Search Party

By Kikofreako

Summary:

Sora's whereabouts are unknown, Kairi has some strange power, and what's up with this Blonde Haired Kid that's carrying around a set of Keyblades? Everything's spinning out of control as Donald, Goofy, the Destiny Islands crew and the FF crew are jammed together in efforts to find a certain brunette. SoraXKairi Some: Squiffie and SelphieXTidus.

Disclaimer:

I don't own Kingdom Hearts, and I don't own Churchill's quote either.

The Random Quote of d00m:

"I'M GOING TO KILL THIS &# THING!" -Tidus

XxX

"Thanks for letting us stay the night." Tyson said, leaning back in a wooden chair stuffed with some pirated cushions from Hook's galleon. "Lot better than the gummi. No offense, Donald."

"Yeah, whatever." Donald mumbled.

Goofy turned a bit red. "Sorry, he gets kinda grumpy when he's tired."

"I do not!"

Taking no notice of the fighting pair, Selphie scanned the room. They had finished searching Hook's ship two hours ago. She leaned over and tapped Yuffie on the back. "Hey, where are Leon and Kairi?"

"Leon's outside. Kairi said she wanted to get some air, but she's not with Leon." Yuffie seemed a bit morose, so Selphie let the issue go without further inquiry. "I'm um, gonna go out and see if Sq- Leon wants something to eat." She stood up abruptly and hustled up the stairs. Selphie allowed herself a small smile. It was so obvious that the two had a crush on one another, but they were both too afraid to tell. Her grin faded as she thought about Kai. She had been so distant lately...maybe sick of her. No, that was stupid. It was just all her newfound responsibilities as a Keyblade Master pro tempore, right.

XxX

Kairi leaned back against the cool stone of the magnificent clock tower, letting out a small sigh and felt Sora's note crinkling against her skin where she had stuffed it into her skirt's inner pocket. Her thoughts were in a turmoil and her sanity was the boat being tossed like a plaything on the foamy crests of the waves. Her eyes wereglazed over, completely oblivious to the glorious scene spread out before her. Twinkling lights pierced the darkness of the night, with stars seeming to reach out from the heavens, almost close enough to grasp in your palm. Birds nested in hidden nooks and crannies, turning in for the night with their chicks. A faint breeze ruffled her hair.

"Why are you out here so late?"

She whipped around at the child's voice, then relaxed. "Oh, hello Michael. I just wanted a little bit of quiet."

He frowned. "Yeah, Nibs talks a lot!" The toddler stretched out "a lot", spreading his arms wide and puffing out his cheeks, then plopped down next to Kairi. Michael squinched up his face. "You look sad."

"No, I'm fine." Kairi lied. "Just tired, I guess."

The toddler, stood up, clutching a ragged teddy in his hand. He carefully got onto his knees and stared down at the sprawling metropolis below him, blue footsie pajamas standing out against a black backdrop. Michael turned around and looked at her, cocking his head like a puppy. "Are you scared of the big fall?"

She was relieved to have a plausible excuse and answered quickly. "Yeah, it's a pretty long drop."

He nodded solemnly. "I used to be scared of it too, even though I can fly 'n all. But I have Teddy." He squeezed the worn bear, it's matted fur stuck at awkward angles and a tiny part of the pink velvet ear torn off. Then releasing the teddy from its stifling hug, he gazed at her with maturity far beyond his years. "'Cause wherever I go, I always take Teddy with me. With him, I'm not scared anymore. With Teddy, I can do anythin'." With that, Michael let out a humongous yawn. "I'm gonna go back with John n' Wendy now. If you want..." He slowly held out his prized possession, uncertainly evident in his sky blue, innocent eyes. "If you want, you can keep Teddy for the night. He always makes me feel better."

Kairi felt her eyes mist up and smiled. "Thank you, Michael," she said in a choked voice, " but I think I have everything that I need already."

XxX

"How do you work these things?" Tidus yelled, falling from the hammock yet again with a loud thump as his body hit the hard-packed dirt.

