Chapter 24
Thinking of you...
We look around to see the entire island empty, the last time I was here it was crawling with heartless... now it looks like they were never here.
"We made it..." I said purposely falling onto the sand.
"Sara?" Kairi yelled sitting down next to me, "What's wrong?" Kairi said looking concerned.
"I'm tired!" I said letting out a loud sigh as she giggles,
"Don't scare me like that!" she demanded as she laid down next to me. We both look up at the stars. "What should we do?" Kairi asked
"We wait... for as long as it takes," I said as Mickey, Donald and Goofy walk up.
"We'll all wait together." Mickey said as Kairi and I sit up.
"Sounds good to me." Kairi said with a giggle, I look over at the main island.
"I'm game, but there's one thing I need to do first..." I said
"Ok," Kairi said without hesitation, "but don't take too long, we don't know how long it'll take for Sora and Riku to return."
"I'll be quick." I said standing up, I know I need to wait for Sora and Riku but... I would like to say hi to Mother real fast before Father comes and takes me away...
I walk over to the dock, the boat I left when I started this journey was still there... that was convenient. I get in the boat and head to the main island. The beach was quiet, I step off the dock. Thought of my last visit popped into my head, when Kairi saved me... it feels like forever ago. I begin walking up the road, things look a little different but I believe I can find my way. I could see the hill that our house was near the bottom. Maybe my dream of the four of us going to school together could really happen. I stop and turn in front of a small house, oddly enough it was the only house with its lights still on.
"Everything looks the same..." I said with tears in my eyes. I walk to the front door but stop myself right before I grab the door knob. What do I say to her? How do I explain how I got here? or where Sora is?
"Sora? Is that you?" I hear inside as footsteps grow louder as the door swings open, she was standing there staring at me half out of breath from running to the door.
"Hi, mom..." were the only words I could say, she places her hand on my cheek and smiles with tears in her eyes.
"Sara? Is that really you?" She asked as I nod, "Oh, you've grown so much!" She pulls me into a hug.
"I missed you..." I said trying to stop myself from crying.
"I missed you too," She said letting go. "C'mon, let's go inside so we can talk," she said holding my hand pulling me inside.
"Alright," I said whipping the tears away, "but I can't stay long, Kairi and I are waiting on the Island for Sora and Riku to return." I said as I stop her from pulling me any farther.
"That's fine, I just want to know what's happened to you so far." She said with a smile.
"Yeah, all three of us can talk." I said returning the smile.
"Three?" Mom said looking at me confused,
"There's no point in hiding, Father." I said as he appears from behind the corner next to the kitchen.
"You never miss a thing." He said,
"I learned from the best." I said looking at the front door, it looked like my fastest way out if things go sour,
"True, now what was this about you waiting for Sora and Riku?" he asked as I explained the situation from our last encounter.
"So this Xemnas guy was trying to use you and Sora to open Kingdom Hearts?" Mom looked at the confused.
"Pretty much." I said, I was surprise the Father just stood there and listened, "I know that we need to go back but I'm not leaving until Sora and Riku are back." I demanded, he walks up and stands in front of me.
"On one condition." He said... there was something on his mind, like he was trying to figure something out, "Make a large concentration of Dark energy in the palm of your hand."
"Um... ok?" I said holding out my hand, I begin to focus the darkness into my hand trying to imagine a large size. The Darkness begins to manifest but stops forming very quickly. I concentrated a little more on the darkness, the orb was only the size of a marble... "What?" I said confused as I look closer at it.
"I knew it!" He said as I dissipate the orb of darkness and look up at him, "Whatever you have gone through has repelled most of the darkness out of your body." he explained, "We might not need the barrior..."
"Wait! Are you telling me we can stay?" I asked,
"We need to see if being around Sora changes this, then we'll decide." Father said as my face lit up.
"Alright!" I cheered, "Then I'm gonna head back to the island and wait with Kairi!" I said,
"Take these with you." Mom handed me a pile of blankets, "It's cold tonight." She said with a smile, I quickly say good-bye and run back to the beach. I jump back into my boat and head to the island, I look at the sky, even though I wasted a fair amount of time it was still pretty dark.
