Disclaimer: Honest, I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Just this story, people, that's all…(And I wish I could say Roxas was mine too…)
Chain of Hearts, Chapter 9:
Radiant Garden (part 3)
By Nagori Kirashi
Hey, just thought I'd type up one of my own random thoughts, everyone—I think it goes pretty well with Kingdom Hearts, anyway; "If you wait for destiny to tell you what to do, you'll be cursed by your own destiny, which will only be to wait." Pretty deep, huh…?
-,-,-,-
Sora felt almost sad as he watched Riku take the seat in the Gummi Ship that was to his right; the same seat that Sora could always look at and see Roxas smile back at him from. Now he felt a different kind of comfort when he turned and his best friend Riku was smiling back, but it just wasn't enough to make Sora forget about his other half.
He had never felt so torn in his life.
"Hey, okay, now that we're safe," Hayner said, looking at Riku, "…how did you get here, and sorry if this is rude, but…Who are you?"
Sora flinched in surprise, realizing for the first time that Riku and Hayner hadn't met.
"Hey, I'm Riku," said the tall teenager quietly yet firmly as he held out his hand. "I live on Destiny Islands with Sora. And you are…?"
"Hayner," he replied, taking Riku's hand.
Suddenly Riku pulled his hand back, looking at Hayner strangely. In the same slightly monotone voice, he asked after a moment, "You're from Twilight Town, aren't you?"
"Yeah, how'd you guess?" Hayner asked him with a smile.
'I didn't guess,' Riku thought in his head warily. Out loud, he changed his expression back to normal and replied, "Lucky shot."
Riku had felt something strange about Hayner. Something not real. The only thing he could think of was Twilight Town, which he had heard stories from Sora about that there was an alternate version of. Riku had put the pieces together just that quickly. Hayner didn't feel right to him, and the only town he could think of that could explain it was the one Sora had spoken of.
Not only did Hayner not feel real, but he could feel darkness inside of him, giving life to what Riku thought would normally be unable to exist on its own.
"Say, so…What happened to Roxas again?" Goofy asked from the back seat. "We were in such a hurry to get out of that there place that I didn't even have time to ask, uh…hy-uck."
"Yeah, come to think of it…" a small cricket-like figure popped out of Sora's hood randomly, holding onto the tip of his hat for a moment just to straighten it. "I don't remember anything that happened either."
"Jiminy, Goofy," Donald said in his duck-like voice, reaching over and hitting the one much-larger companion in the elbow with his staff firmly. "Don't you think you could at least wait until we get there? Sora has to drive, ya know!"
"No," they heard Sora say softly, even as the ship began to lift in the air much more quietly than Leon's ship could ever manage. "I can talk about it now."
The ship lurched forward suddenly. Hayner found himself incredibly jealous of Riku, whom he had the feeling had never ridden a Gummy Ship before but looked as if he were taking to it just fine.
"So, what happened to him, then?" asked an almost-irritating voice behind Sora. "He didn't…?"
"Roxas turned on us."
Sora gripped the steering controls tightly with both hands after he spoke, and he forced himself to concentrate on the path ahead of them twice as hard as usual, as if this would keep his mind from filling with the endless thoughts pertaining to what had just happened at the last world they'd visited.
"Oh, gawrsh!" Goofy exclaimed, then turned to Donald. "Didn't King Mickey warn us about this?"
"He sure did, Goofy…"
"Will you guys quit it?!" Hayner turned and nearly yelled at them. "…Sora's upset."
Sure enough, even as their friend steered the ship around a large obstacle, Riku leaned forward and could see that Sora looked close to tears.
But if Riku knew his friend at all, he was sure that any minute Sora's sadness would turn into that same determination that had earned him the Keyblade before the tears would even have a chance to form.
"Aw, we're sorry, Sora," Donald said, translating the look on Riku's face into what must have been Sora's own. "We didn't mean to hurt you…"
"It's not your fault," Sora said firmly, and all were quiet for a long moment. They could see a flurry of obstacles and dangerous enemy ships ahead, so they decided it best to leave Sora to just steer their ship for now.
They would talk when they reached the Radient Garden.
