Date started: 5.04.06
Date finished: 5.09.06
Disclaimer: I own nothing, just the plotline…I no own Kingdom Hearts or Kingdom Hearts 2, and I would be hella rich if I did.
Author's note:
Hmm…life is very empty when you complete the story to something as epic as Kingdom Hearts. Here is the fourth chapter; it's so long and wonderful! I hope you enjoy it! Thanks to everyone who left reviews! It means a lot!
As always a / implies thoughts during dreams.
"Kairi, have you seen my kingdom key chain?" Sora yelled down the stairs as he dug through the pile of clothes on the floor.
"Its probably in your shorts!" Kairi called up to her brother.
Sora continued to dig through his pile of clothes until he pulled out a pair of black shorts with big red pockets. He reached his hand into one of the pockets and pulled out a handful of key chains. He sorted through them until he found the one he wanted.
"I found it!" he yelled to Kairi.
"Good, Leon and Cloud will be here soon! Are you ready?"
"Almost!"
Sora turned and started to shove the clothes on the floor into a bag. It had been three days since Sora had contacted Leon and now he and Kairi were headed to Traverse Town to prepare for their journey.
"Don't worry Riku," Sora thought, "I'm on my way."
As Sora finished packing his bag, he looked around his room. Everything that he wouldn't be taking with him was in boxes, piled waist high against the walls.
"Another goodbye," he thought, "when will we be able to start saying hello?"
He grabbed his keyblade and took one last look before walking out the door. As he walked down the stairs, he heard the front door open.
"Hey, are you guys still here?" he heard Hayner yell.
Sora entered the kitchen to see Hayner, Olette and Pence gathered around the table.
"We came to say goodbye," Pence explained.
"Yeah, we didn't think we'd make it," Hayner said, "but, we couldn't let you leave with out saying goodbye now, could we?"
"We tried to get Roxas to come, but he said he didn't want to," Olette said sheepishly, "I'm sure he's just sulking because he lost the struggle."
Sora smiled and was about to say something, when he was interrupted by the front door opening again.
"Hey are you midgets ready to go?"
Sora turned to see Cid enter the kitchen, followed by Leon.
"Cid?" Sora stammered, "but I thought Cloud was coming."
"Yeah, well ol'spiky couldn't make it. He had some business to attend to."
"Oh."
Sora turned and nodded to Leon,
"Hey Squall, how's Yuffie and Aerith?"
"Why don't you ask them when we get to Traverse Town?" He muttered angrily, "and it's Leon."
Cid chuckled as Sora glared at Leon.
"I was just wondering, no need to be angry about it."
"Maybe you should stop making small talk and get your butt ready to go. We're being followed."
Sora glared back at Leon but nodded and turned to his friends.
"I guess this is goodbye," he said sadly.
"Will we ever see you again?" Pence asked.
"Of course you'll see us again!" Kairi exclaimed, as she entered the kitchen with her stuff.
Sora nodded.
"Definitely," he said, smiling at his friends.
Hayner got up and held out his hand, Sora grabbed it and they stood there, hands embraced.
"I hope you find your friend," Hayner said, "We'll never forget you guys."
"Hayner…"
"Good luck," Hayner said smiling as he turned away.
Sora turned, wiping the tears from his eyes.
"Are you ready to go?" Leon asked.
"Yeah, lets go."
It only occurred to him after he had walked out the door that he would probably never see his friends again.
"Ok kiddies here's the deal, you don't touch ANYTHING" Cid barked from the captains chair.
"But I wanted to fly it!" Sora whined, "I've flown one before you know!"
"Sorry midget, but this is MY air ship. Meaning, YOU TOUCH NOTHING!"
Sora slouched back into his seat and pouted as the air ship took off.
"Aww come on Sora, don't mope," Kairi said, trying to cheer up her brother, "we'll be in Traverse Town soon and then you can fly the Gummi ship."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Sora mumbled.
"Hey kid, if you keep that look on your face it'll freeze there."
Sora looked up to see Leon glaring at him.
"So Squall, where's Cloud? Why didn't he come with you?"
"That's none of your business, and its Leon."
"Ok, LEON"
Leon glared down at Sora.
"Um…Leon? You said that you had some new information for us about Organization XIII?" Kairi asked, trying to settle the tension between her brother and Leon.