"It's not that hard, you idiot. Just be more gentle with it."

Tidus snorted. "Ha. After what this thing has put me through, I'm going to SHRED it!"

"It's not the hammock's fault that you're inept." Tyson quipped.

"You just wait." the blonde mumbled. "I...will...get...this... OOF!" Another thud and a moan. "Owwwwwwwwwwww..."

Wakka was rolling on the ground in laughter, tears forming in his eyes. "Man, this is da best show I've had in weeks!"

Growling, Tidus pulled out his sword. "I'M GOING TO KILL THIS &# THING!"

Just then, Michael toddled in. "What's &# mean?"

Wendy gasped. "Michael, don't use that word! It's naughty!"

"Why is &# bad?"

"Cause it is, that's why!"

"Oh." Michael looked puzzled, then put his chubby hands on his hips. "If he said a bad word, he should...um...get his mouth cleaned out with soap. That's what Mommy does."

Selphie grinned. "I think you're right, Michael." She grabbed Tidus by his shimmering blonde hair. "We've gotta teach you some manners, young man."

Namine joined her, grabbing his arm. "No, you can't say naughty words, can you?"

"Uh...what are you doing?"

"Come on, march!" The pair led a struggling Tidus out of the door. There was a muffled thump and the sound of metal grating.

"Hey, what are you-" Another thud. "Hey, HEY! OWWW!" Hysterical laughter drowned out any other protests.

XxX

Leon leaned back against the smooth wood of the old oak, any roughness in the wood long worn off by constant use. He inhaled deeply- the fresh air filled his lungs. Almost as good as the stuff back home.

"Leon?"

He did an about face and saw Yuffie standing by the door, closing it carefully with a muted thud. She carried in her hand a steaming mug of soup. "I, uh, thought you might be hungry. You missed supper."

"Oh...thanks." He reached out and took the beaker from Yuffie, their hands touching a millisecond too long. He felt the warmth of the hot cup soak into his hands, thousands of beads of heat spreading through his body like wildfire. They both stood there awkwardly for a moment, then Yuffie finally let out an exasperated mewl.

"Leon, I can't take this." she burst out, yanking the Griever out and holding it tightly in her hand. "This...this is yours, it's important!"

"And 2,000 munny wasn't important to you?"

"No, I mean it was, but this is different." She sighed and stared down at the dully glowing silver chain in her palm. "I know how much this means to you." Yuffie said quietly. She held it out to him. "I don't need it. The chain was a gift."

Leon hesitated, then took it from her and carefully closed the clasp around his neck, secretly enjoying the familiar feel of the metal on his bare skin. "Listen, I have to give you something." Stupid. That sounded so stupid. Too late now. "Whatever you want."

Yuffie turned her back to him. Leon- Leon- was offering her anything she wanted. What did she want most? She closed her eyes and racked her brain, adamant to make the most of this opportunity. "I uh...I want to see you smile."

"W-what?" Leon stared, caught off guard.

"Yeah," Yuffie said, certainty growing with each word. "I want to see you smile. A real smile too, not a smirk or anything."

Leon averted his eyes. He could back out of this all now; it would be easy to simply make up some flimsy excuse. But something inside him tugged, something told him that this was important.

Yuffie watched as Leon slowly turned the corners of his mouth upward, then finally met her gaze in a capturing, bewitching smile. She stared at him, completely entranced, a child peering through the window of a candy store. Then she broke her gaze abruptly, mumbled a thanks, and rushed back into the treehouse.

XxX

September 20th- Morning

Today, I met the Queen Of Hearts. She's quite the character- somewhat quiet, but you can tell that she has an unshakeable will. Kairi, that's her name. She seems to have some sort of kinship with Sora; they appear to have lived on the same island in childhood, along with a few tagalongs that have come with her on their ragtag gummi-their names escape me.