-,-,-
Roxas walked up to Axel, and Axel turned, nearly falling over in shock, especially when he noticed what Roxas was wearing. Had he been able to feel emotions at the moment, he was sure he would have been dancing for joy.
"Roxas!!" he exclaimed excitedly.
"Axel, hey." Roxas spoke to him like a casual friend, though his face looked as if he meant otherwise. Despite it, both hit eachother's fists as a sign they were partners again.
"Next time you turn on the Organization, then, will you listen to me?" Axel asked him.
"Of course not," Roxas said, and when their eyes met, he said, "Not like there'll even be a next time."
"I should be glad to hear that," Axel said, though he had to look away and rub his neck casually as he spoke. Vexen was standing in the distance, his head turned slightly as he glared at the two with a look meant to kill.
'The rebels,' Vexen thought to himself. 'The rebels are back; Saïx had better get this over with soon.'
"So," Axel said to Roxas, then asked, "What'd Saïx say when you talked to him?" Several Dusks bounced off the wall inches away from his head, though he didn't seem to notice.
Roxas looked away, then turned back to his friend and said, "I have a job to do. He's sending me in the castle first."
"What…?" Axel said, a worried expression forming slightly on his face. "By yourself?"
"Just me and my Nobodies," Roxas said almost smugly. His tone was confident, and his posture suggested that it would be no problem. "See you in one hour, then."
"Alright," Axel said, still nervous as he watched the Number Thirteen walk off. As he did, Roxas waved his hand, and suddenly enough Samurai appeared to crowd the streets even without the help of the countless other Nobodies that were already there. The tall, sleek creatures marched lethally after Roxas, who kept his back to them trustingly as he walked along. The rest of the white creatures still in the street did their best to move out of the way as the army of limber Samurai and their restored leader approached the Castle That Never Was.
-,-,-
Sora leapt from the ship first, then ran out of the same building that had been the birthplace of their Gummi Ship. The others watched hopelessly as he sprinted far ahead, finally stopping and waiting for them almost a street away.
"Wow, wait for your friends for once, geez," Riku teased as he caught up slowly with Donald, Goofy, and Hayner.
"Yeah, eh, sorry," Sora said, shrugging while pretending to scratch one ear. Together they all completed the short walk through the Radiant Garden formerly known as Hallow Bastion until they got to the place where Leon, Yuffie, Cloud, Cid, Aerith, and possibly even Tifa and Kairi could be found.
When they opened the door, they were greeted by all of those people.
"Riku!" Kairi gasped when Riku walked in first. Then, as Sora came in, along with Donald and Goofy, she gasped again and exclaimed their names as well. Only Hayner was left out of her stunned reaction, and he got a mopey expression on his face that he had not been welcomed with as much gratitude.
"Kairi!" Sora went over to Kairi, and both hugged. Riku stood aside, watching them as if lost in his own thoughts. Cid turned from his computer, gave a typical wave to them as they entered, and went back to chewing on his straw and typing countless numbers into the system for a reason that most of them couldn't imagine.
Suddenly Kairi pushed him away gently and asked, "Wait, where's Roxas?"
"I was wondering the same myself," Leon said, coming over to Sora. "I doubt that he's Roxas, anyway, unless he grew a foot taller and changed his name. Along with a few other major details," he added, glancing at Riku up and down. Sora noticed that both Riku and Leon were nearly of the same height, unlike Sora, who would have been the shortest one there if it weren't for Donald and Kairi.
"Welcome to the Radiant Garden," Cloud said, coming over and taking Riku's hand for a quick, professional shake. "I'm Cloud. This is Leon, by the way, and over there is Cid."
"Don't forget us," one particularly bubbly girl said before she added, "I'm Yuffie."
"Aerith," said the quietest one.
"And Tifa," added the last girl whose personality seemed to clash somewhere between Yuffie's and Aerith's.
"I'm…Riku," the newcomer replied at last, as if hesitating before he gave them his name.
"So, now that we all know eachother," Tifa said, coming over to join the group in the middle of the room, "…what did happen to Roxas?"
Sora sighed, and silence being the native tongue of Leon, he too sighed and rubbed his chin.
"I had a feeling this would happen," he told them, bowing his head in thought. "After all, you can't change what you are. And he's just one of Them."
