The Road to Dawn
By Ariana Aislinn
Chapter 22: Rising Falls

I guess I was wrong. I think there's something wrong with me...three chapters in one day?! Yeesh! Well, enjoy!

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

DiZ was loathe to ask Roxas to go anywhere near the Organization, especially this late at night, when it would have raised questions with the boy's parents. After sending Kairi back upstairs with his reassurances, DiZ formed a portal of twilight in the wall of the banquet hall, stepping through onto the sandy shores of Star Island.

He'd heard of the place, yet had never visited it, so he looked around curiously as he walked silently across the sand toward Kairi's house. He was cloaked in a weak reflection spell, to bend light away from himself and avoid detection.

The lights of the cottage were dark this evening, and there was no sound coming from the house. It was possible Kairi's grandmother was asleep. DiZ frowned, looking around the immediate area. There was a fruit tree in the front yard - he leaned closer to inspect it and raised his eyebrows in surprise. He was sure he had seen this strange, star-shaped fruit before. There was some significance here, if only he could place it…

There were footprints in the sand, leading away from the house and passing near the tree. Though it was hard to tell from the imprecise imprints in the sandy ground, the marks seemed scuffed rather than steady. DiZ eyed the tree again. On one of the lower branches, there was a twig that appeared to have held a fruit not long ago - the fleshy bits of pulp and rind that hung from the branch were still fresh.

DiZ continued back the way he had come, this time following the footprints. They led away from the little house and back toward the beach, right up to the edge of the little wooden dock. Kairi's boat was tied up at the docks, but there was a rope where another boat appeared to have been tied earlier…her grandmother's? DiZ frowned, looking out across the water toward the nearest island.

He could not be bothered with taking the boat, so a twilight portal later he was standing on the docks at Waterfall Island, following yet another set of tracks. It was impossible to tell anything about his quarry in the dry sand, except which direction they had been going. Soon the tracks led to some wooden stairs, however, and then up to an expanse of sandy soil. There appeared to be four sets of footprints here, and they led up to the cliffs next to a small waterfall. A tree stood alongside here, growing out of the cliffside. Underneath its roots there was a darkened hollow, but DiZ could see the faint flicker of torchlight within it. There were voices coming from inside, as well. Stooping down, he peered into the hollow and was just able to see several figures seated on stones inside. Two of them wore familiar black coats, and a third black-coated figure leaned against a wooden door that was inexplicably set into the stone of the cavern.

"Any luck with your search, Demyx?"

The blond man shook his head. "Nah. I looked through the library, but there isn't much. These people don't know anything at all about the Seekers except that they could use magic, and they created a few random artifacts around the islands. They don't remember a thing about their origins, Saïx."

The first speaker shrugged. "I'm not terribly surprised. They're a very provincial society."

"Did you learn anything?"

"Darkside and I have been trying to get the woman to talk, but we've had little luck."

The third man was shrouded in a black hood that hid his features. DiZ shook his head. It was fortunate he had come himself - Roxas was to stay far away from Darkside at all costs. Darkside nodded his head in the direction of the fourth person, a rather plump little old woman who sat defiantly upon a rock, her hands tied behind her back. "Granny here hasn't been especially helpful, no. But she did let slip that the mayor might know something." His voice rasped softly, echoing faintly in the tiny cave. "It couldn't hurt to investigate before we leave. But failing that…we'll have to take more serious action."

"Are we returning to headquarters with the woman, then?" asked Saïx, turning to Darkside as he awaited orders.

"…No, not yet. Even if the mayor has no leads, there's one more thing we can try." Though his face was not visible, DiZ could sense the man's grin. "If we take her with us, the old woman might be as uncooperative as ever. Here, though, we have plenty of…leverage. If we hold the islands and their inhabitants hostage, she might see reason."

Saïx grinned. "Shall I send for a battalion then, Darkside?"

"Why not? By morning we'll have the islands under our control. And then…we'll see just how much you do know about the Seekers of Wisdom, 'Granny.'"

The woman tried not to react, but DiZ heard a small whimper escape her. Stepping quietly away from the cavern's entrance, he began to move quickly back down the beach to what he thought was a safe distance.

The Destiny Islands were indeed in trouble, and although he was glad he had not sent Roxas, DiZ could not handle this alone. However…he thought he knew just the person to help deal with this little problem. Time was shorter than he thought. He would have to send Roxas on his errand early in the morning and hope that he would be back by noon. Kairi's training would have to take precedence as well, for DiZ doubted she would be with them much longer.

"Sora!" The quack echoed down the stairway of the entrance hall. "Where are you going?"

Sora turned to wave with a grin. "Don't worry, I'm just going for a walk."

Donald frowned, his hands on his hips and his foot tapping. "You shouldn't go too far. We have work to do!"

"I won't. I just need some time by myself. C'mon, Donald, please?"

The duck sighed. "All right, but don't take too long! Goofy and I are going to go search the library some more."

