Yeah, uh... the only reason I'm posting this is because my school got let out ridiculously early for midterms. xD So, whee.
A semi-short chapter for me. Aren't you all happy? (tumbleweeds blow around; crickets chirp) (looks around) Man, I think they all died. Meh, whatever.
Char: You're going to keep posting for the nonexistent fans, eh?
Me: YEAH! ...wait a minute...
Disclaimer- Yeah, I totally own KH! And I also let those PWP yaoi stories run rampant around this fandom, because I love seeing my characters exploited to pieces even though everyone is obviously straight! ...no. Stupid fanweasels...
The four of them arrived at last at Central Station, with Char leading the way. Sora was a bit surprised that she knew her way around here so well… but then again, they had found her in the old mansion, so it was only natural that she lived here and knew where to go. He looked up at the top of the clock tower and had a sudden, brief sensation of the thought of being at the top of that tower. Then he shook it off. Not like Twilight Town would let anyone sit up by the big clock… it was too easy to fall.
And you know this how?
Sora shook his head to clear it of the words that had echoed in his mind and started for the door, only to leap back in surprise as something materialized in front of him. It was long-bodied and off-white, but for the pure white symbol on top of its "head". He instinctively summoned the Kingdom Key, and Donald and Goofy whipped out their own weapons.
To Sora's frustration, he noticed Char merely sitting by, watching more of the white creatures appear and looking almost bored with the whole thing. "Fiery in battle"? She's not even getting out her weapon!
But even as one of the enemies slithered forward and made as if to attack them, there was a sudden blur of black and silver and the thing vanished in a flash of light. It was Char, wielding long twin swords, which were currently crossed in front of her in a guarding stance. "Well, what're you waiting for?" she snarled at the others, who were watching her. "Either fight or die. Your choice. I personally prefer the former, but that's… just… me!" She grunted the last words out as she dodged around another foe that had just popped up.
Sora nodded and leaped into action, striking aside two of them at once. Apparently these were stronger than the ones Char had defeated, because they came right on back to attack him. One of them extended a claw and struck, knocking him backward, but Donald quickly cast Thunder before it could react, finishing it off.
"Thanks!" Sora gasped.
"How many of 'em are there?" Goofy cried, flattening one enemy with his shield, only to have another take its place.
"They don't look like Heartless." This was Donald, even as he raised his staff to deliver another barrage of lightning bolts on the enemies surrounding Char. The redhead gave a hasty nod of thanks and ran forward to take on the next group of enemies that came her way.
"Well, we'll just have to defeat 'em before they can fight back," Sora panted. He whirled to the side of one of the enemies' attacks, barely dodging it in time, and slashed through it with the Kingdom Key.
Soon, though, the four of them were exhausted, and the enemies' numbers hadn't seemed to deplete at all. Even Char, stubborn and stalwart in her fighting, fell to her knees next to Sora, panting desperately.
"Dammit, where are they all coming from?" she swore softly, so that only the Keybearer could hear.
The white enemies, as though sensing their foes' exhaustion, all seemed to leap at once. Sora weakly put up his Keyblade in an attempt to protect his friends as well…
Then a dark figure landed in front of them, ripping through the enemies' ranks in a few blows. Sora, feeling no impact, lowered his weapon and gasped at the sight of their rescuer's Keyblade – similar to Sora's own, but with a golden blade and a silver hilt instead of the other way around. He let his eyes look over the rest of the person, in particular the 'big round ears' Pence had spoken of.
Char was staring as well, one eyebrow raised, and opened her mouth to speak, but Donald and Goofy had already pushed Sora down, leaning on his back to get a better look. "Your Majesty?" Donald gasped.
The stranger, who still had his back turned to them, raised one finger and put it over his mouth. "You've gotta board the train and leave town," he whispered in a somewhat high-pitched voice. "The train knows the way."
With his free hand, he took something out of his pocket and handed it to Sora. "Here."
Sora managed to push himself out from under his friends and stood as he accepted it. He looked down at it; Donald and Goofy straightened as well and looked up to see the object, while Char looked over his shoulder. It was a small red-orange bag with a pale blue design on it.