"Roxas is no different than I am," Sora defended loudly, and it seemed everyone stopped breathing as he continued in the same loud voice. "I don't care what organization, or what realm, or what ever he's from; he's still a part of me, and he's also one of my best friends. I'm not going to turn against him now just because he made the same mistake first."
"…Sora," Yuffie said quietly.
"I won't!" Sora finished, staring Yuffie down with his lower lip jutted out stubbornly. Even Kairi took a silent step backwards.
"Aw, Sora," he could hear Jiminy say gently from his shoulder. "It's alright, I'm pretty sure we all understand, but after all, Roxas is still…"
"He's gone with them bad guys now," Goofy said, the room still quiet enough for him to have heard Jiminy. "We gotta get rid of them before we can do anything about Roxas."
"I don't see how," Riku said honestly. "Roxas was half of Sora's backbone."
"I guess that's one way of putting it," Sora said to himself quietly, now glaring diagonally at the floor to avoid as much of the others' faces as possible.
"I've got it," Cloud said, stepping forward. "Sora."
"Yeah?" Sora replied, looking up at Cloud while the furious look on his face faded.
The taller blonde could tell that there was indeed something missing from Sora's eyes.
"…I'll take you on," he said finally, causing Sora to jolt. "And don't give me that look; there's not a single person here who doesn't honestly believe that you could take me just fine on one of your normal days after all of what you've been through. I want to see what you can do now—now that your power is cut in half."
"But…" Sora looked around and met eyes with each of the others, looking for some way out. Half of him said he didn't want to fight Cloud because he was afraid of what he might do to his friend; the other half of him was worried about what Cloud might do to him instead.
But Cloud was right. Sora wasn't the one who should be worried, unless he did lose, in which case they all had to worry.
It was time to see what Sora could do running on half his will-power.
-,-,-
"Attack!!"
Roxas stood just in the entrance of the Castle That Never Was, pointing the hoards of Samurai Nobodies onward while he stood in place. The Samurai all bound and leapt around him limberly while they entered the castle, as if Roxas were a rock in the middle of a fast flowing current. Each Samurai immediately destroyed any Heartless that was unlucky enough to get in its way.
"What's this?" demanded Maleficent as she descended into the room out of nowhere. "Has the Organization returned already? Don't tell me I have to call in that boy to finish you all off again! I had a feeling you might have returned."
"Change of plans," Roxas yelled to her calmly, and after a moment, he grinned casually and said, "I am that boy. Or half of him, you might say."
"What?!" Maleficent cried, then replaced her expression with a look of fury as she raised her staff and declared; "Fine, I don't need you or that annoying pest to finish off you scum! How dare you enter my castle in the first place!"
As she raised her staff, dozens upon dozens of Heartless appeared of all shapes, sizes, and elements. In barely moments it seemed as if the castle was filled with uncountable numbers of the shadowy creatures.
But they were still no match for the dawning army.
"How dare you call it yours," Roxas sneered sarcastically, then waved his hand in the air next to him as if shooing a fly. His own army of Nobodies nearly doubled in size. The walls, now mostly black and replaced with the Heartless symbol wherever a Nobody symbol had once been, were filled with the echoes of swords clashing and the stamping of Heartless feet. So far, not a single one of his own white creatures had been vanquished, whereas the dark witch before him had lost nearly a tenth of her army in just seconds.
"Fool, fool!" she cried, surrounding herself with green fire that ate several of Roxas' Samurai alive. He watched this in alarm, and suddenly his two Keyblades appeared in his hands.
"If that's the way you want it," he said, then leapt at her.
-,-,-
Sora and Cloud Strife stood facing eachother on the same cliff that Sora, Roxas, and Hayner had fallen off of during their encounter with Zexion not so long ago. Everyone was present at the sideline except, of course, Roxas; all of their friends, including Riku, Kairi, Hayner, Donald and Goofy, Leon, Aerith, Tifa, and even Cid were all cheering for them both while Sora gripped his Kingdom Keyblade tensely. Poor Jiminy had also chosen to sit this one out with Donald and Goofy, deciding it never hurt to be safe.
Sora could already feel sweat on his face as if he had been fighting for some time, yet Cloud stood calmly poised with his massive Buster Blade in hand, waiting for the signal to start.
