Chapter Six- Reflections of self
Later that night, Dumbledore tracked around the castle, stopping in four very precise spots, and whispering four very precise phrases. When he was finished, he stepped back, and appeared to be listening. Whatever he heard, or didn't hear, seemed to make him happy. He'd raised one of the castle's oldest wards, which would hopefully help protect the students, and keep out some of the heartless.
--
He never noticed the figure watching him, impossibly, from atop the astronomy tower, lips curved in dark amusement. His black coat whipped wildly in the wind, but he was seemingly unconcerned about his precarious position.
The wards didn't appear to bother him at all.
--
After the dramatic battle the day before, Hogwarts was abuzz with rumors. Poor Sora couldn't turn around without hearing his name. Eyes followed his every movement. Harry, understanding exactly what Sora was going through, stuck fiercely to his side throughout it all. Donald offered to fry a few students until they left him alone, but Sora wouldn't hear of it. (Well, he thought about it, but pushed the thought away as uncharitable.)
It wasn't long after this that Sora formally met one Draco Malfoy, bane of Gryffindor's in general and Harry Potter in particular.
It didn't start well. But then, it didn't end well.
--
Here's how it all started…
Picture the lake, serene and unruffled under a calm sky. Hagrid was leading a class of Gryffindors and Slytherins. There's potential for trouble, right there. Sora, Fawkes settled firmly on one shoulder, (a familiar image around Hogwarts), was talking with Hermione about their current assignment. Hagrid was leading them towards what appeared to most, as a temporary enclosure filled with nothing. Sora and Harry, however, saw differently.
At first, Sora thought they must have been from Halloween Town, these oddly beautiful skeletal horses. They had rich, full manes and huge leathery wings.
"Bizarre," Sora whispered to Harry, "Straight out of Halloween Town."
"They are rather-different," Harry said slowly. Hermione turned her face to them, frowning. Ron was staring around, confused.
"What are you talking about, you two? There's nothing there." Sora raised an eyebrow.
"Are you telling me you don't see the big, scary horses?" Hagrid had clearly heard them talking, for he raised his big, booming voice to be heard.
"Now then, raise your hands if you can see today's lesson." Exchanging confused glances, Harry and Sora lifted their hands. After a moment, a pale blonde girl with a permanently unconcerned expression, raised hers as well.
"Alright, there 'arry? Can ye describe what you see?" Still confused, Harry did, Sora occasionally throwing in a comment.
"For those of ye who haven't figured it out yet, these 'ere are Thestrals." Hermione gasped in recognition.
"The only people who can see Thestrals are those who have seen death. They're attracted to blood and are among some of the sweetest animals I've ever met." The giant man smiled fondly. The class stared at him, then at the seemingly empty paddock. Ew, Sora thought, attracted to blood?
"How do we know there's really anything there at all? Maybe Potter's seeing things. Wouldn't be the first time, after all…" Sora turned around to stare at the owner of the drawling voice.
Then he did something very strange, for Sora. He fell in instant dislike. On his shoulder, Fawkes hissed, a sound like spitting coals.
Hagrid ignored the pale blonde boy with the ugly expression, pulling a bag off his back and pulling several bloody lumps of meat out. The class drew back as one in horror. Hagrid threw the meat into the pen, and Sora and Harry watched the Thestrals trot towards it eagerly, wings rustling. A girl screamed, pointing, as some of the meat began to vanish, apparently, into thin air. Even Blonde Boy shifted closer in interest. As Hagrid began to tell the class all about the 'invisible' Thestrals, the blonde shifted closer to Harry and said in a quiet sneer,
"So, Potter, killed anyone else lately?" Harry flinched, furious, but Sora whipped around in shock and stared him in the eyes. Fawkes ruffled his feathers, agitated.
"Who the hell are you, blondie?" Now, Sora was normally never this rude, but Harry was his friend, and what the boy had just said was so inconsiderate it was bordering on sadistic.
"Obviously a mudblood, from what I've heard of you. My name is Draco Malfoy. You're name is Sora, or something common like that, isn't it?" Fawkes made an odd rumbling noise.
