Chosen of Sky and Twilight
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
MP: I know, I've not updated in over year. I'm sorry. I just haven't had the inspiration to write. I promise I will get through KH II. And if it seems like I'm fast forwarding through some things, it's because I'm trying to get through the plot as quickly as possible so that I can get the story finished. And unlike the game my ending will be the End.
Enjoy, the beginning of the combined Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days, and Kingdom Hearts II arc.
And a thanks to Uchiha 'Karite Shikyo for reviewing!
Chapter 30: Two Steps Forwards, Three Steps Back
The World that Never Was,
Roxas could remember only two things. One: he had been in a large struggle prior to waking. And two: a girl had screamed his name before he succumbed to the darkness for heaven knows how long. He was told he'd been at the Organization a month, but he couldn't remember anything from the first week or so. Some things would bring echoes of a whisper of memory but before he could grasp it, the memories would slip away. It was frustrating him. Another thing that made him feel frustrated was the others telling him it was 'cute' that he thought he was feeling emotions. He was constantly reminded that as a Nobody, he had no heart and therefore no emotions.
'But how could I not be feeling emotions?' Roxas thought sitting on his bed.
"Hey Roxas, let me in." said Axel, his unofficial babysitter.
"Hey." Roxas said half-heartedly, well as half-heartedly as a Nobody got. "Do you remember who you were before this?" Roxas asked.
"Yeah, more or less. I'm close to the same guy I was before, which is kind of frustrating because I'm more aware of what I gave up. Here I was seeking power and I got it at a price that can't be refunded." Said Axel. "But live, sort of, and learn."
Roxas was the only Nobody without memories of his past and it bugged him. The others had their pasts before being Nobodies to cling to while all he had was a few fragments here and there with the recent past to cling to.
"Yo, Roxas, you still there?" Axel said waving a hand in front of Roxas's face.
"Sorry, I spaced out." He said.
"It's ok man; let's go get some ice cream like we always do." Axel said dragging the smaller boy by his arm from his bed.
"Alright." Roxas said smiling.
Castle Oblivion,
In the fields near Castle Oblivion rested Kairi, Donald, and Goofy. Sora, still in his comatose state, had been lain down in the middle of the group.
'I hope you wake up soon Sora.' Kairi thought reaching over and brushing his hair out from his face. It turned out Kairi possessed a decent bit of magical talent and had become Donald's apprentice over the past few weeks. She was progressing nicely. But she still worried for Sora. They'd managed to get a little bit of broth into his systems while he slumbered but they needed a proper facility or they were going to have him waste away in his sleep.
"Hey!" Donald squawked at a man in a long black coat with a hood up. The diminutive sorcerer took off after the man with Goofy not far behind.
"HEY!" Kairi yelled. It fell on deaf ears so she picked up Sora and carried him using the fireman's lift.
"You need not take him there." A cultured, yet familiar voice range out behind her.
"Uncle?" she asked turning around to see a man with his head covered in rags leaving one orange eye revealed.
"Kairi? But you're not supposed to be here." The man said losing his composure.
"Uncle, what's going on." Kairi demanded.
"This is not the time or the place. Hand Sora to me and I'll carry him to a place where we can try to awaken him or at the very least care for him." He said, "And I am now called DiZ."
"Fine, but I'm going after those two. Sora'd be upset if they went missing too." Said Kairi. DiZ took the sleeping Sora from Kairi before she dashed towards castle Oblivion.
"Be careful, Kairi." DiZ said before vanishing into a dark corridor.
The C.O. crew from Organization XIII was dismayed to see that the Keybearer was not in the castle but his foolish friends had taken the bait. After all, if they messed with these clowns the Keybearer was certain to come after them. It was inevitable how the patterns of a predictable human would spell their doom. Vexen smirked as he looked over his notes.
In the basement Riku and Nami were crawling through a crack in the darkness, the King only able to manifest as a small golden light. They trudged through every dark memory Nami had of the previous adventure and each time they only encountered the villains.