At last Leon took a step forward from the group and raised his hand, and all were silent. Leon held a torn strip of white cloth in his hand, which he would wave downwards when it was time for the match to begin. The frayed cloth wavered with the breeze silently as he held it, and Cloud and Sora's eyes were locked tensely.
"…Go!"
Sora and Cloud leapt at eachother, their weapons instantly locking. Sora leaned his weight against the heavy weapon as hard as he could, his feet skidding backwards only slightly before he spun in a large downward circle, sending Cloud backwards and nearly twisting his weapon from his grip.
The young brunette was instantly on his feet, running towards his opponent who had somehow already nearly recovered.
"Woo-hoo, go Sora!" Kairi nearly exploded with excited cheers after watching the one she cared for most make his first move. She was louder than any of them there.
'A head start, alright!' Sora thought thankfully, then leapt in the air towards Cloud at an amazing speed while making a spin in midair with the Keyblade held out.
Yet he had the wind knocked out of him suddenly as he felt a thick, heavy object strike his Keyblade, knocking it against Sora hard enough to at least leave a bruise and send both Sora and his faithful weapon tumbling towards the edge of the cliff.
He rolled to a stop just in time, then noticed he had dropped the Keyblade nearby as he fell. It took longer than usual for it to return to Sora's hand, and that was when he really began to worry.
Kairi had buried her face in Riku's arm when Sora had taken the hit, and finally she looked up with a fearful gleam in her eyes. Sora struggled to his feet, then stood ready for Cloud's next attack.
"Is that all you've got?" Cloud dared Sora in his dauntingly-calm voice, already on his feet and crouching down with his weapon up. Cloud didn't move; he was waiting for Sora to be the one to move in.
And so he did.
"I'll show you what I've got," Sora said, running towards Cloud, then using Strike Raid to hurl the Keyblade at him. Cloud blocked most of the attack, but he was still struck on one arm, wincing as it hit him. The Keyblade literally seemed to shoot itself back at an amazing speed towards Sora, who caught it while still running and used the momentum to help hurl himself in a huge circle that would have been strong enough, it seemed, to cut both Cloud and his Buster Blade in two. Instead Cloud blocked it with the end of his weapon as he tumbled out of the way.
Those on the sideline broke out in loud cheering at the string of maneuvers.
"C'mon, Cloud!" Tifa yelled loudly, jumping up and down slightly.
"You can do it, Sora, we know ya can!" Goofy yelled in contrast.
Yet Sora felt suddenly slow, and it seemed to take him a second or two to regain his balance after his last move. When he did finally, he swung the Keyblade to one side, and metal clashed against metal. It became a test of strength as both waited for the other to give in to their own weapon.
Suddenly Sora's eyes grew wide as he noticed Cloud's eyes narrow, and before he knew it he was sent backwards onto the ground again, his Keyblade lying next to him. Grabbing the Keyblade as he lay on his back, he held it in front of him with one foot flat on the ground and the other foot still lying in front of him. He was leaning forward slightly just so he could see Cloud coming, were he to take advantage of this moment to attack.
"One more chance," Cloud warned, this time running towards Sora with the Buster Blade pointed forward as he gripped it next to his side. Panicked by what Cloud had said about chances, Sora took advantage of a sudden burst of inspiration and used the Keyblade itself to propel himself not only off of the ground but over Cloud's head, where he attacked with a frantic display of aerial moves.
Cloud winced and held the Buster Blade above his head, narrowly missing Sora's face, and when Sora landed at last, he did a backwards dodge-roll, then suddenly lunged forward. Cloud swung his entire body around, and he met the attack from a somewhat backwards perspective so that he was standing with his back partly to Sora. Cloud's blade was restraining Sora from moving or counterattacking, when suddenly the brunette noticed Cloud sliding his long weapon down the Keyblade towards the hilt, towards him.
"I don't think so," Sora said, straining more than usual as he suddenly drew a circle with the tip of his weapon, forcing the end of Cloud's sword onto the ground. He stepped on it, and as he held his foot down hard on the sword he was able to lift his Keyblade and strike his enemy. The older opponent was sent stumbling backwards when, Sora noticed, he seemed to stall. Sora was grateful for a moment, using the pause to catch his breath.
