((YAY!! It finally worked!! Okay, well yesterday I couldn't upload ANYTHING to , but it works today so I can update! Yay! :D
So anyway...thank you everyone (again) for all the awesome reviews! And tips and stuff!
I'm going to give you all a virtual bag of popcorn for this chapter. Because it's 2,157 words (before typing this random stuff) and that's a LOT longer the chapters have been before. Or I could give you a virtual sea-salt icecream. You can pick ;).
So anyway...I'll upload part of the Xion thing. Just the part about her dying that I mentioned in the last chapter...xP.
And I decided to work on Xion's story whenever I get writer's block for this one. Because that might help me overcome the writer's block and stuff...
I also realized that I talk too much XD. So I'll let you read now. Enjoy~!))
DAY 400 ~ New Journey
(Chapter 14)
The next morning, I let Xion try to communicate with Sora. She seemed to have more experience with his mind and thoughts.
'Sora,' she began. 'Can you hear me?'
"Whoa!" Sora jumped at the unfamiliar voice. "Hey, did either of you say something just now?" Donald and Goofy simply looked at him and shook their heads.
The three of them were at the clock tower, where Axel, Xion and I used to eat ice cream.
'Don't speak out loud,' Xion told Sora. 'You only need to form the thought in your head. We'll hear.'
'Who's we? There's more than one voice?' he replied. At least he wasn't being difficult, though he was completely confused.
'We're Nobody's.' Xion paused. 'It's hard to explain. When you freed your heart to save Kairi, Roxas was created. I was later created as a copy of him, but…some of your memories made it back to us. And when we returned them to you, we ended up here.'
'In my mind?'
'Yes.'
Sora was thinking about it. There was a chance that he might believe us.
'Sora,' I managed to communicate with him. It felt weird. 'The girl from yesterday…Naminé…she knows about us. She could tell you more.'
'Where is she?'
'The mansion,' I replied. 'I can tell you how to get there.'
'Actually, you might be able to take temporary control of his body,' Xion put in.
'What?' Sora and I thought in unison.
'I...don't know. I just thought of it. But…try it, Roxas.'
I did. I raised Sora's hand up, and set it back down. I could control his body. It wasn't that easy--it took great effort--but with practice I thought I might get better.
'Uh…' Sora seemed worried. He had a right to be. 'Well, take me there, then.'
I did. I stood Sora up, and mentioned to his friends, "I have an idea of where to go!"
"Where?" Donald asked.
"Somewhere with a Gummi Ship?" Goofy added.
"Uh…I'm not sure," Sora said, that time. "Just follow me."
I then took control of his body and took him to the mansion where Naminé was. The gate was unlocked, this time, so I took him straight to the white room.
Naminé was sitting at the table, drawing, as usual. She looked up and seemed a bit surprised to see Sora.
'So this is…?' Sora asked.
'Naminé. Yes,' I answered.
"Sora," Naminé greeted. "And are Roxas and Xion there as well?"
"Yes," Sora said.
"That's good," Naminé looked at Donald and Goofy. "I see your friends are here, too. Your memories are all right, then?"
"Why wouldn't they be?" Sora asked.
"Nevermind." Naminé looked out the window. "Do you have a way to travel between worlds?"
"No," Sora replied.
"We don't have a Gummi Ship!" Donald said.
"Is that what this is called?" Naminé's drawing was of Sora and his friends in a ship. A Gummi Ship.
"Y-yeah, that's it," Sora stared at the drawing.
"You need to go get on the train," Naminé said. "It will take you to another world, to some others that you know. Hurry, before DiZ finds you, here."
"But what about you?" Sora asked.
Naminé sighed. "He already plans to dispose of me. There's nothing I can do."
"Come with us, then!" Sora suggested. "I don't know who DiZ is…but no one has the right to just take your life away like that!"
"I…" clearly, Naminé had never thought of that. She paused for a few moments. Then she finally nodded. "I'll go with you, then." She gathered up her crayons and pencils, and also took her sketchbook.
-----
On the way to the train, we actually saw Axel.
"Naminé!" he exclaimed. "Where are you going?"
"This is Sora, Goofy, and Donald," she ignored his question, gesturing to each as she introduced them. "Roxas and Xion are in Sora."
'Can I talk to him?' I asked Sora. 'He's…he's my best friend.'