"Hmph, yeah," Leon muttered. "Apparently, there was an organization member stationed in Twilight Town. We don't know his exact identity, but it seems as though he made direct contact with you more then once a day over the last three months."
"What? But I only say him once, and that was three days ago!" Sora said panicking.
"Well, he must have been in disguise. From the information we gathered, he was someone close to you."
"But…"
Sora was interrupted when the air ship suddenly started to shake.
"Sora, Kairi, sit down and don't move until I come back." Leon shouted over the sound of explosions. "Cid, status report!"
Sora heard Cid yell from the main bridge of the air ship.
"Well the left engine is toast; DAMN those heartless, I just got the engines upgraded."
"How many are following us?"
"Looks like, over a thousand," Cid yelled.
"Shit…" Leon muttered, "You two stay here and be ready to abandon ship if need be."
"Hold up!" Sora heard Cid yell from the front; "these aren't heartless…Leon get your ass up here, we got an unidentified force of ships!"
Leon disappeared toward the main bridge. Sora got up and started to follow him.
"Sora! What are you doing? We're supposed to stay here." Kairi yelled after him.
Sora turned to his sister, "I'm going to help; they can't fight a force of ships that big with only two people."
Kairi stood up and walked over to her brother, "I want to help too."
"But Kairi…"
"Don't you 'but Kairi' me! I'm helping whether you like it or not!"
"Fine, lets go."
Sora and Kairi made their way to the bridge and as they arrived there, they heard Leon and Cid arguing.
"Well how the hell am I supposed to know what they are?"
"They must be Nobodies, there was an Organization member in Twilight Town. I doubt that our exit was unnoticed."
"So, how do we get rid of them? There's thousands of them, we don't have enough fire power to keep this boat in the air."
"Can we out run them?"
"Do you think we could out run them with only ONE ENGINE!"
"I suppose not."
Sora cleared his throat as he and Kairi entered the main bridge.
"What are you midgets doing here? Leon, didn't you get them secured for battle?"
Leon turned to glare at Sora, "I thought I told you to stay put."
"We thought that you could use some help," Sora said as another explosion rocked the ship. "Two men aren't enough to crew a ship in a battle."
"Well I don't think we're going to have time to battle anyone," Cid yelled as he started punching buttons on the control board. "Leon, what's the status of our engines?"
Leon ran over to a blinking display and started to type information into the computer.
"The left engine has been fully blown off, and the right engine is sustaining partial damage and is leaking fuel. We don't have much time before the ship is destroyed."
"Damn!" Cid screamed. "Alright everyone, to the escape pods, we don't have much time!"
Sora grabbed his and Kairi's stuff and began to make his way to the hanger. When he got there, he spotted Cid and Leon supplying one of the escape pods.
"Hurry, up kid, we got to move!"
Sora sprinted over to the pod and threw his stuff in the cargo hold, before making his way to the cockpit. Kairi was already sitting in one of the passenger seats. Sora made his way over to the pilot's chair and plopped down in it. As soon as he had settled in, he felt a hand grab the back of his jacket and pull him out of the seat.
"Sorry kid-o, not this time. Leon, are we clear for launch?"
"All set." Leon said as he took is seat in the co-pilot's chair.
"Yee Haw! Lets blow this popsicle stand!" Cid yelled as he launched the escape pod.
The pod lurched as it was thrown into space.
"Leon, take us out of light speed, these pod's aren't built for high speed travel."
Leon nodded and started to type commands into the computer.
"Entering plane space."
The pod stopped shaking as the pod slowed down to normal speed.
"That should buy us some time to escape the nobodies, but we still have to make it to Traverse Town." Cid said, looking at specs on his display screen.
"How far are we from Traverse Town?" Sora asked, staring out the window into the emptiness of space.
"Far enough that we can't make it in a pod," Cid replied.
"There's a ship approaching," Leon announced, "a small air ship by the looks of it. Should I flag them down?"
"Do it," Cid said, "who knows when another ship will pass this way."
As Leon tried to make contact with the other ship, Sora leaned back and closed his eyes. Who had the Organization member been? Sora didn't want to think that it was one of his friends, but who else had he been close too? He doubted it was Kairi, considering she was standing right next to him when the Organization member appeared in front of the train station. Sora sighed and rubbed his eyes; he hadn't realized how tired he was. Ever since he had encountered the Organization member at the train station, he hadn't been sleeping very well.
