Okay guys, here's the latest chapter of Bonded Souls! I just got back from Megacon, and MAN! Did I have a blast! It was so much fun... X3
You might wanna break out the tissues in this chapter, and NO. Axel doesn't die in this chapter. Because we're still in HOLLOW BASTION/RADIANT GARDEN. Whether or not I'll kill him off or not is still up in the air. Also, there are lyrics that appear in this chapter that kinda descibes the mood, and I suggest listening to the song while reading. The song is called "Kanashimi no Mukou e" from the game (not the anime) "School Days". Just go to youtube and look up the song/lyrics.
Now, on with the chapter!
Kyrie (c) Me
Kingdom Hearts (c) Square Enix
Kingdom Hearts
Bonded Soul
Chapter 65
Kyrie sighed as she stood in her grandfather's study. After arriving, Sora and the others darted into the computer room, eager to help Leon and Aerith. But the girl found herself strangely apprehensive, unable to move any further. Somewhere inside of her, something was telling her to go back and search for something. But…what?
"Why do I feel this way? Argh…c'mon girl, get a grip." she scowled as she placed her hands against her head, gripping her hair as she tried to calm herself down. At that moment, however, Leon appeared in the room and blinked at her. Noticing the girl's apprehension, he pointed over his shoulder.
"The boys already went inside Tron's world. If you want, you can come with me to get the eradicator." he explained. She deadpanned at this but nodded as she followed the stoic man out of the room, summoning her keyblades as she did so.
"Damn, stupid instincts…oh well. I'll probably be no help because I've never been in Tron's world. Besides, Leon and the others need all of the help they can get!" she thought as she ran after the man, cutting down each heartless that was foolish enough to get in her way. Leon growled as he slashed his way through a group of yellow robot-like heartless, looking back at the white-haired girl as he did so.
"Kyrie, be careful! These guys are stronger than the normal heartless, they can knock you out in a second!" he warned. She looked at him and nodded before jumping out of the way, avoiding one of the heartless as they tried to shock her with electricity. She smirked, sweeping one of her blades through their legs, causing them to fall to the ground as she struck the death blow.
"These guys are nothing. Try fighting heartless on four legs." she thought with a smirk as she ran after Leon again. As they ran through the postern to the bailey, Kyrie was aware of someone watching them, but when she looked around, no one was to be seen.
"Something tells me that it isn't Demyx or Axel…" she thought as she ran. Her eyes narrowed.
"So if it's not them, who is it?"
-A little while later-
Kyrie and Leon entered Merlin's home to find Cid working diligently on the computer, his fingers tapping the keys as he worked. Yuffie looked at them and smiled before approaching.
"Finished?" he asked. Cid snorted as he kept typing.
"Would be, if it weren't for the old loon's magic." he snapped as he stared at the screen. Merlin, who was looking over some books, looked at the middle-aged man and growled.
"OLD loon you say!"
"I'm tryin' to work here!" Cid snapped as he continued typing. Kyrie giggled silently into her palm, amused by the elderly gentlemen as they argued. Merlin growled as he summoned his wand.
"Oh ho-ho-ho, I'll show you who's old!" he exclaimed as he pointed the wand at Cid. Magic began to gather at its tip before he fired. But at that moment, Cid finished the eradicator and popped it out of the computer.
"Done!" he exclaimed. But he cried out and flew forward as the magic hit the computer, sparks flying at it caught fire. The man groaned as he lifted himself off the floor, holding the disk out to Leon.
"There you go, Leon. One homemade program. A loony wizard special." he explained as the man took the disk from his hands.
"This had better work." Merlin spoke as he hit the palm of his hand with his wand. Kyrie nodded as she stared at the disk, not sure what to make of it. Leon nodded.
"We're off."
"Be on your guard." the wizard cautioned as he turned his attention to Cid, who started running while Yuffie tried putting out the fire. With that, the duo turned and ran out, trying to get back to the study as fast as possible. But the heartless somehow sensed the change and were even more desperate to stop the duo as they got ever closer to the castle.
"Ugh!" Kyrie thought as one of the heartless threw her against the crystal wall, knocking the breath out of her. Leon was having equal difficulty as the heartless surrounded him, backing him into the wall beside the girl as she got to her feet.
"Damn…this doesn't look good…" he whispered as he held the gun blade out in front of him. Kyrie nodded grimly before shoving Leon towards the castle, making the man look back at her in confusion as she squared off against the heartless horde.
"Kyrie, you can't take them alone!" he protested. But she quickly shook her head and shoved him again, pointing in the direction of the castle with one of her keyblades.
