End of Eternity
Chapter 4
Reacting immediately, Namine supported Sora to stop him from staggering. "Why? Why have you lost so much of your memories?!"
Sluggishly, Sora lifted up his head to look at Namine's face. Her blue eyes were so pretty. Although right then, they were filled with confusion and fright. "May be this is-" he stopped in mid-sentence, wincing at the pain in his chest.
Sensing the approaching presence of darkness, Riku scanned the surrounding area warily. Heartlesses began to appear around them, occupying the empty beach. The heartlesses moved towards them, as if they were attracted to their presence. "It's not safe here, we have to leave!" Riku told Namine. He gave Kairi to her care and carried Sora. The heartlesses followed them gingerly. They were slow to start with. But, within moments, Riku and Namine were forced into a half run.
The gummi ship was waiting for them back at the pier. They didn't wait until the hatch fully opened before jumping inside. A couple of bookmasters followed them onboard. With his keyblade, Riku knocked them back out before the hatch closed completely.
Donald and Goofy were bewildered when they saw Namine and Sora. "Riku, what happened to-"
"Take off, NOW!" Riku ordered, making them jump in surprise. They started the engine obediently as they were told.
"Riku, what about the people on the island?" Namine asked.
Riku grimaced. Leaving his hometown while it was infested by heartlesses and nobdies was against his will. But he knew that staying there wouldn't be the wisest choice. "The heartlesses and nobodies are not attacking them. They shouldn't be in any immediate danger at the moment," he replied. "How's Sora?"
Namine sat Sora upright so he was in a comfortable position. "He fell asleep. He looked very tired," she said, brushing away several strands of brown hair on his face that were out of place.
Riku watched Sora's sleeping form. His expression was so peaceful when he was asleep. "Namine, you said Sora lost his memories, what is that about? You mean he has forgotten something important?" Riku asked.
"No, we don't ever truly forget things. We don't remember certain memories sometimes because new memories overlap them, making them hard to recall," Namine explained, looking at Sora's sleeping face. "Memories make up the heart. It should be impossible to lose memories. Yet large chunks of Sora's memories have been taken away as if they were taken away by force. I don't understand how this can happen."
"Is there anything you can do about it?" Riku asked, frowning deeply.
Namine lowered her head sadly. "It's true that I can manipulate existing memories and create fake memories. But Sora is missing very important memories that were deeply rooted in his heart. That is why he is so sick right now. Even if I were to help by putting fake memories in his heart, it would take a long time and it wouldn't be sufficient to help him much. If he loses all his memories…" she closed her eyes and opened them again. "His heart will be destroyed. Just like what Marluxia wanted me to do in Castle Oblivion."
"Namine, do you know anything about the maintainers?" Riku asked. Then he told Namine about what happened in Beast's Castle and Wonderland.
"I haven't heard of them. But the man who took Kairi's heart…before he ran off, he said "sorry" to me," said Namine. She turned to Riku with a worried face. "Riku, do you think Sora would betray us?"
"Actually, I asked Mickey the same question," Riku said, looking at her and Sora. "I don't believe Sora would do anything to harm us. Sora is still Sora."
Namine smiled at him. Suddenly, she cringed and held her head. "Don't worry, it's just a headache," Namine told Riku.
Riku studied her face. "Not just a headache. There is a voice in your head telling you to destroy the heartless, isn't there?"
Namine gasped. "How did you know, Riku?"
Riku's guess confirmed his suspicion. Something was sending messages to the heartlesses and nobodies to fight each other. Apparently Namine was able resist it, but the lower level nobodies couldn't. He had a feeling that everything happening around them was somehow connected: the berserk heartlesses and nobodies, the pain Sora was experiencing, and the maintainers.
Without warning, a great force hit the ship, throwing Riku and Namine off their feet.
"The heartlesses are still following us!" Donald yelled. Riku could see a group of heartlesses chasing after them like angry wasps from the rear window. Whatever that hit the ship moments before must have been their doing.
"They're after me," Namine said anxiously.
"Turn around and shoot them!" Riku told Donald and Goofy as he ran over to join them at the cockpit.
"Hold on tight!" As soon as Goofy said that, they span around quickly, throwing a few loose objects inside the ship flying. Some of the heartlesses were slamming themselves against the vessel, others shot at them from a distance. Goofy had to fly the ship around, flipping and turning continuously to avoid getting hit. Riku and Donald were firing at all that were within range. In the midst of battle, a huge explosion hit their ears and shook the ship viciously for a few seconds. The ship shook viciously as the sound of a huge explosion hit their ears. The ship shuddered for a few seconds before stabilising.
