Chapter 19: Fly High into the Sunrise (doubleuX3 . youtube . com/watch?v=8l6A2pXGotI)

Memo: Ah, I love this chapter. :)

*~*~*

Nexus was thankful she had a good memory, otherwise there would've been no way she would have navigated through the Land of Dragons by herself. Though it wasn't the biggest world she'd ever been to, this one was sprawling, misleading with its curving paths.

"If I was Sora," she said to herself, looking around, "where would I go?"

She was getting kind of lost, and she was starting to lose hope.

"I guess they might be back on the ship, wondering where I am," she muttered, chuckling to herself. She started to head back that way, then stopped.

"Wait. If I was Sora, I'd be wherever people are. So where are the people in this place?"

It couldn't have been the training campgrounds, since she had just checked there, so the only other plausible places were the village and the Imperial Square.

She decided she'd start with the village first, since that seemed more likely, but halfway up the hill she realized two things: one being she needed more ammo, and two being the village was most likely still in ruins.

The only marketplace moogle was in the village, though, so she proceeded up the hill, bought ammo, then ran all the way back and ended up at the Imperial Square to find it not only completely empty, but eerily quiet.

I don't like this one bit, she thought, and so she ran toward the palace gates, where suddenly all her questions were answered.

Sitting, or perhaps floating, at the doors to the palace throneroom was a giant winged Heartless Nexus had never seen before. It was trying to stare in at someone, and Nexus assumed that must be Sora and Mulan and the others. But there was no way they could open the door and get by it, though. Its huge body was blocking the entrance entirely.

Only one thing to do at a time like this, Nexus decided, releasing the safety catch of her gun and firing. Both shots were dead-on into the creature's head, and it whirled around, roaring angrily. Just as she had hoped, it got up and flew toward her.

"Frock," Nexus said, sprinting away.

"Nexus, 'bout time!" she heard Sora shout, so she stopped and turned around. He was heading her way with the others close behind, ready for battle. "Let's do this and get it over with!"

"I hear ya!" she said, smirking.

Nexus' PoV

Sora came running toward me at full speed, and at first I seriously thought he was going to tackle-hug me, so I started backing away. But when he reached me, he grabbed my arm and started dragging me behind him.

"Oh gosh! What are you doing?!" I shouted, nearly falling over.

"You said you wanted to fight this thing, so that's what we're doing!" Sora shouted over his shoulder, then suddenly stopped. With all of his strength, he launched me forward, and I landed on the Heartless dragon's giant tail.

"WHAAAA!" I screamed, hanging on for dear life, when suddenly I felt a hand drag me up to safety.

"Long time no see," Mulan said, grinning. Sora laughed from behind me.

"Yeah, whatever you say," I muttered, getting to my feet.

"Aw, c'mon, Nexus, where's your spirit of adventure?"

Sora, grabbing my arm again, dragged me over to the head of the dragon. I whipped out my keyblade and the two of us started whacking away at one wing, while Mulan, Donald, and Goofy worked on the other.

Suddenly the great beast started to shake.

"Uh-oh," Donald quacked.

"Yeah, that's an understatement," I said, feeling the Heartless start to swoop up. Then it hit me: it was trying to shake us off by doing a loop-de-loop. "Hang on to something!"

Immediately we all grabbed the nearest horn, just in time for the thing to spin.

"Ugh." I let go and tried to stand, but everything felt shaky and weird.

"You okay?" Sora asked me, holding out his hand.

"No, and it's your fault," I replied, taking it.

But just as we got back to fighting, the thing shook again, this time jerking its whole body to one side. Sora and I were unfortunate enough to be on the edge, and soon the solidity beneath my feet disappeared.

I didn't scream as I fell, seeing as how it wasn't that far of a drop at that time, and I even landed on my feet. I did scream when Sora collided into me, knocking us both to the ground.

"Thanks!" he exclaimed, getting up as if nothing had happened.

"Stupid!" I shouted, taking him by the arm and flinging him out of my way.

Then the most amazing thing happened: whatever I threw Sora into sucked him right up, and it tossed him high in the air. He landed right back on the Heartless, not a scratch on him. I looked back to where I had thrown him, and I saw there was a small mini-tornado there.

"Sweet!" he shouted.

"You stay up there!" I shouted back.

"You should come, too!"

"No way!" There wasn't any reason for me to get back up there. After all, I had a long distance projectile weapon. (:3) "You stay up there, and I'll shoot from down here."

"Aw, c'mon!"

"Here, take this!"

Resummoning my keyblade, I heaved it up to Sora, and he caught it, surprised.

"Use it while you're up there!" I cried, releasing the safety catch on my gun once more. This was more my speed.

*~*~* (doubleux3 . youtube . com/watch?v=IdGmdeg4pfc)

It's times like these when I like being the Keyblade Master, Sora thought, swinging both Nexus' and his own keyblades around his body. He had almost forgotten he was mad at Nexus for just showing up. What had she been doing all that time?

Suddenly the Heartless roared, and Sora realized he had just destroyed the wing he had been working on.

Already? he thought, looking at the keyblades. He sighed, a little tired.

Just as he did, though, Nexus' keyblade glowed a little, and Sora instantly felt refreshed.