Finally, in a second too fast for the crowd to comprehend, Sora and Cloud's blades struck again.
This was the final move, it seemed to Sora, and by the way Cloud slowly let down the strength that was keeping Sora at bay, it became clear to the rest of them as well. Suspicious of whether or not Cloud might be testing him, Sora still stood ready.
Their eyes met for a moment.
Suddenly, with a furious battle cry, Cloud swung his sword around his head and towards Sora, who was barely able to block it. The short opponent was still knocked backwards, where he awaited once more for Cloud to attack him.
But he didn't move.
"If I'd attacked you when I wanted to," the older one said in a clear voice, now gripping his weapon in one hand as he stared down at Sora, "you would probably be dead right now. I'm done here."
They were all silent, including Sora as Cloud slid his Buster Blade into its hilt and marched like a retired war veteran to where the group stood in a line. He walked past them without saying more than a sentence to Kairi, which Sora couldn't hear.
Sora crawled onto his feet slowly, still holding the Keyblade as if he were a small child and it was his mother's hand. At last he let it disappear from his grasp as he walked over to the group in silence, hanging his head in shame.
"It's okay," Hayner said to him softly. "You and Rox—" He seemed to hesitate before he continued. "…Roxas helped me get stronger, and look at me now. We can help you get better again, too."
"Thanks but no thanks," Sora said, shrugging away Hayner's hand before he even placed it on Sora's shoulder. "I'm going to see if Donald's uncle still makes Sea Salt Ice Cream here. Because I really need one right about now."
"Aw, I'm sure he does," Donald said cheerfully. "You know Uncle Scrooge, he doesn't give up. He's probably got his own shop started now."
"Can I come?" Kairi asked, taking Sora's arm. He looked at her, and from the way she gazed back at him, Sora knew without a doubt that it didn't matter whether Sora never won another fight again; she would always be by his side cheering him on.
"Sure," he said, suddenly smiling at her. So together, the group walked back towards the main part of town, Sora ahead of the group and feeling like he had won after all, thanks to Kairi as they both smiled at eachother and walked along by eachothers' side.
-,-,-
Roxas made sure to hold out the fight and make it last for a long time. He was enjoying his own ruthless yet subtle fighting style, dodging in and out of range, performing suicidal combos and defying gravity itself at times. Maleficent relied mostly on her magic and speed, but Roxas showed her that agility, strength, and magic were only enough to make a person severely limited in this battle.
At last, when his inner instincts had told him that an hour had passed, he began to finish it.
By the time Saïx, followed by the rest of the Organization had come in, they were standing in front of Roxas as he used his foot to pin Maleficent to the floor by her neck.
"S-surely we can compromise with something," she stuttered sweetly. He wasn't fooled, and the flat heel of his black boot grinded in harder, gagging her slightly.
"How about not?" he asked her derisively. Not a single Heartless was left standing in the area, and every now and then when one would appear from another world, still thinking the entire castle was nothing but a safe-haven for Heartless, it was instantly overwhelmed by at least five or six Samurai at once.
Saïx began to clap slowly, and the Superior's claps echoed eerily around the hollow castle, bouncing off the heads of thousands of still-standing Nobodies who were watching them in a trance.
Roxas looked up at Saïx, not lifting his Keyblades or removing his foot from his victim's neck
"Bravo, Roxas," Saïx cooed, and Roxas' eyes narrowed as if this were an insult.
"I'm not done yet," was all he said. "Then again, an hour is enough of my life to waste, so I'll let you have the honors." While he spoke, Roxas' eyes met with Axel's gaze. The pyro looked away almost guiltily.
Roxas stepped back, leaving Maleficent to lie on the ground and gasp for breath, while in the meantime a horrifying grin appeared on the Seventh Member's face. Saïx's eyes began to glow almost red as his claymore weapon materialized.
"My pleasure," Saïx said, lifting the brutal-looking weapon above Maleficent.
-,-,-
Later in the Radiant Garden, all of them were sitting inside of their usual house, each one licking contentedly on their ice cream except for Cid, who had already finished his and was typing on his computer like mad. Cloud had also finished his and was chewing on the wooden ice cream stick.
At last Sora sighed, and Leon said to them, "Sora, it's time; we have to figure out what to do about that other side of yours."
