The Road to Dawn
By Ariana Aislinn
Chapter 23: A Dangerous Experiment

This is seriously the last one for tonight. No, really, I mean it this time. (falls over)

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

"Sora! Sora!"

Sora hurried up the steps to the castle gates. "What is it? I'm here, Donald, and boy have I got someth-"

Donald collided with him, nearly bowling the boy over. "Sora, you'll never guess what we found!"

"Owww…" Sora winced, rubbing his head. "Donald, you knocked me into a pillar! What's the matter?"

Goofy stood just inside the entrance hall, waving a book. "This here book has all sorts of interesting stuff in it, Sora! C'mon into the library and we'll show ya!"

Sighing, Sora followed the other two. "I've got something to show you, too. Look, I think I know where-"

Donald grabbed Sora by the arm and dragged him inside the library, kicking the door shut behind him and propelling the boy over to a table beneath the stairs. He pushed Sora into a chair, and Goofy dropped a book in front of him and sat in the other chair with his usual, good-natured smile.

"Will you two just listen a min-" Sora glanced at the title of the book and fell silent, his eyes widening. "The Key to Twilight?"

"It's about a Keyblade, Sora! Don'tcha think it might be important?" Goofy grinned proudly, obviously pleased with himself for having found it.

Sora's heart sank. It looked like just what he needed, but he would have much preferred something that would lead him to Kairi. Still, he knew he should be grateful for any lead at all. He opened the book and began flipping through pages. "So, does this tell us how to find the Keyblade of Twilight?"

Donald shook his head. "No. Some of the pages are missing, so all we know is that this key exists…but it does tell a little about how to use it, and about this 'World of Twilight,' whatever that is."

Sora grinned. "And that's just what I was going to tell you about. I found a library too, down near the falls, and there was a…well, I found a book, of sorts, that tells all about the Keyblades and how to open the Door to Light."

"No way! Didja really, Sora? That's great!"

"Hmph!" muttered Donald. "Whaddaya mean, a library near the falls? That's crazy."

Sora ignored the duck. "The important thing is, I know what we have to do next. We have to find the Keyblade of Light and the Keyblade of Twilight, and their bearers. We've already got the other two."

"Other two?" Donald frowned.

"Sure. I have one, and King Mickey has the other."

"Oh yeah, a-hyuck! But, uh…that means we've gotta find the king."

Sora nodded. "Right…and we have to find Kairi."

Donald's expression softened slightly. "Kairi? Look, Sora, we know you miss her and all, but…"

Sora shook his head. "It's not that. I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure that Kairi's the one who's gonna find the Keyblade of Light."

"Wow. This shore is a lot to take in!" Goofy sat back in his chair, putting a white-gloved finger to his lips thoughtfully. "But how are we gonna find Kairi, Sora? She's back on your island, isn't she? And to get there we'd hafta get a navi-gummi or something. We could ask Cid, but…I think if he had one, he'd've given it to us already."

"I think you're right," Sora sighed. "There's another place we need to go, too. I don't know who's going to be the one to get the Keyblade of Twilight, but I'm thinking we might find out if we head here." He pointed to the book the other two had found. "Do you know if it tells us anything about how to enter the World of Twilight?"

Donald flipped through a few pages, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Hmm. I don't know…but I think there might have been something. There was a chapter we hadn't looked at yet…it's called…oh yeah!" He stopped leafing through the book and pointed to a heading. "'Shadows of Our World.'"

Sora leaned closer and scanned the first few paragraphs, his eyes brightening. "Hey, I think this is it! Listen: 'The World of Twilight is like ours in many respects, but in many ways it is a shadow of our world. Just as shadows have no substance and cannot be grasped or captured, entering these realms is extremely difficult.' Okay, I know that much…let's just see if it tells anything further."