Cid has repaired their ship, and I plan to lift off with them as soon as possible. First, we must run a check through the worlds; who knows what other places might have suffered the same fate as this one? The one question that runs rampant in my mind is why didn't the Heartless devour this world's heart when they came through? Although it's a skeleton of what it once was, Traverse Town is still in existence. If the Heartless took any hearts is still a mystery, as they do not leave any evidence of their malicious thefts. With the Queen and her friends to fight alongside, I have no doubt that we will be able to find our missing halves of heart. Sora is apparently mine, and myself, Tyson, is his. The Queens' other half is still unknown.

September 21st- Afternoon

We have landed in our first world, Olympus Coliseum. The people there are friendly, and also seem to know Sora quite well, especially Hercules, the champion fighter around here. He had nothing but good things to say about him, which makes me even more eager to find this mysterious sky-eyed boy.

The Princess is proving to be somewhat of an enigma.- who would have known how long she has had that Keyblade? I don't know the complete story behind it, except that the chain is much like the crown of the Kingdom Key. Why would she lie to us? Kairi seems to be an ethical girl, unlike what these actions have suggested. She throws me off guard, unlike anyone who I have met before. How can she shake my foundations? I have worked so hard to keep my emotions in check, so that I can be better equipped to use the Keyblades. Is this what Sora will be like? I really don't know.

At least Leon took my side in the spying-incident. I didn't mean to hurt her, or to turn anyone against me as it seems I have done. All I can hope is that this mistake can be fixed as soon as possible.

September 21st- Later

Thankfully, the incident was resolved with little conflict. I however am not used to making lavish apologizes, and believe my efforts fell short of what was appropriate in the situation. But it's over now.

We have just gotten off of Wonderland- something strange happened there too, although I cannot quite put my finger on it.

September 21st- Midnight

Disaster- we have come to a face-to-face meeting with the Organization. We now have an ally, it seems, with one of the former members who was the victim of an unsuccessful murder attempt by the scum Axel- I know him all too well. I met another member who I am not so familiar with named Kxerrix; she appears to have a hyped control over darkness, but wields no weapon except pure, unrefined shadow. It is effective however, and quickly crippled any hope we had of capturing her then and there so she now runs free somewhere and has made the top of my Most Wanted list.

A horrifying discovery- Riku is not Riku, but a clone, of sorts, made by Vexen (the former member who we seem to have a shaky coalition with) before he dismissed himself from the Organization. Needless to say, the Replica is gone from our small clique and off somewhere with Kxerrix presumably. However, we have been joined by Namine, who I have met once before at Castle Oblivion on my search for Sora. She seemed troubled by something- now I know, although like always it is too late. I can hope that perhaps she can enlighten us a bit on our situation. And I have a hunch that this girl might be the other half of Kairi's heart- is this a stroke of luck, or fate? I have yet to discover, and I do not believe that anyone can tell me that.

September 22nd- Mid Afternoon

We have now lifted off from Agrabah, having replenished our food supplies which have been dangerously low; I believe Tidus is partially responsible for this occurrence. Namine has explained much to us, and my confidence has been re-established on discovering where Sora is being held. Leon has been showing Kairi a few tricks with the Keyblade. I believe we have all had some good done by this small stop; much tension has been relieved and also a significant portion of our funds as it seems Selphie is an avid shopper.

September 22nd- Evening

A rather puzzling development- literally. In Atlantica, we encountered the Organization once again and I can't say we escaped scot-free, as I believe Selphie and Tidus were a bit spooked since they have never had pitched battle with the Thirteenth Order.

We have also obtained a vital piece of information, but to quote a famous leader it is "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.". I will copy it down here for future reference. There is no doubt in my mind that if we can solve this, we will encounter some great epiphany that will aid us in our quest.

(Memento est potestas

Search for the treasure buried within.

Intangible and able to be felt

Vulnerable and invincible.)

(Cascade up to the forest

Forest of polished oak and maple

Transport to worlds unknown

Let the ink be your guide.)

(Once you've filled your pen with ink

Ascent while halted

To the place where the evils of darkness spread her wings

The time has come for better things.)

