Time for more drama! Woooo!
Kairi: "At our expense! Woooo!"
Sorry… Anyway, I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or any of the other franchise staples you're about to see introduced. Enjoy!
!
Chapter 126: Grim Return
"That could have gone way better." Randall grumbled, nursing a bandaged wound on one of his four arms.
The Assailant was a huge mess. Emergency shielding and life support had nearly been overwhelmed by the force of the multiple explosions that had ripped through their primary shields. Huge chunks of the armor, and even the ship itself had been ripped away by the unexpected maneuver on the part of their escaping prisoners.
The majority of the bridge was intact, but several crucial systems had been heavily damaged. They were lucky that the communications and piloting systems were still working well. Their weapons systems, on the other hand, were a joke.
Shego, after placing a bandage on her forehead, pressed a button on the in-ship communications console. "What's it look like down there, Syndrome?"
"Like a junk yard." Came the irritated reply. "I can get the engines working again in an hour or two... maybe."
Shego growled, then sighed, rubbing her temple. "Just get us moving again. Keep us posted."
She cut the connection, and Randall said, "I'm starting to regret taking this contract. Is anything really worth this? Not to mention the fact that Incredible, Possible, and Sullivan screwed things up again."
"Five billion, Randall. Minimum." Shego reminded. "We just went about it the wrong way. It's time for plan B." She opened the link to Syndrome again. "Is your big toy still intact?"
He knew what she was referring to. "Looks like it took minimal damage. Thank Heaven for small favors... I can get it working again pretty easily."
"When you finish with the engines, get it online." She cut the connection once more, and looked at Randall. "Tracking device operational?"
Randall observed the signal he was getting from a new remote. "The signal's weak but it's there... Big surprise, looks like Radiant Garden."
"Perfect." Shego allowed herself a smile.
!
The place where he had been imprisoned for the last four or so months was really boring.
The nebulous clouds all around him constantly shifted between shades of blue, green, and violet, with the occasional red somewhere. Arcs of white light forked through the clouds at a frequent rate. All of this coupled together in a very disorienting way.
Pete floated amongst these clouds, his headache still making his head throb, and his eyes glazed over with boredom. He had really come to hate this place during his last sentence. His hatred of it had only increased this time around.
He decided that he'd just have to pass the time the way he had the time before. He'd given up hope of being rescued by Maleficent this time. He sighed, and closed his eyes.
"One... Two... Three... Four... Five... Six." He counted the imaginary sheep in his head, waiting for sleep to come.
He'd finally arrived at two-hundred eleven, when he heard something unusual. A low, whistling sort-of noise penetrated the normally silent clouds. Pete opened his eyes back up, and saw a small ball of red light a few feet away. Suddenly, it let off a flash, and grew before his eyes.
Pete shielded his eyes from the bright light, wondering what in the worlds was going on. The silhouetted form of a woman appeared in the circle of energy, and his hopes slowly rose...
!
The Unity exited warp space over Radiant Garden. Wasting absolutely no time, Bariss throttled the ship toward the glowing world below them.
Donald opened up a transmission, while the rest of the crew ran onto the bridge. Sora and Kairi were still drifting in and out of consciousness in the medical bay. "Unity to Radiant Garden, come in!"
They only had to wait three seconds for a response. A new screen appeared on the viewport. Those on the bridge could see what appeared to be a landing platform, lit orange by the sunset. Standing there to meet them were several people. Many of them, no one could recognize, but standing at the head of the group were members of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee.
Squall Leonheart (most of them still continued thinking of him as 'Leon', though) stood at the front. Rinoa, Aerith, Cid, and Merlin stood beside him. Yuna, Rikku, and Paine floated over their heads. Apart from these members of the RGRC, there were more familiar figures there, as well, including Yen Sid.
"Isn't that Auron?" Goofy asked Donald.
It was. He looked just as he had when he had left them and Sora in the Underworld. He still wore the red robes over the black tunic, with his left arm hanging on the inside, as though in a sling. His large sword was strapped to his back. The only difference was that he had a large bottle of something on his waist, and had a pair of shades covering his eyes.
