A/N: Just a reminder, this is a Sora x Kairi fanfic.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts (c) Square Enix & Disney.
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XVII: Thirteen Shards
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"Pence!" Olette yelled, trying to snap out the boy of whatever obsession he currently had with his camera. It was three in the morning, and here they were, wondering why Pence would call them...and besides, Olette needed her sleep.
"D'you want me to snap him out of it?" Hayner said from behind her. She looked over her shoulder just in time to see him crack his knuckles threateningly. His brown eyes sparkled with mischief under the orange hue of the twilight sky. She sighed and rolled her eyes; Hayner always thought that violence was always the answer.
"Pence!"
"PENCE!"
"Keep quiet!" The boy suddenly hissed at them, his round face shining with excitement. "You'll scare her away!"
Olette managed to feel exasperated and giggly at the same time. "Pence, you brought us here to this dump for a girl?"
Pence nodded enthusiastically, pointing to one of the Old Mansion's second floor windows. "That girl...the one who's supposed to live in that place, when nobody has occupied it in almost, well, who knows when--"
Hayner muttered something that sounded very much like 'Pence I'm gonna kill you' as he kicked a stray rock into the Mansion's rusty steel gate, making a loud reverbating sound.
"Shhh! Someone might hear us!" She admonished as the blonde boy walked up to her, face dejected.
"Olette, Olette, aside from the fact that it's way too early, we are in the middle of Twilight Woods, and there's noone who can hear us---"
"There she is again!" Pence breathed suddenly. Olette craned her neck and peered in the direction of the camera-boy's pointed finger.
The white curtains were swirling in a nonexistent wind, as usual. She quirked an eyebrow. "Pence... what--oh!"
What was unmistakably a hand drew back the curtains, and a face peered out, apparently looking for something on the Mansion grounds. When its gaze landed on the three, however, it quickly retreated, and the curtains were swirling once again.
She held a hand over her chest, feeling her pounding heart. Hayner was whispering 'whoa' over and over again.
Did they just see a ghost? Did they really just prove one of the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town?
"We need sleep," she declared, putting her hands on her hips. She was a rational girl, and she couldn't see how someone could get through the lock that had been installed on the front door of the Mansion (a lock sent by King Mickey himself, who feared for Twilight Town's safety from its alternate-world twin, that adventure surely put Olette's rational side in a loop), much less the huge padlock and chains that bound the front gate.
Pence stared at her, amused. "No, we don't. She might be from that alternate Twilight Town the King said Sora had already sealed--"
"But we don't have any proof that she's actually there!" Hayner said frustratedly, running his hands through already upright hair. She heaved a sigh as she gave him a comforting pat on the back (and Hayner immediately stole her hand and wound it around his waist--she giggled even more). What was the use of seeing something you can't prove...?
"Ah, but I have proof right here," Pence said loudly, taking something from his pocket and waving it in the air. "You didn't really think that I'd call you guys down here without any proof, didn't you?"
Olette squealed and whipped the photograph from his hands. Hayner was saying something about his sneaking out as he turned to look at the piece of glossy paper.
"Oh. My. God."
The picture had been taken zoomed; Pence had caught an image of a girl standing among the white curtains, a pale hand pressed against the glass as she stared at something unknown outside. She had soft blonde hair that was drawn over a frail shoulder, and she blended almost perfectly among the white curtains, seeing that she wore a white sundress that reached down above her knees and white sandals, added to the fact that she had impossibly pale skin. In fact, the only thing of her that wasn't white was her eyes; they were a color so blue that it almost put the ocean to shame.
It was a very accurate image of what a ghost would look like, in her opinion.
"See? See? We have proof!" Pence did a little jig with his precious camera. Olette felt like dancing too.
Hayner made a derisive noise, and she stared up at him. "Hmmm...I don't know why, but I feel like I've already met her..."
