Author's Note: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.
Ch.19 Reunion
The four of us left Merlin's House and entered the Third District, where we were immediately set upon by Heartless. "Really?" I asked, summoning my Keyblade. But it turns out I didn't need to, because immediately a figure jumped down and slashed them in two, destroying the Heartless on the spot. Sora and I both gasped; the figure was Riku. He turned around and patted his sword against his hand, which I noticed with black and red in the shape of a bat's wing. "There you guys are. What's going on?" he asked, as if we had hadn't been separated for Kingdom-Hearts-knows how long. "Riku!" Sora exclaimed, and then he did something really unusual.
He grabbed Riku's mouth and tried to pull it wide open, seeing if it was an illusion or not. "Hey, hey, cut it out," he said, pushing him back. Sora looked Riku up and down. "I'm not dreaming this time, right?" he asked. "If you are, then I'm having the same dream," I added. "I hope it's not a dream. Took forever to find you two," Riku replied. Sora smiled happily. "Riku!" he said. I smiled as well. "Glad to see you made it off of the islands alive. How've you been?" I asked. "Pretty good. You're doing fine as well, Dexal," he said. Sora's smiled faded and his eyes shot wide open. "Wait a second, where's Kairi?" he asked. "Isn't she with you?" Riku asked. Sora lowered his hand and looked away, while I rubbed the back of my head.
"Well, don't worry. I'm sure she made it off of the island too. We're finally free. Hey, she might even be looking for us now," he assured us. I wanted to believe it, but I wasn't so sure. Right before the islands were destroyed Kairi had looked sick, as if the very presence of Heartless had made her ill. I didn't want to think what would happen if she were thrown straight into the darkness. As if thinking about the Heartless conjured them, or maybe it was just me, but the moment I thought that a pair of Shadows rose out of the ground behind Riku. Not having noticed, he continued "We'll all be together again soon. Don't worry. Just leave everything to me. I know this-" he said. And at that moment the Heartless jumped.
"Oh no you don't!" I said, and I used Zantetsuken to slice one in half before it even reached the height of its jump, while Sora swung down and hit the other. They both burst into shadows, and we turned to Riku with smiles on our faces. "Leave it to who?" Sora asked. Riku looked at us in shock. "Sora, Dexal, what did you-" he said, too surprised to finish. "We've been looking for you and Kairi too, with their help," I said, nodding at Donald and Goofy. Riku looked at them. "What are they?" he asked. Donald cleared his throat. "Ahem. My name is-" he started, before Sora continued. "We visited so many places and worlds, looking for you," he said. "Really? Well, what do you know? I never would have guessed," Riku replied.
I blinked in surprise and looked at him. Was it me, or did Riku have a tinge of anger in his voice? His expression had a race of it as well, but why was beyond me. The others didn't notice however, and Goofy put his hands on Sora's shoulders. "Oh, and guess what? Sora and Dexal are the Keyblades Masters!" he said. "Who would've thought it?" Donald asked, to which Sora replied "What's that mean!" Riku held up Sora's Jungle King. "So, this is called a Keyblade?" he asked. Sora looked at his hand, realizing that it was gone. "Huh? Hey, give it back," he said. "To answer your question, yeah. That's what it's called," I said, holding up my Stormfell. "How yours and his look different?" Riku asked.
"Every Keyblade has its own chain that determines it powers. Some are better, some are not so much, but I like this one. Stormfell," I said, dismissing it. Riku grunted and said "Catch," throwing Jungle King back to Sora. "Okay, so, you're coming with us, right? We've got this awesome rocket. Wait 'til you see it!" Sora exclaimed. "No, he can't come!" Donald said sternly. "What?!" Sora said, and he replied "Forget it!" "Come on, Donald. He's our friend!" I said. He faltered for a second from my joining in, before he shook his head. "I don't care!" he said. "Uh, he's gone!" Goofy exclaimed. I straightened in surprise and looked to where Riku had been, indeed finding it gone. "Riku? Riku!" I called out. But there was no surprise. He was gone.