"Yeah, what's he doing here?"
Then, something even more shocking happened. Riku breathed, "Oh my God..."
Three very familiar figures had sprinted out to the landing pad to join the others. The one leading them was a teenage boy with tanned skin, shiny dirty blonde hair, and aquamarine eyes. He wore a bright yellow vest over a white T-shirt, and black jeans, with black and yellow boots.
The slightly older teenager behind him had tanned skin, and reddish hair which stuck up on his head, over a blue head band. He wore a tan muscle shirt with a large black 'X' on the chest, and blue wrist bands. He also had a pair of baggy orange pants.
The girl with them had light brown hair, and bright green eyes. She had a short yellow dress on over a long-sleeved white shirt. She wore blue jeans under the dress, and a pair of yellow sneakers on her feet.
"Tidus... Wakka... Selphie!?" Riku exclaimed. "What!?"
"Your friends from the islands?" Yuffie asked.
"Yeah... How did they...?"
His confusion only grew when the tiny Yuna floated over to Tidus's shoulder, and landed lightly on it. She leaned over, and gave him a peck on his cheek, to which he smiled slightly.
"Okay, now I'm really confused."
Leon interrupted their musings. "Unity, this is ground control. You're cleared for landing. Tron'll take over from here."
A second screen appeared, depicting Tron against a background of binary code. The controls in Bariss's hands began moving on their own. "I'll handle your landing, my User friends. You'll touch down in approximately ten minutes. Don't worry, you're in good hands."
Bariss released her death grip on the control yokes, and stood from the pilot's seat.
"Salus Pax Pacis, Leon. You never call, you never write. I'm very hurt, man. I thought we were close." Nehrut said to Leon, possibly in an attempt to break the nervous tension that hung like smoke in the air.
"So you really are travelling with them." Leon said. "Good to see you, Nehrut. I hope you haven't been causing them too much trouble."
"Who, me?"
"How are they?" Aerith asked before the exchange could go any farther.
"The same." Mickey answered. "They're moving in and out of consciousness, but they're obviously in a lot of pain."
"How are their vitals?" Leon asked.
"Their pulse is normal. But what scares me is that their hearts don't seem to be beating, and I don't know how that works... I think Darkness is affecting them. They're also extremely clammy, and they've barely been able to move at all... Potions, Elixers, Ethers, Cure spells... None of them are working. We don't know what to do."
"Give me some time with them." Aerith said. "I might be able to do something."
"Hey, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie!" Riku left his seat, to move into sight to those on the screen. "What are you doing down there?"
The three in question stepped forward from the crowd, smiling nervously. "Hey, Riku." Tidus greeted.
"You think you're the only ones who've had adventures, man?" Wakka said. "What d'ya think happened to us three when the islands were destroyed the firs' time?"
"Well, you never said..."
"We thought people would think we were crazy." Selphie said. "We were going to tell you guys about it, but then you left... Your parents are all really angry and worried, you know."
Riku grimaced. He, Sora, and Kairi had only left their respective parents notes for them to find in the morning. "Ooh... Yeah. But you've met Yuna?"
"They came to our world." Yuna answered, with her two partners hovering near her. "Before our little 'incident' with Maleficent."
"You mean you weren't always..."
"Tiny?" Paine finished.
"Nope!" Rikku answered.
"Unbelievable..." Came a murmur.
Everbody twisted around. The extremely pale Sora and Kairi had been carried onto the bridge by Sulley and Mr. Incredible. They hadn't even heard their entrance, but apparently Sora and Kairi had heard every word already exchanged.
"Good for you, Tidus." Kairi said with a heartbreakingly weak smile. She was looking at Yuna, who was still sitting on the blonde's shoulder.
The Gullwing and Tidus both blushed, though it was in addition to their worried expressions, due to the current state of their friends.
"Let's continue this on the ground." Leon said finally. "We'll have you all escorted to Cetra Hospital. Ground control out."