(Start your journey with these words:

Alpha squared.)

September 23rd- Nighttime

No progress on the riddle thus far, although Leon and Namine seem like a promising duo to solve it. Kairi seems downtrodden, so I have kept my distance in fear of this blasted seed of darkness interfering again with our already fragile lines of communication. I believe she is a bit unnerved by me because of my uncanny likeness of Sora. But that aside for now.

Tonight, we are housed in Neverland with a rather rowdy bunch, but beggars can't be choosers. They are very hospitable and were more than happy to share their abode with us for the night. Flying is glorious- I must admit that it is as good as any therapy. There's something serene about soaring above the clouds without an effort except for pleasant thoughts and a little bit of pixie dust.

Tyson finished penciling today's entry and closed the small journal, stuffing it into an oversized cargo pocket inside his two-tone jeans. He yawned and leaned back in the hammock, staring up at the lattice of woodwork and eventually drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

XxX

"Anyone speak Spanish?"

"That isn't Spanish, you idiot, that's German!"

"It's not German cause it doesn't have the little dots above the letters." Tidus frowned. "It looks like Spanish to me."

"Well, it's not." Selphie squared her shoulders. "It's GERMAN. My mom's German. I should know."

"It's not German or Spanish." Leon stated. "It's Latin. Memento est potestas."

"Well, aren't you smart." Selphie crossed her arms across her chest and stuck out her bottom lip. "We'll just leave you alone then since you don't need US, obviously." She grabbed Tidus and stalked off, leaving Namine and Leon alone with the riddle.

"Finally." Leon muttered, turning his attention back to the first line of the riddle. "It is actually Latin, though. Memento is stemmed directly from the Latin word meaning memory. Today, it's something signifying a certain memory. Like a baseball would be a memento of a winning game"

"So which meaning is it?" Namine queried.

"I believe the Latin meaning, memory. The rest of the phrase is in Latin, after all."

The blonde nodded, penciling a note above the first line. "Okay, so we have Memory est Potestas. 'Est' seems like a conjunction or an article, so we can skip that for now."

"Right." Leon crossed out the three letters with dark charcoal streaks. "Potestas- what's Potestas?"

Namine leaned back in her chair and shrugged.

"Skip it. Next line." He looked at the paper. "The next three lines seem to go together."

"Yeah. The last two lines the stanza describe the second line, 'the treasure buried within.' So, that treasure is intangible yet able to be felt, vulnerable and invincible."

"The word 'felt' has two meanings that fit the context there- the fifth sense of touch, or the emotional 'feeling' of something." Leon stared at the paper, as if at any moment a clue would spring forth from the composition. "So which one?"

Namine smiled, a puzzle piece in her head sliding together. "Intangible is something that you CAN'T touch. So if you take the first meaning of 'felt' they cancel each other out, which doesn't make sense. So you have to have the second one- you can't touch it, but you can feel it. And if you can't touch something, you usually can't see it. Like the wind."

"Right!" Leon's eyes lit up, an expression rarely seen on his face. "So, it's saying that memory is intangible yet able to be felt." Then he frowned. "So, invincible and vulnerable? No double meanings there."

"I know what this means." Namine said quietly. "You can tamper with memories, but never really erase them. Never." She stared up at the ceiling. "They're like a rubber band, sort of- you can stretch it and squish it together, but it will always snap back into the original shape. The trick is forming the person's subconscious to your own version of past events. Memories change slightly over time- like you may have a memory of drinking a chocolate milkshake. But since you like chocolate better, you might have convinced yourself that you really had a chocolate one instead what really happened- you drank a strawberry instead."

"Confusing."

"That's just half of it. Even if you do convince the subconscious, there is always the risk of total recall. If you have enough 'evidence' than the other memories will be overridden and the older ones will resurface. So in essence, memories are completely invincible, even though some can meddle with them. The truth will set you free..." She trailed off, eyelids half closed in reminiscence, so many memories, so much to tell, to show... "I'm starting to get a headache. Do you mind if I take a break?"