"I don't know what a mudblood is, and I don't care," Sora said, very quietly.
"Sora is my name as Draco is yours- for the same reasons. Because that's what our parent's named us. You speak to me- and my friends, as if you are somehow superior. From what I've seen, there's no evidence of that. You are rude, cruel, and inconsiderate; hardly desirable traits. You mock the death and loss of others because you have no understanding of it. Good for you. I would never wish that pain on anyone. But neither will I stand by and let you hurt others with your careless tongue. So get out of my sight before I give in to the urge to let Oblivion taste your blood."
Sora's voice took on a steely edge, and almost against his will, Draco stepped back, merging with the class. Harry reached out tentatively and touched Sora's shoulder.
"Thanks. That was as cool as the time Hermione punched him."
"Surely not. But no problem. Anything for a friend." Which would be a lovely spot to leave things, but the encounter wasn't over yet.
Not one to give in gracefully, Draco had decided to go for some petty revenge. Which just proves that Draco can be remarkably unintelligent at times, because if past experience is anything to go by- and it is- this was going to end badly.
--
Hagrid was just finishing up when Draco sidled up to the gate and slipped the lock loose. Curious, friendly creatures like Thestrals can't really help themselves- and since only a few people there could see them, no-one noticed when the gate suddenly yawned open and a Thestral stuck it's head through the gap. It didn't take Hagrid long to notice the open gate, but by then almost the entire small herd were wandering around by the lake. Sora looked up, feeling eyes on him, and was very surprised to meet the friendly stare of an un-penned Thestral.
It didn't seem dangerous. In fact, it seemed a little adoring, as it reached forward and nudged it's muzzle against his chest. Fawkes rocked with the sudden movement, and stuck his head down to stare the Thestral dead in the eye, making a humming sound.
Sora made a soft squeaking noise himself, freezing in place. He felt no fear of the odd creature, but he was cautious as he reached out with one hand and stroked his fingers through the dark, glossy violet mane. Fawkes made another series of sounds, faintly reprimanding, and Sora laughed softly as he raised his other hand to stroke the fire-bird's chest. Happy hums resumed.
"Er, Harry?"
"I'm a little busy right now."
"Let me guess, you're busy with a Thestral."
"Yeah, how'd you- you too, huh?"
"Yep."
"Malfoy, you reckon?"
"Yep."
"…They're kind of cute, aren't they?"
A girl screamed. (She'd felt something she couldn't see brush past her, and freaked.)
Considering that lately people who screamed were generally being attacked by heartless, and that anything can happen in a Care of Magical Creatures lesson, the resulting panic was a little justifiable.
Could have been worse, really.
However, the poor Thestrals, happily investigating outside of their pen, were quite startled by the strident shriek, and freaked as well. Nothing would have come of it, however, if people could just see them.
People always fear what they can't see- the unknown. So they panicked, and the Thestrals, feeling that panic, began to look around in panic as well. Hagrid immediately began to whistle, pulling out more meat from his pack and flinging it into the pen. The Thestrals began to wheel about, galloping towards the promised haven. Between them and the promised haven, however, was a group of panicked students. Sora swore, as he was one of the few that could them. He grabbed hold of his Thestral's mane and led it quickly into the pen, Harry doing the same a half-step behind. Fawkes burst into a series of high, sweet notes, leaping off his shoulder and began to swoop among the Thestrals, trying to lead them safely through the children. Hagrid was yelling at everyone to get to the side, and Sora saw Draco, smirking, thinking himself safe behind the others. Sora also saw the last panicked Thestral closing in from behind him, running along the lake's edge.
Sora didn't like Draco. He thought he was an arrogant, insensitive bully, and it would be ironic if his plan worked against him.
He still didn't hesitate, breaking into a run, yelling at the blonde-headed prat to get out of the way. Fawkes followed high overhead, singing with heartrending beauty.
Draco appeared to have bad reflexes, and cursing, Sora did the only thing he could. He leapt, as high as he could, and glided straight over the others and into Draco at full speed- and knocking them both into the lake.
The Thestral thundered past, galloping straight back into the enclosure and fell on the raw meat inside. Hagrid locked the gate behind it, then hurried forward with the others to the lake's edge.