Minutes later, the Unity was cruising above the village of Radiant Garden, which was now approaching the scale of a medium-size city. The majority of the buildings were made of stone, or brick, and there didn't appear to be any automobiles on the streets. There were patches of grass and trees in the village now. Just over a year ago, that had seemed an impossibility. Radiant Garden had come a long way.(1)
Everybody that they had seen during their transmission was standing on a large landing platform near the castle, awaiting them. In addition to them, there was also an ambulance, with two nervous-looking paramedics. The only automated vehicles used on Radiant Garden were emergency ones, apparently.
The Unity touched down on the pad, the boarding ramp opened, and the entire party stepped out. Sulley and Mr. Incredible carefully lowered Sora and Kairi down onto the stretchers the paramedics had provided. Leon approached one of them.
"Get these two to back to the hospital immediately. It's vital to all the worlds that they survive."
"Yes, Chancellor." One of them replied.
"Always so serious, Leon." Sora replied with a hint of a grin.
"Maybe you're just not serious enough." He replied, smiling a tiny bit, despite himself.
The two Keybearers were loaded carefully into the back of the ambulance. Aerith climbed in after them, immediately placing her palm to Kairi's temple. Riku pointedly insisted on accompanying them, and naturally, Yuffie followed him.
Soon, the ambulance was away, and the rest of the large group loaded themselves into similar topless government vehicles to follow them. They were filled to bursting, but it didn't slow them down at all.
"Chancellor?" Nehrut asked Leon.
"We reestablished the old government of Radiant Garden a few months ago." He replied, keeping his eyes fixed ahead on the ambulance as they entered the village. "We already have a Princess, if she wants the job. But, the elected Chancellor made most of the decisions."
"Who was the last Chancellor?" Axel asked. "That Ansem dude?"
"Right." Leon asked. "Somebody who the people would elect to serve alongside the royal family."
"How'd you get stuck with the job?" Nehrut asked.
"Nobody else would go near it." Rinoa replied with a hint of a smile.
The government vehicles followed the speeding ambulance down the mainly empty streets of the village. There were no other vehicles on the streets, since they were rarely used, though the citizens on the sidewalks stopped their activities to look after the speeding cars with curious eyes.
After ten minutes of high-speed driving, the ambulance and its escort pulled up in front of one of the tallest buildings in the village. Cetra Hospital was one of the few buildings around made out of concrete, rather than stone, brick, or wood. Several people rushed from the front doors to unload Sora and Kairi from the ambulance, and Aerith joined them instantly.
She quickly began issuing orders to the paramedics, arranging for the two Keybearers to be brought into the largest possible room, and to get more doctors in there with them.
Everyone followed them in, trailing behind the paramedics and nurses, trying to keep an eye on the stretchers.
A moment later, the medics passed through a set of double doors. Aerith came to a sudden, unexpected halt, and turned to face the group trailing behind them. She fixed them with a stern look, and pointed down the hall to the next room over, before walking through the doors with the medics herself, pulling on a white lab coat over her pink dress.
Riku, Yuffie, and the others walked into the next room, and discovered that it was a large observation area with a few dozen chairs, where people could watch events unfold in the still larger operating room connected to it. A glass wall (magically enhanced to allow people to communicate easily between the two rooms if needed) was all that separated them.
"They're in good hands, don't worry." Rinoa assured them all.
They watched for a few minutes, as Aerith (apparently in charge of major operations around this hospital) directed the medics around her. There were surprisingly few machines involved. She seemed to understand that whatever had been inflicted upon Sora and Kairi would be cured more by magic than medicine.
Still, as a precaution, there was a bank of machinery along one of the walls. Saline drips and other devices were fixed to Sora and Kairi's bodies. From snatched pieces of orders from Aerith (who became a drastically different person in the operating room) they came to understand that Tron himself was taking care of the machines.
"They'll be fine." Auron said calmly, his shade-covered eyes fixed on the operation. "Sora's a fighter. And if Kairi is even half as strong as him... This won't be enough to keep them down."
