Hello again, Shadow Horizons here.
My apologies for taking so long to update but hopefully the double release more than makes up for it. Thanks to janus-juan and Kingdom of Zetalnarury-88 for reviewing last chapter! I only ask that you bear with me through this chapter and chapter three, because I promise they will be a couple of the very few slow chapters. Hopefully all of you out there enjoy them though!
Disclaimer: As I've said, I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy, but I do own my own original characters and the plot to this story.
Hope you enjoy!
EDIT: Dates have officially been added to clear up potential confusion and keep the timeline in order without any discrepancies. Details about Sora's Father updated.
Chapter 2: Memories Part I
Sunday, May 16th 4794 P.C.
Allison let out a sob and rushed forward to embrace her son. Sora was vaguely aware that all eyes were on him and his mother. He pulled her into a tight hug. Two years ago he had been as tall as her, now he was at least a foot taller than her. Allison clutched tightly to her son as she let the tears fall slowly onto his chest. "I'm home," Sora said, half choking on his words as he struggled to hold back his tears.
Allison released Sora and stepped back, looking her son up and down. "Oh, Sora," she sighed happily, "You've grown so much since I last saw you. You look so much like your father did when he was your age." Sora smiled sadly at the mention of his father. No one knew what really happened to him. He was a fisherman and when he set out to sea one day, he never came back, just a few months before Kairi had washed up on the Islands. He had been missing for over ten years now. Sora always felt a twinge in his heart every time someone told him just how much he reminded them of his father.
"You're so handsome," Allison said gently, before her tone and expression became suddenly stern. "I think you all owe us an explanation as to where you've been these past two years." Sora tensed at the sudden change of tone in his mother's voice. "I agree," Jonathan said from over by Kairi, staring at Sora seriously, "Especially after all the worry you put your parents through." He glanced back and forth between Sora and Riku. "Yes," added David, who was now staring at the other-worlders, "And perhaps introduce us to your friends."
Several minutes later, after introductions had been made, and parents had been shocked to discover there was a king present, they all sat around several tables that had been pushed together. All of the parents sat on one end while Sora, Kairi, Riku and the others sat opposite of them.
"Umm," Sora stared nervously at the adults, Jonathan sat directly across from where Sora and Kairi were sitting together, eyeing Sora carefully, "Where do you want us to start from?" The parents all looked at each other and then back at their children. "Start from the beginning," said David, "Let's start with how you two vanished."
The other parents nodded in agreement. Sora considered this for a moment. "Alright, how about we tell you about what happened before we vanished." And so, Sora, Kairi and Riku told their parents about the days leading up to the destruction of the island. They explained about the raft they had been making to travel to other worlds, the door in the Secret Place, and the cryptic warning left to Sora by the Mysterious Man in the brown cloak, "This world has been connected. Tied to the Darkness. Soon to be completely eclipsed." Sora recounted about heading to the play Island the night of the storm that the Heartless arrived in. He told them about attempting to fight the Heartless with a wooden sword, only to discover it had no effect on them at all, running into Riku, who had opened his heart to Darkness, the appearance of the only weapon that could truly destroy a Heartless, the Keyblade. He recalled fighting his way to the Secret Place just in time to see the wooden door there open as the Heartless took the Heart of the World, and Kairi vanishing in front of his eyes. He told them how he fought the Darkside Heartless before the world was completely consumed by the Darkness.
He continued his story by telling them about waking up in Traverse Town, meeting Leon, and Leon's warning before fighting Sora. "'They'll come at you out of nowhere. And they'll keep on coming at you, as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade.' He told me." explained Sora. He went on to tell everyone present, except for Donald, Goofy and Jiminy, about meeting up with said trio before fighting and defeating the Guard Armor Heartless together, and how Leon had told Sora to go with the three from Disney Castle if he wanted to find Riku and Kairi.
And so, Sora, with the occasional side notes from Jiminy, Donald and Goofy, conveyed the story of his first adventure, travelling from world to world, making new friends, fighting off the Heartless, sealing the Keyholes to the worlds so the Heartless couldn't take the hearts of the worlds. Allison couldn't but beam with pride at her son.
The other parents also seemed proud of Sora for his determination to find Riku and Kairi. They seemed surprised when Sora told them the story of meeting Riku in Neverland. This was the part of the story Riku had been dreading the most. He looked at his hands folded in his lap shamefully, feeling the stares of the parents turn to him as Sora explained to them that Riku had opened his heart to powers of Darkness, just to save Kairi. Riku hated being reminded of the fact that he had given in to the temptations of freedom and power.
Sora called attention back to himself as he went on to explain about arriving in Hollow Bastion in time to see Riku defeat the Beast, and how Riku made Sora believe he was, as Riku had said at the time, a "delivery boy" for the Keyblade. He told them of how Riku summoned Sora's Keyblade to him, calling himself the Keyblade's true Chosen One, leaving Sora with only a wooden sword as a replacement. Donald and Goofy bowed their heads, obviously ashamed at the fact that they had abandoned Sora to go with Riku.
Sora continued the story, obviously impressing the parents when he told them that he and the Beast charged after Riku, how he took the Keyblade back and defeated Riku, who fled through a Corridor of Darkness. Riku interrupted at that point and explained that after being defeated by Sora a voice spoke to him, promising him the power to defeat Sora and protect Kairi. All he had to do was accept the Darkness. Riku bowed his head in shame as he admitted to opening his heart for that kind of power, allowing "Ansem", who was actually Xehanort's Heartless (but they were going to leave that part out until later, as any good storyteller would), to possess him.
Sora recounted about how he, Donald and Goofy fought their way through horde after horde of Heartless, up through the castle's many floors to the Chapel, where they faced off against and defeated Maleficent, who fled through a Portal of Darkness to another part of the castle, but made the mistake of leaving the portal open. Riku told them of how "Ansem", who was possessing Riku at that point, appeared before Maleficent and unlocked her heart with a Keyblade made from the hearts of six of the seven Princesses of Heart, The Keyblade of People's Hearts, as Riku called it. The Darkness that had been seeking Maleficent consumed her, transforming her into a massive dragon.
