The Road to Dawn
By Ariana Aislinn
Chapter 4: Cracks in the Barriers

Chapter 4 arrives. Not much else to say here, as I'm sleepy. Hope everyone continues to enjoy it. I'm having lots of fun writing it.

Standard disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its characters are the property of Square-Enix and Disney, not me.

Axel led them through the town, heading in the general direction of the harbor, but also veering off a little to the south side of the town. Riku remained tense as they walked, but he had to admit he was also curious. What could Axel want to show them?

Eventually they came upon a large building at the northern edge of the docks, something like a warehouse. Axel stopped in front of the door and shifted his weight to one foot, a hand resting lazily on his hip. "Well, here we are."

Mickey looked around. "What is this building?"

"You may have noticed that the ships and vessels in the harbor are of many different types. Well, that's not the only kind of vessel that finds its way to this place. Many of the others are kept in this warehouse - vessels with no owners, or ones that no one knows how to work."

Mickey's eyes lit up. "You don't mean…"

Axel opened the door and waved him in. The king hurried into the huge building eagerly.

"Hey, wait!" Riku hurried after him. "What's going on?" He turned to glare at Axel, who only grinned back with mock innocence and followed them inside.

The warehouse was dimly lit by flickering, artificial lighting, as if no one was precisely sure how to keep it in proper repair. The place was huge, and it was filled with rows of strange vehicles of all sorts. Riku walked over to peer at something that looked vaguely like a bicycle, but it appeared to have no wheels - instead there was a flat plate of some sort, and a mass of machinery near the back. It seemed to be turned off, yet it hovered silently in the air, about six inches off the ground. Riku shook his head; there certainly seemed to be some strange things here.

"It's here!" Riku looked up at the king's shout, then hurried to join him. He came upon the mouse throwing cardboard boxes out of the way to reveal a doorway. The vessel was mostly obscured by the surrounding debris, but Riku eyed the door curiously - it had a strange, matte finish, unlike metal or any sort of building material he was familiar with. He approached, putting a hand to the door; it was vaguely sticky to the touch, though it left no residue on his skin. The door was primarily red in color, though it was set in a silvery frame.

Mickey opened the door and clambered inside. Riku peered hesitantly in, looking up the narrow stairs that went up into the darkened vessel. "Mickey, what is this?"

"Haven't you ever seen a gummi ship before?" He could hear the grin in Mickey's voice. "Come on up! It may look a little odd, but it's real cozy in here."

Riku shrugged and sighed, but climbed in, ducking his head down slightly to keep from hitting it on the low ceiling. The ship had clearly been built with someone of the king's stature in mind. As he made his way up the steps, some lights flickered on. Inside, gummi blocks, mostly red and blue in color, showed through on the walls, but instruments and other sorts of material also lined them. At the top of the steps, a narrow hallway led toward the back of the ship in one direction and the cockpit in the other. Riku went on up to the cockpit to join Mickey, who was in the pilot's seat, doing some sort of equipment check. A low hum began to build from somewhere down below.

"Great, it's working just fine!" Mickey grinned, looking excited. "I thought I'd lost this forever, after I got sucked into Kingdom Hearts."

"Which reminds me, you'll have to tell me the story of how you ended up there someday."

"What? Oh, yeah, of course. Could take a while, though - it's a long one. We'll save it for later. For now, I want to finish making sure this baby is good to go." Mickey patted the control panel. "Good to have you back, Apprentice!"

"…Apprentice?" Riku blinked. "You named your ship Apprentice?"

"Well - yeah!" Mickey glanced sidelong at Riku. "Why, is there something wrong with that?"

"Nah." Riku chuckled. "It just seems…a little unusual, that's all. How's it looking?"

"So far, everything checks out." Mickey leaned over to peer at the instrument panels. "No damage, no problems or disrepair…we could probably leave anytime."

"Ah, but where would you go?"

Riku whirled, scowling, to see Axel leaning against the cockpit doorway, arms folded across his chest and that same sardonic grin plastered across his face. "I figured you weren't done pestering us. What are you doing here?"