She peered at the girl's visage unbelievingly. "Since when do you meet ghost-girls? You haven't been cheating on me, have you?" she joked, wrinkling her eyebrows. Hayner shook his head and proceeded to stare at the picture in her hand, his hand stroking her mahogany hair absentmindedly.
"Whaddya mean you already met her?" Pence demanded, his arms crossed.
"It means, I already met her," Hayner said, rolling his eyes. Pence gave him a light punch on the arm and laughed.
"I have already met her," Olette said quietly. Both boys turned to stare at her. "Don't you remember, Hayner? We met her and--and whoever her date was at the Halloween Dance..." she trailed off, forcing herself not to laugh at the dawning comprehension on Hayner's face, and the blooming disbelief on Pence's.
"B-but why, of all the places and times, would she go here?" Pence gestured vehemently to the white-curtained window. "And how could she get in there in the first place?"
"M-maybe she's really a ghost who just decided to join in the Halloween Dance," Hayner said seriously before bursting into laughter at the expression on the other boy's face.
"Uhhuh..." Olette smiled. "Looks like we have a mystery on our hands."
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"Mickey, dear."
He looked up into the concerned face of his wife, her forehead furrowed downwards in worry. It was three-past in the morning, and he had still not gone to bed.
"Aren't you going to sleep?"
"I have to read over this treaty," King Mickey lied through his teeth, forcing himself to smile at his wife.
"Well...In that case, I am canceling all of your appointments tomorrow morning," she said, cocking her head thoughtfully. "You're sleeping in, I presume?"
He laughed lightly. "You know me too well."
"I always have," she said gently, shifting her hand to the golden door handle. "I love you."
"I love you too. Goodnight, you need your sleep."
"You too, dear," she yawned, closing the door to the King's Study soundlessly. As soon as the door closed, Mickey groaned softly.
He knew everything was in place, but something called his conscience was bugging him endlessly.
"Good thing she wiped your morning clean, King Mickey, you're going to need it."
He froze. Why did everyone have to make him freeze like that? His heart pounded madly, and the Keyblade coalesced into his hand.
"Show yourself. Shiva?" he asked uncertainly.
"Guess again," a feminine voice laughed softly. She stepped out of the shadows, her amber irises glinting in the cool darkness of the Study.
Mickey gulped.
"Your Majesty, we have a lot to talk about."
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"Well, at any rate, thank you for bringing Kairi home safely," the Mayor was saying, looking thoughtfully at Riku. "Even if it is about an hour after what she told me and her grandmother that she'd be home."
"Dad", Kairi whined, "We couldn't go without saying goodbye to the King!"
"As long as you're safe," he sighed. "Lock up after you."
"Okay."
She and Riku watched her father trudge up the stairs, obviously exhausted from the day's work, and from staying up for Kairi to get home.
"You're lucky I portalled you here," he smirked, turning to the redhead. "Otherwise, you'd be yelled at for coming so home so late."
"You mean, early," she pointed out. "It's one in the morning."
Riku struggled to stop his impending yawn but failed miserably. Kairi giggled from beside him, but she herself yawned ten seconds later. He made to stand up from the couch, but she pulled him back down.
Which, of course, made him blush spectacularly. Hm. He was positively burning, and he looked cuter than ever.
"What...? You scared of being alone or something?"
To his surprise, she nodded. "And anyway, if you go home now, you might get mugged or something."
"Kairi," he said exasperatedly. "I'm a Keyblade Wielder."
"I need somebody to vent out my anger on." Yes, she really did, because she was actually mad. She was planning on screaming into her pillow later for about an hour or so before sleeping.
"I'm no punching bag---oof"
She cut his words short as she pounced on him, intent on squeezing the heck out of him, because right now, it was either squeeze something, or break something. She preferred not having to replace anything, so she decided to use Riku as a cute, squishy stress ball.
"Kai--"
Pouting, she let him go. "That's what you get."
"A deadly hug?"
"I couldn't squeeze any harder, so there..ha..."
Riku stared at her. She stared at the floor awkwardly, she was being totally random tonight, and actually, she had no idea why. Hey! He was the one who was random in the first place! She giggled at the thought, and stopped herself. She looked as insane as she already was.
