I wrote this like, a year ago… I'm doing my best to edit it, but sometimes that can get really hard…

Disclaimer: I don't own KH or KH2 or any characters, except for Reiko.


Chapter II: Traverse Town

They traveled through many worlds that day to connect them all. In this time, Sora and Reiko got plenty of chances to talk. Reiko giggled a lot during these conversations, and Sora stared at her as if she was a tad bit psycho.

Finally, after the end of a long day, the two were talking and Sora asked, "Why do you giggle so much?"

Reiko looked down and hid her face for a second. Then, looking back at Sora with a fake smile, she replied, "I just do, I guess." She tried to laugh it off but it died away quickly.

"What are you hiding?"

Reiko peered out the window. "W…what do you mean?" At this point, tears began to slowly and silently fall down her cheeks.

Sora put his hand on his head, not knowing what to do. Finally, he asked, "What's wrong?"

Reiko wiped the tears from her eyes and looked towards the ground.

"Come on, just tell me. You won't feel better unless you talk." Sora grasped her hand softly and gave her a slight smile.

Reiko wiped her eyes again and looked into Sora's eyes. Her eyes had become slightly red and a few tears were left and refused to fall. "I…I've had to stay happy s…so everyone else wasn't so t…troubled."

"But you know that you can't always lock up your feelings."

"I know that. W…when my mother died, everyone was so sad. I m…missed her a lot too, but they were sad all of the time. I f…figured if I was happy more often then everyone else would be too."

"Well, there's no need to worry about that anymore." Sora's smile broadened. "Just let your feelings out when you need to. You don't have to worry. A lot of big, dangerous things happen to us so forcing away your emotions won't help in the least bit."

Reiko nodded as more tears welled up in her eyes. "Thanks." She rested her head on his shoulder, a slight smile on her face, and allowed her tears to fall silently.

Sora looked down at Reiko and saw she had fallen asleep. He himself yawned and muttered, "It's been a long day, I should probably rest too." His eyes wandered back to Reiko with a smile and he rested his head on the wall behind them.


Reiko woke up, feeling like she had only fallen asleep moments ago. Sitting up, she examined her new, red scenery. Where am I, and how did I get here? She gazed outside, noticing the sun was already out. From its position, she estimated it to be well past midday.

The door opened and Sora walked in wearing a bright smile. "Good morning Reiko."

"It looks more like afternoon to me." She tore her eyes from the window and looked up at Sora. "Where is this?" her eyes wandered and she noticed her new clothing. "A…and who changed my clothes!"

"This is a hotel in Traverse town, and don't worry, it was Aerith who changed your clothes. She figured you would be more comfortable."

"Who's Aerith?"

"Oh, she's a friend of mine. If you want to you can meet her and the others after you get ready."

Reiko nodded as she swung her legs to the ground. "Sora, thanks a bunch for helping me last night." She looked back at him and gave him a genuine, bright smile.


"Weird… Who knew that there was a place underground? It's amazing…" Reiko's eyes darted around the area as she and Sora trudged through the waters that had led out of the alleyway.

"Just to warn you, they can be really…"

Sora was suddenly cut off by a loud, energetic voice. "Hey Sora! What's up? This girl is Reiko, right?" Yuffie jumped down from where she was hanging. "I'm the great ninja Yuffiie! It's nice to meetcha!"

Reiko held out her hand. "The pleasure is mine." She smiled and began to giggle as she whispered to Sora, "She is really interesting."

"Wait til you meet the others."

"Sora, what took you two so long?" Donald yelled while tapping his foot again.

"Sorry Donald, I barely woke up. Such worry need not fill your head." She walked up to him and patted him on the head, causing everyone but him to burst out laughing.

"Stop it! That's not funny!" exclaimed Donald while trying to push Reiko's hand away.

"Sora covered his mouth, trying not to laugh. "Actually Donald… It kinda…is…"

Donald glared at the group who were laughing in his expense and marched out of the area.

"Well, now that that's over, why don't you introduce us to your friend?" Aerith smiled sweetly at them.

"Right. Rei, this is Leon, Aerith, and Cid." Sora gestured to the three people in front of them.

Reiko bowed slightly. "It is wonderful to meet you all."

"So, she does know about everything that has happened, right?" asked Leon who was sitting on the ground.

"Yea, why?" Sora walked closer to the group and found a nice, dry spot to sit followed by Reiko, though she didn't need a dry spot for she was soaking wet since she had tripped in the water earlier.

"We have an idea of where this town's keyhole is." Leon said, his expression seemingly indifferent if not bored.

"You do! Where is it?" Sora jumped up and Donald had finally returned after his humiliation.

"Well, It's obviously where the concentration and strength of heartless is the greatest."

"The second district!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy replied in unison.

"Let's go!" Said Sora excitedly as he grasped Reiko and began to drag her out of the area.

They ran to the second district and began to survey the area. "So all we do is find the keyhole and seal it, right?"

"It'll doubtfully be that…" Sora paused as a gigantic suit of armor (Everyone's favorite Guard Armor!) began to assemble. "…easy." He took out his key blade and gripped it tightly. "Ready?"

Reiko nodded as she pulled out the Twilight Key. It had begun to shake slightly and Sora took notice of this.

"You don't need to be scared, I won't let you get hurt." Sora gave her his signature goofy grin and ran up to begin to slice at one of the arms.

Reiko gripped her blade and ran up to the right leg. She swung her blade around, barely scathing the armor and then was kicked down.

Donald paused in his fighting for a moment. "Get up! How weak are you?"

"Well sorry! I haven't really fought before, this is my first real battle!" Reiko retorted as she got up, took a few deep breaths, and began attacking the leg fiercely. She kept the mentality of never letting herself make the same mistake twice.

She soon destroyed the first leg and moved on to the next one while the others had already started attacking the torso. Her mistakes were numerous in the battle but few of them repeated. Finally it was just the torso piece left. Reiko jumped up and, as a fluke, swung the blade simultaneously with Sora, causing an explosion. They both landed safely on the ground as the armor imploded and disappeared.

Sora looked over at Reiko. "Well, How'd you do? Sure looks like you got plenty of cuts from it."

Reiko giggled weakly while rubbing the back of her neck. "Actually, hehe, the armor only really gave me bruises. These cuts are from my key blade…"

Sora, Goofy, and Donald looked at each other for a second and then burst out laughing.

"BE QUIET! IT WAS MY FIRST BATTLE!" Reiko yelled, half-joking with the three.

Then a light shone from the fountain in front of them. The panel turned to a picture of bluish-purple butterflies with a keyhole imbedded into the center. Sora stood in front of the keyhole while Reiko stood behind him, her back against his.

"Rei, what are you doing?"

"I'm gonna connect the worlds!"

Sora nodded and the two closed their eyes, holding their key blades at their sides as a gentle breeze played around them and only them. Next, Sora pointed the tip of his blade towards the keyhole and Reiko pointed her blade towards the sky. A blue light shined at the tip of each blade and shot in the direction that the blades were pointed. At the next moment, two very similar clicks were heard: One was the sound of something being locked while the other was as if something was being unlocked.


So Traverse Town is connected and all is happy and dandy, but what is in store for our heroes when they enter Hollow Bastion? Traps, Numorous Heartless and… a kiss?! Find out by staying tuned for chapter three of "Dawn of the Twilight"