If we were Together: A year has passed since their separation, and Riku and Sora have grown both in size and in mentality. Sora slept in her chamber regaining her memories while Riku watched over her clouded in the gray spaces between light and darkness.
Author's Note: Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Reality likes to rear its ugly head and drag me away from my writing but since it's Christmas I figured it was time to give my readers a gift. Happy Holidays!
Chapter 12: Vincent's Scheme, Axel's Determination
The Master of all Evil had stooped to a new low. He stared at his adopted minions, who were no more than kids, and gave a grunt at the bag of pestilence beside them known as Oogie Boogie. "What the hell was I thinking appointing their help, This is worse than dealing with that oaf of a female Patty."
He stepped just outside the graveyard glancing around for inspiration to strike. He'd toyed with the idea of ruining Christmas town for it was all of the things he found most disdaining and irritatingly joyful. He supposed he could send Oogie Boogie off to cause a little distraction but what good would come of it… knowing that child Sora she'd probably protect Christmas with all her might more so than she would any other world. "Such a child."
No, he needed Sora for a more deeper purpose… he had to find a way to get under her skin somehow… just as he had with Riku beforehand. Riku had been the perfect pawn, up until he delved too deep and was swallowed up by his ex partner's dark essence. Sora he found could be more destructive with her naivety and slowly growing power. He just needed the leverage to do so.
He caught sight of them coming from the Hinterlands. They seemed to be following the obvious footprints left behind her childish associates. "Sora and her group are approaching, but it seems your master still needs rest. Take him into the darkness," he waved his arm opening a portal. "He'll need some more time to recover, I shall handle things from here."
Lock, Shock, and Barrel piled Oogie Boogie into the walking tub and wandered into the Dark Portal. Vincent in the meantime strolled casually up the curving hill his staff poised in his hand as his body glowed with brilliant flames. He couldn't hide the smug grin that came on his face a the sight of Sora's genuine look of shock.
"Well well well, what have we here." Vincent chuckled. "If it isn't Sora, and her little friends."
"Vincent! You're alive… what are you doing here?" Sora couldn't believe her eyes. The cruel sorcerer who had been responsible for Riku's encounter with the darkness stood in front of her as if their battle in Hallow Bastion never happened. Her blood ran cold and she fisted her hands on her keyblade ready to jump right into battle if necessary.
"Why am I here, you ask? Well I was looking forward to destroying that Christmas Town… but now that you're here I think a new plan is in order. Revenge before pleasure, after all."
Sora growled between her teeth and she ran forward raising her blade as she jumped ready to ram it over Vincent's head. He disappeared and reappeared behind her. "Oh put that silly thing away you stupid girl. I'm not talking about revenge on you."
"What?" She hesitated to put her blade down. Instead she lowered it. Her blue eyes sharpened on Vincent's face which had become calm and serious. "If not revenge on me… then who?"
"My former partner…" Vincent turned his back to her feeling confident. He strode down, Donald and Goofy raising their own weapons ready to fire at a moments notice. "Patty is a blundering fool, but she's reliable with current information. She's determined, I'll give her that. No matter how many times she makes an idiot out of herself she continues to rise back up and keep to her mission of creating the perfect heartless army for me." He gave a laugh. "I digress, Patty has informed me of this Organization 13 that has you running around the worlds."
"Yeah, that's true but what of it? Who is this former partner you're talking about?"
"He is the man that told me all about the Door to Darkness, and the princesses of heart. Before he came to my world I was but a simple Dark Fairy, spreading grief and despair to the blossoming kingdom that my rival King Stephen had created. However one day I came across a man who told me the true power of darkness, and how I could rule not just my world, but all worlds through the power known as Kingdom Hearts."
Sora's eyes narrowed and she finally let her blade completely lowered. She wanted to hear more of the story. "So your'e saying this guy is the one who started everything?"
"Yes, he's also the one who inhabited your friend Riku and completely immersed his heart in darkness."
Sora's eyes widened. "You mean Ansem? Ansem is the one you want revenge on? That's impossible, we defeated Ansem."
"You also defeated me child, and yet here I stand." He chuckled. "mmm no, he's still out there, planning and scheming. His mind and heart are all pure darkness and he will stop at nothing to achieve his ultimate goal."
Sora put fingers to her lips her eyes narrowing on the ground. She couldn't help but feel a bit torn. She didn't trust Vincent at all, but the words and story he was saying made sense. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Don't get the wrong idea. You and I are enemies, and we'll no doubt butt heads before your journey is through. However my goals are different than the one you call Ansem, and whatever he's planning is going to interfere in the long run. I merely want to say that while I know neither of us trusts the other, I believe sooner or later you're going to come across him… and," His aura flamed dark and sinister. "I will be there to get my share of his demise."