--
Draco and Sora surfaced, Draco gasping. The sheer force of their impact had knocked the breath from their lungs, and they'd tumbled deeper into the lake. If they hadn't fallen in the shallows, Draco, a poor swimmer, might have drowned.
Sora wouldn't have drowned, however. As you may recall, his enchanted clothing being submerged in water has an interesting effect. The vanishing for one, and the transformation from human Sora to Sora with-dolphin-tail. He huffily breathed several lungfuls of water, then with a sigh gave into the inevitable, letting himself surface. Remembering the crowd sure to meet him, he almost turned tail- literally- and vanished into the lake's depths. And he just knew Draco wouldn't be grateful for saving his life.
He was right.
Draco was shrieking about his destroyed robes, his face twisted with what looked to be genuine horror. His hair was clinging to his face, making him appear more like a drowned rat than a pureblood aristocrat. Several Slytherin's finally struggled forward to pull the flailing prat from the water, while the Gryffindor's laughed unrestrainedly. Harry and Hermione were already knee-deep in water, anxiously looking for him, and Sora gave them a sheepish smile and mouthed 'help.' Naked except for his silver crown medallion, he flicked his powerful tail once and drove himself easily to the lake's edge. Getting out of the water, however, would require help. (He could 'beach' himself, but it would look ridiculous and with so many people hanging around, at least one could damn well help out.) He wished Donald or Goofy were in this lesson. Harry and Hermione had seen his problem- in the shallow water the sunlight reflected off of his tail, and they, along with a wide-eyed Ron, edged around to keep him out of sight as much as possible.
"Harry, is he alright? Help him out!" Hagrid was looming over them, having pushed his way to the front.
"Er, Hagrid, Sora needs, um, he needs-"
"Privacy," Sora hissed. And a sane life, and legs…
"Yeah, that. Professor, can't you just move everyone away for a bit?" Then Hagrid caught sight of him and Sora blushed, knowing he must have looked ridiculous. In reality, he looked like something out of 'The Little Mermaid' (Cough) with his too blue and too big to be true eyes, long eyelashes, spiky hair and slender form. (Sora was slowly resigning himself to being small and slender forever, unlike, say, Riku, the bastard.)
"Alright, class, back up now, back up, nothing to see here…"
Like saying 'there's nothing to worry about', saying 'there's nothing to see here' always has the opposite effect than was intended. People pushed forward to see what had befallen the Gryffindor.
Apparently they hadn't believed the rumors of him arriving as a merboy, because they erupted into loud chatter, and Sora just wanted to stick his head back under the water.
Hagrid eased a reluctant Harry and co to the side, kneeling down- he still towered over everyone- and stared in fascination. He'd gotten his earlier wish after all. Sora lowered his eyelashes, humiliated, curling his tail around. Maybe he'd just take the time to go for a quick swim and come back later- much later- when everything was dark and empty.
"Professor…"
"Right," Hagrid grunted, tearing his eyes away from Sora for a moment.
"Back up to the castle now, the lot of ye. Go on!" Sora could hear Draco snarling about the 'freak' and how he'd tried to kill him. Sora twitched, despite his embarrassment. If he'd wanted the prat dead, he had much easier ways of doing it. And was Draco actually ranting on about "telling his father about all this, just you wait?"
The class slowly broke off, glancing back frequently, to head back towards the castle. Draco had apparently insulted or threatened Sora once too often, however, for his return was helped along by a very annoyed phoenix. The great bird swooped above the boy, beating at him with his wings, making quick stabs with his golden beak as he hissed and spat like boiling water. (Oddly enough, after that day, the Whomping Willow took a severe dislike to blonde people…and it already had a severe dislike of everyone.)
The day wasn't a complete loss, then. Hogwarts discovered once and for all that Draco did gel his hair, Sora had inadvertently managed to destroy his expensive clothes, and for all intents and purposes, dump him in a lake. Not to mention he'd saved his life.
From an invisible, galloping beast nearly no-one else could see.
And now, now, he was in mer-form, in the lake, with someone who looked like he either wanted to pat him or dissect him.
