Date started: 5. 13. 06
Date Finished:
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, the characters in it, or the Disney corps. Characters. I only own the plot line. The line used by Sephiroth (What I have shown you is reality… as a part of me.) and Cloud ("Aerith…she was smiling till the end." And "I'm not fit to help anyone... No one...") are property of Yoshinori Kitase and Kazushige Nojima and Square Enix.
Authors note:
Ah I'm soooo sorry for not posting for ever. School is
deffiniatly scraping away at my soul, its killing me. So, please read and review!
Riku woke up from a cold sleep as his cell door opened. He slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position, trying to see who was standing in his door way but the light from the hall was blinding him. The silhouette picked up a crumpled black heap that had been lying at its feet and threw it into the cell. The cell door slammed and left Riku in darkness once again. Riku got on his hands and knees and started to crawl over toward the black mass on the ground. As Riku approached the shadow, he heard it groan.
"Hey," Riku whispered, poking the black heap, "Are you ok? Who are you?"
"Ugh, you can't even remember the guy who brought you food for the last 4 months?" a familiar voice groaned.
"Axel?"
"Nice to see you too, a little help?"
Riku pulled Axel into a sitting position against a near by wall.
"What happened to you? You look awful."
"Well, you know how Saïx said that he didn't tell Xemnas about why I was late? Well apparently he did, and now I'm charged with aiding an enemy escape."
"But you were just lost! You weren't trying to help me escape." Riku looked at Axel in the darkness and saw that he had a sheepish look on his face. "You were trying to help me escape? But why?"
"Well…you remind me of my friend Roxas…or at least we used to be friends. You see, Roxas seems to have some sort of grudge against the key barer, and one day, he found an old journal with notes on the heart and Kingdom Hearts. Ever since then, he has been using Xemnas to carry out his plan to complete Kingdom Hearts using the key barer's heart. The power of the darkness has changed him; I miss the old Roxas. I thought that maybe if I helped you escape, he might forget about his plan to take over the universe and return to his old self."
"And I remind you of him how?"
"Well, I'm not really sure, there's just something about you that reminds me of him. That's why I wanted to help you escape, because I didn't want you to turn to the darkness like he did. I didn't want your friend Sora to have to lose you like I lost him."
"Axel…"
"It's weird, nobodies aren't supposed to have emotions, but when I was around Roxas, he made me feel like I really did have a heart. You make me feel the same way."
Axel started coughing and a dark liquid trickled out of his mouth.
"Axel!"
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I've had much worse injuries then these."
"But you have internal bleeding, I think I've got a Mega Elixir here some where. Hold on, let me find it."
Riku started to franticly search his pockets,
"Why do you care so much? I'm just a tool, a puppet, I'm not worth the effort."
Riku finally found the Mega Elixir, and pulled out the cork.
"Here drink this, it will heal you for the most part, but you'll still have some bruising. And don't say that you're not worth the effort, heart or no heart, you're still my friend."
Axel looked at him with a surprised look on his face, "Your friend?"
"Yeah, you tried to help me escape even though you had no reason to try to help me. You were always nice to me and chatted when you brought me my food. If you had a heart, it would be in the right place, I'm sure of it." Riku smiled at Axel, "Now you should probably rest, its going to take a lot more then just a Mega Elixir to get you back up and fighting again. Although I don't know how sleeping on a cold hard floor is going to help, but," Riku put Axel's arm over his shoulders and moved him to a spot that he usually slept, "Here, you can sleep in the soft spot."
Axel smiled as Riku put him down, "Riku?"
"Hm?"
"Thanks."
Sora yawned as he leaned back in the captain's chair in the cockpit of his Gummi ship. He had been flying for hours, he almost wished that there were some heartless ships to fight, but they all seemed to have disappeared when the door to Kingdom Hearts closed. He wished Riku were here with him, he knew that if Riku were here, he would never have been this bored.
Sora hugged his knees; he would give anything to see Riku, even if it was only for a few seconds. He wanted to ask Riku so many things, especially if Riku felt the same way about him.
"I wonder what he thinks of me now," Sora thought, as he closed his eyes and tried to remember what Riku's reaction was when the Organization member had revealed his secret.
"He looked surprised, he didn't look like he was angry or disgusted, just pleasantly surprised and a little hopeful. But Riku isn't the kind of person who shows emotion easily, so it must have caught him off guard. Maybe he was just flattered, or maybe he liked me before he found out and was surprised that I returned his feelings." Sora sighed and rubbed his eyes, "or maybe I'm just imagining the whole thing. Its seems like its getting harder to tell the difference between reality and my dreams."
