A/N: Chapter two, yay. ;D Thanks to everyone who read the first chapter. This is most likely going to be my last chapter for a week or more since I'm leaving in a couple of hours and Harry Potter is coming out, so I guess it depends on how long it takes me to finish the book, too. Heh. The more I read of the last part of that chapter, the more I like it; I rarely like something that I write so much. xD
MAJOR EDIT-About a year later, I've decided to change the spelling to Kera's name. xD Okay, not quite so major. It's Keira now... the normal way. :P
Disclaimer-I'd be rich if I owned Kingdom Hearts, you know.
After her talk with Elie, Stefa had been sure that she wasn't crazy, but after the day passed with nothing out of the normal, she wasn't so sure. She found out during her second free period that she had actually been right about Kate's boyfriend cheating on her, and so she spent most of that period trying to cheer up her friend. During this time, Elie mysteriously disappeared, and Stefa could not say that she blamed her; Kate was more of an acquired taste. Stefa only managed to study for real after she promised Kate that she would workout with her after school. That had been a bit of a mistake, too.
About a half an hour into working out, Kate received a call from Brian and just had to go to 'try and put things right between the two of them'. This led Stefa to believe that she probably would hear all kinds of juicy details on the bus tomorrow. Stefa herself stayed at the gym for about an hour afterward and went to change into her clothes around two o'clock. She exited the gym and stepped into the hallway, glad to take a breath of fresh air.
She stopped right before entering the hallway with the locker room when she spotted a little girl with dark hair crying. She looked about six, making her too old to go to the little preschool that was in the other building. At first, she was ready to dismiss it, but, as the girl continued to cry, she decided to do the right thing and approach her.
"What's wrong, honey?" She asked in the sweet voice she usually saved for Kath as she bent down so she was face to face with the little girl. The dark-haired girl looked up with an innocent expression, but that soon turned to a devilish one. Stefa stared at the girl in shock and backed off as the gates that they usually put down at night (to prevent trespassers from wandering the halls and stealing things) slammed down on all exits, leaving her to face the girl, "The hell?"
Stefa watched as the little girl reshaped into a strange white creature that walked as if it were made of gelatin, "A Nobody? Now I know I'm not going crazy." Sadly, the Dusk wasn't alone; several more Dusks dropped from the ceiling and joined their first one as it slowly walked toward Stefa in an odd, yet creepy, way.
Not knowing what to do, Stefa turned tail and ran; she threw herself at one of the gates and shook it. "Come on, come on!" She shouted, pulling at it. Wait. Hadn't she just left a gym with at least a few people in it? Where were they? Unless, of course, they were Dusks in disguise, too. Stefa turned around just in time to see one of the Nobodies stand upside down in midair and walk toward her, like it was walking on an invisible ceiling.
Just when she had been sure that she was a goner, her empty right hand suddenly felt heavy. She blinked and looked at her hand; she was holding a very familiar weapon. Shadow Heart had returned to help her. 'So this isn't a dream.' Stefa watched as the Nobodies stared at her. "Yeah, I bet you didn't expect this one." She growled, running forward, and striking at the nearest Dusk. After about three strikes, it was down.
While she attacked another one, a different Dusk circled her feet and then sprang up, striking her backward. "Ouch, that feels like whiplash." She mumbled, rubbing at her keyblade wielding arm, remembering, briefly, the first time a Dusk had ever attacked her. "Stupid." She recovered, running forward and destroying the remaining Dusks. When they were all gone, she rested her body against the wall as she panted. After a few minutes of deep breaths, she went up to the same gate as before and still found it stuck.
Angrily, she struck at the gate with Shadow Heart until she realized that it wasn't going to open. "And, of course, they don't have locks, damn." She muttered, pacing up and down the hallway like she was in a jail.
xxxxxx
"King Mickey, sir!" Chip squeaked as he and Dale entered Disney Castle's library.
The mouse king stared at the chipmunks as they jumped onto his desk, "What's wrong, fellas?"
"Several worlds have reported seeing Nobodies in their area!" Dale informed the King.
"Which worlds?"