Sora's face faltered… any and all interest just got sucked out by his words. "in otehr words you want a piece of the action. Well you can forget it. I know how you deal with your adversaries. Mark my words, Vincent, if Ansem IS still out there I will defeat him, and then I'll be coming for you because nothing about your plans will keep the worlds in peace,"
"Tch, foolish child. You have no idea what you're dealing with! You think that keyblade and your pitiful friends are going to be enough to stop what he has in store?"
"Who knows… but unless you plan on changing your style and becoming good," which she highly doubted. "I don't see us ever being on the same side, revenge or not!"
"Fine then, you insolent little whelp. You'll rue the day you spurred my help!" His body coated in flames and like that he disappeared. Jack Skellington quickly ran into the gates his face distressed.
"Sora, we have to go. I just talked to Sally and she says that Oogie Boogie has kidnapped Sandy Claws!"
"Now Oogie Boogie is back?" She gave a heavy sigh rubbing her face. "This is ridiculous, everyone we've ever defeated is coming back. Why is that?"
"I wouldn't worry about it too much, Sora. It's like Master Yen Sid said, so long as there's Darkness in people's hearts there will be those who will upset the balance."
"I guess you're right… no matter we better go. Santa Claus needs our help!"
~Twilight Town~
Somehow he just knew she'd be here. Axel frowned from his place on the roof watching as Kairi interacted with Hayner and his crew. She just fit right in didn't she? As was the miracle of a Princess of Heart. Their light could spread to all worlds.
"Sickening, really." He gave a deep sigh and sat on his knees, he couldn't help but want to watch her more… seeing her so friendly and compatible reminded him the way Roxas had been before she returned to Sora.
Roxas…
He let out a small curse and held his mouth to choke back the snarling sounds wanting to escape. His anger was growing, as was his impatience. He needed to get Sora to come to him, so he could somehow turn her into a heartless again. Kairi was the key, since Riku was MIA. Their friendship would be his clencher, and he'd use it to his advantage.
His ears picked up Kairi's voice as she relayed the tale of how Sora had saved her from Vincent and the darkness.
"Who's Riku?" Hayner asked Kairi with a slight frown.
"Oh, he's our friend… well actually he's a bit more to Sora. You see Riku's been in love with Sora ever since they were kids, but Sora was a bit oblivious to it and always treated him like a good friend. I guess his impatience and need to be closer to her is what drove him to the Darkness in the first place." Kairi explained with an almost sad expression.
"I get it, but she's looking for him now, isn't she? Does that mean he's no longer in the darkness?"
"I don't know. I haven't seen either of them since we split ways a year ago. The last time I saw Riku he was trapped in the darkness unable to free himself from Ansems hold. I think Sora managed to save him, but when I last saw her..." Kairi held her heart remembering the look on Sora's face when they last saw each other in the World's end. "She was crying… I never got a chance to ask her why because we were separated again right afterward."
"What a sad story…" Olette comforted and put a hand on Kairi's shoulder.
"Hey, if you stick around Sora's bound to show up."
"Yeah, she promised to come back."
"Really?" Kairi's eyes lit up with warmth and happiness. "Okay, then I'll stay!"
"What took you so long Kairi?" Axel's voice suddenly cut through the warm moment. A door of darkness opened up and Axel stepped through his eyes staring her down. He'd waited long enough, it was time to remove her from this pretty picture.
"You've got a lot of guts jumping into the darkness like that."
He saw the startled looks of Hayner and the others and he made a huff. He pushed past them walking straight to Kairi. His hand closed over her arm. "Let's go."
"Let go of me! No, let go!" Kairi pulled against his weight trying her hardest to make herself as much of a deadweight as possible. The others could only look on in wonder and horror as her, the stranger, and Pluto all disappear into the darkness and the door closing.
"Kairi! Aww man who was that guy?" Hayner punched the wall, and rubbed his sore hand afterward.
"This all seems so surreal." Pence touched the wall where the door had opened. "I don't recall anything like this happening before."
"Yeah, it seems like ever since Sora showed up all these weird things keep happening. Figures in white, haunted mansions, dark holes, mysterious cloaked figures. It's all messed up!" Hayner agreed.
"I don't know, but we've gotta find Sora and tell her what's happened." Olette rationalized. "Maybe she'll have a better idea of what's going on."
"Maybe she's already back in town. Let's go see. We'll all split up and check a different part of town!" Hayner turned and ran off. "I'll go check the mansion!"