"Leon, I'll be fine, go! Sora and the others need that Eradicator!" she thought as she stared at the man. He stared at her silently for a few moments before nodding, taking off towards the castle.
"Be careful!" he called as he ran, with her turning her attention back to the heartless horde as they closed in. "He's right, I can't take on this horde by myself. The heartless aren't the normal variety, so it's harder to fight them. What can I do…?" she thought as she moved, dodging an attack a large, purple robot-like heartless threw at her. Her memories flashed back to the events of the last time they were in Hollow Bastion, when she destroyed the heartless with a wave of light.
"Maybe…I can do it again. Concentrate…concentrate…" she thought as she closed her eyes. But no matter how hard she concentrated, the power wouldn't come. Something was stopping her. Growling silently, she opened her eyes again and dodged another attack.
"Why isn't it working?" she thought angrily as she slashed apart a heartless that had been foolish enough to come after her. Suddenly though, a familiar chakram flew into the horde, eliminating a few heartless right off the bat. Kyrie smiled as she looked, to see Axel as he caught the chakram, smirking at her.
"Hey, need a hand?" he smirked. She smiled and nodded before he ran in, throwing his chakrams and destroying more heartless as she joined him, the two joining forces as they took down the horde. Once they were done, Kyrie turned to Axel and smiled, wiping some sweat from her brow as she did so. So HE had been the one watching them… and here she thought it had been someone else. He smiled right back and dispelled his chakrams before approaching her.
"Man, I can't leave you alone for five minutes without you getting into trouble." he teased. She blushed madly, shoving his shoulder before crossing her arms and turning away. He chuckled lightly before ruffling her hair, making her turn and smile. After a few minutes, they became silent as they stared at each other. She quickly looked away, her cheeks flushing crimson. Axel stared at her as she began to fiddle with her hands, not daring to return his gaze.
"I don't know how she'll react, but…" without warning, he moved, backing her up against the wall and he placed his hands on either side of her, pinning her there. She stared at him in confusion as her cheeks flushed even darker, confused and surprised at the sudden action. He stared down at the girl, his eyes alight as they stared into her own, trying to find the answers he was looking for. He slowly reached down, and brushed her cheek with his fingertips, before cupping her cheek.
If I can make my way to the other side of sorrow,
Then I don't need warmth or tomorrow anymore.
She felt a billion emotions welling deep inside her chest, but the most prominent were love and sorrow. She cared about this man so much, but feared that he would disappear and leave her behind. The dream still fresh in her mind, she closed her eyes tightly, trying to fight off the torrent of sorrow that threatened to break free.
But the thought of him still, cold, lifeless, disappearing from her arms…it was like someone had taken a dagger and stabbed her. It was torture.
Tears began to drip down her cheeks, alarming him as he tried to wipe them away.
"Kyrie, what's wrong?"
The dream that landed in the darkness of silence,
Who…? Is the light that briefly spilled on my cheeks.
"I…I don't want him to go. I…don't want him to leave…I don't want him to…die…" she thought as she buried her face into her palms. Suddenly, she felt him pulling her closer, so that she rested against him. Looking up, she was surprised to see a tender look in his eyes as he stared down at her. It almost looked…loving.
"It's okay, I'm here. I'm here."
Why…? Without knowing the method to stop an all too fragile world,
I was simply wishing, that's right, for oblivion.
With that she slumped to the ground, him holding her tightly as she spilled her emotions into his chest, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed silently. He simply held her, the person he cared about more than anything, as she cried.
If I can make my way to the other side of sorrow,
Then I'd like to not feel anything beyond this anymore.
"I can't tell her, not now. Not like this." he thought as she cried against his chest. He had no idea what had brought on this emotion, but he knew it probably had something to do with the look she gave him earlier. Something was troubling her, but he had no idea what.
Why…? The repeating words, the collapsed promise,
Echoed conspicuously and beautifully, and now, severed.
Will you return to the other side of despair?
The utmost love entrusts its unblemished body to the eternal sail.
He brushed his cheek against her head, resting it there as she tried to calm herself down.
If I can make my way to the other side of sorrow,
Then I won't even fear the lonely slumber anymore.
He had no idea how long the two had sat there, with her face buried in his chest, but soon she was able to calm down. Taking a shaky breath, she pulled back, trying her best to wipe away her tears. But a hand on her cheek stopped her, and she looked up to see Axel wiping her tears away, his face unreadable as he did so. He gave her a small smile.