"I hope you're right." Axel agreed.
Riku half-turned, and finally seemed to realize just how many people had accompanied them from the Unity's landing site. He didn't recognize even half of them from either personal experience, or Sora's stories.
"So, would somebody care to explain why there are a billion people in here that we don't know?" He finally asked.
"They are allies." Yen Sid answered, speaking for the first time since the landing. "A great shift in the tide of the struggle with the Brotherhood is coming soon, and we will need help."
"We've done some adventurin' of our own these last few months." Cid said. He inclined his head toward the dozen or so strangers. "We found these misfits."
"I resent that." One of them said.
Introductions were made in voices just loud enough to where Sora and Kairi would be able to hear, if they woke up for whatever reason.(2)
The first group of new allies consisted of three people from a world called 'Chronoa.' The first of them was a young man with spiky, brown, ruffled hair. He had gold eyes, which were slitted and catlike. He wore a thin, long black jacket and pants, with a white shirt. What looked like a small bell hung around his neck.
His older partner wore a clean white suit, plus a fedora of the same color. His black shoes were polished to the point of being shiny, and his tie was pressed. He had short-length green hair, a thin layer of stubble on his chin, and fierce orange eyes. His right eye was covered by an eye patch.
The third of their group was a woman of about the same age as the first one. She was a short, thin woman, with long blonde hair that almost touched her feet. Her bright violet eyes looked too mature for her face, and she wore a long, sober, black sweater, and pants. A golden cross hung around her neck.
They were bounty hunters, though they called themselves 'Sweepers.' Their names were Train Heartnet, Sven Vollfied, and Eve.
Those of the next group introduced were from a place called 'Dracona.' They were an even more unusual trio than the last one. As could have been guessed by the name of the world, two of them were dragons.
They were significantly different from Mushu. The first one –a young male- was around the size of a small horse or a donkey, while standing straight on all fours. He had shiny purple scales which were the same color as his eyes. He had a yellow underbelly. Two thick, bony, yellow horns protruded from the top of his head, pointing backwards. A ridge of sharp yellow spines started on the center of his head, and travelled down his back to the end of his tail. He also had a pair of long, yellow, bat-like wings.
His fellow dragon was female, and only slightly shorter than him. She had shinier black-violet scales, and aquamarine eyes. She had a pinkish underbelly. Two bone-colored horns emerged from the top of her head, pointing straight up. Another pair pointed slightly upwards from either side of her head, with a third smaller pair below them. The end of her tail was tipped with a spear-like appendage. She had similar wings to her partner, only in pink.
Flitting back and forth in the air above them was a tiny creature about the same size as the Gullwings. He slightly resembled a dragonfly, though with a pair of human-like arms, and no other limbs. He was a dull gold color, with four colorless wings, and light blue eyes, and a pair of antennae.
The dragons were named Spyro (the male) and Cynder (the female). Their dragonfly companion's name was appropriate considering the company he kept: Sparx.
A teenage girl was the next in line. She had chestnut-colored hair, pulled into two long pig tails going down her back. She had pale skin, and olive green eyes. She had an unusual outfit resembling the upper half of a black suit, the front of which cut off at the waist, while the rest flapped behind her. She wore a plaid skirt.
Next to her stood a shorter teenager with white, slightly spiked hair. He wore a white and red headband over his forehead. He had unsettling, slightly manic, crimson eyes, and slightly pointed teeth. He wore a black and yellow jacket, and dull red pants.
This unusual pair was from the world of Shinigami. The girl was Maka Albarn, and the boy was Soul Eater Evans.
The largest of these groups had five people, plus a pet. The first of these was a short boy looking about twelve or thirteen. He had storm-colored blue-grey eyes that showed both the determination of an adult, and a child-like spark –rather like Sora's. His head was bald, showing a very distinctive blue arrow tattooed there, pointing to the space between his eyes. He wore strips of orange and yellow cloth to cover his upper body, and a red sash. He had baggy brown pants. Blue arrows were also seen tattooed to his arms, and shoulders.
