Chapter 4: It's Because We're Friends!

Time of Day: ?
Weather: Foggy
Place: The Velvet Room

"Why hello there… Welcome to the Velvet Room," Igor greets me.

"You did an excellent job utilizing the power of the Wild Card," Margaret critiques me. "Quite impressive. I'm glad to see my faith in you has not been misplaced." A tarot card appears in blue light and lands on the closed book in her hand. Margaret opens the book and I see a picture of Yuffie and the card. "In due time, I have no doubt you will master the power of your newly formed bond, the Chariot Arcana." Margaret closes her book and looks up at me. "I must admit, I'm rather curious to see how this power will shape your future."

"Until then, we will enjoy watching your journey," Igor tells me

Everything around me melts into the fog outside.

April 18, 2015
Time of Day: ?
Weather: Foggy
Place: Mirror World- Namine's Castle

"PERSONA"

Tomoe Gozen and Izanagi slash through the Heartless in front of us. Twilight Thorn uses spiked lashes to attack Heartless from a distance. Donald stays back, warning us about any strong Heartless coming our way.

Yuffie, Roxas, and I are all fighting fiercely, but Yuffie her Persona Tomoe were the most fierce. At one point Tomoe was knocked back, causing Yuffie to fly back as well and making her glasses fall off. She got up, put her yellow aviators back on, and started became even more determined to fight the Heartless attacking us.

"Yuffie I know that you're fully recovered and you want to save Namine, but don't overexert yourself," I warn her. "If we find Namine with her Heartless, we don't know what we'll have to face!"

"I know, I know!" Yuffie tells me. "But you got one thing wrong, Sora."

"What'd I get wrong?"

"I don't want to save Namine, I need to save her." Yuffie commands Tomoe to attack using her shuriken to attack the hordes of Heartless in front of us. In doing so, she clears the hallway we were in.

At the end of the hallway is a large white door. It's like the door leading into where we fought Yuffie's Heartless, except any designs on it were red. We opened the door, and it's completely white inside. It was reminiscent to the entrance hall to a fancy mansion. There were thick golden pillars on the sides, white pedestals with light blue orbs that lit up the room, and a large staircase with a red carpet. On the ceiling were chandeliers that were lit with blue fire.

"Oh, my Prince Charmings have finally arrived!"

At the top of the stairs there was a white throne, and sitting on it was Namine in a white princess gown.

"Namine!" Yuffie starts to run toward her.

Roxas and I hold her back. "Yuffie, that's not her! Remember, that's the one in the Reflection!" I warn her.

"Oh, are you looking for her?" A spotlight shows up and focuses on a birdcage suspended by a chain. Inside was Namine in a white kimono, with her back against on of the bars.

Yuffie's face filled with shock. "Namine! Namine, it's us!"

Namine turns around. Her face is full of despair, but her eyes glimmered with hope once she saw us.

"You see, I've learned something Yuffie. After so long depending on you being my prince to save me, you let me down."

"What do you mean?" Yuffie asks the Heartless.

"I needed you. I was stuck at that stupid inn all the time, and you didn't even think of coming to bring me to another place."

"But I thought you needed to help your family there!" Yuffie yelled at Namine. She looked at us and tried to say something but no words came out. It must be from the fatigue of being in this world for so long.

"I wanted to go away with you, someplace far from that wretched town! But now I know that I don't need you!" At that moment a chandelier started to fall above Yuffie. I ran towards her to get her out of the way but then at that moment, Margaret in the Velvet Room appeared again.

"Dear guest, thanks entirely to this new bond you have made, you can now summon Personas that of the Chariot Arcana. These Personas are known for their overall strength and power."

The scene with Margaret then went away. I'm back in the castle, knocking Yuffie out of the way of the chandelier. Right before it crushes me, I summon a new Persona.

"Feral Defender!" A large and buff knight in armor appears, replacing Izanagi. It has an oversized shield with a demonic dog face on it. What's odd was that the shield seemed to be growling. Defender raises its shield, and knocks the chandelier away from us to the other side of the room, harming no one

"God that hurt…" The Defender may have stopped the chandelier, but that doesn't mean I still didn't feel any pain.

"Are you okay?" Roxas asks.

"Roxas, you know how this works. I practically just stopped a giant chandelier with my body. So yeah, I'm just great…"

"Yuffie doesn't care… She won't take me away." The Heartless starts to talk again.

"Stop it already, that's enough!" Namine screamed. She must have regained some power to scream at her Heartless like that.