"For shame, Riku! Is that any way to thank me for doing the two of you a favor?" He shook his head, clicking his tongue disapprovingly. "What would your mother say? And I do believe you wanted to teach me some respect!" He laughed.

"Oh, enough with the games, already." Riku sighed. "Not that I'm not grateful to you for finding the ship and bringing us to it, but…what's the catch?"

Mickey nodded in agreement. "Forgive me, but I can't help but feel there's more to this. Why not just show us where the warehouse was and leave it at that?"

"I thought you might like to know what your choices were first, that's all." Axel shrugged. "It won't be as easy as you seem to think."

Riku sighed heavily. "Great, more choices. Does this guy think he's DiZ or something?"

A strange look sparked in Axel's eyes as Riku mentioned the name, but a moment later he shook it off and continued, stepping forward to approach the control panel. He tapped the navigational screen. "You have your ship back, yes. But what happens after you take off? Where do you intend to go, and how do you plan to get there?"

Riku and Mickey looked at each other. "To be honest…I dunno," Mickey admitted. "We have some mysteries to solve, but where do we start?"

Riku thought for a moment. "…Seems to me we need to do some research. We should find out everything we can about the doors, the Keyblades, the darkness and the light…whatever we can get our hands on. The best place might be…a library, perhaps?"

Mickey nodded. "I can think of a couple. My castle, for example - though Hollow Bastion is sure to have some books, maybe from Ansem's private collection, that could help us."

Riku turned again to look at Axel suspiciously, regretting for a moment discussing their plans in front of him. "Why do you care?"

Axel grinned again. "Oh, I suppose it doesn't affect me directly…but it would be amusing to see you try to start out and find your navigation gummis failing as soon as you reached a high altitude."

"Why won't they work?" asked Mickey. "It's because of the barriers, right?"

"But you spoke of cracks in those barriers," Riku pointed out.

"I did indeed. The question is, how do you find them?" Axel jabbed a finger toward Riku. "And do you have the courage to face them?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think - " Mickey said slowly - "it means that those cracks aren't easily passed. Axel, you said that they've been around a long time, but they've grown since the door to darkness was opened. Am I right?"

Axel nodded. "They have indeed. As the darkness grew, so did the cracks. They were largely sealed with the closing of the door, but the darkness had bored greater holes in them, holes that might be passed by a vessel such as yours."

"But…?" Riku pressed.

"However…" Axel grinned. "You'll have to pass through the darkness to get through those holes."

Mickey blinked. "Through the darkness? Hmm, not sure I like the sound of that…what would happen if we tried?"

"Well, I guess you'll just have to find out, won't you?" Axel chuckled. "That is, if you dare."

Riku rounded on him, hands clenching into fists. "Are you calling me a coward?"

"I don't know, am I?" Axel's green eyes were disconcertingly piercing. "Why, do you feel like a coward? Maybe that's a question you need to ask yourself. But before you get all up in arms about it, I already told you, I'm not interested in a fight today. As I said, I'm just here to tell you what your choices are. You are the ones that will have to make them." He grinned yet again. "However…if you're interested in taking a rain check, I'll promise you a match someday. That is, if you're that keen to face me."

"Ha!" Riku tossed his hair back. "I can take anything you dish out, fire-hair."

Axel's eyes narrowed. "Can you indeed? I wonder." He turned to Mickey. "I will let you make your decision, mouse king. You and hothead here, that is. Have fun!" With a mocking wave of his hand, he vanished into thin air.

Mickey sighed. "Didn't get to thank him properly. Or throttle him, one or the other." He glanced at Riku, who was still seething. "I can guess which one you'd prefer, though! Calm down, pal. He's gone, and getting all riled up won't help anythin'."