Sora nodded and headed toward the door. He'd had about all he could take of flipping through books, but that was what Aerith and Leon had suggested, to help them figure out where to go next on their search. Besides, Sora really did want to be by himself for a while. He was still trying to muddle through what he'd learned from Leon the other night, and it helped to think without so many others around.

It took some time to make his way past the little groups of refugees, standing here and there on the castle ramparts with lost, sometimes vacant expressions on their faces. Sora thought he actually recognized a few from Traverse Town. What must it be like, to be uprooted yet again from even such a temporary haven as Traverse Town? He shook his head sadly and continued on.

Eventually Sora found himself hopping down the rocky ledges that led to Rising Falls, the strange, gravity-defying wall of water that surrounded Hollow Bastion's south entrance. He took a few bounding leaps from one ledge to the next, exhilarating in the freedom of movement and the rush and roar of water all around him. Down at the bottom, he ran across the water, his sneakers making smacking sounds on the wet surface. It had always seemed that the laws of nature just worked differently in Hollow Bastion. To tell the truth, it was a very interesting feeling to walk across the top of otherwise perfectly ordinary water.

Sora slowed and strolled around the area, casually watching the water roll upwards with his hands clasped behind his head. He sighed softly to himself. To be honest, he was worried about Kairi. He knew she was probably safe and sound on the Destiny Islands, but still…it had been so long since he'd seen her, and after what he'd learned from Leon…

Why had Leon told him so much, anyway? He shook his head. According to Aerith's whispered explanation after Leon had left the room, she'd never heard him say so much about that day before, but perhaps once he'd begun, it had all just spilled out. Sora couldn't help but wonder what else Leon was holding back. He was sure that the young man had seen more on that dark day that Hollow Bastion fell to the Heartless, but Sora certainly wasn't about to press him for details. Leon had told him enough for now - such as the story of Kairi's heritage.

In a way, Sora was almost sorry he'd pushed Leon so hard for the truth. He had to admit, it made him a little uncomfortable to think of Kairi being related to a man who had abandoned everything, betrayed everything, in his search for the darkness. How would Kairi feel when she found out? For that matter, how would she feel when she put two and two together and realized that Sora had actually killed her uncle? Ansem had given his heart to darkness, and Sora wasn't sure Kairi even remembered the man. Still…he was not looking forward to telling her. "And I do have to tell her," he muttered to himself. "It wouldn't be right to keep the truth from Kairi."

He went to the back of the area, underneath the rock ledges, and pressed a hand against the falls. He closed his eyes momentarily, feeling the water roll over his fingers as he ran them along the slick rock beneath.

"Huh? What's this?" Sora felt a deep groove running horizontally across the rock face, and he traced it with his fingers, following it further in, toward the back of the falls.. Here there was a little rock outcropping to stand on, sheltering him from the upward rush of the water. Above jutted another rocky ledge, enclosing him in a little cavern that echoed with the low rumble of water. On the wall here, the groove ended right next to a strange symbol, etched into the wall - a shooting star falling through a crown. Sora eyed it curiously. "Hmm…what is this?" He traced this new symbol with his fingers. Strangely, he felt an odd tingle in his hand. An image flickered at him momentarily, then vanished…a keyhole?

Well, there was an easy answer to that! Sora held out his right hand, and the Keyblade appeared within it. It was a moment's work to aim it at the flickering image of a keyhole, and sure enough, there was a faint click, and the image solidified. For a moment, nothing happened, but then Sora could hear a low grinding noise over the waterfall's roar. A crack appeared in the rock face, and slowly a door appeared, swinging outward and exposing a dark cavern beyond.

Sora whistled to himself. "Wonder why no one ever noticed this before?" Ducking his head, he entered the cavern cautiously. As he went, faint blue lamps flickered to life around him.

The room beyond was very small, and lit by more of the blue lights. There were a few racks filled with books, all apparently encased in a clear, solid material of some kind, possibly to protect them from the damp air. Sora picked one up but could see no way to open it, so he put it back on the rack and continued to look around.

There were not actually very many books here, but there were several racks filled with strange, black discs. Sora examined a few, but they seemed utterly featureless - at least, until he held one up near a blue lamp. Then he noticed a faint white glow appearing on the black surface - words! Moving closer to the light, he squinted as he held it up, moving his lips silently to read along with the words that appeared.

"Door…to…" His eyes widened. "Door to Light! Oh, man…how do I use this thing, though? Is it a book?"

There had to be something more here. Gripping the disc tightly in his left hand, Sora traced the walls carefully, frowning in the dim light. Finally his hand found a smooth structure, embedded into the rock wall. It had a glossy, black surface, and there appeared to be a kind of slot in the middle of it. Sora shrugged. "Oh well, guess I might as well give it a try." He carefully slid the disc into the slot in front of him as far as it would go, so that only a section of the rim jutted out from the device.