"Sure." Leon murmured, pretending to turn back to the riddle but his attention far away. This gets more complicated by the minute. Sora always had his memories? Then, all of Castle Oblivion would be obsolete. So what was the point? The Organization obviously knew this- so why would they go to such lengths?

The answer came immediately. Leon sprang from his chair and ran out the door, seeking out Tyson and Kairi. This is unbelievable. Mind-boggling.

XxX

"Tyson. Tyson, wake up."

"Mmgh..." Tyson rolled over and squinched up his eyes. "It better not be morning, cause I just fell asleep."

Leon shook his head. "No. But I thought you might want to hear this."

Wide awake now, Tyson nodded and slipped out of the hammock, following Leon out the treehouse door and quietly snapping the latch. "Okay, what's this all about?"

"You know that Sora almost lost his memories at Castle Oblivion, right?"

"Right..."

Leon crossed his arms across his chest and leaned against the tree. "Well, Namine just told me that memories really can't be changed. Only warped. The truth always comes out eventually; it's an inevitable verity, unless you're sealed up inside a soundproof room for the rest of your life without any other human contact. Almost all socialization sprouts memories.. All Organization members know that."

Sora's lookalike frowned. "So why would they go to all the trouble, I mean getting Namine to change the memories, building that castle..." He stopped dead. "You don't think...?"

"Yeah, I do. It's a huge bluff, to make us think we're more vulnerable than we really are. The entire setup was a fake."

"You're not serious."

"Dead serious."

"But that would mean..." Tyson paced around, Leon's eyes following him as he watched the teen put two and two together. "So the heart- it gets some of its power from memories. And they wanted us to think that they- the Thirteenth Order- could control that."

"Right."

The Keyblade Master pounded his fist against the tree. "This is INSANE!" he yelled vehemently. "We don't even know what's a bluff and what's real!" Suddenly exhausted, he slid down until his head hung between his knees. "Everything I've put into this. All my life. And I don't even know what made a heck of a DIFFERENCE!" He quieted to a whisper. "I don't even know what's going on in my world. I haven't been back in two years. Everything, in everything, I'm always too late. I can't save them."

Sensing Tyson was now talking more to himself, Leon stood motionless. As he knew all too well with Yuffie, oftentimes one could talk onself into a logical conclusion. Anything he dared to say now would only aggravate Tyson more.

"I couldn't save my sister, either. She went headfirst..." He trailed off, mumbling into his arms. "Right into the Heartless' arms. It was all over in a second. I don't even know, maybe I've met her. Maybe...maybe I've killed her. With all the other Heartless. They, they were all people once..." He clenched his fists. "So I'm a murderer, I guess." He threw his Keyblade to the ground in disdain, completely disgusted with himself. "This blows." His head rolled back on his shoulders. "No, no I'm not. Those were hearts, hearts the Heartless fed on. I bet somewhere, the real hearts of the people are there, just waiting to be rescued. Behind the Door to the Light."

"Amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it." Leon commented, holding out a hand to the blonde. Tyson smiled and took it, hosting himself up and picking up the shimmering blade.

"I'm not going to be late this time. I have help." He grinned at Leon. "Some of the best."

The brunette nodded, the very slightest hint of a smile creeping into his features. "Yeah, and from that monologue I think you're going to need all the help you can get."

"Hey!" Tyson punched him in the arm. "C'mon, I think we're going to need at least forty-five minutes of sleep to take on Heartless."

XxX

Mwah, lots of interesting things happened in that chapter. I'm sure most of you caught that the part in italics was Tyson's journal. And I'm sorry I havn't updated in awhile; my stupid privacy service kept blocking the login pages. So I couldn't post the new one. But here it is. And you will have one more update before the middle of January, when I'll be on a hiatus in Colorado skiing. Anyways, I will get to review responses now since I'm sure you're all sick of waiting. Ring of the new year with reviews!