"One of the heartless caused an explosion to the engine! We've lost one of the two engines we have!" Goofy reported on the damage.
While Goofy was reporting, he was unaware that a heartless was directly in front of them, preparing to shoot out a deadly beam. "Watch out!" Riku shouted, grabbing the navigation control from Goofy. The ship hurled upwards abruptly, escaping narrowly. Everyone was relieved when they found it out that was the last heartless.
"I thought we were done for," Donald said with a sigh, wiping the sweat on his forehead. "We can't fly far with only one engine. What should we do?" He turned to look at Riku.
"Riku…" Namine said softly, looking at Riku as well.
Realising that they were all waiting for him to say something, Riku ran a hand through his silver hair, trying to think straight. Although no one was hurt, the ship had tilted to the side with the remaining engine. He had doubts whether it was still safe to fly. Taking a glance outside, he was surprise by what he saw. They had come to another world without realising. It was the desert world – Agrabah. No one objected to Riku's suggestion to land to check on the gummi ship. The flight was shaky but somehow it managed to pull through.
Once landed, Riku and Goofy went to check on the gummi ship's damaged parts. The engine was completely gone. The lower body of the ship was darkened and burnt by the explosion. When the ship needed repair in the past, Chip and Dale were usually there to fix it. But right now, the little technicians were with King Mickey. There weren't any spare parts and neither Riku nor Goofy knew enough to be able to fix the ship.
"How is the ship?" Namine asked hopefully when the two returned from the inspection. Her face fell when Riku shook his head.
"I'm going to the town to see if anyone can help," said Riku, though he wasn't optimistic about the chance of finding anyone with the knowledge of how to fix it. Donald suggested they find Aladdin first so they could ask Genie for help. Goofy said they should check to see if Jasmine was ok. Riku intended to go to into town by himself. But Donald and Goofy insisted to go into town with him in case he ran into the maintainers. Namine stayed behind on the ship to look after Sora and Kairi.
They had come to Agrabah at the busiest time. The bazaar was pack with shoppers. As they walked past the stalls, merchants tried to sell them all sorts of things. Donald and Goofy busily turned down the offers. Riku ignored the merchants completely. For some reason, he noticed there were more palace guards on the streets than usual. They asked around, but nobody seemed to have any idea about gummi ships.
Eventually, they arrived at Aladdin's house. The place had little furniture. All the things Aladdin had were things he collected from other people's unwanted pile. There wasn't anyone home. Not even the magic carpet was there. Just when they were about to leave, Aladdin returned home puffing and panting.
"Donald! Goofy!" Aladdin exclaimed when he saw the two. He was still wearing the same clothes as he had the last time Donald and Goofy saw him. Sitting on his shoulder was Abu the monkey. "What brought you here today?"
"Our gummi ship broke down and we're looking for genie to help. Why do you seem to be in such a hurry?" Goofy asked.
"Jasmine has gone missing," Aladdin sighed heavily. Riku, Donald and Goofy could tell he was very worried. "Everyone in the palace is looking for her. I came back to see if she had come here, but it doesn't look it," he explained, his shoulder slumped in disappointment. Riku figured that explained the number of palace guards on patrol. "And about Genie, it's bad news for you, I'm afraid. He went travelling again and hasn't come back yet."
"We'll help you look for her," Goofy offered. While they were on their way to the palace, they heard their names being called. "Riku, Donald, Goofy!" Namine ran to them panting. "Sora's gone! He woke up and then ran off when he realised we are in this world. I went after him but lost him in the crowd."
"That idiot Sora," Riku said through gritted teeth. That was the last thing he needed. The group split up to look for Sora and Jasmine separately. Aladdin and Abu went to search in the inner streets. Donald and Goofy returned to the bazaar. Riku and Namine headed for the palace.
When Riku and Namine arrived at the front of the palace, they spotted Sora revealing another floating gem with his keyblade. It looked exactly the same as the one Riku saw in Wonderland.
Just when Riku was about to call out to Sora, someone else beat him to it. "Sora!" A feminine voice called out. Sora looked up. Above the sand-colour palace wall stood the blue-hair maintainer, Zenith. She jumped down, landing right between Sora and the floating gem.
Anyone could tell she was from a foreign world just by looking at her outfit. But as the Cheshire cat said, she was a pretty person. "I've finally found you," said Zenith, her voice clear and calm.
Sora backed away slightly. "You're…a maintainer?" he asked with an alarmed expression on his face. "You're the one who stole Kairi's heart?"
Zenith nodded solemnly. "Sora, don't destroy any more of the seals. Nothing will change no matter what you do."
Sora scowled. "What are you trying to do with the princesses' hearts?"