"Historical inn? Innkeeper training? I'm absolutely sick of all of it! I didn't want to be born here, a place where everything has been decided for me! I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!"

"No! Be quiet, none of this is true! Just please stop it!" Namine begs.

"I've been waiting so long, just for someone to bring me far away. I'm tired of waiting for so long, I need to be freed now!"

"Please… I'm begging, just stop!" Namine hugs her legs and put her head on her knees.

"An old tradition? Pride of the town? None of those mean anything to me! For all I care, the whole place could burn down, and I wouldn't even care!"

"No! Just stop it! You're not…" Namine struggles to stand up in her cage.

"No, Nami! Please don't say it!" Yuffie warns her.

But Namine didn't hear Yuffie's warning. "You're a liar! You aren't me!"

Heartless Namine started to laugh maniacally. Darkness starts to surround Namine's Heartless, engulfing it entirely. From that darkness emerges the true form of the monster.

Once the darkness disperses, out of it appears a giant white bird with huge wings, in a cage too small for the wings to fit inside it. The bird has a long neck and instead of a beak, it has a face similar to Namine. It even had the same pale blonde hair like hers too. The cage was suspended by a chain on the ceiling and under it was a large chandelier with blue flames on its candles

"Now do me a favor and BURN!" The Heartless sent globes of blue fire at us.

"Izanagi!" Izanagi comes out and uses the Keyblade to block them "Donald, stay back and tell us when it becomes weak!"

"Got it Sora!" Donald replies.

"Go! Tomoe Gozen!" Tomoe threw her shuriken, but was sent back from the pure force of the fireballs' explosions.

"So you guys are actually going to fight me? Well in that case, don't expect to leave alive and unburnt!" The Heartless flapped its wings, sending feathers toward us. The feathers then spontaneously combusted into large blue flames. The fire spread everywhere, creating large walls of fire and engulfing nearly the entire room in blue flames.

"Go, Twilight Thorn!" Thorn sent out its black and white thorn tendrils to the Heartless. They thorns started to spin around, making a black and white twister. "Time for the cherry on top!" At that moment Thorn and a blue and purple orb of energy appeared in Thorns hands. He then threw it at the twister making it explode, But no damage was made. "Seriously? Nothing!"

"Izanagi!" Izanagi used lightning to attack the Heartless. "Dammit…" My attack barely did anything either.

"I'm coming for you Namine!" Yuffie started to run over to her, but she and Tomoe were knocked back by a chandelier.

"Too bad. I thought Yuffie would save me. But, she didn't. She wasn't my prince at all! I waited FOR SO!" Giant pillars of blue flames started to grow around the cage. "VERY! LONG!" The fire then started to redirect itself to us.

"Red Nocturne!" Izanagi shatters into blue shards, and then is quickly replaced by the small red creature.

"You're right, maybe Yuffie wasn't your Prince, but is it really all that important!" I started to tell both the Heartless and Namine.

"What?!"

"Yuffie came all this way to risk her life to save Namine! Roxas and I came here to help her! That's good enough prove that she really does care! What more could she have done!"

"I… I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" The Heartless spread its wings and tendrils of blue fire grew from the candles. The fire in the room started to become more intense, making it that the only things that weren't engulfed in fire was the carpet we were standing on.

"Yuffie… Please… Just leave…" Namine hugs her legs in fear.

"Namine." Yuffie starts to walk toward Namine's cage. "I won't leave you here. Not now, not ever!" Yuffie's hand formed a fist. "Listen… I have to tell you something. Something very important." Namine looks directly toward Yuffie. "The truth is… I've always been jealous of you!" Namine's eyes become wider. "You had everything Nami. I had nothing. That's why I loved that you depended on me. I had something you didn't have. I liked believing I needed to be there to protect you. It gave me a purpose."

"Exactly! I can't do anything on my own!" The Heartless screamed.

"That's not true!" Yuffie yelled. "You're one of the strongest people I know Namine! You work at the inn and deal with schoolwork! You're even able to deal with Roxas!"

"Hey!" Roxas yells.

"Roxas, shut up. This is a heart to heart conversation," I tell him.

"You want to escape, do it! You can escape that cage whenever you wanted to! Leave there and go wherever you want! You gotta listen to me! I know you can do this!"

"No you're wrong Yuffie!" Namine started to sob. "I can't do anything! I am just a caged bird! One told just to look pretty and know its place! I need someone else to set me free…"

"SO WHAT?!" Yuffie interrupted. "You were scared! There were parts of me I don't want to acknowledge, things I didn't want to know! They don't matter anymore! Listen, we'll always be there for you! That's a promise! Because… Because you're my best friend!"