"Yeah," Sora agreed reluctantly. "But what do we do, then? We don't even know where he is."
"I have a feeling you already know, but I also know some help we could call in anyway," Yuffie said cheerfully. "Just to make sure."
"Um, yeah, that would be nice," Sora agreed, nodding at her quite slowly with raised eyebrows as though trying to make his sarcasm as obvious as possible. Hayner stifled a small laugh.
"Aerith, Tifa," Yuffie said, turning to the other two girls. The three moved in closer together, then talked in quiet voices, and the only sound besides their soft whispers became the soft ruffle of clothing as several of them turned and tried to listen and a soft drip as Hayner's ice cream melted slowly onto the floor.
At last the three girls turned.
"We're going to go get him, we'll be right back," Tifa said.
Cid stood from what he was doing, then stated, "I'd better come with. Y'know, that ol' geezer's prob'ly screwing up Ansem's 'puter, and if he does, it's meh who's gonna have ta fix it. Poor Tron's gonna have a breakdown if that wizard's not careful."
"Ansem's computer?" Sora said, brightening slightly. "Tron? And a wizard…so you mean Merlin is fixing Tron?"
"Naw, that'd be my job," Cid confirmed, pointing at himself with his thumb as he opened the door. "But there's a bunch of stuff not ev'n Tron can get at, so we was thinkin' maybe Merlin could use 'is magic and give 'im a hand."
"I'm coming with, then!" Sora said, running towards the door. Kairi, who had been clinging gently to Sora's arm, was forced to let go, but received a delighted surprise as Sora ran back to her and kissed her on the cheek before disappearing outside for good this time. Donald and Goofy were close behind, both sniggering to themselves after Sora had ran back for the kiss.
"Hey, wait for us!" Yuffie yelled, running after the group with Tifa and Aerith close behind. Riku laughed for some reason, then grabbed Kairi's hand and led her along. Kairi, to Riku's surprise, picked up her speed tremendously, sprinting gracefully ahead so she could catch up with Sora.
Soon Leon and Cloud were left alone, and neither even looked at the door as the others had left. Both now bowed their heads in silence as they stood leaning against the wall next to eachother, chewing on their ice cream sticks until finally Leon said without turning, "Should we go?"
"Probably," Cloud replied in an equally resonant voice, also not turning.
After several more moments of silence both finally stood from leaning against the wall, and they strode casually after the group that was now far ahead of them.
-,-,-
"Blasted, confounded—!!" Merlin banged on the keyboard.
"Ow, stop that!" cried an electronic voice as Sora and the others ran in. Merlin flinched when he saw the large group.
"Well, hello," greeted the old wizard casually, smiling at them as if nothing were wrong. Cid eyed him distastefully.
"What're you doing to Tron?" Sora asked suspiciously.
"Sora?" Tron said, recognizing the User's voice. "Tell him to quit it."
"Knock
it off," Sora said to Merlin.
"Well I wasn't doing
anything,"
Merlin replied stubbornly, pushing up his glasses. "Now, I see
everyone's here, even you, young missy! What a pleasant surprise."
Kairi blushed.
"So, is there anything you need?" Merlin asked them, and Donald, Goofy, and Sora nodded. Hayner was too busy exploring the small room to pay any attention, and when he'd gone over to a humongous, strange-looking red lens on the wall, Leon grabbed Hayner by the arm and whispered for him to settle down. Hayner was next to blush noticeably in embarrassment as he nodded.
"We need help finding a…a sort of friend of mine," Sora said to Merlin, gesturing a shrug with one hand as he paused in-between his sentence. Behind him, Aerith was holding onto one of Cloud's arms, while Tifa held the other one. Cloud didn't seem to mind at all.
"And just what do you expect me to do about it?!" Merlin said, lifting his arms as he turned back to the computer screen. He muttered something to himself and pressed a few keys, and Tron yelled at him again. Merlin turned back to Sora and added, "I'm a busy wizard these days; I can't just help anyone who asks for it, you know."
"You really expect me to believe that?" Sora said, putting his hands on his hips and raising an eyebrow smugly.
"…Oh, alright, so you want me to help you find Roxas," the wizard shrugged. "Where to start, where to…"
"Hey, wait—!" Sora and even Riku jumped. "How'd you know his name?!"