Sora, with the help of Donald and Goofy, described their final battle against Maleficent in great detail. Sora proudly showed them the burn scar Maleficent's fire had left on his left shoulder. Allison and Kairi let out gasps of sympathy at the sight of the shiny blood red skin, permanently disfigured by that evil woman. Sora continued the story. He told them how he and his anthropomorphic companions fought their way deeper into the bowels of the castle, until they finally came to the place where the Keyhole to Hollow Bastion lay.
Sora recalled the mixed feelings of joy and absolute panic he experienced upon seeing Kairi's body lying in front of the incomplete Keyhole. He described his battle against the possessed Riku, now calling himself Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. He told them how "Ansem" told him that Kairi was the seventh Princess of Heart (soliciting dumbfounded looks and cries of shock from Johnathan and Melissa), and how her heart had taken refuge in Sora when the Islands were consumed by the Heartless., and the only way that Kairi would ever wake up was if Sora released her heart from his.
"Well," Johnathan interrupted, "She obviously has her heart back now. How did you release it?" Everyone who didn't know turned to face Sora, who was smiling softly. "I took the Keyblade of People's Hearts," he said distantly, as he stood up. The memory of that moment flooded through Sora so that all he could see was that moment over a year ago. He lifted his shirt, "And pierced myself with it." Across the center of his chest was a long silver scar from where he had impaled himself to free Kairi.
Everyone gasped. Donald and Goofy looked at each other in surprise; Sora had never shown them the scar before, even after a year and a half. Kairi, Melissa, Sharon and Allison all looked as though they were about to cry. Sora put his shirt down and sat. "Although, freeing Kairi had its side effects," He said, looking only at Kairi. "Such as?" asked an ecstatic David, obviously absorbed in the story.
"I had to release my heart as well," Sora said, even more distantly than before, "And I turned into a Heartless as a result." There was a collective gasp from the parents. Sora smiled grimly. "Oh, Sora," Allison said, tears flowing from her eyes. Johnathan was glaring at Sora suspiciously, as if he expected him to suddenly transform into a black creature with yellow eyes and a hunger for the hearts of the people gathered at the table. "If you were turned into one of those Heartless, then how come you're just fine now?" The other parents looked back at Sora, who was now smiling widely.
"I probably wouldn't be if it weren't for Kairi," he said, turning to smile gratefully at her. Kairi smiled back. Sora turned back to the parents who were looking at him confusedly. "When I turned into a Heartless, I forgot who I was, who my friends were, and I was sinking into the depths of the Darkness. But then, my Heartless found Kairi, Donald and Goofy as they tried to escape the Darkness that was beginning to flow out of Hollow Bastion's Keyhole from when I released Kairi's heart, which completed the Keyhole."
Sora looked over at Kairi. "Kairi was the only one who could tell that it was me inside the Darkness," he said softly. Kairi smiled back at him. "Without her Light, I would've been lost in the Darkness forever. But she saved me from that fate."
"Okay," said Johnathan, clearly made slightly uncomfortable by the way Sora and Kairi were looking at each other, "How exactly is it that Kairi saved you? I'm afraid that I don't quite understand." Sora looked back at him, "As a Princess of Heart, she doesn't have any traces of Darkness in her heart." He explained, "She has one of the seven purest hearts in all of the worlds. So her light pulled me out of the darkness and allowed me to regain my body." Allison looked over at Kairi, "Thank you for saving Sora," she whispered. Kairi smiled at her and subtly inched herself closer to Sora.
Sora resumed his story. He told them how they fled Hollow Bastion and regrouped back in Traverse Town, where he made sure Kairi would stay and be safe while he, Donald and Goofy returned to Hollow Bastion to seal the Keyhole and stop the Darkness from overtaking the world. He described fighting and defeating the Behemoth Heartless, sealing Hollow Bastion's Keyhole to stop the Darkness from consuming the world, traveling to the remains of the worlds that had been taken by the Heartless and fighting their way through hordes of powerful Heartless.
He went on to recall opening the Door he had seen in his dream back on the Islands and finding himself on the Islands once again. He told them about how Riku turned into Xehanort's Heartless while telling Sora the same thing that the mysterious man in the brown cloak had told him on the Islands several months before. He described fighting and defeating Xehanort's Heartless, who opened the Door to Darkness.
He told them about how "Ansem" believed Kingdom Hearts to be Eternal Darkness, and how he was destroyed when the Door to Darkness opened and it was revealed that Kingdom Hearts was light. He told them about how he, Donald and Goofy fought to close the Door to Darkness to prevent the Heartless from taking the Heart of all the worlds and how Riku and the King appeared on the other side of the door, helping Sora and the others close and seal Kingdom Hearts with the two Keyblades. Riku's parents smiled at him proudly, glad that their son had redeemed himself.
Sora told them about how Kairi suddenly appeared there with them, and how the Islands began reforming beneath her. Though he felt embarrassed about admitting it, he let them know about his promise to Kairi to return to her. Kairi couldn't help but stare at Sora as he told that part of his story, an action that didn't go unnoticed by her father, who crossed his arm and watched Sora with narrowed eyes carefully.
"And then," Sora continued, "The only thing I remember before waking up a few months ago in Twilight Town was this big, oddly shaped brown castle." He smiled sheepishly, "Everything that happened during the year in between is blank." He looked around at Donald, Goofy and Jiminy all of whom shrugged. "Sorry, Sora," Goofy said sadly. "That's the last thing any of us remember as well," Donald added.
"You're talking about Castle Oblivion."
Everyone turned their attention over to Riku, who was staring at Sora with a slightly amused expression on his face. Sora cocked an eyebrow at his silver haired friend, "And just how would you know?"
"I arrived in the castle's basement shortly after you came to the castle."
Sora narrowed his eyes at Riku, "If that's true, then how come none of us remember anything about that place?"
"I believe that would be my fault," said a voice, echoing around the restaurant. Everyone jumped as Kairi glowed with a golden light. The light condensed into a golden orb of light that floated several feet behind Kairi. The light changed shape, quickly transforming into the form of a teenage girl with shoulder length blonde hair that curled slightly at the tips. She was dressed in a strapped white dress that ended mid-thigh. She was as tall as Kairi and had eyes that were the same shade of Kairi's violet-blue ones.