Riku took a deep breath and sighed, slumping into the copilot's seat. "I guess you're right. It's just…why did it have to be the darkness again?" He leaned forward, resting his forehead in his hands. "I wish I could just take a break from having to constantly face it, again and again…"

"Well, pal, I'm startin' to get the feeling that that's your fate, at least for a while. Besides, if you never test yourself, how're you ever going to grow? You gotta challenge yourself if you want to get rid of the scent of darkness, like you told me you were gonna do."

"…Eh. Maybe you're right." Riku lifted his head, glancing at the navigational panel. "So what's our move going to be?"

"Hmm." Mickey stroked his chin thoughtfully with a gloved hand. "I think Hollow Bastion might be our best bet for information, but if we can, I really think I need to stop back at Disney Castle first. Minnie's gotta be worried sick about me."

"Minnie?"

"Oh…" Mickey blushed a little bit. "Queen Minnie. My wife." He grinned. "Sweetest lady you'll ever find!"

Riku chuckled. "Didn't know you were married. Heh, go figure." He looked out the viewport, gazing out at the debris-strewn warehouse but not really seeing it. "I think I might know a little bit how you feel, though."

"Yeah…you've got another friend waiting, haven't you?"

Riku nodded. "But…that's for later. Kairi's safe now, and besides…I don't want her to see me. Not like this." He sighed. "Last she heard of me, I'd…well, after all the terrible things I did, it's going to take some time to put it all right. Besides…we couldn't go to Destiny Islands, could we?"

Mickey shook his head apologetically. "Not unless you've got a navi-gummi you've been hiding from me."

"Oh well." Riku shrugged and forced a bit of a grin. "So…Disney Castle, you said?"

"Yup! Now let's see, first we need to get the ship out of this place and connect it to a launch area if possible…not sure if they have one around here, though." He looked up in surprise as sunlight suddenly poured in through the viewport. One wall of the warehouse was opening, two large doors sliding outward. "Hey, wouldja look at that…"

Riku noticed that the immediate area was also now clear of debris and other vehicles. "Axel?"

"Might be. Who knows? That one's an enigma, an' no mistake. Well, what do ya think, Riku? Shall we take 'er out for a spin?"

Riku thought for a few moments, one foot resting on a clear area of the control panel. On the one hand, he wasn't too keen on the idea of traveling through darkness, but on the other…what choice did they have? They had a ship now, a way of getting to other worlds, and there was little chance that anything on this world would help them get any closer to solving the riddles of the doors and their keys. Riku's own personal riddle, how to free himself from the darkness, had no further answers in this place, either…and for all he knew, plunging back through the darkness was the only way to find those answers, as much as he might wish otherwise.

Riku shrugged. "Let's go, then. How are we for supplies?"

"I checked them as soon as I got inside. Food stores are still full, and there's plenty of fuel and other necessities. We can go anytime. Should I start the launch sequence?"

"Oh, what the heck. Sure." Riku grinned. "At least Sora won't be able to taunt me anymore about his 'awesome rocket.' I'll just tell him ours is better."

Mickey laughed, leaning over to manipulate a few buttons and levers. The hum from below grew louder, and a slight vibration shook the ship. They began moving smoothly forward, toward the open warehouse doors.

After only a few moments, they were clear of the warehouse and coasting along a short pathway that ran parallel to the beach, off to their left. "Almost ready for takeoff, Riku. Strap yourself in!"

Riku buckled on the safety harness. "Okay. So, how does this work?"

"Well, we break the pull of gravity and head to the upper atmosphere. From there, we should be able to activate the navi-gummis. The question is…I'm not sure how that'll work, after what Axel told us."

"If he was going to go to all that trouble to tell us about the cracks in the barriers, you'd think he'd have told us how to use them," Riku mused. "Unless he was just trying to be difficult."

The ship rumbled a little as it headed down the makeshift runway, picking up speed. "Nah, I'm guessin' it's something he thought we could figure out ourselves without too much trouble. We'll have to see once we get airborne. Okay, hold on tight!"

I actually have chapter five finished, but I'm going to hold off on uploading that for a bit. For now, enjoy this chapter, and I'm going to ponder where to go with it next. I have a few ideas. Should be interesting.