"This is escape pod Tiny Bronco, requesting assistance. I repeat, this is escape pod Tiny Bronco, requesting assistance."
"This is air ship JENOVA, how are you doing Squall?"
"I'll tell you how he's doing," Cid interrupted, "he just got my new airship blown up. Now hurry up and open the landing hatch, we got a army of Nobodies after us."
Sora struggled to say awake as Leon and Cid prepared to land the escape pod. But soon his tired brain took over and he dropped into a troubled slumber.
'Hey I found this really cool place hidden behind the water fall, come on, I'll show you!'
Sora looked around / where am I? Is this another dream? Or is it a memory/
'Sora, hurry up!' a voice called from somewhere Sora couldn't see.
Then he realized where he was.
/This is Destiny Islands! Am I really home/
As he looked around he saw a blond boy poke his head out of a hole in the wall.
'Roxas?' Sora stammered, 'what are you doing here?'
'Um, I live here remember?' Roxas replied, 'come on, I want to show you this cave.'
'But you're supposed to live in Twilight Town, where's Riku?'
'Who? There isn't anyone named Riku who lives in Destiny Islands, and what's Twilight Town?'
'Um…never mind,' Sora said, stooping down to crawl through the hole.
He followed Roxas through the small tunnel into a large cavern.
/This is Riku and my secret place, but where are all the drawings/
He stood up and followed Roxas towards a weather worn door,
/ I've seen this door before, but where/
'Roxas, why are we here?'
'I've heard rumors from some of the other kids that if you open this door, you'll be able to explore a galaxy of worlds that have never been seen before!'
'It sounds kind of dangerous, maybe we should just leave it,' Sora said, trying to remember why this all seemed so familiar.
'Aww, come on Sora, don't be such a chicken!' Roxas teased pushing Sora towards the door, 'Open it, come on, we can see if the rumors are true.'
'I don't know…'
'Fine, SCARDY CAT! I guess Tidus and Wakka will be the ones to show us up and open the door!'
Sora glared at Roxas defiantly 'Fine, I'll open the door! But only to prove to you that I'm not afraid.'
Sora walked toward the door, and placed his hand on the handle. He noticed how small his hands were.
/ This must be a memory from when I was younger…but is it real/
'Are you sure this is ok?' he asked Roxas, 'what if there's a monster behind the door? What if people get hurt?'
'Psh, only baby's believe in monsters! Come on Sora, open the door,' Roxas said, an evil look flashed in his eyes. 'Bring me power…' he muttered.
Sora took a deep breath, and pulled the door open. He opened his eyes and looked into the dark depths that had been hidden behind the door only moments earlier.
'I don't see any thing, I guess Tidus and Wakka were wrong.' Sora said, turning to Roxas.
As he turned around, he saw that Roxas was standing in a swirling dark mist.
'Roxas!' he yelled as he started running toward his friend.
As he was about to reach him, he saw Roxas raise his arm. All of a sudden Sora felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down and saw he was standing in a dark swirling pool. Another sharp pain shot through him and began to feel as if his heart was being ripped out. He struggled to stay conscious as the darkness engulfed him.
'Roxas!' he pleaded, 'help me…'
He heard Roxas laugh a dark, merciless laugh.
'Give into the darkness Sora,' Roxas said, eyes eclipsed in darkness, 'give me your power, and give me your heart!'
'No,' Sora whispered as he slipped into the darkness, 'no…'
Suddenly, Sora was blinded by a bright light.
'Sora!'
He heard Riku's voice calling to him, from beyond the light.
"SORA!"
Sora sat up abruptly and looked wildly around.
"Where am I?" He asked cautiously.
"You're in Traverse Town silly!"
Sora looked over to where the voice had come from and saw Yuffie Kisaragi perched on a chair next to his bed.
"Yuffie…when did we get to Traverse Town? The last thing I remember is getting picked up by a ship called JENOVA."
"Yup, that's the name of Cloud's air ship. Although I don't know why he insists on calling it that."
"So…the voice on the intercom was Cloud? It didn't sound like Cloud."
"It was probably Vincent, he deals with ship communication, since Cloud is sulking most of the time these days." She muttered angrily, "That's Cloud…pain in the ass."