"Kairi!" I yelled as I look over at her sitting on the beach with Mickey, Donald and Goofy, "Are they back?" I asked looking around, they all shake their heads, "Oh, well here," I tossed them all blankets, "Don't wana freeze." I said wrapping a blanket around myself and sitting next to Kairi,
"How's your mom?" she asked,
"Great!" I said cheerfully as I explain to all of them what happened,
"I'm really happy for you Sara," Mickey said, the sky was finally beginning to lighten the sun should rise in a few hours.
"Thanks," I said, "So what will you do now?" I asked
"Well, " Donald said looking at Mickey and Goofy, "We go home," ... I guess now that we defeated Xemnas the battle is over,
"What will you do Sara?" Goofy asked,
"If Father and I stay here, I'll start school," I said
"If you stay, will you teach me how to fight with the Keyblade?" Kairi asked,
"Yeah! Then we can spar with Sora and Riku!" I said happily,
"We'll definitely win!" She said as we both laugh, we continued talking as the sun completely rose.
"Sara! Kairi!" I hears Mom's voice as we both turn our heads to see her running up with a basket. I pull off my blanket and walk over to her, "Have they come back yet?" she asked,
"Not yet," I said
"Well, I don't know how long it's going to take but here's enough food to last you the entire day," She said handing me the basket,
"Thanks," I said with a smile,
"Oh, and Kairi, I let your Father know that you're ok!" She said, Kairi took off her blanket and walked up to us.
"Thank you ," Kairi said, "How have you been?"
"I'm a lot better now that I have Sara back and that I know Sora is on his way," Mom said with a large smile, "I leave it to you girls to bring them home, I've still gotta tell Riku's mom that he's ok." she said leaving,
"Hey, Kairi, why did you ask her how she's been?" I asked,
"I'm not the only one who has waited two years for Sora to return," Kairi said.. it never crossed my mind how much she must of been worrying about Sora... I wonder if Father was that worried about me?
"It musta been hard..." I said,
"Yeah, I visited her and Riku's mom whenever I could," Kairi said, we both turn around to see Mickey, Donald and Goofy sleeping,
"Should we wake them?" I asked,
"No, let's go walk around and pass some time Kairi suggested,
"Sounds good, there's something I wanted to check out anyway." I said, we begin to walk into the forest. It might be daytime now but I wanted to make sure there were no more heartless on the island. Everything felt exactly like when I was on the island with Sora and Riku, hunting down monsters and going on adventures.
"Sara, look!" Kairi said as we see a heartless hide behind a tree,
"Follow it!" I said as we run after it, I quickly take out my Keyblade as we spin around the tree, I take it out with one swing.
"You're so cool, Sara." Kairi said with a smile.
"Thanks," I said smiling back as the air becomes still and silent. We begin to look around, a slow change in the trees began to send chills down my spine.
"Does is seem darker to you?" Kairi asked, I simply nodded, the shadows around the tree's begin to move as countless heartless appear, "What do we do, Sara?" she said taking out her Keyblade, the heartless continued appearing, I could hold them off for a while but Kairi isn't ready to take on this many...
"Well... we run!" I yelled grabbing her hand and we both run for it, The heartless chase after us as we burst out of the forest, we run to the beach to see Mickey, Donald and Goofy still sleeping,
"Wake up!" I scream as all three jump from the surprise,
"Waa?" Donald yelled getting to his feet,
"What's wrong, Sara?" Mickey asked as I turned around to look at the heartless hoard charging at us.
"We got company!" I said as everyone takes out their weapons,
"There's so many, we can't take them all!" Kairi said, I look over at everyone, Mickey was beside me ready to fight with Donald next to him, Goofy was at the end half leaning against his shield... was he still sleeping?
"We don't have a choice. We're Keyblade bearer's, it's our job to protect the balance of light and darkness." I said pointing my Keyblade at the heartless, "Or die trying!" I run and begin fighting with everyone following my lead.