--
Once the class was far enough away that all they could hear was Draco's squealing as he ducked and dodged an angry phoenix, Harry and his friends helped drag their friend onto dry land, where he lay feeling decidedly grumpy.
"Fascinatin', innit?" At least Hagrid was still having a good day.
"And good job with the Thestral, Sora, I know you saved the great prat's life." Seemingly, prat was a term used often to describe Malfoy.
"Draco let them out, you know," Harry offered as he knelt to see if he could help Sora at all. He couldn't help but stare at the pale scars that covered his friends porcelain skin. (Wasn't his home world a tropical island? Shouldn't he be tan?)
"Sounds about right," Hagrid agreed, rubbing his great, bushy beard.
"This is just fascinatin' Sora. Are you alright? Do you need anything?" Harry had a sudden image of Hagrid producing a giant fish tank, collar, and floaty toys, and shuddered.
"No, Professor," Sora sighed, still resigned, blush beginning to fade.
"Sora," said Harry hesitantly, "where'd you get all those scars? From fighting?" Everyone stared at the teen, taking in the marks on his chest. A quick glance at his back showed more. They were faint, silvery, (thank god for cure spells), but noticeable. Sora stiffened, tail twitching in agitation. As Harry watched, he lifted one hand and flared it over his chest, tracing his fingers over an odd scar right over his heart. Horrified, Harry snatched at his hand, pulling it away and staring at the scar.
"Merlin, it's a wonder you didn't die." Sora winced, turning his face away.
"I did." The rush of several indrawn breaths.
"What?"
Sora shook his head, trying to dispel the questions, running his hand down his tail, begging it to disappear.
The questions didn't stop, but his tail began to tingle, warmth wrapping around him, and Sora sighed in relief, arcing slightly into the magic's touch as his clothes materialized and his legs formed. He shot to his feet, nearly tripping as his mind caught up with the change.
"Thanks. I'll see you later." And dodging Harry's outstretched hand, he shot off towards the castle, wishing he'd kept his mouth shut.
Wishing he didn't remember the horror of Kairi's lost heart, of Riku's sneer. The horror of grabbing the dark Keyblade and driving it into his heart, freeing her but loosing himself.
--
Sora was glad to be back with Donald and Goofy again. They already knew all his secrets- most of them, anyway. And they didn't ask painful questions. His hand kept fluttering up to cover his heart, remembering Hollow Bastion, remembered the feel of his heart- breaking? Fleeing? Changing, perhaps. It kept reminding him of Riku and Kairi, who he missed terribly. He knew it was only a matter of time before Harry caught up with him, but for now he appreciated the time away, to organize his thoughts. Destroying a small group of heartless in the hallway, he began to walk back towards his heartless-free rooms. He was looking forward to lying on his bed and thinking things through. As much as he enjoyed Hogwarts, it wasn't home. And at least when he was traveling he had the illusion that he was getting closer to home. He was moving, at least. He paused, fingers stopped over the door handle, frowning. Heartless? He turned, and stared up and down the empty hallway.
Nothing.
Weird, he was sure he'd just felt their kind of darkness, or something like it. He shrugged, it was probably just the taint of a castle overrun with the things.
--
So, Roxas could sense him. No, he was Sora now. Had been before, and was now again. Without memory of any of it, of course.
Absolutely delightful. The Nobody was thrilled to see the Keyblade Master's blue eyes, so familiar. He'd grown a little, since he'd seen him. But the eyes- and the hair- remained unchanged. He'd been busy, and lost track of his little one. But here, in this odd world at the edge of forever, he'd found him again.
Sora…I'll see you real soon…
--
Sora was familiar with all the feelings of impending doom, but was surrounded by so many of them now that he barely even shivered as he lay, hands tucked beneath his head, thinking of everything he'd lost and everything he'd gained.
--
And far away- in terms of on earth, not in the universe, a Dark Lord simmered with hatred and put into play a plan for the destruction of his enemies.
Specifically, a short, dark-haired teen with emerald eyes, who'd had the bloody tenacity to survive, instead of dying like he should have. And a new boy, who it was whispered came from another world, bearing a strange and powerful weapon.
