed towards the sky.
"Are...are they in a different world?"
"Yeah," Rufus answered.
"Hmmm..." Krissa wondered, confused about how the rodent got to Radiant Garden. I guess you'll have to stick with me for a little while, little fella." Rufus moaned. He really missed his owner. Krissa saw this and wanted to cheer him up.
"Is there anything I could get for you?" Krissa asked.
"Hmmm..." Rufus thought before arriving at his answer. "CHEESE!" he said loudly. Krissa couldn't help but laugh. She noticed a deli down the street and decided to stop there.
"Okay, I'll get you some cheese. But then we have to go find Terra and Ventus. Sound like a plan?"
"Yeah! Okay!"
"So the security system works in that it blocks heartless from entering the world," Kairi began as the pair walked outside the castle, "but if someone were to come here and leave them themselves, the place would be vulnerable to danger."
"Hmmmm..." Sora mumbled.
"Sora?!" Kairi said.
"Huh! Oh, yeah! Sorry," Sora said.
"You okay? You look like you have a lot on your mind."
Sora looked around, noticing the beautiful scenery with the flowers and the waterfall. Perhaps this was the time.
"Kairi, I know that this is your home world..." Sora began nervously.
"Yes, but as I've said before, I don't remember much."
"True. But I remember you saying you used to like picking flowers. And because you like flowers, and you are here, and you were here, and you like this, or liked this, perhaps it is the time, now, er, not then, maybe now, agh!" Sora was nervously rambling.
"Sora, what are you trying to say? And since when are you ever this...shaky?"
"Kairi, I-" Sora said this as he began to make his way to one knee, taking Kairi's hand with his own and using his other hand to reach into his pocket and reach for the ring he still had with him. His actions were quickly interrupted, however, when a loud crash was heard in the distance, along with a roar and the sounds of people screaming.
"Sora! Sounds like they need our help!" Kairi exclaimed, taking off in the direction of the noise. Sora was frozen for a few seconds before Kairi called back to him.
"Sora! Come on!"
"Yeah...great...wonderful timing," He mumbled to himself before taking off after Kairi. "COMING!" He yelled to the person whom he wished was his fiance.
Krissa and Rufus relaxed at a table outside the deli. While Rufus was downing a large Swiss cheese sandwich, Krissa ate herself a Turkey Sub as well.
Krissa could not help but laugh at how fast Rufus ate that whole sandwich. For such a little animal, he could really eat a lot. That sandwich alone was three times his body size!
"More!" Rufus exclaimed. Krissa laughed at his eagerness.
"Haha, okay Rufus, you got me. I'll buy you one more sandwich, but then we really need to go." As Krissa was getting up from her table, she heard screams, as well as a large crash.
"Heartless?!" she exclaimed. "Sorry Rufus, we'll have to take a rain check on that sandwich. Looks like I'm needed!" Rufus moaned before hopping on top of Krissa's shoulder.
"You may want to hold on!" Krissa exclaimed as she sprinted towards the noise.
Riku hurried into the middle of town before coming face to face with the giant heartless. He noticed that the entire area had pretty much been evacuated. He readied his keyblade, ready to attack, when...
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAH!" he heard a squeaky voice scream. He looked in front of him and saw someone slide between the heartless' legs, slashing at the monster's legs as she slid through. The monster loudly roared in pain, but that was not what caught Riku by surprise. What shocked him the most was the person he saw (with a rodent, or was it a rodent?!, on her shoulders yelling. He looked like he was holding on for dear life), as he watched her perform a blizzard attack on the heartless.
"KRISSA?!" Riku exclaimed, still in shock. Krissa turned around, and she was just as much in shock as he was when she saw who was behind her.
"RIKU?!" she exclaimed. They both looked at the weapons they held.
"YOU CAN WIELD A KEYBLADE?!" They both yelled at the same time.
"Never mind that, how did you even get here?!" Riku said. The monster then let out a loud roar.
"LATER FOR THAT!" Krissa responded. "RIGHT NOW, WE'VE GOTTA TAKE THIS THING DOWN." Both keyblade wielders then got into their fighting stances.
Objective: Defeat the Giant Heartless along side Riku!
The two keyblade wielders worked together to take down the heartless. They both created combo attacks to deal powerful damage to the enemy. Krissa sent a powerful aero attack its way as Riku attacked using Dark Aura. They were both able to use a pattern of these types of attack to wear down the dragon-like creature. Finally, they both used a fatal combo to finish the heartless. The monster let out a final loud roar before fading away, a large pink heart at the same time rising towards the sky.