She suddenly felt a hand tipping her face up, and Riku stole a kiss, grinning at her shocked expression."Good night," he whispered in her ear, making a shiver travel down her spine. Leaving her frozen in the middle of the living room, he swiftly made his way out their front door and closed it with a snap.
A smile spread across her face as she put a hand on the doorknob and locked it.
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Hahaha!
"Shut up, you've been laughing for hours now."
HAHAHA! I take back everything I said. What you just did was the stupidest thing you have ever done.
"Shut the hell up."
Haha!
"I hate it when you do that," he muttered, burying his face more into the pillow and scrunching up his eyes. It was still dark outside (seen through the huge floor-to-ceiling glass windows), and he usually woke up when the sun streamed onto him mercilessly.
Uh. Since when did he have floor-to-ceiling windows?
Since when did the moon shape itself into a huge heart?
Since when did his pillow become soaked in blood?
Sora Hikari's eyes snapped open and he instantly shot up from the bed, biting his lip to prevent the stream of exclamations from pouring forth. Swinging his (bloody) legs over the side he put his head in his hands, his fingers rubbing his temples. What was possibly the most extemely painful headache in natural history was starting to come on.
The memory of a few hours earlier came rushing back to him, making his head throb painfully.
He stabbed himself earlier. He was sure of that. He was supposed to be dead. Gasping, he ran his fingers over his chest, where he was pretty sure there was a gaping hole, through which his guts were bleeding out.
Sure, his shirt was torn, and his crown necklace was bloodstained (heck--it seemed that he had taken a bloodbath), but where he supposed the Keyblade had torn into his heart...none. No bruise (after he had wiped the caked blood away--did he really bleed that much?), no scratch, no nothing, only pale, unbroken, and as far as he could tell, healthy skin. Not something that had been stabbed earlier.
Hm. He was pretty sure he hadn't dreamed of stabbing himself.
Because you screwed up.
"I think I already told you to shut up, Antiform," he snapped, mind, once again, a swirling soup of madness. A bloody sneaker clattered against the Dark Keyblade that lay carelessly on the floor. Sighing, he stretched down to pick it up, feeling irritated with the continous whistling his Antiform had taken to.
He choked on a mouthful of supposed-to-be swallowed blood as he realized something.
Actually, he didn't feel irritated.
In fact, he felt...nothing. Nothing at all. He put a hand to comfort his fluttering heart, and his eyebrows drew down in confusion.
"Oh. Hell, no. No." He held his breath. And held it for about ten minutes before realizing something was definitely wrong here. He should be feeling worried, but strangely, something was amiss. Now, if only his Antiform would stop his infernal whistling, he could concentrate and figure out what had happened.
I told you, you screwed us up.
"How?" he asked aloud weakly, not caring if anyone else saw him. Actually, he didn't care about anything.
Uhm.
Won't tell, and I quote, "I think I already taught you to shut up, Antiform," his Heartless side giggled.
He (once he would do it in frustration, but seeing that he had no emotion whatsoever now, he did it because there was simply nothing else to do) ran his left hand through his hair and growled at himself.
"GAH!" Sora yelled, renewed pain shooting through his scalp, feeling very much like someone had dragged razor-sharp nails into channels of skin on his head. He scrubbed away the warm stream of blood slowly trailing down between his eyes. And froze.
He held up a pitch-black left hand whose nails were dripping with blood. His own hand.
NOW, do you believe you screwed us up, HUH?
Sora bit his lip and stalked out of the room, Antiform laughing an explanation in his head as he went.
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Riku, once again, was jolted awake by the feeling of something resonating throughout Kingdom Hearts. That had been happening a lot lately.
He shut his eyes, trying to ignore the pounding of his heart.
Sora had gone once again, without insomuch as a goodbye... What was he playing at?