Chip answered frantically, "The Radiant Garden, Twilight Town, Halloween Town, The Pride Lands, and, as you already knew, Jewel's Grove."
"It's a good thing that Jewel's Grove is taken care of, at least," sighed Mickey. "Fellas, you couldn't try to patch in Radiant Garden, could ya?"
The two chipmunks saluted, "Yes, sir! Right away, your Majesty." Without another word, they scurried out of the room.
King Mickey rubbed his forehead tiredly and sighed once again. "I guess the two years of peace is over with." He muttered as he pulled out a pen and paper from out of the desk.
xxxxxx
"This is insane," remarked a brown-haired man as he killed a Dusk with one swipe of his Gunblade. The newly restored Radiant Garden was under attack by Nobodies. Behind him, several more Dusks silently crept toward him, but they were instantly taken out as a giant shuriken swept through them. Its owner, a black-haired girl with a ninja headband, jumped off of a roof and ran forward to catch it. She had short black hair with a ninja headband covering her forehead. Her neck was donning a yellow scarf and she was wearing a short green tube tope that hooked to the back of the shirt with blue buckles and even shorter yellow shorts with a blue belt. Her arms were covered by long fishnet gloves and shorter orange ones. She had stockings that reached to her thighs and she was wearing brown boots.
The man turned to face the ninja girl and smiled his thanks. "Thanks, Yuffie."
She merely waved it off. "Anytime, Squall." A man stepped out from a large house nearby and only stopped outside of the door.
"Yuffie, Leon," the blond man called, "The King's wantin' to hear from ya." His goggles were pushed atop his head, and he was chewing on a piece of tobacco. He was wearing a white T-shirt with an overly large orange belt, puffy blue pants, grey socks, and black shoes. The other two nodded and headed into the house.
The house, despite what it looked like on the outside, was very large thanks to the wizard who lived there. In one corner of the room was a large computer screen that currently had the mouse king's face on it. Yuffie gave the pilot a reprimanding look as she entered the house.
"Wha'? I'm gonna quit," he replied to her glare.
The ninja waved her hand at him as Leon sat before the computer, "Yeah, yeah, sure. That's what you've been saying for years, Cid."
"Your Majesty, it's good to finally hear from you."
Mickey's smile seemed forced. "It's nice talkin' to ya again, Leon. I hear that you're havin' a bit of Nobody trouble there."
Leon nodded his head gravely. "Yeah, they're everywhere."
Yuffie came up behind him and pouted at the King. "We finally restored this world to its former glory and these stupid things are trying to ruin that."
"Several other worlds have reported having Nobodies, but I've got some other big news." Mickey announced with a true smile. Cid joined Yuffie and Leon by the computer to hear what he had to say.
xxxxxx
About an hour after Stefa had finally given up on lifting and attacking the gate, they opened. Well, one of them did, at least. The silver-haired boy from earlier looked around the corner and signaled that Stefa could leave now. She did not do so immediately, relishing in looking up at him, memories from her past flashing through her mind as she did so. With a relieved sigh, she quickly stood and joined him.
There was no mistaking his looks, for they were the exact same as they had been two years ago. However, he did not acknowledge her in the least. She knew that it had been a long time since she last properly saw him, and even longer since they had truly communicated with one another. Maybe he didn't know it was her? Stefa walked alongside him in silence for a few minutes before she found the courage to speak. "You haven't changed a bit, Riku." At first, Stefa was afraid that she was horribly mistaken because the boy didn't say anything for a little while. In fact, he acted like he hadn't heard her at all.
'Stupid, stupid, stupid. There are sometimes special cases where there are two people who look exactly alike and aren't related...' But, still, usually there was at least a small difference, and Stefa couldn't see one here.
Finally, after a few minutes of silent torture, the boy smirked, "Nice of you to have noticed, Stefa. I'd say you hadn't changed, but it seems you have." He spoke in his deep, familiar voice. "Your anger is still there, though," he added with his usual playful smirk.
Stefa smiled and threw her arms around the boy. "I missed you, you know," she muttered quietly. After a minute of hesitation, his arms grasped her and pulled her close to him. "We... never really got to say goodbye. Our last 'proper' conversation, if you even want to call it that, was at Aerith's funeral."