Sora heard the breath catch in the redhead's throat and turned his head to look at her. "What's wrong?" But she had already pulled away and was staring up at the dusk sky with what she hoped was an indifferent look.
Suddenly Donald, who was craning his neck to look beyond Sora, said, "Your Majesty, wait!" The others turned and saw the small figure running off in the direction of Station Heights.
"Well, that was weird…" Char muttered.
Sora gave her a look. "Seriously, what was wrong with you earlier? Do you know something we don't?"
"Sora, I expect what you don't know could fill several encyclopedias at best," Char replied, causing the brunette to pout indignantly. "Seriously, though," she added, looking at Donald and Goofy as well, "I'm fine. I was just…" Damn, she couldn't think of a good lie.
Fortunately, though, the duck and the dog just shrugged at Sora and then looked back at the pouch in Sora's hand. "Was that really the King?" Sora asked.
"I'm sure it was," said Goofy happily.
"Now we know he's okay!" Donald grinned a duck-grin.
"Why wouldn't he be?" asked Char, pretending to be confused when really she had learned the whole story from Riku.
"Well," Sora began, "the King was locked in the realm of darkness when we closed the door to Kingdom Hearts after defeating Ansem, and restoring peace to the worlds. But… we just saw him…" He crossed his arms and put a thumb and forefinger to his chin again. "And if the King's here, that must mean Riku's here too!"
"Riku?" Char cocked her head to the side, but she had felt a little pang at hearing her friend's name. She wondered where he was now, and what he was doing. Probably bored out of his mind with DiZ, no doubt. The stuffy old guy wasn't really that interesting to begin with – smart, heck yes, but not interesting at all.
"Sora's best friend," Goofy explained. "He was locked in the realm of darkness with the King too."
So, they don't see fit to tell me about when Riku was possessed by "Ansem"… Will they find out I already know before they can tell me?
"Riku's gotta be here, too!" Donald was saying.
"Well, I'm going to go look for Riku, so we can go back to the islands together," Sora announced, puffing out his chest – a rather difficult feat when you've been wearing the same clothes and growing for a year. "What are you guys going to do?"
Good question, Char thought dryly.
"Gawrsh, Sora," Goofy said, and Donald crossed his arms with a 'duh this is obvious' look on his face. "Do you have to ask?"
"We're going with you, of course!" the duck said, and turned to Char with a venomous look on his face. "Though I'm not too sure about her…"
The girl rolled her eyes. "Like I said, I have my reasons for following you. And besides, I saw you fighting. Looks like you'll need me more than I thought."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" asked Donald belligerently, putting his hands on his hips.
"Exactly what I said."
Sora sighed. "So, what do you say, guys? Let's go on one more journey together."
He put out his hand, and Goofy and Donald added theirs on top of his. After a moment, Char half-heartedly followed suit.
"So, we're supposed to go to the station and get some tickets to board the train, right?" Sora asked, taking his hand out from under theirs.
"Seriously, why is someone with such a bad memory the Keybearer?" Char muttered, clapping a palm to her forehead.
"Hey!"
"Let's just go," Goofy said quickly, and he and Donald left for the station. After another moment of glaring at each other, Sora sighed and relaxed, looking over at the dusk sky.
"Look…"
"Yeah, yeah, I know what's coming next," Char interrupted. "You don't want me here, it's only because of my fighting skills that you're taking me along, the same old crap."
Sora looked back, blinking. "Yeah, actually. How'd you know?"
The redhead rolled her eyes. "I'm psychic."
The two of them had just entered the station, Sora pestering Char about whether or not she was really psychic, when they heard a voice behind them. "Wait up!"
They turned and saw Hayner, Pence and Olette run up to them. Donald and Goofy, who were further ahead, turned as well and walked back to stand beside their friends.
"We came to see you off," Pence said. "It just seemed like something we should do."
Sora raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really? Thanks!"
Char just shrugged.
Suddenly the clock tower's bell rang. Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!
Five o'clock, Char realized.
"You should hurry and get your tickets," Hayner said, looking slightly grudging at giving out advice to them.
"Right," Sora said, and headed on up to the ticket booth. "Four tickets, please," he said clearly into the speaker. Earlier he had looked into the pouch King Mickey had given them and seen 5000 munny inside, so he got it out in order to pay for the tickets.