The adults all let out cries of shock at the appearance of a transparent girl. "What the hell?" shouted Jonathan, a look of pure disbelief on his face. "What's going on here?" Naminé turned to face him. "Allow me to introduce myself," she said, placing her hand over her heart, "My name is Naminé. I am Kairi's Nobody."
Sora had never heard a louder silence in his entire life.
"Kairi's what?" was the response from Jonathan and Melissa.
"Her Nobody," Naminé replied.
The parents just stared at her blankly. "And a Nobody is…?" Jonathan inquired.
"A Nobody is created when a person with a strong will loses their heart," the King explained. Naminé nodded, "He's right," she said, "Roxas and I were created when Sora impaled himself on the Keyblade of People's Hearts to release Kairi's heart from him."
"Who's Roxas?" Melissa asked.
"I am," said a male voice that echoed around the restaurant. The parents let out another round of shocked cries as Sora glowed with a blue light which floated out of him and took on the shape of a transparent teenage boy with short spiked blonde hair. "Hi there. I'm Roxas, Sora's Nobody." He waved at the parents before turning to face Naminé. "Hey you," he said softly before pulling the blonde Nobody into a hug. Sora cleared his throat and the Nobodies broke apart and glared at Sora.
"How exactly is it your fault we don't remember what happened at Castle Oblivious, Naminé?" Goofy asked.
"Oblivion," Donald corrected him.
"That's what I said," said Goofy, "Castle Oblivion."
"It's what I did to you," Naminé said, looking at her folded hands sadly, "But I think it'll be easier if I help you remember." Sora stared at her confusedly.
"Help me remember?"
Naminé nodded, "Before you, Donald and Goofy went to sleep; you and I realized one important thing about memories."
Sora continued to stare at the female Nobody blankly. Naminé sighed, "Even though we may forget some memories, the memories themselves are never truly gone. They are just lost, hidden deep within the confines of our hearts. However, remembering them is simple; all it takes is remembering one memory. From that memory, another. And another, and another, similar to links in a chain." She held out her right hand and extended her pinky finger towards him.
Sora looked at her questioningly before intertwining his pinky finger with hers. "So is something supposed to happen, 'cause this seems pretty anti-climactic." said Sora, who was clearly unimpressed. Naminé smiled back at him. "Any second now," She muttered under her breath. Sora opened his mouth to speak, but it slammed shut as his eyes went wide with shock. Sora collapsed backwards, clutching the sides of his head. "Sora!" exclaimed Kairi. She knocked her chair aside and threw herself next to Sora.
There were additional cries of shock from Donald, Goofy and Jiminy. "What's going on?" demanded Jonathan. "I helped them unlock the memories bound in their hearts," Naminé replied calmly. Kairi watched Sora with a worried expression.
Behind his eyelids, thousands of images rushed across Sora's vision. His ears were filled with the rushing noise of hundreds of conversations overlapping each other. Then, silence. Sora's eyes snapped open and he stood up slowly. He smiled at Naminé. "Thank you, Naminé."
Naminé smiled back. "It's like you said, memories lost, but not forgotten."
Sora nodded, set his chair upright and sat back down. "I think I remember now. Where were we?" And so, with their memories once again intact, Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy told the parents and Kairi about arriving at Castle Oblivion, the man in the black cloak and the warning he left, repeatedly. "'To lose and claim anew, or to claim anew only to lose,'" Jiminy recited. Sora explained how the man in the black cloak "sampled" Sora's memories and created a card from it.
"We used the card to open the doors to the first floor," Jiminy explained, "and we found ourselves in Traverse Town. There, the man in the black cloak appeared again and told us that the town wasn't real. 'This town is an illusion created by your memories ingrained in that card.' He told us, and right before he vanished into a dark portal, he said 'Walk the avenues of latent memory, and you shall meet someone dear to you.'
We assumed he was referring to the King and Riku, so we pressed on. After that, we ran into several of our friends that we had met on our first adventure. However, despite remembering our names, our friends had forgotten everything else about us. But they still helped us try to search the town for the King and Riku. When we didn't find them, we made our way out of the first floor and into another white hallway."
Sora took over the story again, "When we got out of Traverse Town, we found the man in the black cloak waiting for us. He asked us if we enjoyed meeting our memories. Before we could get him to tell us anything, another man in a black cloak showed up, and introduced himself as Axel."
Roxas' head whipped around to stare in disbelief at his Somebody. "Axel?" He asked incredulously. Sora nodded and resumed the story.
"He proceeded to attack us as a 'test'. We barely survived the flurry of flames he had sent our way and won. We thought it was over, but Axel barely seemed worn out or injured from our fight. He told us that we had passed the 'test', and told me to trust what I remembered and to seek what I forgot. If I did, I would find someone very special. We thought he was talking about the King and Riku and he told me to give more though to who was most important to me."
Sora shot a brief glance at Kairi (An act that somehow escaped notice by all present) before continuing. "Axel told me that I had lost sight of the Light within the Darkness, and he warned me 'When your sleeping memories awaken, you may no longer be who you are now. ' And he left behind several cards for us that were almost identical to the one we used to open up the door to our memory of Traverse Town."
He explained that every time they used one of the cards to open the doors to the next floor in the castle, they would find themselves travelling through the worlds they had visited on their first journey, each world having been crafted from Sora's memories, and how as they climbed from floor to floor, they slowly started forgetting details about their first journey. "And even though I was losing my memories, I started having other memories return to me," Sora explained, "I started to remember another girl who played with me, Kairi and Riku on the play Island."
Kairi shot him a confused look. "There wasn't anyone else, Sora; it was just you, me and Riku who played together there."
"I know, Kairi," he explained, "The girl I was starting to remember was Naminé."
All eyes turned in unison to stare at the Nobody in question, who hung her head in shame.
Donald quickly took over the story, bringing attention away from the female Nobody.
"After we exited the sixth floor, we ran into the only female member of Organization XIII, Larxene, and she-" Jonathan quickly interrupted the magician, "Organization XIII? Who are they?"