"Can I go back to bed now?" Goofy asked laying back down in the sand, it too al day to defeat all the heartless,
"I agree," Kairi said sitting down, I look up in the sky... the sun will set soon.
"I was kinda hoping Sora and Riku would show up in the nick of time to help us out." I said with a laugh.
"To bad that's not how it happened." Donald said sitting down next to Goofy,
"Yeah," I said as Mickey walked up to me.
"You dropped this Sara," Mickey said holding a Paopu fruit in his hand, it's the one Riku gave me in the Land of Dragons.
"I forgot I had this..." I said as Mickey hands it to me. Kairi walks up to the water and looks out, I walk over to her after placing the Paopu fruit in my pocket, "You alright?" I asked,
"Yeah," She said, "I was just thinking about a letter I wrote to Sora before I was taken by Axel," She said,
"What did it say?" I asked,
"It says...
Thinking of you, where ever you are.
We pray for our sorrow to end,
and hope our hearts will blend.
Now I will step forward to realize this wish.
And who knows:
Starting a new journey may not be so hard
or maybe it has already begun.
There are many worlds,
but they share the same sky-
One sky, one destiny,"
"That's beautiful," I said,
"Thanks, I thought writing that letter would help them find their way home..." Kairi said, just then, I felt two lights appear in the sky. I look up to see what looks like two blue stars falling from the sky.
"Kairi, look!" I said as she looks up and we both smile, the two blue lights crash into the water in front of us, Sora and Riku's heads pop up from the water, they look around.
"Sora! Riku!" Kairi and I yelled as they turn to look at us. We begun waving at them, they swim towards us as I run out, tripping on my way as I embrace Sora.
"Go to her." I said letting go, he continues running up to her, I turn my head to see Mickey, Donald and Goofy run up and jump with joy. Donald and Goofy tackle Sora and they all fall in the water and hug him tightly. Mickey runs up to Riku and hugs him, Sora sits up and Donald and Goofy give him another hug. They all look back at me and Smile, I smile back as they look at Kairi standing in front of Sora. He pulls something out of his back pocket, it's the wayfinder that Kairi gave him.
"W- Were back." Sora said to Kairi with a smile,
"You're home," Kairi said holding out her hand, Sora grasps her hand with the wayfinder in it. Kairi helps Sora to his feet, I look over at Riku and grab the Paopu fruit out of my pocket,
"Here," I said holding it out, "I held onto it for you, just like you asked," I said with a smile, he walks closer and grabs the Paopu fruit and looks at it... he drops it in the water, "Wha?" He lifts me up and throws me in the air and catches me before my feet touch the ground. Riku wraps his arms around my waist holding me up.
"That was the kind of welcome back I wanted," Riku said as I blush, he lifts me a little higher so my face is lined up with his.
"W-welcome back..." I said, he leans forward and kisses me, I wrap my arms around his neck, his lips were soft and warm
"Hey!" Sora yelled as we pull away and look at his and Kairi's blushing faces. Riku puts me down and we run up to them, "Let's go home," Sora said as I nod.
"We should be going home too..." Mickey said,
"Is this really it?" Sora asked,
"We'll never truly say good-bye!" Donald said,
"Then, see you soon!" I said,
"You all stay safe." Goofy said,
"See ya around," Riku said,
"Later..." Sora said as we all wave good-bye as they leave in the gummy ship. "Well, let's go." Sora said as we headed to the boats. We get back to the main island and all four of us walk up the street. Kairi's house was first as we waved good-bye as she headed inside, we continue walking until we arrive at Riku's house. He high-fives Sora and kisses me on the cheek. We wake to him as he walks inside. Sora grabs hold of my hand and pulls me as we run the rest of the way home. We stand in front of the house catching our breath slowly making our way towards the door.
"Are you ready?" Sora asked with as smile as he grabs the door knob.
"Yeah!" I said with a smile, Sora throws the door open as we run inside cheering...
"We're Home!"
The End