Ha! Two updates in one night! Aaah, I love writer's fever! This was one of my favorite chapters to write. I feel like I finally put some emotion into my story, instead of it being your average-everyday run-of-the-mill KH fic. I hope you guys like it :D
My thanks to Brightshadow 5 and lil' Gingergirl for their reviews and suggestions!
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything associated with it, just my plotline and OCs.
5. Sora's Outburst
Kairi could only gape at the scene before her. All that was left of the once-merry fairyland was charred stumps, grass, and a still-smoking Ace of Spades, his card-face frozen in a fearful mask of shock.
"What... happened?" Kairi whispered, her eyes widening at the destruction she bore witness to.
"Heartless."
"Nobodies."
Riku and Sora looked at each other, smiling weakly at their simultaneous guesses.
"Looking for me?" A ghostly voice asked from behind. The group turned to see Maleficent striding towards them, her cloak trailing out of the portal of darkness she had just walked out of.
"You!" Sora choked out, summoning his keyblade. Maleficent smiled menacingly.
"Go ahead, boy, attack me. See how much good it will do. A truly wise person learns from their mistakes."
"Shut up!" Sora roared, charging the sorceress like a bull. He slashed at her neck, as if to decapitate her, but gasped in astonishment when his keyblade met nothing but air.
"Fool," Maleficent spat, "You think I would come here, alone, with your friends around, all of whom armed? This is a hologram I conjured."
"Then why did you come here?" Lifelle asked quietly, in her soft voice.
"Merely to warn you keybladers. I have... plans, and they will not fail. You had best prepare yourselves."
"What -" Sora started angrily, only to have the virtual Maleficent flicker and disappear without another word. He roared in fury and began hacking at the burned stumps on the ground, chips of incinerated bark flying everywhere. It wasn't long before the one he had been chopping at furiously was demolished completely. He moved on to the next stump, his eyes wild.
"Sora! Calm down," Riku commanded, seeing Kairi. She was biting her lower lip, looking quite frightened.
I've never seen Sora that mad before... she thought.
Good thing you weren't there when... Namine started, only to silence herself suddenly.
What? When what? Kairi asked herself urgently. She felt Namine's refusal to speak further and returned to the world outside of her mind. Sora was glaring at the ground, his teeth clenched. The other four keybladers watching him for a moment. Finally, Sora sighed, his eyes jumping automatically to Kairi.
"You okay?" She asked, touching his arm lightly.
"I just... I just didn't think she'd be back," he finished, his Kingdom Key disappearing in a flash.
"I don't think any of us did," Riku said, putting a reassuring hand on Sora's shoulder, "but we'd best get out of here."
"What about Alice?" Lifelle asked suddenly.
"Look..." Darran interrupted, pointing to the cage Alice had been held in three years ago after being accused of stealing the Queen's heart. There laid Alice, a simple, peaceful look on her face cold, frozen face.
"...She was only... a little girl..." Lifelle whispered. She knelt down to the golden-haired girl and brushed a finger down the length of her cheek. A single chrystalline tear landed on her bright blue dress.
"Do you think Maleficent did this?" Riku asked, looking around balely.
"No," Darran shook his head, "This girl was killed with poisen, and whoever did this certainly made a show of it. Maleficent looked surprised when she came here, as well. Whoever did this wanted to announce themselves, try to intimidate us, and Maleficent virtually admitted that we're stronger than her at the moment."
"That's true," Riku nodded.
"Either way, I don't want to be here anymore. It feels... wrong," Lifelle whispered. She took one last look at the charred debris and walked back through the doorway, her bottem lip trembling. Riku followed suit after a heavy sigh, followed by Darran, Sora, and Kairi.
"...They'll pay for this," Lifelle vowed quietly, calling forth her keyblade. From the look on her face, Kairi believed her.
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"Where to now?" Riku asked, back in the pilot seat. Sora was laying on a bed in the second room on the gummi ship, staring solemnly out of the window.
"I don't care..." he said, never taking his eyes off the stars shooting past him. Kairi was sitting in the inviting purple chair at the head of Sora's bed. He was laying in it backwards, however, his feet at the head. He tucked the pillow under his spiked head.
"Sora?" Kairi asked, watching him. He didn't respond. Kairi sighed out of irritation.
"Sora!" She yelled, punching his shoe.
"Wha-OUCH!" He yelled, rubbing his sore foot.
"What'd you do that for?" He asked, putting on a mock furious face.
"Well I had to get your attention somehow," Kairi replied, rolling her eyes.
"Haven't you ever heard that violence is not the answer?" Sora grumbled, still rubbing his shoe.
"What was that?"
"Nothing!"
Kairi laughed. Her face fell in a minute, though, and Sora's grin followed soon after.
"What is it, Kairi?" Sora asked sincerely.
"It's you," she answered bluntly. Sora looked confused.
"Me?"
"Yeah, you. This journey is going to be miserable if you're going to clam up and act all sad everytime something goes wrong. What happened to the Sora I knew, the one who laughed all the time? What happened to that idiotic smile?" She asked, smirking a bit.
"My idiocy didn't go anywhere," Sora assured her with a smile on his face. "I guess I just didn't want you to see that. And I really didn't want you to see me get that close to losing control..." Sora shook his head.
"That wasn't you losing control?" Kairi asked in disbelief. The Sora she knew never yelled, and barely ever got mad.
"No... I only lost control one other time before, in this very gummi ship actually. Donald and Goofy had to cast Stop on me so I would calm down," he admitted sheepishly.
"And when was this?" Kairi demanded. What could have made Sora so upset?
Sora turned beet red and turned over, clearly hiding something. Kairi wanted to press him further, but his body language made it clear that this was a matter he wasn't going to be discussing anytime soon.
"Hey, guys. We're gonna be bunking here tonight and we'll get to the Coliseum tomorrow morning," Riku announced, walking into the room and flopping on the bed.
"What the... who's driving?!" Sora asked, getting up so fast Kairi was amazed he didn't do something to his back.
"Don't worry, Darran's in the pilot seat," Riku replied, fluffing up a pillow. Sora sat back down with a grunt and folded his arms over his chest.
"What?" Riku asked, a glint in his eyes. Kairi sensed he knew something she didn't.
"I just... never mind," Sora growled, harrumphing loudly. Kairi rolled her eyes, thinking to herself, boys... She checked her small, silver watch and was shocked to see it was already 1:30 am.
"Woah! I didn't even notice the time!" She said, stifling a yawn. Now that she knew how late it really was, she couldn't help but feel her eyes drooping...
"I'm gonna go change..." she yawned, exposing her brilliant pearly-whites. She grabbed her bag of clothing and went into the bathroom, changing quickly. When she came out, she was wearing white bunny slippers, blue plaid boxers, and a green shirt that had a smiley face on it. Riku smirked.
"What?" She asked defesively, twisting back to see if one of her slippers was dirty.
"Nice jammies," he snickered. Kairi sniffed and flipped her hair back, stalking out of the room. She glanced at Sora, who also had a stupid grin on his face.
"I expected more maturity from you," she reprimanded him disapprovingly. He fought back a fit of giggles.
"Really? You shouldn't've," he retorted, smiling again. Kairi stuck her tongue out at him and went into the other room, laying on her back on the couch. She got out the little CD player she had thought to bring and closed her eyes, letting memories and images flit from behind her closed eyes. She drifted between states of conciousness and sleep, not really caring which she was in. Finally, darkness pressed down on her mind like a thick wool blanket and she thought no more.
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There ya go! Chapter 5! Suggestions on anything and of course reviews are always appreciated :D
LV-chan.