"The Organization was a collection of thirteen Nobodies, who were attempting to unlock the mysteries of the Heart. The man in the black cloak, Axel, and Larxene were all members of the Organization," Riku quickly explained with a tone that made it sound as though what he just said should have been obvious.
Jonathan glared at him suspiciously, "What do you mean by 'were'?"
Riku smiled slyly, "Why ruin the good parts of the story?"
Donald cleared his throat, grabbing everyone's attention again, "Anyways, Larxene was waiting for us when we left the sixth floor. She made it clear that Naminé was being held captive in the castle. Then she attacked us and a star shaped charm fell out of Sora's pocket. Then she used the charm to get Sora to remember Naminé's name. She reminded Sora that Naminé had given Sora the good luck charm, and when she threatened to destroy it, Sora got real angry at her and started fighting her."
Allison looked from Sora, who had fallen silent, to a still shamed-looking Naminé. "But Sora had never met Naminé before, how could he have a good luck charm from her?" She asked. Donald smiled at her, "We'll get to that soon."
"Larxene left us with some more of those cards created from our memories," Goofy explained, taking over the story, "and we went on to the next floor, where we found Riku."
Everyone's eyes turned towards Riku. Riku looked flat out confused. "That's impossible," he said, "I never met up with you guys in Castle Oblivion. I never went through any of the above ground floors; I only traveled through the basements."
"We know, Riku," Said Jiminy, "It wasn't the real you. It was a replica of you created by Vexen."
"Who's Vexen?" Sharon asked.
"He was another member of Organization XIII, a scientist and wielder of blizzard magic," Goofy explained.
"Your replica kept fighting with us from floor to floor, always saying horrible things to Sora," said Donald, "He even threatened to protect Naminé from us."
Kairi glanced sympathetically at Sora, who was staring at his folded hands sadly, clearly lost in the memory of facing Riku's replica. Sora…
Jiminy quickly related their journey through the next few floors of the castle.
"When we exited the tenth floor," he said, "Vexen, the person who made the Riku replica, appeared before us and said he had come to collect a debt from Sora for reuniting him with Riku. We had a brief battle against him, and afterwards, he presented us another card. This one, according to Vexen, was created from the memories that were locked in the other side of Sora's heart."
"The other side of Sora's heart?" Allison asked, looking a little lost.
"We didn't understand it either," explained Sora, "When we used the card to open the door to the eleventh floor, we found ourselves in Twilight Town, a world we had never been in before."
"I'm confused," Jonathan interjected, "How could this Vexen person create a world from your memories if you've never been there before?"
"The world was created from the other side of Sora's heart," Jiminy repeated.
Jonathan shot a glare at the cricket, "Yes, but what does that mean exactly?" he asked, "What is the other side of Sora's heart?"
Roxas cleared his throat and everyone turned their heads towards him. "I believe that would be me," he said matter-of-factly, "When Vexen was talking about the other side of Sora's memory, he was referring to me. As Sora's Nobody, I'm his other half, so to speak, and therefore could be considered the other side of his heart. When I was first 'born' I appeared in Twilight Town, and that's where I went on most of missions during my time with Organization XIII."
At this revelation, all of the parents, Kairi, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy leapt from their seats with gasps and exclamations of shock. "YOU were one of THEM?" David and Jonathan demanded angrily, both glaring daggers at the male Nobody.
Roxas smiled sadly, "For a time, yes."
Roxas closed his eyes and was bathed in a blue light which quickly faded, revealing himself to be garbed in his Organization XIII cloak, eliciting gasps from the parents. "See?" said Roxas with a chuckle at the reactions he had just gotten, there was another flash of blue light and Roxas was dressed as his normal self again and looked over at Sora, "Back to you, Sora."
Sora grinned and picked up from where he had left off.
"When we walked into Twilight Town, we instantly knew that none of us had ever been there before, but by the time we arrived at the memory creation of an old abandoned mansion, and I couldn't shake the feeling that I HAD been there before, even though I knew I never had been. Then, Vexen showed up and asked me which was more real, my memories of Naminé or my feelings about that place. I told him it was my memories of Naminé, and that what I was feeling was one of his tricks.
Vexen just laughed at me and told me that 'the memories wiles can be cruel. In its silence, we forget. In its obsession, it binds our hearts.' He reminded me that Twilight Town was created solely from another side of my memory. He said 'It is on the other side of your heart that the memory of this place exists.' I told him that he was wrong."
Jiminy took over the story from there, "Vexen smiled at us and taunted Sora, saying 'If you remain bound by the chain of memories and refuse to believe what is truly found inside your heart, then throw it away. You are not a Keyblade master, just a slave to twisted memories.' He then said confusing things about Riku, calling him his."
"I was confused, and Vexen was infuriating me with his riddles," said Sora, a dark look crossing his face as he stared at his now clenched fists, "I just exploded and accused him of lying and changing Riku. Then we fought him and brought him to his knees. Vexen warned me that if I if I continued trying to save Naminé, the shackles of memory would tighten, I'd lose my heart and become Marluxia's pawn. I tried to get him to tell me what he meant, but then Axel arrived and attacked Vexen to keep him from talking."
"'Now you can be nothing, instead of just being a Nobody. You're off the hook.' Axel said to him," Jiminy explained, "Vexen begged Axel to spare his life, but Axel simply told Vexen 'Goodbye.' and immolated Vexen with a burst of flame, causing Vexen to fade into darkness."
The parents and Kairi all looked shocked, but Roxas looked outright dumbfounded. "He- he killed Vexen?" he asked, seemingly unable to believe that his best friend was capable of doing so. Sora nodded sadly at him. Roxas hung his head sadly.
"When we left Twilight Town, we found Riku's replica waiting for us," said Donald, taking up the story, "And we found out that both Sora and the replica had the same memory of promising to protect Naminé and that they both had the exact same good luck charm that they both claimed Naminé had given them."
Naminé looked guiltily at Sora, "Both memories were fake Sora," she said sadly, "Neither of you ever made that promise to me for real." Sora looked back at her.
"I know that now, Naminé," he said, forgivingly, "but I was so convinced that my memory was the real one and I ended up fighting against the Riku replica again. When I beat him, he took off but dropped his good luck charm which turned into a card for Destiny Islands. I tried to get Donald and Goofy to hurry up, but I got angry at them when they stopped to think over the entire situation. I basically told them that I didn't need them and I went onto the twelfth floor with just Jiminy, who I told to keep quiet."