"What the...?" He stared at it. Did this thing just heal me? Smiling, he went to help his friends. Well, can't complain! No wonder she beat me that one time I challenged her in Twilight Town. This thing is super powerful, and it heals you as you fight! In fact, I'm barely tired!

And so Sora made the decision to go all out and attack the Heartless at every possible angle he could get to. After all, he figured, I might as well take advantage of this. I doubt Nexus will ever let me use this thing again after tonight.

Um, that's what he said?

Anyway, it wasn't long before the giant Heartless suddenly started to roar with pain and tremble under their feet. Sora grinned. This was it! It was finally going to die!

As it swooped close to the ground, Mulan and Goofy went ahead and jumped off, leaving Sora to finish the job.

"Smell ya later!" Sora cried, smashing the two keyblades into the Heartless' head. It roared, shaking its big head, causing Sora to lose footing and fall off. Luckily, the Heartless was close enough to the ground that Sora landed safe and sound.

"It's coming down," Nexus said. Sora grinned at her, but then quickly noticed her grave expression. "It's coming down!"

He turned, and sure enough, the giant Heartless was coming down, right on top of Mulan.

"Mulan!"

Knowing the voice, Sora watched Shang come running toward her, nearly tackling her just as the Heartless crashed into the ground. But just a split-second later, the Heartless vanished in a flash, leaving only a giant heart behind, which floated up out of sight.

"Way to go!" Sora called out as Shang pulled Mulan to her feet. The Captain smiled at her, and she quickly returned it with a genuine grin. Suddenly they both blushed and looked away, releasing each others' hands, and, as if on cue, fireworks went off above the palace roof.

"Here, Nexus," Sora said, holding out her keyblade. She took it hesitantly, and it soon disappeared.

In that same moment, Sora felt all of his strength rush out of him, and he collapsed onto his knees, unable to stand.

"I figured this might happen," Nexus said, sighing. "You really fought hard, didn't you?" When he nodded, she sighed again. "Well, alright."

Bending over to his level, Nexus swiftly pulled Sora over her shoulder. Surprised, he wanted to protest, but he was much too tired and gave up.

"This is all your fault," he muttered, and she frowned as they started toward the palace.

Nexus' PoV

I finally set Sora down in front of the Emperor, who was sitting in his throne room. Shang stood beside the old man, and the rest of us stood in front. This time, though, he didn't look angry at all. He couldn't hide his happiness.

"Once again, you have served China well," he told us. "It would please me to reward you." I watched Donald out of the corner of my eye shake his hands together gleefully. "What is it that you wish?"

Right on cue, Goofy's stomach rumbled.

"Well..." Sora began, sitting on the floor. "You say a guy in black came to see you. What did he say?"

"That is all you request?"

Donald and Goofy both jumped a little, starting to protest.

"Yes."

The two stooges hung their heads at their leader's response.

"Dragons have crossed our land and left a great web of paths. These dragons wield much power, and they are the source of many gifts to both man and nature," the Emperor explained. "But it would seem someone of evil intent disturbed one of our dragons, and transformed it into what you call a Heartless. It is my belief that this young man came to warn me of that danger. Then, I could alert and prepare my troops."

"Did you?" Sora asked, looking around.

"I was about to, but he told me the situation had changed." The Emperor chuckled.

"He said three 'wise guys and a crazy girl' had arrived, and they would take care of things," Shang said.

"That's gotta be Riku!" Sora cried.

"He's in big trouble if it is," I muttered. Why did everyone have to call me crazy?

"But what's he doin' hangin' out with Organization XIII?" Goofy asked after a quick side glance at Donald.

"No idea. But at least I finally know he's okay," Sora said, sounding really relieved. "That's good enough."

"Yeah, that's good!" Donald agreed.

"Now then, Fa Mulan," the Emperor said, changing the subject back to its rightful place. "Do you have a request?"

"I'd like Shang...I-I mean...well..." Mulan stammered. "The Captain..."

"Yes, yes, my dear. What is it?"

"Could the Captain have a vacation, please?"

Her words just kind of tumbled out of her mouth and fell on the floor. Shang looked pleasantly surprised.

"I hardly expected such humble requests," the Emperor said, chuckling once more. "In this case, I'm afraid I must refuse. Captain Li's responsibility is to protect the Emperor." Shut down. "And yet, Mulan... Would you like to serve alongside him and protect me?"

"Huh?" Shang grunted.

"What?" Mulan gasped.

Yeah, I was kind of thinking the same thing!

"Two reeds together are stronger than one," the Emperor insisted. "But the choice is yours alone."

"Thank you, Your Excellency!" Mulan exclaimed, bowing.

Shang, smiling, came over to her, and her own smile became broader.

"Let's go," I said to Sora, and when I looked at him, I was shocked to see him wiping tears from his eyes.

"Y-yeah," he murmured. I helped him up.

"Do you need me to carry you again?" I asked as nicely as I could. "I'm not trying to crush your pride or anything--"

"It's fine," he said, in the same quiet tone. Heaving him over my shoulder, I carried him all the way back to the ship.

All the way back I was expecting him to start questioning me about why I was gone so long, or why I had looked like I had felt (like shit). To my relief, he said nothing, and we continued on to the next world in quiet, resolved silence.