"WHEW!" Krissa exclaimed, "That sucker wasn't big at all!"
"Tell me about it," Riku answered. "So why are you here? And who is that?"
"This is Rufus, I'm trying to help him find his friends."
"Hiya," Rufus waved.
"Anyways," Krissa continued, "I'm here because Merlin used his magic to summon me here. He sensed I had the ability to wield the keyblade, so he knew I could help out with protecting the worlds."
"Worlds?"
"Yeah. I've already locked the keyholes in three different worlds. It's funny, when Merlin asked me to go find the other keyblade wielders, I thought he was referring to Terra and Ven! I wasn't expecting to see you, though!"
"Wait...how do you know Terra and Ventus?!"
"I met them in Pocahontas' world."
"Uh huh. And why is it you're able to wield the keyblade? And who bequeathed it to you?" Riku was thinking back to when he was passed down the power by Terra around 17 years ago.
"Ummm...I still don't know. Merlin said he doesn't know either. I don't know who gave me the power. If anyone." At that moment, Krissa's keyblade appeared in her hands as a keyhole then appeared in the sky. A beam of light then appeared from her keyblade, and it shined into the hole.
"You locked the world's keyhole," Riku said.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Well, it looks like you've done a good job here, but I think we've got it from here. I'll get Kairi to take you back to the islands.
"What do you mean?!" Krissa asked sternly. Riku was a bit surprised at the tone of her voice.
"I mean...look it's not that you haven't handled the keyblade well or anything, but you're not as..." Riku paused, trying to pick his words carefully and delicately, "experienced, as some of us here are. I don't...we don't want you to happen to you."
"I think I've proven myself already, thank you!" Krissa responded. She wasn't yelling, but it was obvious that she was trying to hide the frustration in her voice. At that moment, Sora and Kairi walked up.
"What did we miss?" Sora asked.
"Is that..." Kairi began to ask before stopping. She noticed the look on Riku's face was strange...definitely unreadable.
"Well, all I have to say is that we don't know each other well enough for you to make those types of decisions for me. Goodbye, Riku. I'm sure we'll meet again." Krissa was still trying to hide her frustration, but everyone else could feel her aura in the air. Rufus the stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry at Riku, and then Krissa summoned her armor and her keyblade glider. And just like that, she was gone.
"Riku...what just happened?" Sora asked, worried about the look on his friends face. He looked sad...confused...hurt. "Who was that?"
"Krissa..." was all he managed to say. Just then, Merlin walked down towards the trio. He had seen the whole thing.
"You shouldn't have said that, Master Riku. I think her skills when fighting that heartless proves her worth."
"It's not that," Riku responded. "I just don't want her to get hurt..."
"Be that as it may, there is something about Ms. Krissa you will want to hear. Sora, this bit of information applies to you, too."
At that moment, the sky turned dark. The sun was covered, and it became hard to see outside. It looked like nighttime, but there was no moon. No stars. The shadow had just covered Radiant Garden.
How's that for some drama?! What was Merlin trying to tell the keyblade wielders?! Was Riku too harsh?! What is Maleficent up to?! AND WHEN WILL SORA FINALLY PROPOSE TO KAIRI?!
These questions will be answered in the future, and I am glad to say that I now believe that this story has a future. It's overwhelming, because for months it seemed like this story was going nowhere, so I'm glad that it's finally picking up. So I will say thank you, thank you, thank you to each and everyone of you that takes your time to review this story. It really means that world to me and it keeps me going. I hope that 'Give Me Your Heart' will continue to grow in a similar fashion.
IF this story continues to grow stronger and stronger, I'll continue the plans for writing 'Destiny and Dawn:' Books II, III, and IV. As I said in earlier chapters, there are other stories I am hoping to tell.
Again, thank you to all of my readers and follows! You guys really rock! :)
FUN FACTS (I forgot this in the last chapter, sorry lol): If Krissa wasn't a teacher, she would want to be a marine biologist or a dolphin trainer. She loves country music, big sunglasses, and scented candles. She's a fan of comedies and sappy romances (ala 'The Notebook'). She's also a sucker for classic cartoons (but not modern ones) and Christmas movies.
You know what to do! REVIEW! (BEEDAHDOOAHDOODOOBAHHDOO!)
**hint for next world: think turtles, tanks, and Sydney