"That was about the time when Axel came to me," Naminé chimed in suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her. "He told me I was the only person who could stop what Marluxia was doing to Sora and implied that he wouldn't stop me if I took off, and turned his back as I ran off to meet up with Sora."
Kairi interrupted at this point, "Hold on a sec," she said, glancing between Sora and Naminé, "How come Sora only remembered playing with you and Riku on the Islands, Naminé?" Naminé's eyes filled with guilt and she lowered her gaze to stare at her hands. "I made Sora forget about you, Kairi," the Nobody responded shamefully. A look of shock mixed with hurt crossed Kairi's face. "And I replaced the memories of you with memories of me."
"I met with Sora and the fake memory of me in the memory of Destiny Islands," Naminé resumed, "I told him that I truly didn't exist in his heart or anyone else's heart. I had never been on the Islands before. I told him that I wasn't the person who was the most important to him. When I asked Sora to remember who was most special to him, he looked at the good luck charm I had given him in his false memories and it turned back into its true form."
"Which was…?" Kairi asked, although she was beginning to think that she already knew the answer.
Naminé turned to look at her Somebody. "It changed back into the charm you had given him. Sora, confused, looked up at the memory version of me which immediately turned into the memory of you," said Naminé. Kairi let out a barely audible gasp as her Nobody confirmed her suspicions.
I'm the one who's most special to Sora. Her stomach filled with butterflies at the thought and her cheeks turned a bright pink. Kairi looked past her Nobody to Sora, who was determinedly keeping his eyes on one of the windows across from him, his cheeks flushed red.
"When I left the twelfth floor," said Sora, still staring out of the window, "I couldn't remember Kairi's name. I ran up to Naminé and asked who Kairi was and why I couldn't remember her.
Then Riku's Replica showed up and fought against me for the last time and lost. I was still convinced that he was the real Riku, so I rushed to help him. But he turned on me and tried to finish me off. Naminé told the replica to stop and used her power to break the fake heart of the replica."
"Then Larxene appeared," said Jiminy, "And told me and Sora about Naminé's powers over memory. She explained that the Riku we had been fighting was a fake and that the memories he and Sora had been fighting over were never real for either of them. Sora still fought to keep his promise to protect Naminé, even though it was a fake promise, because it was real to him."
"And then we caught up to Sora!" said Goofy, "And together, Donald, Sora and I brought down Larxene. Then, Naminé told us about how she'd been all alone since she was 'born' and that Marluxia had threatened to lock her away in the Castle forever if she didn't help him mess with Sora's memory."
"I just couldn't stand the thought of being alone again," said Naminé, Kairi looked at her sympathetically.
"And so," said Jiminy, "We promised Naminé that we would bring down Marluxia and we went onto the thirteenth floor. We fought our ways through hordes of Heartless before we entered a room where Axel was trying to kill Marluxia. Axel had figured out that Marluxia and Larxene planned to use Sora and Naminé to take over Organization XIII and was attempting to do away with the traitor. Marluxia had kidnapped Naminé and was using her as a shield."
Naminé spoke up, "And Sora, Donald and Goofy fought Axel to protect me, even though I knew from the look in his eyes that he wouldn't have hurt me. But before I could tell them that, Marluxia whisked me away to another part of the thirteenth floor."
"So we battled and defeated Axel," Sora said, "But instead of disappearing into darkness like Vexen and Larxene, he opened a dark portal and escaped through it instead. Then, we hunted down Marluxia, and beat him with some help from Riku's replica. Donald, Goofy and I left Naminé and the Riku replica behind while we went through the final set of doors on the floor to face Marluxia when he was at his most powerful. When we brought him down, I sealed the room with my Keyblade and rejoined everyone else.
Naminé gave me two choices; we could keep the memories she had created or she could give us back our original memories at the cost of forgetting all about what happened to us in Castle Oblivion. I asked her to put us back the way we were. I wanted to remember all of my friends and Kairi. And while she rearranged and fixed our memories, Naminé had us sleep in pods that were shaped like flower buds. And before I went to sleep, Naminé helped me remember Kairi's name."
Sora finished up and reached for the water glass in front of him with trembling hands, watching Kairi out of the corner of his eyes. She was watching him with a small smile.
Allowing Sora to take a break from the story telling, Riku told his story about what happened to him in Castle Oblivion. He recalled drifting along in the darkness after he and Mickey had helped Sora seal the door to Kingdom Hearts, and how a voice reached out to him and brought him to Castle Oblivion. He described fighting with Ansem and the darkness in his heart, as well as contending with Vexen, Lexaeus and Zexion, all three of whom were members of Organization XIII.
He talked about defeating Ansem, meeting Naminé and a man who called himself DiZ, and his agreement to help them out while Naminé put Sora's memories back together. Then he went on to tell them, with Roxas' help, about how he fought and captured Roxas in The World That Never Was giving in to the darkness in his heart to do so and taking on the appearance of Ansem while still having control over himself.
Roxas joined in the story telling briefly and told everyone about his time in the virtual Twilight Town that DiZ had created to hide Roxas from the Organization while Naminé finished up Sora's memories so Roxas could be rejoined with Sora. He informed them about how every night in his last few days in the virtual world, his dreams had been Sora' s most recent memories, ending with the memory of Sora's arrival at Castle Oblivion. He explained about fighting and winning the Struggle match, and how he fell off of the clock tower when celebrating with his friends. He explained that he had reached out to Naminé but instead connected with Kairi's heart instead.
"I remember that!" Kairi interrupted excitedly, "That was when I was trying to remember Sora's name, and I suddenly heard your voice in my head, calling for Naminé. You told me-" and then she cut herself off with a gasp of realization. The memory of that day hit Kairi swiftly as she remembered the most important thing she had ever heard from Roxas
"Kairi… I know you. You're that girl he likes."Roxas had told her. When Kairi asked Roxas for Sora's name, Sora, despite being asleep, had spoken to her through Roxas. "You don't remember my name? Thanks a lot, Kairi! O-kay, I guess I can give you a hint. Starts with an 'S'!"