"NO! SHUT UP! I SAID STOP!" The fire around us grew so large that soot started to fall from the burning ceilings.

Namine's eyes become wider. "Actually… Why… Why was I so afraid of again?" Namine asked herself. Her expression then turned fierce. "I have everything… That I ever need!" At that, Namine pushed on her cage and shattered it. She landed in front of Yuffie and then went to hug her.

"NO! SHUT UP! STOP TALKING YOU PIECE OF-" The Heartless was cut off by Izanagi slashing her with the Keyblade.

"Guys! The Heartless is growing weak now!" Donald yelled.

"You know what that means!" Roxas yells at me.

"Hell yeah! Keep on going Red!" Jack then went to spitting fire at the Heartless, distracting it and making it fly up.

"Thorn! Bash her up!" Roxas told his Persona. Thorn then jumped up and started to punch the Heartless, sending it back toward the ground.

"Yuffie, You're up!" I told her.

"Go! Tomoe Gozen!" Tomoe threw her shuriken at the Heartless, hitting it right in the chest. Tomoe then jumped up, grabbed her shuriken, and started slashing the bird repeatedly. "FINAL BLOW!" Tomoe then kicked the Heartless into the ceiling, causing it to explode into white feathers and black smoke. The human form of the Heartless then appeared in front of Namine.

Namine stares longingly into her doppelganger's golden eyes. "Listen… I'm sorry I didn't acknowledge your existence up until now." Namine grabbed her Heartless' hand. "I did want to escape and leave the town. I did want a Prince Charming to save me, because I thought I was so helpless." She hugged her copy. "You are a part of me."

The Heartless then smiled and nodded its head. Blue light surrounds the Heartless. It turns back to its monstrous form, and then is engulfed by the light.

From the light a appears a masked woman, with completely white skin. The mask looked like that from a masquerade ball, and had a blue fire design on it. There was a white cloth wrapped around her chest, and wrapped around her waist was a long dress-like piece of cloth. She had large white angel wings and blue fire around her hands.

"Konohana Sakuya… That's a pretty name." Namine then collapses onto her knees.

"Nami!" Yuffie comes over to her and grabs her from behind.

"Just a little tired." Namine smiles. "You all came here to save me?"

"Yeah, because just like Yuffie, we're your friends." I smiled at Namine.

Namine got up. "Thank you guys."

"So who's the guy who threw you in here anyway?" Donald asks.

"Huh? Who… No, what are you?" Namine asks.

"I am a duck!" Donald replies

"I'm not following…" Oh Namine… Such an airhead.

"How can you not?" I ask her. "Her just said he's a duck!"

"See, this is why you should just be quiet Donald!" Roxas says. "All you do is cause confusion!"

"We can continue this conversation later! Let's just get Nami back to our world!" Yuffie interrupts.

"You're right, Yuffie, help Namine up and let's go," I tell her.

"Wait! Have Namine wear these glasses so you can see through the fog!" Namine turns around and takes a pair Donald made for her.

"Hey guys, these glasses are great! It even has a nose guard!" Nose guard? Namine turned around and she was wearing the kind of joke glasses that had a large nose and fake mustache.

Yuffie was trying to stifle her laugh, listening to Namine's air-headed comment. "Let me see them for a minute Nami." Yuffie put them on and Namine started laughing like crazy. "Oh God. She's having one of her laughing fits again isn't she." Yuffie put her hands on her hips. "And here I thought she only did those in front of me." Yuffie smiled.

We left the Mirror World and everyone went home.

Time of Day: Afternoon
Weather: Cloudy
Place: Dojima Residence

I start to think about how Namine's kidnapping and the two murders. They might be connected, but at the same time they might not be. My phone's Power Rangers ringtone breaks my concentration.

"Hi Yuffie. You brought Namine back home?" I ask her.

"Yeah. Her parents we overjoyed to see her." Yuffie replies.

"Oh yeah, remember that picture you showed me of you and your dog?"

"Yeah?"

"You still haven't explained how that dog let you meet Namine."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I'll just tell you now I guess."

Time of Day: Afternoon
Weather: Sunny
Place: Destiny Islands- Beach

Man, why does it have to be so hot today? I hate days like this when the air is thick and moist. Mommy always says that hot days are good though, because it means more ice cream! I can totally agree with her on that.