"I missed you a lot. I was so worried about you." She felt blood rush to her cheeks at his words, which deepened as she felt the soft brush of cheeks against the top of her head. "Before I take it upon myself to take you home, don't you still have to go to the locker room?" He asked, making her blush increase tenfold.
"Uhm, right, be right back." She entered the room that they had conveniently stopped outside of.
XxX
"Now since that's all said and done, why are you here? Not that I'm complaining," she added as they passed the familiar lake, heading in the direction of a red bridge.
Riku seemed hesitant in answering her. "Well..." He began, but he was cut off as someone shouted.
"Stefa!" The girl in question immediately smiled at the sound of the voice though she was, admittedly, surprised that it was the right name. A blonde girl wearing a white sun dress was running toward her and only stopped once she was about an inch away from the other girl's face. The two embraced tightly, Stefa still grinning like an idiot.
"Naminé, long time no see," she added casually as they released. "Am I to take it that everyone's here, then?"
Naminé shook her head, "Only everyone from the Islands. Well, excluding Axel; he had to stick back there, but he sends his greetings. It's been so long."
There was another shout, this time of, "Keira!" as a redhead stopped beside the girl in the sundress. "Nice hair," she added with a grin.
"Thanks." Stefa said, giggling. "My God, you two look amazing. And so tan! It must be nice living on an island."
"Well, at least you live by a lake." Naminé pointed out as two boys stopped behind the girls. The most that had changed about Roxas and Sora was that they had gotten quite a bit taller; they were seventeen, after all. They did, however, still wear their hair in the same spiked style and favored their old clothes from the previous time she had seen them.
Stefa was unable to stop her grin from growing larger. For the first time in a while, she felt normal and exhilarated, "Roxas, Sora! Jeez, you're taller."
"Still shorter than me," stated Riku with a wide smirk as the two boys scowled and the girls burst into laughter.
"Alright, now I know there's a reason you guys came here besides the fact that you missed me," said Stefa with a mock-pout, though the corners of her lips were steadily turning up at the corners.
The five of them exchanged glances before Roxas spoke. "Why don't you take us to your house and we'll explain?"
Hiding behind several nearby leafy trees was a man in a black coat. He watched as the teenagers crossed the bridge and disappeared. "Well, there's no way I'm even going to try to take six keyblade wielders alone." He muttered to himself as he scratched his head through his hood. "I guess I'll just have to wait until another opportune moment." The man sighed as he gazed at the lake. "Next time they come near the water should do the trick."
xxxxxx
"I'm starting to question the Superior's Judgment." A woman muttered quietly to her companion as they sat at a wide white table that looked like it was meant for meetings.
"Why would you ever do a thing like that, Larxene?" The man asked as he pulled down his hood to reveal pink hair. He was smirking.
"Who in their right mind would send Demyx to do anything alone? Scratch that, who in their right mind, would send Demyx to do anything period?" She asked as she, too, took down her hood to reveal blonde hair.
The pink haired man suggested, "Maybe the Superior wants to kill him off."
Larxene snorted, "Yeah, right, the Superior's going to kill off Demyx during the time that we need allies the most. Marluxia get real, please."
"What? It was just a thought," he replied as he leaned back in one of the white chairs.
A smirk crossed Larxene's face. "You just want him gone because you're jealous."
"What?" Marluxia exclaimed, his chair falling back on its four legs with a slam.
"You heard me," she said. "Let's face it, Marluxia. He may get picked on for being stupid and being from the druggie days, but a lot more people in the Organization like him over you."
Marluxia made a face, "Yeah, right. Where's your proof?"
Larxene stared at him hard in the eye. "Need I remind you about Luxord's poker night two weeks ago?" She asked, a sadistic grin twisting her features when Marluxia's face paled.
"Alright, alright, I understand."
xxxxxx
When Stefa dragged her old friends into her house, she realized that her aunt wasn't yet off work, Kath was still in school, and the rest of her family was either at work or out. "This sucks," she muttered under her breath as she led Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, and Naminé up two flights of stairs and down a hallway to her room.
"What does?" asked Roxas as they paused at the end of the hallway, waiting for Stefa to open the door.