The King's announcement echoed in his memory. "Heartless have been straining to get into the perimeter of the Castle. Anyway, I am sad to say that Wielder Sora---"
He was jolted awake once again, and welcomed the feel of his Way To The Dawn's cold metal under his fingers.
Heartless shed no blood, and as far as he could see, King Mickey was in no way wounded.
Whose blood was on his hands?
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"Okay, okay, I get it, but I screwed you up, hah!" Sora muttered happily as he walked the Castle's hallways, opening every door he came across. Which wasn't the best technique, he had to say, since he had almost gotten killed twice, one on account of a avalanche of fluffy bedroom slippers, the second on account of an avalanche of movie spheres, which, from the looks of it, documented all the blackmail material the Organization kept for each other. That he could understand, but the fluffy bedroom slippers? Sure, the chocobo one was cute, but he just couldn't imagine one of the big, bad, Thirteenth Order wearing those.
Okay, so maybe he could picture Roxas wearing a pair. But still...
Once he had come across a woman's mask connected to tubing floating in a canister of some sort, and thankfully, he had the sense not to touch it. The label 'Jenova Project' rang a faint bell in his head. Something in World History told him it was very dangerous to mess with it, no matter how harmless it seemed.
He heard voices, thankfully, not in his head, but in the corridors, from behind a door. Holding his breath, he put a gloved hand on the doorknob and opened the white door.
"Is anyone in---"
Thirteen faces stared at him in shock, weapons in hand. Xemnas, whose hand was raised towards a ring of sabers, looked ready to faint. Roxas' mouth was working soundlessly.
"Okay. Is this a bad time?"
He cringed, both at himself and Antiform's sudden burst of laughter. From the stunned looks on their faces, this didn't qualify as a good time, that's for sure. Roxas' blue eyes went as wide as they can possibly go as he backed away, tripping over a stray lance as he went.
"I take that this is definitely not a good time."
Axel (from what Sora could remember, his name was Axel, and he had actually asked him if he had gotten it memorized) suddenly grinned. "You should take a bath."
Sora glanced down at himself, and at the bloody sneaker-shaped footprints he had left in his wake. He had just made one hell of a bloody mess, that's for sure. "Sorry for the mess. I'll clean it up later--"
"Sora. Uhm."
He looked up at Roxas, who was staring at him (not much unlike the twelve other people in the room) intently. He realized why they were staring. Staring as if he was a bloody axe murderer who had come to chop them up into tiny pieces and feed them to his pet cat Twinky. "I can explain."
"Please," Xemnas spoke up, gesturing to an empty chair.
Now Sora, being so much unlike his messy self, declined the offer, not wanting to stain anything else with red. Although he would dearly like to brighten up the Castle That Never Was, he'd like to do so with paint, not his own blood. "Uh, okay. Where should I start?"
"Maybe with the fact that you're half-Heartless would help?" Roxas said in a voice that hovered between glee and fright.
"Okay, with that," he shoved his hands into his pockets sheepishly, recalling what his Antiform had told him what happened. "I was half-delirious with pain, okay? It didn't occur to me that the Dark Keyblade wasn't exactly the suicide tool of choice.(at this point, Antiform snorted) So anyway, I stabbed myself, and then released all thirteen shards of my heart, I suppose, to you guys, seeing that you are the closest--"
"Question!" Axel's hand shot upwards. "If I may ask, how exactly did your heart get broken into exactly thirteen shards?" he asked shrewdly.
Sora shrugged. Even he didn't know why. It was weird, though, having the number of the shards of his broken heart correspond exactly to the number of people in Organization XIII. "I can tell you Kai broke my heart, but I can't tell you why thirteen."
His gaze strayed to the marble tabletop, the sound of another blonde Nobody scribbling with something that looked like a black Sharpie.
"Anyhow that happened. When I released my heart, I was supposed to turn completely Heartless, wasn't I?"
They nodded (well, Xaldin slightly inclined his head, while Xigbar banged his head up and down, and so on, but they all still nodded).