But weather is crampin' up my style! I curl my feet at the soft sand, feeling the, um, what's that word again? Texture, of it underneath my toes. The beach is always a great place to spend some time on days like these. The ocean is really pretty when the sun hits it like that. I breathe, taking in the taste of the chlorine air. I'm so bored! There's nothing to do around here.

Mommy says that sometimes when you're bored, it's when you least expect something cool to happen. I think she was lying, because I can't find anything interesting at the moment!

"Ribbit!"

The sudden croak makes me pause. I slowly revolve my head around. Ooh, it's a frog! It's got a lot of warts, it looks a little moist and dirty too, but I don't care! It's better than just standing at the shoreline watching the lifeless ocean, that's for sure. I just wanna pet it!

I stick my hands out and chase after it as it hops away. This thing is actually pretty fast! I leap into the air ready to catch this thing once and for all until I hit the ground hard. Through a painful daze, I look up to see that stupid frog ribbiting away. Jerk! All I wanted to do was touch it for a bit. I don't think I'll ever be able to look at Kermit the same way ever again.

A slimy tongue scales up my cheek. I quickly turn my head and see a panting dog. It's only about an inch away from my face. I lift my head further to see a blonde girl giving me a perplexed expression.

"Oh, my!" she says. "Are you okay?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine! That wasn't anything for me!" I get up and dust my overalls off. She crouches down and picks up her dog. Aw, isn't that adorable? "Is this your puppy?"

She shakes her head quickly. "No, but I want it to be! It's so cute and fluffy! Here, you hold him!"

She hands me the puppy. It's so cute! I graze my fingers into its soft, orange and white fur. "He really is fluffy! Are you going to keep him?"

She frowns.

"Why the long face?"

"I want to keep it, but when I'm older I won't have time to take care of it. My mommy says so."

That stinks! She shouldn't have to go around moping all day like that. "I know what will cheer you up! Cover your eyes! And no peeking."

She giggles as she sets the dog down and hovers her palms securely over her eyes. I stretch my cheeks, stick my tongue out, and cross my eyes. It's the same face Mommy and Daddy make whenever I'm sad. "Okray, opfhen yor eyesh!" I said through my spread lips.

She reveals her blue pupils and doesn't wait long to burst into fits of laughter. Tears leak from her eyes, she laughs so hard. After what feels like hours, though I'm not complaining, she finally regains her breath.

"That was a funny face!"

I outstretch my hand. "The name's Yuffie!"

She shakes it. "I'm Namine. Pleasure to meet you." She smiles.

"Ooh, can I call you Nami! It can be, like, a little nickname for you!"

She taps her chin. "I've never had a nickname before. Nami, huh? I like it. It's pretty."

"Nami, I have an idea! You said your mommy won't let you have the dog, right? Well, my daddy loves dogs! Maybe if I ask if we can keep him, we can raise him together!"

Her lips twitch into an even wider smile. "Really?"

"Yeah! Come on, let's go back to my place and ask 'im."

She has a sparkle in her eye. Something tells me I've found a true friend.

"Okay."

"And that's how I met Namine," Yuffie says.

"So does Namine come over to help with the dog any more?" I ask her.

"Occasionally, but not as much. You know, because of the inn."

"Yeah good point. I've never really made any friends before you guys, so having all of you is nice."

"Hm? How come? You're a nice guy."

"It's because my parents and I moved around a lot. They went to a different country and had me stay here so I could stay in one place."

"Aww, that's sad. But at least you have us now!"

"Yeah, I'm grateful for it. Anyway, tomorrow I want to talk to you guys about the murders and Namine's kidnapping, okay?"

"Ok. Anyway, I have to leave to do some chores, so bye!"

"Bye, see you later." I hang up and put down my phone

I go back to thinking about the case. I kinda feel bad for Zack considering he practically does this for a living. Every day he's willing to risk his life for the sake of others, not knowing when each day might be his last. Something tells me I've stepped into his shoes. Namine, the murders, it all just brings an unwelcome churn to my stomach. I'm not exactly one for this kind of excitement, the exhilaration I should feel makes me nauseous. And I hate being depended on, yet at the same time, the thought of one of my friends getting hurt through these ordeals is a hazard in my former carefree routine.

If I can take out any positives from my new life it'd be that it does a good job at sucking out any of the lackluster portions that once resided. Now all I have to do is figure out what to do and how to stop it. One questions seems to repeatedly enter my mindframe.

Who's ending up in that place next?

Next chapter, our heroes are gonna get a little break. I mean, saving three people in a row really does make a person tired! (Probably)

Anyway, thank you anyone that Favorited, Reviewed, or Followed the story! I'll be seein' you next chapter!