On the inverse, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy were going through every world they'd visited and kept running into a Riku replica that had Nami's dark powers and kept babbling on about a long forgotten friend named Naminé. Kairi had forgotten her and was sorry but what was disturbing was the fact the other two were slowly, but surely forgetting everything about their human friends, her included. She was also forgetting but only about one person: Sora. Kairi fought against this and managed to hang onto his name, his face, and the fact he meant something to her by the time they faced down Marluxia. And by that point they knew Naminé was nothing more than an inserted memory.
A long and arduous battle later, they had defeated Marluxia and entered Naminé's chamber. She explained that the damage done to Donald and Goofy would take extensive repairs while Kairi's memories would snap back into place easily.
Nami and Riku had a tougher time. When it came time for their final battles it was Nami versus Ansem's ghost and Riku versus Leaxus. Riku won easily but Nami emerged a little worse for the wear. That and they'd disposed of an annoying Riku Replica as well as what appeared to be a black haired Kairi replica. Well Riku took out his own Replica and Nami mercilessly took out the comatose Kairi replica.
"You're still drowning in the Darkness girl and I will claim your form for my own." Were the ghost of Ansem's last words to Nami and they still echoed in her mind.
Riku arrived to see Kairi in the same room as Naminé. In two bud-shaped pods rested Donald and Goofy.
"I had to take apart their memories and now I'm fixing them. Kairi's memories were barely touched so I was able to fix them without much effort." Said Naminé.
"Where's Sora?" Riku asked.
"I can take you to him." A deep voice said.
"This is DiZ. It's ok, I trust him and you can too, Riku." Kairi said before she hugged him to make sure he was real.
"I'm alright, Kai. But why wasn't Sora here?" Riku asked.
"I'm also curious. He was our main target and him not being here messed with the plans the ones who had me captive had made." Said Naminé.
"Can you move these two?" asked DiZ.
"Yes. If you open a dark corridor and take the pods with them they'll be fine." Said Naminé.
"It is not safe here; we must move them." Said DiZ. He opened a dark corridor around the pods and they vanished. Riku, Kairi, Nami, and Naminé walked through the same portal followed by DiZ. Axel arrived in time to see the portal close.
"The superior's going to have my head for this. It's bad enough that Sora never showed but now Naminé's gone and Xion has been destroyed. I'm so getting demoted to a Dusk for this." Axel said before making his own portal and leaving.
Twilight Town,
"Where are we?" Nami asked.
"Twilight Town, which used to be part of a larger world called Twilight Destiny before it fell to darkness." Said DiZ.
"Great the one place I hate, I'm at again." Nami remarked bitterly.
"She used to live here, DiZ." Kairi said.
"This is the only place I've been where those blasted Nobodies can't get to me." Said DiZ.
"Wait, those Nobodies were after you?" asked Kairi.
"I've interfered with their plans a few times too many for their tastes. Especially with their leader's." said DiZ.
"Where's Sora?" Riku asked. DiZ led them out of his lab, Naminé stayed behind with the pods; they emerged from the basement into an old dilapidated house library. DiZ led them out of the room and around the upper level until he reach a room which he unlocked. It was white, and there was a large bed in the center of the room. In the bed, attached to various monitoring systems was Sora, still sound asleep.
"Any sign of waking at all?" asked Kairi.
"No. I'm sorry but I haven't figured out what is wrong with him yet." Said DiZ.
"I can't feel his heart, yet he's still here." Said Kairi.
"Maybe this is a side effect of you saving him from being a Heartless." Said Riku.
"What does he mean by that?" asked DiZ.
"Sora sacrificed himself to the Dark Keyblade to free the hearts of the Princesses of Heart and myself." Said Kairi. "Afterwards we were running and this shadow kept following us and it turned out to be Sora. I brought him back and after the worlds were restored, he collapsed."
"He became a Heartless you say? Then he'd have created a Nobody, and if he's as strong as you say, to be willing to turn a Dark Keyblade on his own heart, then it'd be a member of the Organization." Said DiZ.
"So we're looking for one of these cloak wearing clowns who looks like Sora?" asked Riku.
"It will not be easy." DiZ said.
"We're game if you are." Said Kairi.
"So be it." Said DiZ.
In the World that Never was Roxas turned over in his sleep murmuring 'Kairi.'