She quickly looked back at him and grinned. "No one in my family believes me about what happened besides my little cousin, and here I am with my proof." The others laughed as Stefa finally opened the door and stepped inside. Her room was a decent size; the walls were purple and sponged blue. It was pretty messy, various things were collected on top of her desk, her bed, her night stand, her floor, and her closet was filled to the brim with more than just clothes. All in all, her floor wasn't too messy, just a little bit. At least the room was a decent size to fit six people.
Stefa sat in her computer chair, leaving Naminé and Kairi to take over the bed, and the boys to sit on the floor or on top of another piece of furniture. For a moment, she felt like she needed to pinch herself. She had never expected to see her friends again, and she had definitely never expected them to be in her room with her, two years later. "Alright, shoot. Why are you here?"
"The thing is, Stefa," Naminé began slowly, "We're not all that sure." Stefa gave her a quizzical look, leaving Sora to take over.
"What Naminé means is that King Mickey contacted us and wanted us to come here. All he said was that you were here, so we needed to be, too."
Riku remarked, "But there's no doubt about it that it has something to do with the Nobodies here." Stefa became quiet for a moment as she thought.
She finally spoke a few moments after in a softer tone. "You don't think that it has anything to do with me, do you? Like someone's after me or any of that?" The others took in what she was saying and dismissed it immediately, but not because it was a barbaric idea.
"Why would anyone bother with you if you've been living life as a normal girl for these past two years?" Roxas asked, shaking his head. "Maybe he just thought that we could help you control the Nobody problem."
They tried to contemplate this for a little longer, but they were stopped by a loud scream. "That's my cousin." Stefa did not think, jumped out of the chair, threw open her door, and ran downstairs. After a few moments, she was quickly joined by her friends as she stopped outside. On the front lawn twas a man with a black jacket holding Kath up by the neck. Shadow Heart materialized in Stefa's hand and, without a second thought, she ran forward at the guy holding her cousin hostage. "Leave her alone," she heard herself viciously growl.
"Whoa, whoa. Calm down, there." The man said in a highish, and vaguely familiar, voice. "I'm sure that we can make a deal."
Oathkeeper and Oblivion materialized into Roxas' hands. "Demyx!" Stefa was amazed at how the blond could identify the man with just his voice, but, then again, Roxas had been in the Organization for a while.
"Roxas, how nice to see you again," said Demyx as he pulled off his hood. His voice, unlike the usual, was cold when he spoke to Roxas; that was something Roxas had been sure the other blond could never pull off.
Chain of Memories materialized into Naminé's hand. "This is your all time low, Demyx."
"If the two of you remember correctly, us Nobodies do what we must to survive."
Stefa glared. "What does holding my cousin hostage have to do with your survival?"
Suddenly Demyx's face lit up as he turned toward her. "Well, she's the one way to lure you." He replied in a matter-of-fact voice that Roxas was also not use to hearing.
Still, Stefa was confused, and concerned, "Your point?" Demyx suddenly released Kath, who fled behind the safety of her older cousin's legs, and scratched the back of his head.
"Alright, I let her go. Now you can come with me." He said, pointing at her; Riku immediately stepped forward with Way to the Dawn and positioned himself between Demyx and Stefa.
Sora stepped beside him with Ultima Weapon. "That's not really how it works." Demyx's expression turned thoughtful for a minute before he snapped, summoning different types of Heartless and Nobodies alike. The group exchanged confused looks before Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, and Naminé ran to different corners of the yard to defeat the creatures.
Stefa bent down so she was crouching before her cousin. "Climb on, Kath, and hold on for dear life." The little one did as she was told, throwing her arms around her cousin's neck and locking her legs around Stefa's waist. Stefa choked a bit at the pressure on her throat, but she ran forward nonetheless, swinging at Heartless and Nobodies in what would have been a comical way had things not been so serious.
Suddenly, something tackled her from behind, throwing Kath off of her back and sending her to meet the concrete sidewalk. She winced as warm blood oozed from the cuts that had formed on her knees and arms, and, when she tried to get up, she found herself unable. Perched on top of her back was a Soldier Heartless. Three Shadows quickly joined it and she realized, too late, what was happening.