Sitting on his shoulder was a lemur-like creature with round, blue-green eyes. It had white and brown fur, a long tail, and very large ears.
The girl next to him had dark skin, and bright blue eyes. Her long, black-brown hair hung down her shoulders, with the exception of two 'loops' on either side of her face. She wore loose-fitting blue and white robes on her body, and had fingerless blue and grey gloves on her hands. A strip of fabric hung around her neck, with a light blue crystal engraved with wave-like patterns. Four large, leather pouches hung from the sash on her waist.
The next boy looked enough like her to confirm Riku's suspicion that he was her older brother. He had the same dark skin, and blue eyes. His hair was the same color, though pulled back into a shaggy topknot at the back of his head. He wore similar loose-fitting blue clothing to his sister, though had a slightly more 'warrior' look to him.
The next was a girl, who was even shorter than the first of them. She had pale skin, which was covered with dirt in a few places, and pale, glazed eyes. Riku realized with a start that she was completely blind, which explained why she seemed to be perpetually staring. Her jet black hair was pulled into a bun at the top of her head. She wore baggy green and tan clothing, which left her dirty feet bare.
The final one of them was a tall teenage boy, with golden eyes. The skin around his left eye bore a ghastly dark red burn scar, which extended over his ear. He had a mass of shaggy, thick black hair hanging around his head. He wore loose-fitting, dark red, black, and dull gold clothes over his body, and had a scabbard for a pair of swords hanging from his back.
They were from the Kingdom of Elements, and were apparently very well-known there. The first of them was a being known as 'the Avatar': Aang. The siblings were Katara and Sokka, the other girl was Toph Bei Fong, and the other boy was Prince Zuko. Their furry friend was Aang's pet lemur Momo.
The last two of their allies were from the Mushroom Kingdom and Mobius respectively. The first of them was a short man with slightly tanned skin and blue eyes. On the top of his head sat a red cap with an 'M' prominent on the front. Beneath the cap could be seen shiny brown hair. He had a highly noticeable black moustache. He wore a pair of blue jean overalls over a red sweater, and white gloves.
His buddy was quite different. He was only slightly taller, and about Sora's height. He was a long-limbed, hedgehog-like creature that stood on two legs. He had thin blue fur, pointed ears, and broad spikes on his back, and the back of his head. His arms, snout, and stomach were the only parts of his body not covered by fur. He had clever, bright green eyes, and white gloves. He wore bright red shoes on his feet.
This was the famous rival duo of Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog.
So, in the observation room, this amounted to around forty beings. It was fairly crowded. After all of the introductions had been made, everybody turned their eyes solemnly back to the activities in the next room.
"After everything we've heard about them..." Train began carefully, "This isn't what I expected."
Riku shot him an irritated look that shut him up immediately.
"How did it happen?" Maka asked.
"They were hit by some kind of unusual energy attack." Nehrut said, holding Bariss close to him. "There was no sign of damage, but they both just dropped..."
"Syndrome tinkers with all kinds of things." Mr. Incredible scowled, looking at the unconscious Sora and Kairi. He almost seemed to blame himself for what had happened to the two. "If he worked out how to injure a person's heart directly, there's no telling what kind of damage he's done to them."
"I never thought I'd see them like this." Selphie looked close to tears, and Wakka placed a comforting hand to her shoulder. "What are they going to have to do to them?"
"Whatever happened won't be decided by medicine or technology." Leon said. "But by magic." Almost as an afterthought, he added, "And the strength of their hearts."
"Is that what they're doing in there?" Aang asked. He didn't seem to be able to comprehend half of anything that the medics in the opposite room were doing. "It doesn't look like they're operating or anything..."
He had a point. Sora and Kairi were lying on operating tables near the center of the room. They had been stripped down to their underclothes. A few tubes of unknown purposes were fixed to their bodies, and there was machinery monitoring their vital signs. Their pulses were both very faint, and vanished at some points, but everything else appeared to be fine with them.