A small gauge on the control panel started to beep to signal him that he was coming up on a world. Sora sat up and looked out the window, he could see a huge castle and a garden that took up most of the world's surface. The castle was so huge, that Sora could see all the banners and flags that were waving in the wind. Sora sat stunned, he had never seen a castle of such grandeur before, and the only other castle he had seen was the castle in Hollow Bastion and that could hardly count as a real castle.
"This is the Disney Castle Gummi port, please identify your ship and purpose."
"Chip? Is that you?" Sora asked, surprised to hear the little chipmunk technicians voice.
"Sora? Ah, that's right, you were supposed to be showing up today for an audience with the king. You can dock your ship at hanger 3, I'll call Donald and Goofy down to escort you."
"Um, ok, thanks."
Sora flew his Gummi ship into the main port and landed it on the pad at hanger 3. As soon as he had dropped down from the cockpit, he saw Donald and Goofy running toward him.
"Donald! Goofy!" Sora yelled, running the remainder of the distance between them and hugging them both.
"Sora!"
"I'm so happy to see you!" Sora exclaimed, "I missed you guys."
"We missed you too Sora," Goofy said, ruffling Sora's hair. "Right Donald?"
"Yeah, sure did!"
Sora smiled at his friends, they had been through so much together.
"Um…Donald, didn't Sora have an audience with the king about Corporation XIII to get to?"
"Organization! We better get going, the king is waiting."
Sora looked at the doors into the king's audience chamber. It was bigger then the doors to Kingdom Hearts, Sora stared up at the handle and realized that he would never be able to reach it. Donald and Goofy burst out laughing at the confused look on his face,
"That handle is fake, the huge doors are all for show," Donald explained as he went and knocked twice on the door on the left. After a few seconds, a small door popped open at the base of the larger left door.
"Ok, this is as far as we go," Donald said, standing aside, "the king said that it was to be a private audience."
"Good luck Sora!" Goofy called, as him and Donald disappeared down the hall.
Sora tried to straiten up his clothes to look presentable for the king. He had never really talked to the king, he just saw him behind the door of Kingdom Hearts. Once he had been able to smooth some of the wrinkles out of his clothes, he proceeded through the door.
As Sora entered the audience chamber, his mouth fell open. He had never been in such a large room! The floors and walls were sparkling white marble and the ceiling was so high that Sora could barely see where the windows ended and the sky began. He was so absorbed in taking in all of the room that he didn't notice the king walking towards him.
The kind cleared his throat as he stood next to Sora, "Quite a room, isn't it?"
Sora looked down to see the king standing before him.
"Ah! Your majesty!" Sora bowed down, remembering how Donald and Goofy had taught him.
"At ease Sora, no need for formalities between us."
"Yes, your majesty."
"Call me Mickey, ok?"
"Um, ok."
"So Sora, I've called you here to tell you about the Organization, and where Riku might be."
"You know where Riku is!" Sora asked excitedly.
"No, but we know that the Organization lives on a world called The World that Never Was as. At this point we don't know where it is, or if it is even accessible to non-Organization members. Riku is most likely being held on that world, it is a world where nobodies thrive."
"Nobodies? What are nobodies?"
For the next half hour, Sora sat as King Mickey explained about the Organization and their plans.
"So, you think that they are trying to make Riku revert back to the darkness so he can use his keyblade to open my heart?"
"Yes, which is why you have to be careful, whatever information you may find out about Riku, you must make sure to tell us before chasing off after some rumor. If the Organization gets you heart, its one thing, but if they are able to unlock its power, they will be unstoppable."
"But I thought that they needed both Kairi's and my hearts to become all powerful."
"Sora, if they are able to unlock your heart, then it's only a matter of time before they will have Kairi's."
"Hey, Kairi can take care of herself!"
"But against the Organization, she doesn't have a chance, especially if they have already unlocked the power of your heart. Just promise me Sora, that you won't make any brash actions."
"I promise," Sora replied.
"Good, then that's all taken care of. Can I offer you something to eat? The cooks in our kitchens are the best."
"Sure!" Sora said enthusiastically.
Sora and Mickey were on their way out of the giant audience chamber, when Donald came running up to them with a panicked look on his face.
"Your majesty! You've received an urgent note from Leon! Traverse Town is being attacked by Nobodies."
"What?" Sora yelled, "Kairi, is Kairi ok?"
"We don't know," Donald said with a worried look on his face, "Leon just said that it was urgent."
Sora bowed to the king, "I'm sorry your majesty, but I've got to go, I promised that I would be there whenever Kairi needed me."
"I don't know Sora, this could be a trap. The Organization might be trying to use Kairi to get to you again."
"But your majesty!" Sora whined.
"Its not safe for you Sora, you should stay here, I'll go and make sure that everyone is ok."