There was silence for a time as they pored over the book. Sora leaned forward on his elbows to read while Donald pressed against his shoulder, his beak jutting forward and partially obscuring Sora's vision. Goofy just waited patiently, pondering the text upside down and waiting to see if the other two would find anything useful.

"What about this?" Sora asked finally. "It says here that entering the Twilight World can be accomplished by using the powers of twilight itself, and one can do this by making a portal similar to that created by the power of darkness."

Donald frowned. "What, you mean you want to make a portal out of twilight or darkness?"

Sora shook his head. "No, we don't have the power of twilight to work with, and you know as well as I do that there's no way we're messing with the power of darkness, even if it would work, and I'm not sure it would. I'm more interested in what it says next - that a similar portal can be formed using another power, so long as it's a very strong, focused magical power. I think the Keyblade could do it - that's what the disc in the other library said, anyway. What I couldn't figure out was how. So, what if we tried to make a portal using a method similar to that of using darkness, only we used the Keyblade instead?"

Goofy scratched his head, frowning. "I dunno if that quite makes sense, but…if you say so, Sora."

Donald frowned. "Uh, Goofy…there was one other book we found, remember? We set it aside to give to Aerith and Leon…"

"Oh yeah!" Goofy nodded. "It was one of that Ansem feller's books. We thought it was probably too dangerous to leave lying around in the library, so we thought they could decide what to do with it. It's got all sorts of stuff about using darkness. Maybe it'd help?"

"It's worth a try," mused Sora.

Goofy got to his feet and headed up the stairs, returning a minute later with a thick, leather-bound journal. He handed it to Sora, who opened it next to the book about the Twilight World.

The handwriting in the book was quite familiar, and Sora was reminded of the pages they had collected of Ansem's other reports. Apparently that was not the only journal he had kept, though this one looked much more informal, with notes scrawled in the margins and loose pages stuck in seemingly at random. "I don't know how we're ever going to find what we need, even if it is in here," Sora sighed.

"Why don't you go ahead and give it a try anyway?" Donald suggested. "I'll go see if I can scrounge up a snack for us."

"I'll go with you," volunteered Goofy, and the pair trooped out of the library, leaving Sora alone with the book written by his old enemy.

It took quite a while for his friends to return, so Sora sat and read in silence, leafing through the pages slowly and carefully, even though his mind roiled with impatience. It was fortunate that he took the time to do so, however, because eventually his eyes caught one word amidst a jumble of nearly indecipherable scientific and magical theories - "Kairi."

"Whoa, what?" Sora's eyes widened, and he scanned the page from the beginning.

"It is my belief that the worlds may be crossed quite easily, even more easily than with the gummi vessel of my recent visitor. If one had a strong enough power, a portal could be formed that would instantly transport the subject to any world chosen. All that is needed is power of sufficient potency, and a reliable way to secure the destination." For a while it went on about the feasibility of selecting a specific world among many, and how this could be accomplished by the one creating the portal. Sora kept reading, and a few sentences later he found the section that had caught his eye. "My initial tests have all been successful," the start of the next entry read. "I have succeeded in sending small objects to distant worlds. It is time for the next stage of my experiment. This time I will send a living subject, and I shall choose a new destination - an entirely separate world known as the World of Twilight. My studies have indicated that in this world, darkness affects the heart differently. I must know if it is possible to face the darkness and not be consumed by it. I have already completed many experiments with the Heartless in my castle. Next I shall send a human subject to that world to see if she can resist the darkness. I believe my niece, Kairi, will be ideal - she is too young to offer her own resistance and thereby invalidate the experiment. I will send Heartless after her to see how their darkness affects her. If her heart remains intact, I may have a way to use the powers of darkness without repercussions."

The entry ended there, and Sora pounded his fist on the table, flipping ahead to the next entry…but there seemed to be some pages missing, and the next entry was dated much further in the future and appeared to have nothing to do with Ansem's planned experiment. "No," Sora whispered to himself. "Did he…do it? Could he have? But…Kairi would have remembered, wouldn't she?" Tears stung his eyes at the thought. Whatever had happened, he knew Kairi had not lost her heart to darkness…so either Ansem's experiment had succeeded, or it had never taken place.