"Oh dear, did I say that out loud…?" Merlin asked mostly to himself, then changed the subject as if this were nothing new. At last—to what Sora imagined must have been Tron's relief—Merlin stepped away from the keyboard and turned to the group. "Now, now, come along, Sora, there's more room in here." The wizard motioned towards the office in Ansem's study, and Sora followed, along with his closest friends. The rest, including most of those who were from the Radiant Garden, remained in the small computer room, watching Cid as he tried to fix the damage that Merlin had ended up causing. Leon wandered into the study after a moment to see Merlin conjuring up an orb the size of a volleyball that glowed with a lilac haze and showed the same image no matter what perspective one stared at it from.
"Do you recognize this place, Sora?" Merlin asked him, holding his hands around an invisible border several inches away from the orb itself.
"Yeah," Sora said quietly. "This is the World That Never Was."
The place they stared into was dark, with tall empty scyscrapers that were lit up by neon lights once they reached street-level. All of them except for Leon and Merlin watched with a growing familiarity inside as the orb showed them through the streets, moving fast at first, then slowing down the closer it got to its destination. The streets, darker than Sora had ever remembered them being, were filled in every direction with different kinds of Nobodies, all of which he had faced the likes of, but never in such a large quantity.
Suddenly they were staring inside the castle at a simply uncomprehendable amount of Samurai Nobodies that all stood watching something. As the orb drew them closer, they could see what it was.
Someone that Sora knew as Saïx was holding his weapon above another old enemy of theirs. The rest of the Organization was there, and none of their faces showed any emotion on them other than the same grave expression, excluding Saïx, who had a somewhat hungry gleam in his eye. Sora spotted Roxas, watching as he stood by with the other Organization XIII members while Saïx drove the weapon downward. A sharp scream-like cry was heard.
Kairi gasped sharply and buried her face in Sora's sleeve. Despite Maleficent being a sworn enemy of Sora and even Riku, Kairi just wasn't accustomed to seeing death first-hand, and all Sora could do was glare down at the orb while he put an arm around Kairi to comfort her.
"Is that still Roxas?" Leon said, pointing closely at the orb towards the shortest of the Organization members. The blue-eyed blonde who was dressed in black like those around him was staring down at what was left of Maleficent as if she were nothing, and after she finally disappeared, he along with all the rest turned to Saïx, who yelled out commands to them.
Leon didn't really need an answer, nor would Sora have needed to reply even if Leon had. They could hear Saïx turn to Roxas as the other Organization XIII members left and say, "Roxas, get rid of some of these things. There's too many here right now; I don't care what you do with them, but I want them gone."
"Got it," they heard Roxas reply with a short nod. They watched in awe as Roxas waved his hand and most of the Samurai Nobodies disappeared instantly.
"Where d'you think they all went?" Kairi asked quietly, still clinging to Sora's sleeve.
"Back wherever they came from," Leon replied. "Scattered among different worlds."
Roxas now had his back to them in the image, and suddenly they saw him glance over his shoulder at them sharply. It was as if he were glaring straight at them, and Sora felt so in particular. Just as he did, the orb began to glow at an immense intensity, causing them to yell and fall backwards, covering their eyes.
Then the image was black.
"How'd he…?" Riku began from the floor, rubbing his stunned eyes. It had happened so fast. "What just…?"
"Well I'll be," Merlin said as he sat up and closed his hands around the orb, slowly causing it to disappear.
"What is it?" Leon asked, sitting up. "Did Roxas do that?"
"I'm afraid so," Merlin answered through his silky white beard, looking down distinctly at Sora.
"…What?" the brunette asked, squinting one eye slightly as he stared back. "How could he do something like that…?"
"I guess you learn something new every day, huh?" Leon commented wryly, hiding much of his own awe as he rubbed one cheek distractedly.
"Yeah, I guess so," Sora agreed, then turned to Riku. "So do you think that's who opened the door to light last time when we beat Xemnas? Was it Roxas?"
Riku thought about this for a moment, then shrugged.
"I don't know, Sora, I still think it was your heart," the older boy said. "But since Roxas is connected to your heart, maybe he did have something to do with it."
"Aw, now my head is starting to hurt," complained Donald.