'Y-yeah. Hold on, I'll tell him real quick.'
"Roxas wants to talk to you," Sora said. "But first…what's your name?"
"Axel," he answered.
"I'm Sora," Sora smiled. "Okay, here's Roxas."
"Hey," Axel said.
"Hey Axel," Of course, since I was using Sora's body, I sounded like him. "Anything new with the organization?"
"They haven't officially realized your absence, yet," Axel replied. "But they're usually not slow about these things…they'll know pretty soon. You should probably get away, quickly…for all of your safety."
"Don't worry, Axel, we will," Xion was speaking. "It's me…Xion."
"Hey, Xion," Axel actually smiled a bit. "It's been a while…and last time, we were in a battle, weren't we?"
"Haha, yeah."
"We should go," Naminé suddenly said. "Sora, take control of your body again. It won't take long for DiZ to realize that I'm not there. We need to leave quickly."
"Okay," Sora nodded. "Axel, it was nice meeting you."
"You too." Axel paused, as if hesitating, then said, "Take good care of Roxas and Xion, for me."
"Alright. I will." though Sora didn't know how he would.
I didn't, either.
-----
The train was very boring. We had to stay on there for a long time, but no one knew exactly how much time it was.
"So who's Roxas?" Donald asked, as soon as we all got on the train.
"He…" Sora wasn't actually sure, I could tell.
"He's Sora's Nobody," Naminé said. "And Xion is a copy, so she's one, too."
"Sora's Nobody?" Donald repeated.
"What's a Nobody?" Goofy asked.
"A Nobody is…" Naminé paused, probably trying to think of the words. "They're people who were born without a heart. The strongest of them, led by Xemnas, have formed an organization of Nobodies that Roxas and Xion were once in. It's called Organization XIII."
'Sora…will you ask her to tell you about Kingdom Hearts?' I mentioned. It was probably an important part.
"What is 'Kingdom Hearts'?" Sora took my suggestion. "He just told me to ask about it."
"How did he tell you?" Donald asked.
"Roxas and Xion can talk to me, somehow. But I don't know how."
"Kingdom Hearts was the Organization's goal," Naminé explained. "They needed Roxas's keyblade power, however, to collect hearts and create Kingdom Hearts. The purpose was…they thought they could get a heart or something. I'm not sure if that's true, but we won't find out too soon."
"Collect hearts…?" Sora thought out loud. "But why can they…care about each other, if they really don't have hearts?"
"Some of the Nobodies go too far in 'accepting' that they don't have a heart," Naminé replied. "They then cease to feel anything. But for those who want to feel…it's possible. That's what I believe."
"That makes enough sense," Sora didn't add the 'I guess' he had been thinking about adding. "So, anyway…where are we headed?"
"A world called Hallow Bastion," Naminé replied. "There, we might be able to find some help."
((I know that in the uhh...real version the train just takes them to Yen Sid's house or whatever, but in this version the train can travel between worlds...xP))
-----
Upon arriving, Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked around a bit.
"Wow, this place seems nicer than before," Sora noted. "There's some new shops, more people…"
"Less heartless," Goofy added.
"Yeah, that too," Sora smiled.
I noticed that Naminé was just quietly trailing behind.
"Sora!" A voice called. Sora turned and I saw a girl who had short black hair and a…strange outfit. She had knee high boots and a headband as well. The girl ran up to Sora. "It's been a long time!"
"Hi, Yuffie!" Sora replied. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever! A whole lot has changed around here."
"It would have been at least a year," Naminé said from behind Sora.
"Oh, who's this?" Yuffie asked, looking around Sora to see Naminé. Sora turned a bit to look at both of them.
"This is Naminé," Sora said. "She…" he trailed off realizing that he actually didn't know much about her. "Actually, she doesn't say much about herself."
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Naminé," Yuffie greeted. "I'm Yuffie."
Naminé nodded. She had gotten a black crayon and her sketch book out and was already drawing a picture.
"Hey, are you guys having a party over here?" Someone asked. It was some tall guy with brown hair and dressed in mostly black.
"In case you haven't noticed, there's girls here, too," Yuffie commented.
"Leon!" Donald And Goofy exclaimed.
"Hi…" Leon didn't seem to be the energetic type.