" Well, there was a problem," he jerked a thumb towards Roxas, who slightly recoiled, most likely from the disturbingly sharp fingernail pointed towards him.
The blonde Nobody stared at him for a full five minutes before comprehension dawned on his face. "You already have a Nobody."
"Yes, I do. A new Nobody can't be created, I suppose. Only one Nobody per heart, I think. So I think Kingdom Hearts had to do something...I released my heart, or a part of it, to Roxas."
"So technically that means--" The blonde with the black Sharpie started, looking up from his scientific (it looked painfully like Lifestream Physics to Sora) vandalism on the table. Roxas finished his sentence for him.
"You're the Nobody now."
Sora nodded enthusiastically. "And half-Heartless. Don't worry, I have him under control. I think so."
The hell you do! Antiform roared, then laughed inanely.
"Okay, I get it," Xigbar (honestly, he's such an old dude) spoke loudly, leaning on the backrest of Sharpie-wielding Nobody's seat. "That's why we can actually feel."
"Yep, because you have my heart."
"Why do I get the feeling," A brunette Nobody asked, leaning over Larxene's shoulder, "that you're actually happy about this?"
"Because you got what you want, didn't you?" Sora smiled, running a clawed hand through his spikes. "You have my heart. Not to brag, but it's the most powerful tool Kingdom Hearts has to offer."
Hell yeah! Almost had it, if it weren't for King Mick-o!
"I'll kill him, I swear," he whispered under his breath. Roxas stared at him with a funny look on his face.
"So we have the shards of your heart?" Xemnas asked weakly, the sabers in the air wobbling dangerously.
Sora nodded. "It's like a breather, you know, until I find you guys your own hearts---"
"Ah. So that is the reason why I have dreamt of Princess Kairi on a pirate ship of some sort," the Sharpie Nobody remarked. Sora felt his cheeks heat up, both from embarassment and anger. Embarassment because, come on, it was his memories they had dreamt about! (supposedly, judging from the general whispers of agreeement around the table) Anger, because...he was only remembering how to feel angry, how to feel embarassed...
The empty feeling was horrible, to say the very least.
"M-maybe because she was the one who broke my heart, so that's why thirteen shards of memory--" he reasoned out loud, staring, puzzled, at the Nobody. "If I may ask, who are you?"
"Maybe. I do have to conduct an experiment," he grinned toothily. "I am Vexen."
"Experiment?" Sora laughed weakly, not liking the predatory look on Vexen's face. Not at all.
He suddenly remembered the first time he met these people (they were now, weren't they? Now that they had their hearts, or shards, whatever). Oh yeah. They had tried to kill him. Esecially Larxene, who had grown out her hair---
Cripes, nobody grows hair that fast.
THEY. TRIED. TO. KILL. HIM.
He knew that this would be one hell of an experience. Sighing resignedly, he took a step forward into the questions of Organization XIII.
Hey! He was still damn good with his Keyblade if they did anything funny.
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A/N: Bit short, no? Come on people, did you really think I'd let Sora out of the Grand Plot that quickly?
Is Riku that dense not to know whose blood was on King Mickey's hands?
Who's talking to King Mickey?
You should know by now.
No quote, because I'm too lazy to write the next chapter.
Thank you to Phoenix80hp (NO Sora has had enough happiness to last a century), darkdude71(ahh...Riku shall go berserk, as soon as he figures it out), Ellie0223 (careful on the cookies--they're choking hazards), Embyrflame (The Nobodies' side of the story is in Nobody's Perfect), FlowerLady-Aerith (sorry I made you sad...), DREAMER1389 (thanks for the Story alert, yeah), Skitty 2004(still confused? Just say so), Starlight-x(yeah...poor Sora XD) and hikari-aozora(cookies for you! XD).
-cough--cough- I think that're review replies...but they're in the author's note! That doesn't count, right? Right?
PLEASE REVIEW GUYS! So many hits...yet so few reviewers...I feel so sad...
Read and review...pretty please? Flamers are welcome to torch my writing skills...