He'd bear watching. Perhaps he could find some use for him.
--
Days passed without Sora finding Hogwarts Keyhole, and he was frustrated, just knowing that it was close by and he had to find it soon. Every day that passed without him finding it made him feel worse. Donald and Goofy too, grew restless, joining him for increasingly long walks through the castle instead of going to class. One evening, as they studied for transfiguration, Sora and his friends came upon an idea.
"You've said you've got mermaids in the lake. Is that true?"
"Course it is! But they look different than you, more like fish, you know, than people. And they speak some weird language." Sora nibbled his lip.
"But the lake is part of Hogwarts, correct?" Harry was puzzled, but answered.
"Yeah, it's part of it's grounds. Dumbledore gets along alright with the mer-folk, but ever since the Tri-Wizard Tournament, they've been real standoffish to humans." Sora was nodding along to himself. He'd looked all around the castle for the Keyhole, but maybe he hadn't found it because it was in the lake. Maybe that was why he'd been dumped in it when he'd first arrived. It was worth taking a look at, anyway. He told Harry this, and watched as his mouth fell open.
"Are you mad? In the lake? With the spear-wielding, human-hating mer-people? Sora, I know you're getting restless, but this is insane."
"Come on Harry, I need to check it out, and besides, I won't be human, I'll be a kind of sea-creature. And Donald and Goofy'll come too."
"They can do that?"
"You'd be surprised."
"Well, if you have to, you have to, but you should tell the teachers first." Sora baulked a little at this, too used to dictating his own movements- except when he was being herded into dangerous traps, of course.
The teachers were thrilled with his idea. Not. Professor McGonagall told Sora- at length- just how mad he was for wanting to go swimming about in the freezing cold lake for something that might not be there and go chatting with a dangerous race that would try to kill him. Sora listened, nodding along at appropriate moments, then when she finished and was catching her breath, calmly told her he was going anyway.
"I really don't have a choice. I get the feeling I'm running out of time. There's something I need in the lake- whether it's the Keyhole or something else." After she regained her proper coloring and decided that there was no changing his mind, she changed direction.
"Fine, then. But if you're going down into that lake you're going down with a time limit- and we'll all be waiting up here for you. And if you're not back in your time limit…" The heavy pause at the end of her sentence had Sora's eyes wide.
"Yes, Ma'am, whatever you say."
--
They decided Sora and his friends should go down midmorning, when there was more light (for the teachers, Sora decided, since it wouldn't matter much to him) and they gave him a three-hour window before they would try anything overtly threatening to try and find him.
Sora was touched as he realized they were worried about him. But he knew everything was going to turn out just fine.
It was a little procession that stood on the wharf- Dumbledore, McGonagall, Hagrid, Lupin, and the Golden Trio. Sora stood at the edge of the wharf, watching the play of the water. Dumbledore was watching him closely.
"Three hours now, my boy…here." Dumbledore passed him a shimmering orb, full of light.
"It obeys the lumos command. It's charmed to follow you, so it won't get lost."
"Thanks, sir. We'll be back soon." And giving a confident grin to Harry, Sora turned and dove smoothly off of the wharf. The transformation magic came as swiftly as ever, and Sora briefly flashed through his new/old form, ensuring he could turn swiftly and defend himself. Whooping in delight, Sora spun in crazy circles, then with powerful strokes of his tail, propelled himself towards the surface, letting himself erupt up out the water into the light, slapping the water and somersaulting crazily before re-entering. Bobbing up to the surface, he managed a sheepish smile at the gaping little group.
"I'd forgotten how cool that was." Hermione giggled, while Dumbledore merely smiled fondly. Hagrid lit up, watching the 'fascinatin' creature. Sora let himself slip under again- it felt more comfortable, in this form.
Twin eruptions overhead caught his attention, and he grinned as Donald and Goofy drifted down towards him, also trying out their Atlantica forms.
"You guys ready?" It always felt weird talking underwater- kind of echo-y.
Donald flashed past him in answer and Sora grinned and with a swish of his tail shot after him, Goofy bringing up the rear. Time to hopefully find some answers.