"Well, anyway, welcome to the new Hallow Bastion!" Yuffie said. "We've even been renovating the castle. I'm hoping that, eventually, this place can be really peaceful."
"Yeah…" Sora agreed.
'Do you understand what's going on here?' I asked Xion.
'Not completely,' she admitted. 'But hopefully we'll understand, soon…or we could ask Sora, later.'
'Alright.' I wondered when that would be.
Suddenly, some Dusks showed up. I'd seen them at the organization's castle when I'd escaped, before. What were they doing here?
"What are these!?" Sora exclaimed, summoning his keyblade.
"I'll explain in a minute," Yuffie was suddenly in battle mode, getting her throwing star ready. "Just beat them!"
It only took a little bit. I noticed that Sora used the more simple keyblade rather than the one I'd learned to use…but I kept quiet.
"Those were lesser Nobodies," Naminé said, closing her sketch book as she spoke. "Or they are also called Dusks. The Nobodies with personalities, the ones in the organization, control the Dusks."
"They show up a lot, here," Yuffie explained. "Cid's working on something to get rid of them, but it's still in progress. So Leon and I come out here to fight the Heartless and Nobodies off."
"Well, at least they were easy," Sora sighed. "So where is Cid?"
"He's at our secret hideout," Yuffie started to walk down the street a bit. "Follow me!"
Everyone followed Yuffie to the hideout. There we met Cid--he was a man with short blonde hair, and was muscular. When we arrived, he was sitting in front of a computer looking at some king of complicated code.
"Guess who's back!?" Yuffie exclaimed.
"Other than you?" Cid asked. He started typing something on the computer.
"More surprising than that," Leon said.
Cid turned around. "Well, if it isn't Sora and his friends. Where have you been for the past year?"
"He doesn't know," Naminé said. "Sora was asleep for a year. But he has no memory of it."
"How do you know?" Cid asked. "Who are you, anyway?"
"Relax, Cid, she's an ally," Yuffie assured. "Her name is Naminé."
"I'll get everyone some drinks," offered a lady who I hadn't noticed earlier. She had her long hair in a braid, tied with a large bow.
"That was Aerith," Yuffie told Naminé. "This guy at the computer is Cid, and this guy right here--" she gestured to Leon "--is Leon."
Naminé gave a small smile and nodded.
"Well, since you'll be needing a place to stay, tonight…" Yuffie said, "Leon and I can go start preparing the guest rooms."
"Why me!?" Leon asked.
"Quit complaining, you're not doing anything important!" Yuffie started off towards a hallway and, reluctantly, Leon followed.
What an interesting group of people.
-----
That night Xion and I talked to Sora for a bit.
'How long have you known them?' Xion asked.
Sora seemed a bit startled by the sudden question, but answered, 'Ever since I started getting into this whole…keyblade thing. They helped me out, told me about the keyblade and stuff…I wouldn't have gotten anywhere without them!'
It was kind of like Axel, Xion and I. They were all with me since the very beginning.
'That's nice…' Xion paused. 'So what are you planning to do, now?'
'I still have to find Riku,' Sora replied. 'Donald and Goofy have to find King Mickey. And then…I've got to go back to Kairi. She's been waiting for such a long time…'
The name 'Riku' struck me. I'd seen him, before. 'How long have you been searching? And why?'
'Well, before…Riku kind of gave in to the darkness. And I had this…keyblade that gave me the responsibility of fighting off heartless and such. Donald and Goofy came along with me, and we were searching for our friends along the way. I was able to…find Kairi, but Riku and the King are still out there. It's been over a year…'
Sora was explaining this to us while trying to fight off sleep. He was exhausted. After only a minute or so, he fell asleep. We were left with only the white, but that allowed us to talk alone.
"So what should we do?" I asked Xion. "Should we tell him that we've seen Riku?"
"I don't know," Xion replied. "It might be better if we do. But…if Riku is with DiZ…"
I hadn't thought of that. Riku had been at the mansion, where Naminé was always mentioning DiZ. They probably knew each other. But Sora would probably go after Riku, whether DiZ was there or not. He really seemed determined to find him. "We should decide later."
"Okay," Xion's voice and face faded as Sora began to dream.
((I decided that the text inside the quotations AND italics is for when Xion and Roxas are talking, but Sora can't hear. So then you'll know what Sora is hearing, and what he isn't..
Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter! More will come soon! ^_^))