"You okay?" he asked softly. She nodded silently. "Wanna talk about it?" She looked away for a moment before nodding again. Pulling out her notebook, she recounted the dream, with him reading along silently as she did so. Once she was done, he gave a small chuckle.
"Silly. There's no way that will ever happen." he spoke. She stared at him, doubting his words. Both of them knew that Axel was in danger of fading himself, but the man wasn't going to let that fact stop him from being with her. He leaned in, causing her to blush brightly as he stared at her.
"Kyrie, I won't disappear. And I'll always be by your side, got it…memorized?" he whispered before placing a chaste kiss on her forehead, making her blush darken as she stared at him in surprise. He smirked. "I'm not letting you get away." he whispered playfully into her ear as he pulled away. With that, he stood, holding his hand out to her. Taking it, he helped her to her feet before pointing in the direction of the castle.
"Go catch up with them, I'll try and meet with you later." he ordered. She nodded furiously and ran, brushing her fingertips against her forehead as she did so.
"Why did he…does this mean that he…cares for me, too?"
-Ansem's Study-
"Kyrie!" the girl stopped and turned just as Yuffie ran in. "Are things okay here?" she asked. The girl shrugged and Yuffie nodded, before the two ran into the computer room, finding Aerith at the controls.
"Things are settling down in town! The only heartless left are the local variety. And it looks like there are fewer than before." Yuffie exclaimed. Kyrie smiled at the news, Hollow Bastion was on its way to going back the way it used to be. Aerith smiled sadly and nodded.
"Now if we can get those three back in one piece…" Kyrie frowned and looked at the computer. "Sora…Donald…Goofy…c'mon guys." she thought as she clasped her hands over her chest tightly. Suddenly though, the laser emitted a flash of light, and within seconds, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were in the room.
"You're here!" Aerith exclaimed as she, Yuffie, and Kyrie jumped for joy. "Welcome back!" Sora nodded and looked down for a moment, before looking at the three. "How's the town?"
"A-okay!"
"Not a single trace left of the MCP, either. Everything's back to normal. We made it." Aerith explained. Kyrie's eyes narrowed as she and Yuffie leaned in, curious on the disheartened look on the boy's face. "Hey, why the long face? What happened?"
"Tron just disappeared." Donald explained. Sora nodded. "And he promised we'd see him again…" a sudden beeping stopped the group as they turned their attention to the computer screen.
"What's happened?"
"Greetings, friends. System is up, and ready for User input."
"Tron!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed. The voice on the computer chuckled. "Stay in touch."
"Yeah!" Sora agreed as Donald ran over to the computer, instantly tapping the keys. "Oh boy, oh boy!"
"Hey, stop that! It tickles!"
"Tron is ticklish?" Goofy asked, his eyebrows raised. Kyrie shrugged her shoulders while a devious look crossed Sora's features, the boy approaching the computer and beginning to tap the keys wildly. "How 'bout this?"
"Please, stop that!"
"I think Tron's been hanging around those guys too much." Yuffie whispered to Aerith and Kyrie, who were trying to hold back their own laughter as they watched the boys. Kyrie nodded in agreement. "I agree, but then again, boys will be boys."
"W-wait, wait just a moment. I want to show you something that I dug up from the system achieves. You can see the town back when it was first built." with that, the computer lit up with a flash of light, blinding the group for a second before fading away.
"Huh?"
"Go and look outside. You can see better there." Tron explained. Sora nodded as he, Donald, Goofy, and Kyrie ran ahead, eager to see what was going on outside. Yuffie and Aerith followed close behind, and when they got to the castle Postern, they were amazed at what they saw. Lights were falling from the sky and five pillars of light formed in the sky above them.
"Oh…" Kyrie thought as she stared in amazement. Aerith smiled and turned to them, finally remembering the true name of their world.
"You know, this town had another name once. Radiant Garden."
"I was right…this town was named Radiant Garden. But then…why-" suddenly, a sharp pain interrupted her thoughts, causing the girl to gasp loudly as she grasped her temples, a terrible pain throbbing deep inside. The group turned at this, and gasped when the girl's knees buckled and she collapsed.
"Kyrie!"
"Kyrie, what's wrong?"
"Hang on!"
"What happened?"
"Kyrie, please, just hang on. We're going to-" Aerith soothed as she knelt over her. Kyrie blinked blearily at them, her sight going.
And then, everything went dark.
Uh-oh...I know. Damn me and my damn cliffhangers. I just have too much fun screwing with you guys!
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Now Imma go and make me a sammich.
Review!