Sora heard the door open and looked over to see Tifa Lockheart and Aerith Gainsborough enter with a tray of food.
"Ah, I see that you're finally awake!" Aerith said, coming over and ruffling Sora's hair. "Long time no see."
"Yeah, how have things been?"
"Ok, although, I'm worried about Cloud, he hasn't been himself lately." Aerith said sadly.
"I'm sure Cloud is just worried about the rumors about Sephiroth." Tifa said, setting down the tray of food on the table next to Sora's bed.
"Yeah Aerith, I'm sure Cloud will be back to his old self in no time!" Sora said cheerfully.
Aerith smiled as Sora eyed the tray of food hungrily.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Tifa said, sticking a thermometer in Sora's mouth as he was about to take a bite of the egg's on his plate.
"What? But I'm not sick!" he protested.
"Then explain to me why you had a fever of 103 when you arrived." Tifa said, giving him an annoyed look.
"Besides, we promised Kairi that we'd take care of you." Aerith added.
"Yeah, we almost had to knock her out she was freaking out so much!" Yuffie said, with an amused look on her face. "Of course, we were pretty worried when Cloud nearly broke down the door at three in the morning and started yelling about Nobodies and you being near death."
"Near death?"
"It was pretty scary, you were pale white like materia and mumbling something about a door. We didn't know what to do."
Tifa reached over and pulled the thermometer out of Sora's mouth.
"Hmm…its seems that your fever is gone, but take it easy for a while."
"Where's Kairi? Is she ok?" Sora asked worriedly.
"Oh, yeah, she's fine." Yuffie said, fiddling with her shoe. "Once we got her calmed down enough, she pretty much passed out. I don't think she's up yet, but you could go visit her if you wanted."
Sora started to get out of bed, but was stopped by Tifa.
"You should let her rest, she's pretty worn out."
"Can I just go check on her? I won't wake her up, I just want to make sure she's ok."
"Ok, but make it quick. Cloud wants to talk to you."
Sora stood up and walked out the door into a small hallway. He walked down the hall to a red door and opened it quietly. He slipped through it and went over to the bed. He stood watching his sister sleep, her eyebrows furrowed. As he stood there, she muttered and turned over. It seemed as though she was having a bad dream.
'She looks bad,' he thought, as he brushed a piece of hair out of her face. 'I can't make her suffer like this anymore.'
He left the room as quietly as he could and closed the door with a soft 'click'.
"So," a voice from behind him said, "what are you going to do?"
Sora turned to see Cloud leaned against the wall opposite the door.
"What do you mean, 'what am I going to do?'" Sora asked.
"I mean, are you seriously going to take Kairi with you?"
"Yeah, I promised her that we would go together."
"Come on Sora, be serious. We both know how dangerous this is. We aren't just talking about a cute fun little adventure; this is a trip you might not come back from. Do you really want to put Kairi in that kind of danger?"
"Kairi can take care of herself! She's not some helpless damsel in distress."
"I'm well aware of that," Cloud said darkly, "she nearly had my head last night when I wouldn't push my ship up to full speed. But this isn't about how well she can take care of herself; this is about protecting both of you from Organization XIII. I don't know what they want with you, but they want you badly. They've already used Kairi to get to you once, do you really want to have to chose between her and Riku again?"
"No," said Sora begrudgingly.
"Well, think about it. You don't have to decide now, but just keep in mind what's at stake here."
Cloud turned at started to walk towards the stairs.
"Cloud?"
"Hmm?" Cloud turned to look at Sora.
"You'll take care of her right? You won't let her get hurt?"
"I'll guard her with my life. I promise, no harm will come to your sister as long as I'm around."
Sora nodded, and looked down at the ground sadly. He knew that it was the right choice, but he felt bad for breaking his promise to Kairi.
"Aw, don't look so sad. Some little thief has stolen some of my materia and I need help getting it back."
Sora grinned at Cloud; he always loved it when Cloud and Yuffie got in fights. If anything could cheer him up, even if temporarily, it would be that.
"Ok, I'll help." He said, "but if she starts brandishing that giant shuriken of hers, I'm out."
AHH, such a nice long chapter.
Thanks to Ariel for editing, thanks to everyone for reading. Please leave some reviews! I hope you liked it!
Hayner.