The lake was different, far different, than the sea of Atlantica. Calmer, for one. The water was more greenish here, giving everything a kind of dreamy look. Sora and his friends followed the twisting pathways of the lake, somewhat surprised by the lake's size. Boy, Sora thought, I sure hope the mer-folk here can help us out. Heartless attacked several times, but they were easily defeated. Sora glanced constantly at the watch on his wrist ticking away his time in the lake. Several odd, non-heartless creatures attacked, but Sora was able to drive them off without killing any.
And then they came across a strange, twisting underwater city. It was low built, and seemed to have been carved into the rock of the lake, instead of the soaring spires of Atlantica.
"Hello?" Donald jumped as Sora yelled out as loud as he could.
"A bit of a warning next time, Sora," he squawked.
"Sorry, Donald. I think it worked."
Indeed. As he spoke several mer-people were coming their way. Armed with spears.
--
Harry had been right. They looked nothing like Sora himself did when he was a merman. They were odd, but fascinating. With more fishy faces, and overly thin bodies with long, whipping tails, they had cold, intelligent eyes and carried their weapons confidently.
Probably to drive off those weird critters that attacked us before, Sora thought, since he doubted they had much in the way of visitors. Bits of shell were strung around their throats in elaborate twists, and they hovered easily around them. Sora was extremely grateful that the Keyblade and his magic ensured he knew whatever language he needed to know.
This would have been way harder, otherwise. How was one to use charades to convince someone not to kill you, or try to describe a Keyhole? Especially since the Keyholes were hidden.
"Hi. I'm Sora, this is Donald, and this is Goofy. We're friends of Dumbledore. We're looking for the Keyhole- or anything unusual. It's really, really important. Can you help us?"
They simply stared at him, tails undulating slowly. The whole silent stillness thing was a little creepy, to be honest.
"Hello?" One of the creatures slid forward, and it was impossible to read the expression on their face.
"Hel-lo, So-ra, Don-ald and Goo-fy. You seek hid-den things, why?" It took him a moment to decipher it's speech.
"You know the shadow creatures with the empty heart emblem on their chests? They're called heartless. They're going to keep on coming, if we can't find the Keyhole and seal it. We only want to help, I promise. We don't want anybody hurt." There was a pause, and Sora was beginning to suspect the creatures could talk telepathically.
"You know heart-less? You hunt?"
"Yes."
"Good. Fol-low Asith. You lie, you die. We take you to hid-den thing." Sora was cautiously optimistic. It couldn't be that easy.
It wasn't, really. It was all a bit odd…
Asith lead them through sharp, twisting underwater corridors, and Sora blessed his little orb of light faithfully following him. He lost track of where he was very quickly, going up, down, and sideways. He was dizzy from all the sharp turns, and was beginning to miss the open water. Then the tunnel turned it's sharpest turn yet, and Goofy, in turtle-mode, barely squeezed through. Then they were in an underground- under-lake- cavern, about half the size of Hogwarts great hall. Tiny, flickering orbs like Sora's own were sprinkled like stars around the room, and he caught his breathe at the beauty of the shifting lights.
But it was what was in the centre of the room that stole his voice.
It was incandescent.
He approached it as if in a trance, drawn by the physical brightness of the object as well as the tantalizing blaze of warmth it evoked in his heart.
Asith made no move to stop him, but instead watched his progress with flat, cold eyes. Swimming up slowly to the light, Sora was mesmerized to note that the closer he got, the brighter the light grew. By the time he got close enough to touch it, his eyes were slitted from the light.
Surely, surely this was the Keyhole, he thought.
It wasn't. But he could barely feel any disappointment, for it sang to his senses, and he knew it just had to be important. Without further hesitation, Sora let his fingers glide over the surface of the glowing thingamajig, (for he didn't know what it was) hoping for some clue of what he was meant to so. He heard, but ignored, Donald's cry for him to be careful. He wasn't at risk.
This seemed to be the right thing to do, for he felt 'it' shiver beneath his fingers, the glow changing, becoming less bright, but somehow, more intense.