There was a flicker of light and a hum, and then the rock face in front of Sora, which lacked any kind of shelving and had seemed strangely empty, began to glow. The blue-white glow solidified into coherent words, and Sora leaned in close to read them. They were hard to make out, however, and the style of script was apparently very old and difficult to decipher. Before he could catch more than a few words, the image changed to display a different set of paragraphs.

"Hey, no fair!" he protested, but he did his best to catch as much as he could before it cycled to the next page.

It took a long time for the disc to run through its stored records, and although Sora wasn't able to get much from it, what he did learn caused his heart to beat faster.

It seemed that there were actually four Keyblades, one for each of the four worlds. Exactly what these four worlds were he didn't know, but he knew there must be two more Keyblades out there besides his and the one King Mickey had obtained. There was a great deal about the Keyblades and who could use them, but those details scrolled by too quickly for him to catch. "Who reads this fast?" Sora muttered to himself. Still, he learned enough to know that all Keyblades were closely connected to both the light and the dark, and they could lock or unlock both.

There were several ways to open or seal the Door to Darkness, some of which Sora already knew, of course. Opening the Door to Light, however, would be much harder. There was a great deal of information here. Apparently, the Door to Light could only be created in conjunction with a strong outpouring of light, both from the Keyblades and from their bearers' hearts. Additionally, the location mattered a great deal. The Door to Darkness could only be created in a few places scattered throughout the worlds, but the Door to Light had only one possible location. The disc was nonspecific as to where, but apparently the Seekers had long ago found this world and built a protective stronghold there.

The Keyblade bearers would need help. A supportive coterie was also required, with the ability to add to and concentrate the outpouring of light all around them. Whoever formed this coterie, they would have to be very special people, with exceptionally pure hearts. Sora blinked when he read this. "The princesses!" he whispered to himself.

There was more about these pure hearts and their connection to the Keyblade bearers…especially the Keyblade of Light. Sora frowned at this. If that was so, what Keyblade did he have? Not the Key of Light, apparently, for it required a special and difficult process to obtain. In fact, to all appearances, the bearer of this Keyblade must be a very special person too, with one of the purest hearts…

"Of course! Kairi!" Sora was rather surprised he hadn't seen it before. He read on eagerly, catching as many details as possible. The Keybearer of Light could not obtain the Keyblade by herself; it would not simply come to her as Sora's had come to him. The words scrolled by quickly, but Sora was fairly confident that he had caught the most important details - he had to, because he would need to pass this information on to Kairi.

While Sora tried to cement this information in his mind, he lost the flow of several more pages filled with details about the other keys. Muttering to himself, he tried to find his place and realized the disc was scrolling past information about the fourth Keyblade now - the Key of Twilight. He couldn't make out who might be able to hold this Keyblade, or how it could be obtained, but one thing did stand out - the World of Twilight, which could only be reached using extraordinary powers. The power of twilight itself was one of these, and the power of a Keyblade was another.

Sora was unable to gather much more information from the disc before it stopped. It had not come to the end; rather, the mechanism made a sputtering, grinding noise, and the words blinked off the wall. "Hey!" Sora protested, pounding on the rock with his fist. "Come on, bring it back! I need to see this again!"

Unfortunately, the disc did not respond. Gritting his teeth in frustration, Sora went over to the smooth, black device and gripped the rim of the disc with his fingers, pulling it out slowly so as not to damage it. He tucked it away carefully in one of his pouches, stowing it in one of the pockets closest to his leg in order to better protect it. He didn't know if he'd be able to find another device like this one that could read it, but on the off chance that he did discover one, he wanted the disc to remain intact.

Sora leaned against the damp rock wall, his arms folded across his chest and his brow furrowed in a deep frown. Now what? As far as he could see, he had two options. He could go in search of Kairi on the Destiny Islands to tell her of the Keyblade of Light, or he could seek out this World of Twilight to find out about the fourth Keyblade.

It couldn't be that easy, could it? Could he really find a way to return home, to see his friends and his family again, to see…Kairi? It was what he had wanted so desperately for so long…could it really be his next destination?

The more he thought about it, the more Sora had to admit the truth - that if it really were that easy to get to the Destiny Islands, he would have gone home long before. He had no navigation gummi, nor any other way to find his home, and he didn't know where he could begin to look for one. On the other hand…it was all very well and good that he could use the Keyblade to get to the Twilight World, but how? He couldn't just point it at something and think happy thoughts as if he were about to take flight. There had to be more to it than that.

Sora shrugged. It was time to talk to Leon and the others about his discovery. He headed back toward the entrance to the cavern, his hands stuffed in his pockets and a thoughtful frown on his face.

Try as he might, he was unable to silence the small voice inside his heart, begging fate to find a way to send him back to Kairi.

Wow, have I ever written up a storm today...and I have so much more still roiling around in my head. I have some details to work out, however, and we still have to see what choice Sora will make! In the meantime, at the risk of sounding like a broken record...I do love reviews, because they let me get into my readers' heads and see how I'm doing, if I'm getting the right feel in these chapters and prompting the intended reaction. I'd love to hear from you!