Kairi smiled at Roxas, who looked at her in confusion, and then at Sora. Thank you, Roxas, she thought, now I know for sure that he likes me. Roxas winked at her.
Roxas resumed his story, drawing attention away from Kairi's sudden interruption. He described his encounters with Naminé and Axel, finishing up with his final battle against Axel before he rejoined with Sora, allowing Sora's memories to finish being restored.
Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy took up the storytelling from this point. They recollected about waking up in the basement of the abandoned mansion in Twilight Town a year after their time in Castle Oblivion, although they didn't remember any of the events that took place in Castle Oblivion or how they ended up in Twilight Town. They explained that the only clue they had, was a note in Jiminy's journal that said "Thank Naminé".
They told everyone about how they explored the town, looking for Riku and the King, and how after talking with the real versions of Roxas' friends, Hayner, Pence and Olette, they went to the train station to find the King, and how when they got to the station, they were suddenly attacked by a large group of Nobodies, and were saved at the last moment by the King who told them to board the train in the station and leave town.
Sora explained about how they had boarded the train which took them to a mysterious tower someplace else in Twilight Town. There they encountered Pete, who was lurking around outside the tower. Pete had told them that he planned on turning the master of the tower into a Heartless, and how he was going from world to world, building an army of Heartless specifically for Maleficent. Pete tried to attack them with Heartless but they quickly stopped him and Pete took off after telling them that the master of the tower was also the King's teacher, Master Yen Sid.
They told about their meeting with Yen Sid, Yen Sid's explanation of the Nobodies and Organization XIII, Sora getting new clothes from the three good fairies; Flora, Fauna and Merryweather.
They went on to explain reuniting with their friends in Hollow Bastion, finding out that in the year they had been asleep everyone had forgotten them, only to suddenly remember them all at once. Sora explained how he, Leon, and the town's defense system fought of a group of Nobodies trying to get into town, and then, how six of the remaining members of Organization XIII appeared before Sora and taunted him before leaving.
They told about their journeys through various worlds. Goofy told the story of the time they spent in the Land of Dragons and how they met their old friend, Mushu, who had his heart and spirit turned into a summon during their first journey, and how Mushu was teaching his friend Mulan how to act like a man so she could join China's royal army under the disguise of a boy named Ping.
Goofy spent a couple of minutes making fun of Donald and Sora for not realizing that Mulan was a girl. Then he continued the story by telling about how they traveled to the nearby army encampment and persuaded the captain, Li Shang, to allow them to join after he made them go through some group training.
He describing how Mulan caused an avalanche to stop a bad guy named Shan-Yu from storming the imperial palace with an army of Heartless, and how when Shang discovered she was a girl, he kicked her, Sora and the others out of the army. He continued on to reveal that Shan-Yu was still alive and about how they went as quickly as they could to warn Shang.
He concluded his story by telling the parents about Mulan fighting alongside Sora and the others to finish of Shan-Yu once and for all, and about the Emperor giving Mulan Shan-Yu's sword as proof of her bravery.
Sora told the gathered parents about their trip to the Beast's Castle. When they had arrived, they had heard the Beast roaring in the distance and were excited to meet with their old friend and ally. They had suddenly found themselves surrounded by Heartless and the Beast came to their rescue, single-handedly vanquishing all of the Heartless. Ignoring Sora and the others, the Beast had pushed them aside, only being interested in saving a single rose contained in a bell jar.
Sora explained how they went searching for the Beast but instead found Belle, who told them that the Beast had become withdrawn and had even locked his servants up in the castle dungeon. Sora then went on to tell about fighting their way through the West Hall of the castle, sneaking into the dungeons and fighting off a locked door possessed by a Heartless.
Sora described how worried the servants were about their master's behavior and how one servant, a small clock by the name of Cogsworth, went with Sora, Donald, and Goofy to the Beast's room, where they found Xaldin, number III of Organization XIII, feeding the Beast lies about his servants and Belle, claiming that they only wanted to steal the Beast's precious rose. Sora and the others told about how they burst in and saw Xaldin flee, leaving Sora and the others to fight an enraged Beast.
Sora explained that when they had finished beating sense back into the Beast, the Beast explained to them that Xaldin was the one behind his behavior. Sora went on to explain that the Beast wanted to apologize to Belle, but as he left to do so, they had heard Belle scream for help from the ballroom. Sora, the Beast and the others had rushed to Belle's aid, and discovered that Xaldin had set a powerful Heartless on Belle. Sora briefly summarized the battle for the gathered group and went onto explain the curse that the castle was under and why the rose was so important to the Beast.
Jiminy took over the story telling next and told about their return to Olympus Coliseum. "When we got to Olympus Coliseum," he said, "We found ourselves somewhere in the world we weren't familiar with. We found out later that it was the Underworld, where Hades had supreme command over everything dead. We were just about to leave the Underworld, when we saw a woman named Meg, who was a friend of Hercules running from Heartless.
After we helped her, she asked us to go to Hades and ask him to lay off Hercules for a while. Apparently, Hades had been sending monsters almost daily to fight Hercules, and Herc was wearing out. So we traveled deeper into the Underworld and spoke to Hades. Hades had summoned up a warrior, Auron from the dead to attack us, but Auron joined us and help us fight against Hades.
We fought him for a couple of minutes but nothing we did affected him, which was a side effect of being in the Underworld. So we did the only logical thing anyone would do in that situation. We ran. Right as we were about to escape, Hades sent his pet Cerberus to attack us and Sora and Auron were forced to fight alone when the Underworld's magic prevented Goofy and Donald from coming to their aid.
Needless to say, Sora and Auron defeated Cerberus and we escaped to the Coliseum, where we found out that the only way to stop the powers of the Underworld from draining our power was with an item called the Olympus Stone. But the stone had been stolen by number IX of the Organization, Demyx, a master of water magic who used a sitar as his weapon. Then Hades showed up and told us that Meg had gone and got lost in the Underworld, even though we knew in our hearts that he had kidnapped her. Herc was ready to go charging head first into the Underworld to rescue her, but he sent us instead when Hades sent the Hydra to attack. So we went into the Underworld after Meg.