It seemed to be made from pure light, but now he could see that it looked exactly like the symbol of his Keyblade, the three circles that, now that he thought about it, resembled a certain mouse king's head. It was about the size of a child's heart, and Sora cradled it in his hands, running his hands over the strange, but clearly powerful object.
Now what? Sora thought.
The Keyblade answered, and Sora gasped, nearly dropping the magical object as he freed one hand to take hold of his Keyblade, reverted back to it's Kingdom Key form. The Keyblade was tugging his hand forward eagerly, and Sora watched as the glowing orb-thingy lifted lightly from his palms, to float freely before him, flashing with seeming warmth at him.
He let the Keyblade guide him, feeling it pull his hand up, tip pointed straight at the orb, a beam of light shooting from it and hitting the magical object dead on. He felt an answering tug within his heart as he let the Keyblade manipulate the moment. Still glowing, the orb connected to the Keyblade by the beam of light, seemed to be…shrinking. As Sora stared, the glowing symbol shrunk down until it was lost within the light emitted from the Keyblade.
Was the Keyblade absorbing it? He wondered. The Kingdom Key suddenly shuddered, and the light died down. The orb remained, still floating free, but now it was the size of his thumbnail, glowing brilliantly in the water like a star in the sky. Before Sora could do or say anything, the orb took off, whipping around him with incredible speed.
He gaped, foolishly trying to follow it's movements, as it whirled, creating a spinning vortex from it's motions, trapping him within. Donald and Goofy surged forward, alarmed, but stopped helplessly.
The tiny, determined little light picked up speed, until Sora's eyes hurt as he stared at the whirling wall of water that tugged at him. Then something slammed into him and he gave the fishy equivalent of a stagger, eyes flaring wide in shock- and pain- as a white-hot spear of light impacted in between his shoulder-blades and wriggled inside. Unaware that the vortex around him was beginning to dissipate, Sora slumped in the water, eyes now closed tight.
The magical symbol was literally inside him.
--
He came back to himself to Donald's angry remonstrations, and Goofy saying his name in a worried tone of voice.
"I'm, I'm fine, guys. Just a bit of a shock…" He hadn't expected that at all. He'd picked up lots of unusual things in his travels, some very valuable and important, and none of them had ever done anything like this.
It was inside him. Inside him, and he had no idea what it was. He knew, knew it was not dangerous, but still.
It could at least have asked. Which was a ridiculous thought, but Sora wasn't feeling up to logic right now.
Hold on, he thought, panicked, how long was he out? He glanced at his watch, squinting at the numbers. He had a little over half an hour to get back topside before the teachers started to worry.
Sora looked around, and saw Asith still floating with cold, uninterested calmness at the entrance to the cavern. His forehead furrowed a little.
"Um, thanks for not trying to kill us and all, but why did you, ah, let me..?" Sora drifted off fuzzily, but Asith seemed to catch his drift, for he turned deep eyes on the boy and said flatly,
"You wrong ones, guard-ian not let touch light. Guard-ian not wake. Right ones. Done now?"
They were. Sora flashed the cavern a quick glance, seeing nothing. He wondered what the 'guardian' was, but Asith seemed to want them gone, and was already moving. Sora had no desire to become lost in the maze of tunnels, and followed. He could hear Donald muttering "Right ones? What if we were the wrong ones, eh?" His lips quirked slightly.
No Keyhole, but they'd found something they needed to find.
--
Asith left them without a word at the boundary of the city, and Sora was quite happy to let him do so. These people were nothing like the folk of Atlantica, and Sora was glad to see him gone, although he was thankful for the help provided. Without Asith's help, he doubted he would have ever found the cavern.
The trio began heading back towards shore, swimming as hard as they could, stopping only to kill a few heartless, as Sora checked his watch closely.
They arrived with barely five minutes to spare, bobbing up to the surface to glad cries. Sora had to blink a few times, the transition from breathing water to air always made him a little woozy.
"Sora, are you alright? Did you find it?" Sora shaded a hand over his eyes and squinted at Harry.
"We're fine. Unfortunately, we didn't find the Keyhole, but we did find something important." How important, he had no idea. He just knew it was important.