Treys and tables of equipment were situated all around the room, and the people inside were doing their level best to avoid knocking them over as they hurried around their tasks. Aerith was shouting increasingly complicated orders to them, which those in the observation room had absolutely no hope of understanding.
With increasing frequency, numerous containers of strange and unusual mixtures were rushed in and out of the room. Usually, Aerith herself took these, and would apply it in dozens of different ways: sprinkling it across their chests, spraying it onto their foreheads, forcing it down their throats, injecting it into their veins, or otherwise.
Activities like this went on for over two full hours until things finally began to slow down slightly. Aerith walked out of the room, leaving instructions to the medics in the room. Sora and Kairi didn't seem to have changed at all.
She reappeared a moment later in the observation room, looking more tired and haggard than she had ever been in her life. She removed the operating mask that had covered the lower half of her face, and hung it around her neck.
"How are they?" Yuffie asked the question on everybody's lips immediately.
"I can't say for sure." Aerith admitted. She wiped away a thin layer of sweat that had formed on her forehead. "It's taking us a long time to even diagnose the problem. All we know is that there's something affecting their hearts."
"That's what you were doing the whole time!?" Axel exclaimed, sounding incredulous. "Trying to find out what was wrong!?"
Aerith met his gaze with her calm eyes. Somehow, this got him to back down immediately. "Axel, don't think that you're the only one who wants to save them. We were also applying various implements to relieve their pain. Hardly any of them were even close to effective. Right now, they're resting as comfortably as we can make them, but we're still working to discover what can be done to get them up and about again."
"Do you have any idea what might be the problem, my dear?" Merlin asked.
"We have theories." She replied. "Though you may not like to hear them."
"We already know that." Riku said. "Just tell us."
She sighed. "We believe that Darkness was injected directly into their bodies by whatever it was Syndrome did. If that's correct, then we think it's trying to squirm into their hearts, and corrupt them from the inside."
"And make them into Heartless." Mickey finished solemnly.
"Yes." Aerith said, her voice dripping with sadness. But, she controlled herself. "But their hearts are both especially strong. Their Light is keeping the Darkness away, but they're having a hard time. They are constantly battling the Darkness, which is why Sora and Kairi are so weak right now, and in so much pain."
"So..." Tidus asked the question that the rest were too worried to ask. "Can you help them?"
Aerith was silent for a moment before replying. "I think so. It might take time, but we could get them back up again... We will."
Fierce determination rekindled in her eyes, and it was enough to reassure everyone -if only a little- that Sora and Kairi could survive the ordeal.
"In the meantime." She continued. "It'd probably be best if you were to turn in for the night. It's getting late. We'll alert you immediately if there's any change."
The majority of the room's occupants agreed, and left the room to begin the walk back to the castle. However, the eight who had travelled with Sora and Kairi stayed exactly where they were. Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, Leon, Rinoa, Cid, Merlin, Yuna, Rikku, Paine, and Yen Sid stayed as well.
Aerith smiled, never having expected them to leave their friends at this time. "I'll see if I can get you some blankets."
"No need." Yen Sid said. With a snap of his fingers, the floor was piled high with comfortable-looking quilts and pillows.
Aerith bid them all good night, and left the room, dimming the lights. Once she had left, the group gathered the blankets, and got themselves as comfortable as possible on the chairs. In silence, they watched as the doctors continued their work, exchanging theories and suggestions amongst themselves, and administering medications or other treatments to the unmoving Sora and Kairi.
Riku held Yuffie close to him, rubbing comforting circles over her back.
"Stay alive, guys..." Riku said quietly, moments before falling asleep.
!
A slow start, but you know how I work. Things are going to get very interesting soon…
1) Kind of wanted to make Radiant Garden a blend of a big modern city and a small fantasy-themed town.
2) A loooong time ago, I got a few friends/kind-of contributors to suggest people they'd like to see included, as sort of a thank-you for their encouragement.
That being said… I want to definitely thank everybody who's been following this story for so long!
Hope you liked, and please leave a review!