While we searched for Meg, we ran into Demyx, who called Sora Roxas for some reason. We had no idea what he was talking about. Nonetheless, we fought and beat him. Demyx took off through a portal of Darkness, leaving the Olympus Stone behind. We went further into the Underworld and found an image of Meg engraved around a keyhole. Sora used his Keyblade to open the lock and we jumped into the hole where Meg was being held prisoner.
There, we found Pete waiting for us with a large group of Heartless. We fought Pete for a while, and just when things were beginning to look bad for us, Herc showed up and with his help, we took down Pete.
When we returned to the surface, we discovered that the Hydra Herc had thought was dead was still alive and had completely wrecked the Coliseum. Herc was downtrodden; he thought he had failed everyone. So we took on the Hydra for him."
"That was one of our most difficult battles ever," Sora interrupted, "Every time we cut off its head, two more would grow in its place, until we finally wore it down and finished it off."
Jiminy nodded. "Herc was still feeling down, but we had to take off, and so we went to the next world."
Donald explained about their trip to his, Goofy's and the King's home world, Disney Castle. He told the gathered parents that when they arrived, they found the Castle nearly overrun with Heartless (The King let out a cry of surprise at this). He recalled about how they discovered that Maleficent had found a way to endanger the Cornerstone of Light, which prevented the forces of Darkness from overtaking the Castle, how they enlisted Merlin's help to figure out how Maleficent was getting Darkness into the Castle, how Merlin created a door to a "special world", as Merlin had put it, where somebody there was responsible for what was happening in the Castle.
He explained that when they went through the door, they found themselves in the past, long before the Castle was built, how they had looked around for clues and learned that Pete had gained access to this world and was going to destroy the Cornerstone of Light in the past so Maleficent could take over the Castle in the present. He recounted their battle alongside the past Pete against the present Pete, defeating present Pete, sealing the doors to the past world so no one could interfere there again, and returning to the present to find that the Castle was once again safe from the forces of Darkness.
"And then we went to the next world, Port Royal," Sora said, once again dominating the storytelling. "When we arrived on the world, something about the world felt-" Sora paused, trying to find the right world, "It felt different. Like the world itself was darker. And that wasn't because we arrived at night.
Anyways, we didn't have much time to think about it, we suddenly heard cannon fire, and screams coming from the nearby town. We rushed down to see what was going on and we discovered that the town was under attack by pirates. At the docks, Pete was talking to a group of pirates. We tried fighting off the pirates but nothing we did seemed to hurt them. Then the moon came out from behind the clouds and when the pirates stepped into the moonlight, they changed."
There was a pause as the parents stared at Sora. "They changed how?" asked David.
"When they stepped into the moonlight," Sora continued, "Their clothes became tattered. Their hair fell out and large sections of their skin fell off. They looked like the living dead. They had been cursed by an ancient treasure and were seeking all of the pieces to the treasure so they could rid themselves of the curse." Sora shuddered at the memory of the pirate's appearance. The parents all had looks of mild revulsion at Sora's description.
"We discovered that the only way to hurt the pirates was to use magic or attack them when they were exposed to moonlight. We defeated the pirates and Pete took off running. We ran into town to help fight off more pirates. There we met a man named Will Turner, who was being attacked by the Heartless. We helped him fight off the Heartless and he told us that the pirates had captured the Governor's daughter, Elizabeth Swann, and were taking her back to their ship, the Black Pearl.
We chased after them, but by the time we got to the docks, the Pearl was already sailing away. We were too late. We spent the night helping the townspeople clean up after the attack, helping the wounded, piling the bodies." Sora shuddered again at the memory. Kairi placed her hand on Sora's, calming him. "The next morning," he said, "We went with Will to meet with Governor Swann, and the Commodore of the Royal Navy, James Norrington. Two of the soldiers standing guard over Governor Swann and Norrington mentioned that a pirate named Jack Sparrow had talked to them about the Black Pearl before he was arrested and thrown in prison. Will suggested using Jack as a source of information and Norrington told him no, saying that it was no time for rash actions.
So we went with Will to the prison to see if Jack knew anything about the Black Pearl. On the way, Will explained that Elizabeth had fallen unconscious at Norrington's promotion ceremony the day before and had fallen into the water from the Cliffside ramparts. Jack, who had apparently been trying to commandeer a ship, saved Elizabeth from drowning. When Norrington discovered that Jack was a pirate, he had Sparrow arrested. Jack then threatened Elizabeth so he could escape and he hid inside the blacksmith shop. Will told us that he met and dueled against Jack for threatening Elizabeth. He told us that Jack cheated in their duel and threatened to shoot Will, saying that the shot in his pistol wasn't meant for Will. Then Norrington had shown up and arrested Jack.
When we got to the prison, we found Jack lying in his cell. He told us that he had heard of the Black Pearl and that Barbossa, Captain of the Black Pearl and his crew set sail from the Isla de Muerta, an island that cannot be found except by those who already know where it is. Will told Jack that the pirates had taken Elizabeth and Jack refused to help us because he saw no profit for himself, until Will offered to spring him from the cell. When Jack learned Will's name, he was more than willing to help us. So we broke him out and took off.
With Jack's help, we boarded the Dauntless, the most powerful ship in the port. We forced the crew to abandon ship, all to lure another ship, the Interceptor, over to us so we could board and commandeer the Interceptor, which was a faster ship than the Dauntless. Norrington took the bait and led the crew of the Interceptor to the Dauntless. He and all of the Interceptor's crew stormed the Dauntless, while we snuck onto the Interceptor, cut all of the climbing ropes tying the two ships together and took off.
Jack set us on a course for an island named Tortuga. On the way, we learned that Jack had known Will's father, calling him a good man and a good pirate. Will denied that his father was a pirate and Jack told him he'd have to square with the fact that pirate was in his blood one day. When we got to Tortuga, Jack and Will left us to guard the ship overnight while they went into town to find a crew. The next day, they returned with a man named Gibbs who had gathered a crew that he called faithful and as crazy to boot.