He read on half-heartedly, hoping to find more answers, but there was no further mention of Kairi, or the Twilight World. There was, however, a passage dealing with the exact method used to create a portal of darkness. Sora read it over several times, and although it was rather difficult to understand, he thought he could see a way to adapt the technique for use with the Keyblade. In fact…it might take a little creativity, but it was possible a certain summon gem might also come in handy.

The door to the library slammed, and Donald and Goofy reentered, arguing animatedly about a bag of flour Goofy had apparently spilled in the kitchen. Indeed, both of them still bore traces of the white powder on their clothes. It seemed Aerith had refused to let them out of the kitchen until they had cleaned it all up.

"Sorry it took so long, Sora. Here you go!" Donald held out an oatmeal cookie.

Sora flipped the book closed, quickly wiping his eyes so they would not see, and smiled brightly as he accepted the cookie. "Thanks, guys!"

"Didja find anything, Sora?"

The boy nodded. "I think so. It's going to be tricky, though, and it's going to take your help. Even then, I'm not sure I'll be able to open a portal wide enough to allow more than one person through."

The other two exchanged glances. "Gee, Sora, are ya sure that's a good idea?" Goofy frowned. "After all, we always stick together, don't we?"

Sora sighed, closing his eyes. Again, he felt an insatiable need to find out the truth of Kairi's past. If he had to do it alone, so be it…and even if he could have brought the other two along, he was unsure what he would be facing, and if he wanted to face it with them. "I know, guys," he said gently, "but I really think this is something I have to do. I promise I'll be back as soon as I can. You'll just have to hold the portal open long enough for me to find what I need and get back. If it looks like there's no way to learn about the Keyblade of Twilight, I'll head back, okay?"

"Well…I guess," Donald said slowly. "But…can it at least wait until after dinner? You should take some time to think about it, Sora, and we need to plan this out."

"Right, and a good meal wouldn't be a bad idea, either!" Goofy nodded. "Look, Sora, if this is what you think you gotta do, we're right behind ya, as always."

Sora gave them both a wavering smile. "Thanks, guys."

"Are you sure you won't reconsider?"

"No, Saïx. There's no reason for me to stay, and the first battalion of Nobodies is here. Luxord's on his way with the next, and you've also got Demyx. I'm sure you can handle things without me."

Saïx frowned. "I don't know that I share your confidence in Demyx's abilities."

Darkside laughed humorlessly. "That's because you don't know him well enough. Trust me, he'll be formidable in the right situation, and I'm betting that day is coming soon."

"But where are you headed, then? Will you at least tell me that much, in case there's an emergency?"

"Emergency?" Green eyes flashed sharply from within the depths of the hood. "Saïx, I gave you an order. You know your mission, and if you can't handle it…well, you know the consequences of failure. I know I don't need to stand by you and hold your hand when there are more important things for me to deal with. You've got your mission, and I've got mine. Both are crucial to success."

"And to our eventual restoration," Saïx murmured to himself, then raised his voice, nodding. "Of course, Darkside. You can count on me."

"Good. Your job is to find out more about the heart's restoration and the Seekers' magic from this old woman, while mine…" He could sense the grin in Darkside's voice. "My job is to figure out exactly how we're going to reopen the Door to Darkness."

With that, Darkside vanished, fading into the inky black portal that suddenly formed in front of him. After it, too, disappeared into the night, Saïx was left alone on the sandy beach, looking up at the star-filled sky. A slow smile spread across his face, and his golden eyes glinted in the starlight.

"Soon," he said. "Soon…we shall again be whole."

I may head for bed and scribble out a bit of the next chapter before I go to sleep, but this is the last thing getting posted tonight. Hope you enjoyed it!