"What is it?" Donald asked behind him, and Sora turned and saw Olette looking curiously at the pouch of munny.
She dug around in her pocket for a moment before bringing out a bag that looked exactly like the one Sora held.
"They're the same," Goofy said.
"Yeah," murmured Char.
Sora blinked for a moment at the look on the redhead's face, but nevertheless turned back around and slid 3600 munny into the booth's slot. After a moment it beeped in acceptance and four tickets printed out. The brunette ripped the tickets out of the slot and tore off one for each of them.
He started forward onto the steps leading to the trains, but stopped in his tracks, causing Donald to nearly bump into his legs.
"Sora?" Hayner asked.
"I can't help feeling like we won't see this town again," Sora murmured, so softly it was barely heard. However, that wasn't the real reason he had stopped; like before, he had felt something stirring at the back of his mind, something he felt he should remember. But again, it scuttled just out of reach of his mental hand.
"Why not?" asked Donald, rubbing his head and looking somewhat grumpy at nearly hitting Sora.
"You're thinking too much." This was Goofy.
Sora stood there a moment, then grinned. "Yeah, you're right."
Char just walked past him, in front of the navy blue train with a starry golden design upon it. Turning back, she growled, "Well? You coming?"
"Yeah," Sora replied, even as she was already going inside. He headed up to the door and, after Donald and Goofy had gone inside, paused at the entrance to the train. For some odd reason, he was compelled to say more than just a casual goodbye to Hayner and the others.
He rolled his shoulders to get those thoughts out of his mind and put one foot on the foremost step into the train, then looked back at the others. "Well, see you guys later," he said, waving.
"Hey, Sora," Hayner said, putting one hand to his chin thoughtfully. "Are you sure we haven't met somewhere before?"
"Positive. Why do you ask?"
The blond paused a moment before shaking his head and laughing. "Ah, never mind."
"Okay, bye!" Sora said.
And to his complete and utter shock he felt something wet making its way down from his eye.
He put one hand to his face and took it away, feeling sudden embarrassment at the moisture that met his fingers. Swallowing, he knuckled the offending eye free of tears.
"You okay?" Hayner asked; Pence and Olette had worried looks on their faces too.
"Ah, y-yeah. Don't know where it came from," Sora replied, all the while wiping at his eyes.
"Pull it together, man."
Sora nodded. "Right, then. See ya." He turned and waved as he said it, nearly stumbling over the steps onto the train in trying to get on. He gave one final wave before the doors closed and the train roared into motion.
Sora leaned against the wall of the train, while Donald and Goofy chose to sit down. Char was sitting on one of the seats as well, one arm against the top of the seat so she could turn her head and look out. However, she was also furtively watching the Keybearer; she had seen what had happened between him and the others before the train had left.
Kingdom Hearts! If it was killing her this early on, keeping the secret of why he had cried from Sora, then it'd be a wonder if she still had all her limbs by the end of this stupid journey.
After a moment, the brunette took out the munny pouch from his pocket. "You know…" he murmured after a moment, causing Donald and Goofy to turn and look at him as well. Sora sighed deeply. "I'm sad."
"We'll be back," said Donald.
"Yeah, we can go see Hayner and those guys again," Goofy added.
"I get the feeling it's not that he's worried about," Char whispered to herself, so quietly that she was sure none could hear her.
"Hm? Did you say something, Char?" Sora asked, leaning over to get a better look at her.
"Eh?" She raised her head and saw the others looking at her. Dang! She fervently willed herself to keep a straight face as she answered, "Oh, nothing. Just kinda talking to myself."
The others shrugged and went back to looking out the window. Char watched the surroundings change in a flash of light to a seemingly bottomless emerald green landscape and sighed.
Riku… what the hell have you gotten me into?
Whee, the first (real) action scene in TSA! (throws confetti)
Char: Right...
Me: And I love Char's line: "Sora, I expect what you don't know could fill several encyclopedias at best." Lawl. Also, there will be much more of Char's little "must act stupid... MUST ACT STUPID (writhes in agony)" facade later on. So... be prepared. (whips jacket across face like a cape)
Char: For the last time, don't be like Misfit and think you're a vampire.
Me: (pouts like Sora)