"Okay, I'll check the station and stay there in case she comes off the train."
"Good idea, I guess I'll take the sandlot then!" Pence ran after Hayner taking his own path.
~The Darkness~
"Why are you doing this?" Kairi demanded struggling still as Axel kept a firm grip on her. "What are you going to do to Sora?"
Axel stalled and slowly turned around to eye Kairi. His eyes were sharp and angry. "You've got a heart, don't you Kairi?"
"Well, yeah, of course I do."
"It must be nice… having emotions like that. Being able to feel so certain and follow that heart no matter where it takes you." He slowly let her go and turned around to face her. "You'll never know what it's like to know emptiness."
"What's that supposed to mean? Who or what are you?"
"The name's Axel, got it memorized? I'm a member of Organization XIII and a nobody."
"A nobody?" Kairi questioned. "Yes, we nobodies don't have hearts, we were never meant to exist. So there's always this emptiness inside we cannot 's why our superior has taken an interest in Kingdom Hearts, it's to make us whole."
"If that's true, then what do you need me for?"
"Truth be told we nobodies of the Organization are a little different than the dusks. We remember what it's like… but i never put much faith in those feelings… until I lost them."
"Huh?" This guy was confusing her. He seemed so conflicted in his reasonings. Like he knew he didn't have a heart or emotions, but something was tugging at him telling him it was all wrong and he did too have a heart.
"Roxas… she was a nobody who was also part of the organization. We were… close, very close to each other. With her around I never felt empty… I felt complete." Axel fisted his hands at his side. "However she was stolen from me, Sora took her away from me. I WILL HAVE HER BACK!"
"Axel!"
Axel's furious eyes faded to worry as he whirled around spotting Saix blocking the way out. "Saix!"
"Enough of this foolishness. This was not the assignment you were given." He walked forward calmly and roughly took Kairi's shoulder pulling her away from Axel. "Shall I report this to the Superior?"
"Do what you want, I no longer care about the Organization's mission. There's only one thing I want." Axel closed his eyes resisting the urge to hold his chest. He swore he could feel it twisting.
"The one thing you want is a ridiculous notion. What you're searching for is long gone, and the feelings you claim to have are nothing but an illusion. You should get over it and move on." He pulls Kairi with him as he turns to leave.
"Where are you taking Kairi? I need her."
"I'm afraid I can't let you have her. However if you'll be a good boy and come with me I'll maybe let you share a cell while we figure out the proper punishment for your betrayal."
He hesitated, his eyes popping open and he looked between Saix and Kairi. Letting out a small curse he turned tail and ran leaving Kairi in the clutches of the Organization. "Damn it!"
~Christmas Town~
Sora finished opening the gate to a new world, unlocked by the Santa costume that Sally had prepared for Jack. While Jack's obsession with Christmas ebbed, and his Halloween personality came back full swing it still made Sora smile at how jack had found such fascination and wonder in Christmas, and could understand why he had wanted to be a part of it so badly.
Christmas was saved, Santa was saved, and the next gate was opened. "We better get going." Sora turned to Santa with a cute smile.
"Before you go, I believe there's a friend of yours who-" Santa gave a little chuckle, "if I recall correctly, told you there wasn't a Santa Claus."
Sora's face went bright red with embarassment and she scratched her cheek letting out a nervous laugh. "Oh, eh heh, yeah he did say that."
"Be sure to give him my very best wishes." Santa said with a smile.
"I will, but," her voice and face saddened and she stepped forward with just a little hope. "Do you know where I can even find Riku?"
"No," he admitted not liking the saddened expression on the young girls face. "Don't give up hope though. Remember Sora, if you believe in Riku, I am sure you will find him, just as you found me."
Sora's disappointed face lifted and her smile returned. She pulled her braid forward taking hold of the charm in her hair and clasping it tight. "Right! Thank you, Santa!"
She turned around walking up the Yuletide hill and back towards the Gummi Ship. "I just gotta believe in you." She sighed softly "I do believe in you, Riku, and I know I'll see you soon!"
~Hallow Bastion~
Vincent strut around the ruins of the castle, pacing back and forth his anger venting high. He had to find a way to get that girl to cooperate with him. He didn't want to be a tagging shadow just to find his quarry. "Bah, this is foolish." He whirled around and walked to the window staring out at the town below. "Things are too peaceful as they are… these organization members don't know anything about true Darkness. They're all imbeciles." Vincent's grin went sly. "I think it's about time I rose a little chaos of my own."
Next Chapter: The True Ansem?!