"We've got a lot we're up against," Leon said. "And this just proved it."
"Thanks for reminding me," Sora said. It was then that Sora vowed to himself that, were he to face Roxas face to face, he would not be the one to destroy his own other side. Either he would somehow convince his other side to do the right thing, or…
"Hey, if we're going to the World That Never Was," Riku said, nudging Sora from his thoughts just in time, "then we have a lot of work to do. We found that out earlier."
"I'm not so sure," Leon cut in positively. "Maybe if Sora is closer to where Roxas is, they might be just that more connected, so—"
"We can't risk it," Riku said plainly. "These aren't any children we're up against, no matter how much they act like it. These are elites, and we can't be anything short of what they are if we plan on taking on their army."
"Let's let Sora decide," Goofy compromised. Donald agreed and added, "So, then, what d'ya say, huh, Sora?"
The Keyblade master was quiet for a moment, then looked up and shook his head. He was desperate to see Roxas again, but he couldn't let his dreams override his instincts, which told him to stay.
"I'd take my chances," Sora told them, adding seriously, "but Riku's right. We have work to do, and then we can go."
"Will you really be leaving that soon?" Kairi asked Sora suddenly, leaning up close to him. The others in the room couldn't hear the soft replies that took place back and forth between them, but finally the two touched lips, and Donald in particular covered his eyes.
"Hey, it's no big deal," Riku defended for his friend with a grin. He couldn't help himself; Kairi and Sora were adorable together, no matter how much it did hurt ever. Not to mention Riku felt as if it weren't himself who deserved Kairi most. The one who really deserved Kairi, he thought, was the same one who had fought through worlds and risked his life nearly every day for her against even Riku himself: Sora.
"D'you guys think I'm almost ready, then?" Hayner asked. He had a smile on his young face as he pulled out his knife and sliced it through the air.
"Oh, you're definitely getting up there, quite quickly if I do say so myself," said Merlin. He cackled quietly. "Now, now, just be careful with that thing."
"Sorry," Hayner said, grinning after realizing he had nearly taken off part of Merlin's hat. The old wizard grinned back at Hayner, then walked silently out of the room.
"…Okay, then we should get started," Riku said at last. "We'll stay as long as it takes."
"The longer we wait, the stronger their army gets," Leon said a bit too loudly. "Might as well get it over with. Sora's got more chance than anyone else I know, and I don't care what Cloud says. I may not be there when it happens, but I still know at least in my mind that Sora's good enough to take them single-handedly."
"That makes one person, anyway," Sora almost mumbled.
"What's going on in here?" Yuffie asked innocently, coming in after hearing Leon nearly yell. "Is something wrong?"
"We're going to be training here for a little while before we leave," Sora told her, causing the normally optimistic girl to frown for some reason. "We don't think we're ready yet, so we'll be working hard here for a little while."
"Are you sure Leon isn't right?" Yuffie said, making Leon realize how loud he had spoken. "Maybe it is better to get it over with."
"Training may not be as hard as the real thing anyway," Riku said, "but it shouldn't take us that long, and it can't hurt, even if it doesn't help much. Alright, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Hayner, are you guys ready to start our training? I'm sure there's a good place around here somewhere that we can find to work up our stats a bit."
"So you're comin' with too?" Donald asked him.
"Of course," Riku replied with an amused tone. "You think I'd just leave Sora by himself? And there's no way I'm missing out on any of this."
"That sounds more reasonable," Sora said with a smile. "For you, anyway."
"Oh yeah?" Riku said, still smiling. The two exchanged a friendly punch.
Aerith came in soon after, just in time to see the five leaving to go start training.
"You're going?" she asked in her usual quiet tone. "So soon? Aren't you still tired from earlier?"
"Don't worry, you can bet your life we'll be back in no time," Sora told her.
"I don't think I have much choice," the quiet girl replied. Not catching onto what she meant, Sora, along with Donald, Goofy, Riku, Hayner, and Leon as their guide all made their way out of the small area.
As they left, Aerith turned to Yuffie and said, "This is one bet I hope I don't lose."
"Mm-hmm," Yuffie agreed solemnly, then went back to join Cid and Cloud as they continued to fix the mayhem that Merlin had created.
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