Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters mentioned here beyond Tobi, who is mine.
A/N: Aqua and Terra are Roxas' parents?! What? Okay, just kidding, that's not what happened. Anyway, I wonder what the doctor had to say. Is something wrong with Roxas? Is it something to do with those weird creatures? I guess you'll (hopefully) just have to keep reading! This chapter has a lot of emotional jumping. There's a bit of fun and cheerful stuff in the beginning, but then we start getting into the real meat of this story! You heard, er…read me right, this is where the story really begins. Sorry about all that exposition in the earlier chapters. I planned on taking this story in a whole different direction, but I guess I'm not the one in charge then am I? Oh well, I hope you all like this! Please leave reviews, even if they're short! A short review is better than no review at all. Thanks!
Chapter IX: The Heart of the Problem
I wonder what the doctor told Aqua and Terra. They wouldn't tell us. I guess it wasn't anything too bad because they discharged him right after. Roxas went home with Terra and Aqua rather than with us in the Link. He kept saying that he was fine, but I'm not sure if I believe him. Either way, it was after noon by the time we got out of the hospital, so we decided to just skip class for the rest of the day. Not that tomorrow will be any different. We're going to go see Yen Sid, Merlin and the King tomorrow. We're hoping they'll be able to tell us something. Well, us minus Serah, she went back to the school. It kinda makes sense though, since she only got swept up into this morning, and she has her own life.
"So I bet our professors love us after today," Tobi turns the key and opens the door to our apartment. The rest of us step in behind him.
"Oh yeah," Van tosses his bag on the couch. Ven's making sure Roxas doesn't do anything stupid since he's hurt. Aqua and Terra had to go back to work, so they can't be our "parents" today. Not that it was too big a deal since we did call them first.
"What're we going to do? We can't just have those things running around," Kairi closes the door behind her. She and Naminé decided to spend the rest of the day with us since their school day was shot too.
"We're going to go see Yen Sid about them tomorrow," I wrap my arms around her. She smiles up at me after the small kiss I gave her.
"Rox, are you sure you're okay?" Naminé moves closer to Roxas whose face has been slapped with a permanent wince ever since we got home. I think he moved too much, but he wouldn't listen to any of us.
"I'm fine." See look at that, he had to say that through his teeth! That's not fine, but there's not a lot of reasoning with him.
"Roxas! You couldn't even say that without wincing!" Tobi shakes his head.
"Hey, you'd be the same way, and you know it!" Roxas shouts with a smile forming on his lips.
"Just because you're my twin's Nobody, that doesn't mean you know me." Tobi's laughing as he folds his arms.
"Actually yes, but we've also been living together for almost a year now!" Both of them are laughing now, hopefully that means they're done.
"Do they always do that?" I have to lean closer to hear Kairi. I smile.
"Sometimes. I think they're more alike than Roxas and I are." Since my head is on top of hers I can feel her smile.
"Will the two of you stop? You sound worse than Aqua and Terra picking out paint!" I forgot that Van got wrangled into going with them that day. I never found out why, bribery or blackmail are the first things that come to mind. Actually, you'd be surprised what that kid would do for chocolate, so it doesn't sound too hard to bribe him. Still his comment makes us all laugh.
"Sorry…" Roxas and Tobi mimic each other.
We don't do much for the rest of the day. Ven went home about ten minutes ago after Tobi and Roxas, against our better judgment, made dinner, it was really good, but still Roxas shouldn't've been moving that much.
"Goodnight guys! Are you sure we can't come with you guys tomorrow?" I love when I get to hug her.
"Yeah…you should try and get some of your classes in." Aw…Roxas is nuzzling Naminé with his nose, "Are you sure you don't want us to walk you home?"
"No, you need to stop moving. You go lie down." Naminé walks with Roxas over to the couch. Wow, she waited for him to sit before she even headed to the door.
"Okay…I love you!"
"I love you too."
"Bye guys," there they go…
"So what're we going to do now?" I flop on the couch next to my brother and my Nobody.
"The usual?" Tobi looks over to me. By only sharing a look, we all agree. I love these guys. So that makes our night, a movie, popcorn and some stupid laughs.
"Everyone ready?" Tobi slips on the shoulder armor piece that Aqua and Terra gave us all once we got back. The sun hasn't totally come up yet, but we're hoping to get to see Yen Sid as soon as possible.
"Yep," I take my armor bit and clamp it on my shoulder. The bright flash from these things is still surprising. "It's weird how easy these things move around." I twist back and forth in my cool black and blue Keyblade armor that I've used all of once.
"Well, yeah it's kinda supposed to be." I guess the fun's worn off for Ven. "Are you finished?"
"Sorry Ven, but Sora's right, this is fun!" See Roxas was right, Tobi and I think alike. "But you're right, we should probably get going. Five Keyblades fly into the air and fall back as our gliders. With a jump, we're on our way.