With the crew, we set sail for the Isla de Muerta. It took us a few days of sailing and two nights in a raging storm, but we made it. As we drifted towards the cove where the Pearl was anchored, Gibbs told us a little bit about Jack. He used to be the Captain of the Black Pearl, but ten years ago, when Jack and his crew were searching for the Isla de Muerta, Jack told his first mate where it was. His crew mutinied that night and left Jack stranded on an island with only a pistol and a single shot. Jack escaped the island and he refused to use that one shot, except for one man, his mutinous first mate."
Kairi interrupted the story, "Let me guess, Barbossa."
Sora nodded. "Jack and Will rowed to the Island, telling Gibbs to keep to the Pirate's Code should the worse happen. When I asked Gibbs what Jack meant, he said that Jack was reminding Gibbs that any man who falls behind, is left behind. A little while later, Will returned to the Interceptor with Elizabeth but no Jack. He told Gibbs that Jack had fallen behind and Gibbs told us to keep to the Code. We set sail, putting as much distance between us and the island as possible.
Elizabeth explained to us that she had given Will's name as her own when the pirates found out that she had the final piece of the treasure that bound them to their curse. They had kidnapped her because they believed she was the child of Bootstrap Bill Turner (one of their crew they had strapped to a cannon and sent to the depths of the ocean after he sent a piece of the cursed gold to his son, saying that they deserved to remain cursed) and as his supposed child, they needed his blood to be repaid so they could be free. Elizabeth told us that when she first met Will, she took the cursed treasure from him, not knowing what it was, under the impression that Will was a pirate. Will then realized that it was his blood the pirates needed to lift the curse.
By that point, the Pearl had caught up to us. We engaged in a massive ship to ship cannon battle. While the crews fought each other, Donald, Goofy and I fought off the Heartless Pete kept sending over. The Pearl disabled the Interceptor's main mast and the pirates and Heartless swarmed us. The pirates ended up capturing us and brought us over to the Pearl, but Will had gone missing. He was apparently trapped below deck on the Interceptor. Some of Barbossa's crew ignited the powder magazine, blowing the Interceptor to bits. Then Will showed up on the deck of the Pearl, told Barbossa who he was and threatened to kill himself if Barbossa didn't let Elizabeth, us, and the crew of the Interceptor go free. Barbossa agreed, and left us, Elizabeth, and Jack stranded on the island that Barbossa had left Jack on to die ten years ago.
There we found out that Jack spent three days lying on a beach drinking rum until he was rescued by spice smugglers who were using the island as a cache. The next day, Elizabeth encouraged us to help her burn all the rum, food and shade to make a smoke signal because there was no doubt in her mind that the entire Royal Navy was out looking for her. Within hours, Commodore Norrington showed up on the Dauntless and rescued us. Elizabeth told Norrington she'd marry him if he helped save Will. Norrington agreed. We sailed to the Isla de Muerta and arrived there shortly after Barbossa. Jack convinced Norrington to send us into the caves with him so we could trick the pirates into coming out of the caves and into an ambush led by Norrington.
So Norrington sent us and Jack into the caves. Jack tricked Barbossa into thinking we were on his side and into forestalling Will's death until Barbossa's crew had defeated Norrington's men. Barbossa sent most of his men and several Heartless out to fight Norrington. After Barbossa's men had left, Jack freed Will and began to duel with Barbossa, Will fought off the pirates and Heartless with me, Donald, and Goofy helping him. Barbossa ran Jack through with his sword, and Jack revealed that he had stolen a piece of the Aztec treasure, cursing himself. Barbossa called out for Pete's help and Pete summoned a powerful Heartless that took away all light, making Barbossa impervious to our attacks.
So Donald, Goofy and I fought and defeated the Heartless while Jack dueled Barbossa and Will, with help from Elizabeth finished off the last of the pirates in the caves. During their duel, Jack cut his hand and smeared his blood on the piece of Aztec gold he had stolen, which he tossed to Will. Barbossa went to shoot Elizabeth but Jack shot Barbossa first. Barbossa laughed at Jack, reminding Jack that the curse prevented him from dying. Then Will revealed that he had also smeared his blood on the gold and returned the last pieces to the chest. Barbossa died with a look of complete shock on his face. When we left the caves, we found out that Jack's crew had taken off with the Pearl during the confusion of the battle. We returned to the town of Port Royal before we left the world, where we helped Will stop Jack's execution and confess his love to Elizabeth."
Sora took deep breath and a huge gulp of water, choking a little as he swallowed too quickly. Riku laughed and slapped Sora's back, helping him clear the water from his lungs. "That's what you get for going into too much detail, dude," he said, "Just the key points would've been fine." Sora grinned at him and managed to retort with "Where's the fun in that?" before he broke out into another coughing fit.
LD
"I keep forgetting, don't mess with Keyblade wielders. But you know what? That just means I made the right choice."
Darkness. Endless Darkness. How long had he been floating here? Minutes, hours, days. They all felt the same to him. How boring. Boring? He was actually bored? The man laughed and slowly opened his left eye. His only eye and stared around at the Endless Abyss. He could feel. The man let out a cry of joy as emotions coursed through him. He wasn't a Nobody anymore. He had become a Somebody again. He had found his heart. Dilan, Even, Aeleus, Ienzo, and of course, Xehanort. How many of the others had found their hearts?
He raised his hands to his face. An eye patch covered his right eye. The scar on his left cheek still burned from where a Keyblade Wielder once attacked him with a burst of Darkness. "I mean, what's a little scratch on my face. All things considered. I'm just glad he didn't steal my heart like Princess Whatever-It-Was. That'd ruin my week for sure." Anger burned in his newly reformed heart at the memory of the fight that scarred his face and lost him his right eye.
Braig.
The man smiled. It had been a really long time since he had gone by that name. "That's my name?" He asked the Darkness. He ran a hand through his black hair streaked with grey that had been tied back into a ponytail. "As if. I don't go by Braig anymore. Now it's Xigbar."
LD
Hope you're enjoying the story so far and I certainly hope all of you out there are still willing to keep on reading and that I haven't scared you off. Chapter Three is up and running as well as of tonight. So I hope you enjoy that one as well!
P.S. I've dropped hints about some worlds I'll be revisiting during this chapter and Chapter Three. Happy hunting!