"Excellent, child." Dumbledore was beaming, and Sora felt only a momentary twinge at the 'child'. Dumbledore began an animated discussion with Goofy and Donald- who, Sora noted with no little envy, were already back in their real forms and being helped up onto the wharf.
"Here, Sora." Harry and Ron grabbed hold of his hands and yanked Sora into the air. He caught the edge of the wharf with his palms and with their help, perched easily. His tail was dragging in the water, however, and he had to shuffle back awkwardly until it was free.
Sunlight glinted off his necklace and his tail, throwing spears of light over the water. He ran his fingers through his wet hair, a little tired from the race back. Hermione considered waving her wand over him and drying him, but remembered that their spells didn't work on him. Sora correctly read her expression, and wrinkled his nose at her, winking.
"It's alright, it only takes a minute."
"So, what did you find?" Hermione jumped in eagerly before either of her friends could say anything. Leaning back on his elbows, Sora frowned a little.
"Well, it was all a bit odd, really. Harry, you were right, those mer-folk were really weird. Kind of creepy. But I did find this weird object…"
"Really? What kind of-" Sora suddenly began to glow golden, signaling that soon he would be once more outfitted with legs. The light swirled around him- within him- and then diminished, leaving a fully clothed, dry, de-tailed Sora in it's wake.
Harry helped him up, and Sora flashed him a grin.
"Let's get inside before any more heartless attack, and I'll tell you all about it."
--
"I wish he'd been more talkative. I had so many questions. I wanted to know if they knew what it was, how long they'd had it, and I really wanted to know about the 'guardian'."
Hermione was mesmerized.
"Fascinating. Absolutely amazing. Oh, I wish I could have come too. A whole new culture…"
Harry raised his brows, thinking of the spear-wielding mer-folk he remembered from the Second Task, and was frankly glad he'd been no-where near them.
"Trust me, Hermione, there was no time for questions."
Harry let his head slump into his palm, watching Sora.
"I wonder what it was…it's important, I know. But having something like that inside me, not knowing- makes me nervous." Ron shrugged philosophically, idly ordering a knight to E4 before saying, "Don't be. At least it's safe, right? No-one can steal it. No heartless and none of those Organization guys you mentioned." Ron nudged Harry, reminding him it was his move, and Harry sighed, wondering why he bothered. Ron always won. He was just opening his mouth to move a rook when his head split open.
In a metaphorical but still highly painful way, of course. He fell forward with a choked scream, clawing at his scar. The link had been so quiet… Suddenly he became aware of warmth, an odd, soothing light that washed through his head and took the pain with it.
He could still feel Voldemort, feel his sick, twisted joy, but he no longer shared it.
"Harry? Harry, can you hear me?" Hermione's voice had the despairing edge that said she'd asked this question many times.
"Wha, What- what was that light?" Harry choked on his own breath, and then choked again as Hermione hugged him with a glad cry, hair tickling his face.
"Uh, Mione? You might want to let him breathe," Ron cautioned. Hermione sunk back onto her heels, scrubbing tears from her eyes with one hand.
"You alright, Harry? We should get you to the hospital wing."
"I'm alright. What happened?" The two exchanged glances, while Sora paced, running his fingers through his hair agitatedly.
"This is that link you have with Voldemort, isn't it? I had no idea it was so bad."
"Oh Harry, you just fell over making these awful sounds, and your scar was bleeding and then you started laughing." Hermione's eyes were red-rimmed, and fussed at her robes with one hand.
"Thank goodness for Sora, he put his hand over your head and said, said-"
"Curaga," Sora interjected.
"Yes, he said that, and this gold-green light wrapped around you and you started to relax and stopped laughing." Harry scrubbed at his forehead, wincing, and his hand came away bloody. Sora was still watching them all with worried eyes.
"We should get you to the hospital wing. I don't know about magical ties, your healer may know more." Harry gave in, knowing they wouldn't let it go, but privately, he thought there was nothing they could do. Unless they could change the past or kill Voldemort for him. Besides, he'd never felt anything like that cure-spell that had actually cut across the link and taken the pain away.
What he would have done for that, last year…