It doesn't take long for his tower to come into view. That weird twisted building has been in my life more than I would've liked it to be. I mean, I like Yen Sid and he knows so much, it's just we never seem to be here for good reasons. I'm leading everyone here, since I'm the only one that's been here more than once. Although, it was never in a glider, so we had some moments when we were lost, but oh well, I'm sure Roxas'll get over it. Great, there's a gummi ship here. Let's hope it's from the King. I wonder if he brought Donald and Goofy with him. I haven't seen them since we moved to Twilight Town. That was almost…a year ago…wow. Here we go, I jump down from my glider. Cool, this armor makes those jumps softer too! I can hear the others landing behind me. This time I'm ready for the flash. With that we all start up into the Tower.
Ugh…these stairs still suck. No matter how many times I have to go up here these never…get…any…better, yuck. Oh well, we're here. Crap…I should've been checking up on Roxas. Well at least Ven's walking with him. I'll make it up to him later.
"Everyone here?"
"No." Van rolls his eyes. Why does he always have to be so sarcastic?
"Ha…ha…" I push open the big wooden door, "Hello?"
"Sora!"
"You're all here!"
"Guys! Oomph!" I get tackled by my favorite dog and duck. "Hey…guys…can you let…me up? Please?" I guess I know how Tobi felt those times now. Whew, they're getting off. Now I can actually stand.
"Gawrsh…Sora, you need ta stop growin'"
"Heh…sorry," I rub the back of my head, "I couldn't help it." I offer a big smile. I'm glad I can still make them laugh.
"Hiya everyone!" I look over to the King as he walks toward us. "Gee, Roxas what happened to ya?"
"I was kinda hoping you'd be able to tell me that."
"Indeed, perhaps we can shed some light on the situation." I turn to the man with the very deep voice.
"Master Yen Sid," unlike usual I'm the first one to bow. The others must not be far behind since Yen Sid smiles at us.
"Terra n' Aqua talked to us yesterday. They said something attacked you guys," we all go to Yen Sid's desk as the King talks.
"Yeah, we were going to school and these weird monsters came out of nowhere and attacked us." Tobi crosses his arms.
"Were they Heartless?" I try not to laugh at the way Donald talks. Oh come on, give me a break, it's been a year!
"We don't think so. They didn't look anything we'd seen before. They weren't like real things either. They were like fog almost. You know what I mean?" I wonder if Roxas knew he held his hand over his scar as he mentioned that.
"Yeah, they were made of these wisps of darkness, but they were formed into that of an animal. It's kind of like when I get thrown into anti-form, those little black things that fly around. Yeah, they were made of those or at least something like it." I'm not sure that was the best way to describe them, but it's all I've really got.
"Hmm…that is quite disturbing. Tell me, did these creatures resemble something of this nature?" A puff of smoke appears and fades as Yen Sid waves his hands over his desk.
"That's it," Van says before I can even think up an answer.
"It is worse than I feared." I hear Goofy's muffled "gawrsh" in the background.
"What is it?" The King gets closer to the moving image.
"This is what is called…a Rifter."
"A Rifter? That's a strange name." I can't tell if Tobi's confused or upset at the name.
"You of all people should be most familiar with them Tobi, for they come from only one place." Tobi's arms and mouth drop a bit, "That is correct, the Realm of Life."
"But…but how is that even possible? We never saw any of these things when we were there?" I bend down to look at the weird thing.
"You were not truly in that realm. You were on the world that did but one thing, which is guard the entrance to the Realm. These are beings of pure Chaos. Chaos given life and made far more dangerous."
"But…I thought that we sealed it away. How…are these even here? And I thought Chaos destroyed worlds, not attacked people." Tobi looks more confused than any of us, so far at least.
"You are correct in a way. Your efforts did prevent a horrific cataclysm, the likes of which have never been told, but these monsters can form from the smallest portion of Chaos. It is possible before you were able to seal the Keyhole, some Chaos was able to slip out."
"Excuse me Master, but uh…what is this here Chaos stuff?" Oh Goofy! Yen Sid nods.
"As you know, every person is made of a body, a soul, and perhaps up until this point, most importantly a heart, correct?" We all nod. "When a being passes on from this life, the heart goes to become one with Kingdom Hearts, the body withers away, but the soul passes to the Realm of Life. If a soul is tormented upon death, as is the case with many that become Heartless, but lack a Nobody, the soul becomes a tattered and fading essence that is left to wander the vast expanse between the Realms. During this time, portions of the soul begin to shred as if paper. It is these incomplete souls that form the Chaos."
"What if the soul isn't torn?" The King seems as interested as we are.
"That is something even I do not know. What lies beyond in the Realm of Life is a mystery to all who reside here. It is a one way passage. Once you are in there, you do not come out."
"But that still doesn't explain what it wants here," Roxas steps back against the wall.
"Again that is something I do not know. This is something that has not happened before. It is a threat unheard of. I am not certain of what to do."
A/N: What?! How does he not know?! XD Please review!