"You have been to the other side of the door in front of Kingdom Hearts, haven't you?" Zenith said, speaking slowly. "Light needs darkness. Darkness requires light. They exist in parallel. The princesses of light have no darkness in their hearts. The seals have no light within them. For each of the seals you destroy, you are throwing the world out of balance more so."
"What?" Sora asked, appeared to be taken aback by the news. He grunted at another seizure in his heart.
Zenith looked at him pitifully. "It's for your own good. The seals protect themselves by taking away your memories. You won't be able to get to the last seal in this state," she said.
"I need to put an end to this endless cycle of heartless and nobody. I just have to," said Sora, his cerulean eyes filled with pain.
"It's not that simple, Sora," said Zenith. "The world is used to the presence of the seals. They have become part of the world. You can't just destroy them. Please give up."
"What if I say I don't want to?" Sora asked. He straightened himself as the seizure eased.
Zenith put a protective hand over the floating seal. "In that case," her eyes narrowed. "I'll have to kill you."
Riku and Namine were watching them from the side. Neither of them was able to fully comprehend the situation. Without another word, Sora dashed forward with his keyblade and tried to get past Zenith to the seal.
To Sora's surprise, Zenith jumped away. "Flare," she said. In a blink of an eye, a huge ball of red energy formed in midair. It expanded rapidly, changing the original fire red colour to become orange and then turned golden.
"Get down!" Riku pulled Namine down to the ground. They braced their heads just as the ball of energy exploded, releasing powerful energy waves to its surrounding. When Riku looked up again, one side of the palace wall was completely demolished, revealing the inner structures inside the palace. The garden was burnt to ashes. It reminded Riku of the ruins in Wonderland, where they found Alice, Donald and Goofy. Zenith used the same flare magic back there. It was unlike the ones he saw Sora and Donald use. The seal, which was on the other side, was unaffected. Sora stood a fair distance away from the seal and Zenith. He appeared to have avoided a direct hit by the magic. Watching his opponent, Sora moved cautiously.
Namine shook Riku's arm. "Riku, aren't you going to do anything?" she asked desperately.
Although he did not show it on his face, Riku was feeling confused and lost too. "What can we do? We still don't understand what is going on. Who is right and who is wrong? Sora? Or the maintainer? What if they're both right, or both wrong?"
"But…"
"Blizzaga!" Sora called, directing the magic at Zenith.
"Reflega," Zenith countered, summoning an arc-shaped barrier before her. It reflected the blizzaga magic back at Sora, who barely rolled out of its path in time.
Unfortunately, he didn't realise Zenith had executed a demi spell next to him. Sora grunted as he felt his energy drain out of him, making his limbs feel weak. Knowing that he couldn't use magic on her again, Sora watched her carefully. He waited until he saw a small opening. Then, he threw a spinning keyblade at her. The maintainer called forth the protect magic, minimising the damage. Sora used this opportunity to head for the seal.
From where she stood, Namine cried out loud. "Sora, you can't destroy it! If you lose any more of your memories – you'll die!"
Sora turned to look at Namine for a second. Namine was stunned when his eyes told her that he knew he was risking his life. The slight hesitation cost him dearly. As soon as Zenith recovered, she cast the next magic spell. "Flare!" she said, directing the magic to Sora. Seeing it coming, Sora dived out of the way immediately. It wasn't quick enough. He screamed in pain as the magic burnt his body. Sora collapsed on the ground.
Moaning, Sora tried to get up; but his legs refused to move. His body was hurting all over.
"Why can't you just leave the world the way it is, Sora?" Zenith asked, standing over him. Her expression was sad.
"SORA!!!" Riku yelled. It didn't matter what Sora was doing anymore. He just couldn't watch his best friend get killed in front of his eyes.
For a moment, Riku thought he was seeing things. Sora suddenly sprung up andswang his keyblade at the Zenith at a speed faster than he could see. Taken by surprise, she didn't move away in time. Sora was still lying on the ground, barely able to move. The Sora standing wasn't holding onto one, but two keyblades. They were the beautiful white Oathkeeper and mesmerising black Oblivion.
"You are…" Zenith's eyes widened. She didn't even notice she was cut.
On the far side, Namine called. "Roxas!"
Author's note: Finally, chapter 4. This chapter should clear out a few questions that have been building up since chapter 1. I actually wrote half of this chapter with chapter 3, but didn't like how it was so I scraped it entirely and rewrote it.
I would also like to give credits to the beta reader of this fanfic. Without him, I wouldn't notice places where I could improve on. Thank you for staying up until midnight to check my writing for me even though you have assignments. You know who you are, thank you very, very much.
Readers, please review!