"Kath, get inside, now!" She shouted as loud as she could, despite the own fear she felt. Kath sent a fearful glance her way before disappearing inside of the house. Stefa looked for her keyblade, but realized that she must have released it when she was knocked down.
Before she could try to summon it back to her hand, she felt something strange. A claw stabbed through her back, and it hurt so badly that it was a numbing pain. Stefa screamed out as she felt the Shadow Heartless seize her heart...
Everyone turned at her scream, even Demyx. With an odd grin, the Nobody disappeared into a portal while the others stared in shock. Stefa's heart escaped through the bloody mess that was her chest, and it was easy to see why she was a special princess. Her heart literally did look like a broken one. It was half black with darkness and half pink with light. Riku ran forward in an attempt to do something, anything. "R-Riku," she stuttered before her body disappeared in golden light and her heart floated away toward the sky.
Kairi and Naminé stared, horrified, at the place where Stefa's body had just been. It was a bloody mess, and nothing more. Riku, out of anger, lashed out at the nearest Heartless, destroying them immediately. The girls felt their lips tremble and tears formed in their eyes. The last time Kairi had seen something like this had been when she woke up just to see Sora's body disappear. "W-what are we going to do?" Naminé whispered quietly as her knees trembled, bringing her to the ground. Roxas was by her side instantly, comforting her.
"So the Organization is back with their desperate attempts," sighed Sora as he stopped beside Kairi. "They just wanted Stefa's Nobody." The Heartless and Nobodies, sensing their win, disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving the teens alone.
The door to Stefa's house creaked open as Kath poked her head out. She slowly stepped out and looked around the front yard, seeing the unfamiliar strangers, but not her cousin. "Where's Stefa?" she asked in a quiet voice.
Kairi controlled herself and took a deep breath as she walked over to the girl and bent down so she was on Kath's level. "Honey, your cousin is..." But she trailed off as a look of recognition flickered across the seven-year-old's face.
"You're Kairi! Stefa told me all about you. Naminé, too! She said that you guys were really pretty, and princesses, too." She whispered all of a sudden, a huge smile on her face. Well, at least the girl knew them. It was the little girl's kindness that made it so difficult for Kairi to explain, "All you! She talked about him a lot!" added Kath at the sight of Riku.
Kairi managed a weak smile for only a moment. "Stefa told you all about her journey, right?" The little girl nodded her pig-tailed head. "Well, then, she probably told you about what happens when a person loses their heart."
Once again, the little girl nodded. "She said... she said..." Kath thought hard about the tales she had heard about a thousand times. "If a Heartless attacks a person, they lose their heart. And if a person loses a heart, they turn into a Heartless," she recited perfectly.
Roxas joined Kairi as he gently directed Naminé's trembling form. "And, when a person turns into a Heartless, they leave their bodies behind. Nobodies, like Naminé and I were." The little girl nodded at his words. It was vaguely funny how they had to explain and re-explain to adults what a Nobody was and how it was formed when this little girl understood it perfectly.
"But but but, I don't understand why you're saying this stuff," she muttered in a small voice. "Where did Stefa go? Oh." She fell silent as she put two and two together. "Did Stefa lose her heart because of me?"
"No, no! Not because of you." Kairi assured the girl as she hugged Kath to her chest. "It was an accident, that's what the bad man wanted."
Kath's lower lip trembled and her eyes teared up. "S-s-so, S-Stefy is a Heartless now?" she asked in a voice that was barely above a whisper; Kairi nodded solemnly. The little girl was quiet for a minute before she burst into noisy tears. Kairi herself could no longer hold herself together, and she cried along with the little girl who thought of her cousin as a goddess.
A/N: Sad chapter, right? D: Don't kill me. Things will turn out, you'll see... but not for another week. Heh. -gets ready to duck from all things thrown- I'm sorry about how short it was, but it's late and I'm tired. But I did want to get this out before I left. I owe it to y'all. Anyways, if you didn't read the last book even though I already said to, you should read it. xP I don't feel like running by what their individual keyblades that I made up looked like, so deal if you're confused. xD See you all in a week!