"Please," Sora pleaded, getting down on both knees, "Please your majesty, I already broke a very important promise to my sister, don't make me break another, especially one that I promised couldn't be broken."
Mickey looked at the frightened look in Sora's eyes and sighed.
"Donald, go tell Chip and Dale to install a warp Gummi in Sora's ship."
"Yes your majesty!" Donald said, as he bowed to the king and then ran off toward the Gummi port.
Sora was so relieved that he gave the king a big hug, "Thank you your majesty! I promise you that I won't fail, I won't let the Organization get my heart."
The king smiled and patted Sora on the back, "Lets hope that you're right Sora."
Sora arrived in Traverse Town within half an hour using the warp Gummi that the chipmunk mechanics had installed in his Gummi ship. Sora sprinted to the third district, as he entered it he heard an explosion in the direction of the house. Panicking, he pulled out his keyblade and ran towards the direction of the house. What he saw as he rounded the corner, made his blood run cold.
Cloud was standing in the middle of the street, blood running down his left arm, which gripped his giant sword to keep him up. In his other arm, Sora saw Aerith, lying limply in his arms. Sora stood and watched as a man with long silver hair and one black wing raised his sword to finish Cloud. Sora ran forward and parried the sword with his keyblade; he turned his head towards Cloud.
"Cloud, quickly! Take Aerith and get out of here."
Sora saw that Cloud had tears in his eyes,
"Its too late," Cloud said softly, "its too late for her. I couldn't protect her…"
"Lets finish this!" Sora heard the one winged man yell.
Sora turned to see the one winged man attacking again. He just barely blocked it as the one winged man jumped away to attack again.
"That's enough Sephiroth!" a voice called.
Sephiroth turned to see a figure wearing the black coat of the Organization. He had light brown hair that had a pink tint to it and was carrying pink scythe.
"Ah, Marluxia, what a pleasant surprise."
"The boss won't be happy about this," Marluxia said, "you were supposed to report directly to Xemnas, not stop to toy with people's emotions."
"I apologize sir, but this was something I needed to take care of before I reported."
The man called Sephiroth turned to Cloud and gave him a cold, satirical, smile.
"What I have shown you is reality, only death awaits you all. But do not fear. For it is through death that a new spirit energy is born. Soon, you will live again as a part of me."
"Sephiroth! Lets go, the boss doesn't like to be kept waiting." With that, Marluxia conjured up a dark portal and disappeared into it.
"Until we meet again Cloud, and don't be too miserable, you'll soon be joining Aerith." Sephiroth wrapped himself in his one black wing and disappeared in a puff of black smoke.
Sora turned around to see Cloud standing behind him, holding a very lifeless Aerith in his arms.
"Aerith…she was smiling till the end. I just wanted to protect her; I didn't want her to get hurt. I'm not fit to help anyone... No one..."
"Cloud…"
"Sora, life is short and precious; don't make the same mistake I did. Don't shut the one you love out; don't be afraid to care for them. Promise me that you won't shut Riku out to protect him."
"I…"
"Sora, Cloud!" Tifa came running toward them, "Hurry, we have to leave, there's a giant Nobody attacking the town."
"Tifa, where's Kairi? Is she ok?"
"She's fine, don't worry. Come on, everyone is on your Gummi ship."
"Huh? How'd you get on the ship?"
"The hatch was open, now hurry!"
Tifa and Sora turned and started running down the street, Sora looked back to make sure that Cloud was with them.
"Wait, Tifa stop, where's Cloud?"
They both turned and sprinted back to where Cloud was standing.
"Cloud did you hear me? Cloud!" Tifa walked up to Cloud and punched him, "Wake up Cloud! We have a situation here, I know that your heartbroken, I am too, but Aerith didn't die so you could just shut down and stop living. She died for YOU, she died so you could keep living and defeat Sephiroth, don't let her sacrifice go to waste."
"Tifa…"
"Come on!" Tifa grabbed Cloud's arm and started to drag him down the street.
Sora, Tifa and Cloud arrived at the Gummi ship only moments later. They quickly ran up the gangway and closed the hatch.
"Leon, were all here, lets get this boat in the air!"
As the Gummi ship took off, Sora looked out the window and saw the surface of the world bubbling. Angry red cracks appeared and then, the world known as Traverse Town exploded in a ball of red flame.
Blabbing:
Ah, such a dramatic chapter. For you clever people who noticed, I used some lines from advent children and FFVII.
Sorry that its so short, but school has pretty much beaten my creative spirit to death, so im sorry to say that this will be the last chapter I will post up until school is over (only 14 more days). So, Please leave some reviews because they make me uber happy. THANKS FOR READING!