"Nice going," Sora said to Donald. "Hey, at least he's okay," I pointed out. "Yeah. And who knows? Maybe we'll run into Kairi soon, too," Sora agreed. "Well, we delivered the book like Cid asked. He said we were supposed to meet him in the abandoned house. So why don't we go there?" Goofy suggested. Seeing nothing else do to, we agreed and headed there. But my thoughts were still abounding in my head. Where was Riku? Why had he left? What reason would make him after finding us? And there was one more question, one that may have been even concerning.
I felt a dark presence when Riku had been around, but when he left it was gone. Was it with Riku? And if so, who was it?
When we reached the house and went inside, I expected a place full of cobwebs and dusty old boxes. But instead the place had a small table, light blue wall, and even a bed. "Hey guys! How do you like our secret hiding spot? It's all nice and cozy, right?" Yuffie asked. I nodded; the place actually reminded me of my room from when I lived in the Land of Departure. The usual surge of sadness and guilt welled up, but by now I managed to push it away, although it would return with a vengeance next time I fell asleep. Then Cid said something that brought up equally old memories, though far less pleasant. "You guys ever hear of Maleficent? I hear she's in town."
My head snapped up, and my eyes widened. "Maleficent?!" I almost yelled. Leon raised an eyebrow. "I guess that's a yes. You have heard of her," he said. I nodded. "Who is she?" Sora asked. "A witch, man, she's a witch!" Cid exclaimed. "I met her once, a long time ago. If she's around, bad things are sure to happen," I said. Sora looked at me, and then at Leon when he said "She's the reason this town's full of Heartless. Don't take her lightly." "What's she like?" Goofy asked. "She's been using the Heartless for years. We lost our world, thank to her," Aerith said. "One day, a swarm of Heartless came in and took over our world. That was nine years ago," Leon said. "I got out of that mess and came here with these guys," Cid said.
"That's awful!" Donald said. Again I nodded. To lose your home to darkness- I can relate. "Our ruler was a wide man named Ansem. He dedicated his life to studying the Heartless. His report should tell us how to get rid of the Heartless," Aerith said. "Where's this report?" Sora asked. "We don't know. It got scattered when our world was destroyed," Leon replied. "I'm sure Maleficent's got most of the pages," Cid added. After that there was silence, and in that silence I could swear I could feel that same dark presence. Was it Maleficent? I thought about going after it, but then it vanished again. Well, it if was her, she's was gone. "Hey Cid, we finished that favor you asked," Goofy said.
"So, you delivered that book? That navigation gummi is installed and ready to go. You find another one, you bring it to me. I threw in a warp gummi for the heck of it," he replied. Sora, Donald and Goofy looked at him, and he clarified "Now you can jump to worlds you've been to before. Well, better get back to my real job." And with that, he walked out. The three of us couldn't think of anything more to do here, so we began to walk out. But then Aerith called "Hey, Dexal?" I stopped and looked back at her. "Yeah?" "I've been thinking about that bell in the Second District," she said. "The one that rang a little while ago?" I asked. She nodded. "It's above the gizmo shop. They say that something happens if you ring it three times something happens," she said.
While she was eating an apple, Yuffie said "But it's all boarded up now, isn't it? Nobody can get in there." I thought about it for a second, before looking at the others. "You guys want to check it out?" I asked. They shrugged, and so we set out for the Second District. True to Aerith's word, the bell was right at the top of the gizmo shop. True to Yuffie's word however, it was also barred by wooden boards that were driven in with nails so rusty they would never be removed. "How are we going to get it open?" Donald asked. I smiled and stepped forward. "Like this," I said, and summoned my Keyblade. "Deep Freeze!" I called, and I froze the wood to near subzero temperatures. Before it could warm back up I used Brutal Blast and slammed Stormfell on the planks so hard they shattered into frozen splinters.
I stepped back and waved my arms. "If you would do the honors," I said. They nodded and Goofy jumped onto the rope, pulling it down. The bell tolled slowly and loudly, sending vibrations throughout the ground. Suddenly, in the fountain farther back near the First District, the painted mural turned like a cube, showing a differently painted face. "Whoa! Wonder what happens if you pull it again?" Sora wondered. Before he could, however, Donald jumped up and used his weight to pull it down. The bell tolled a second time, and the wall swung again to show another new face. "That's cool, but Aerith said to pull it three times. Sora?" I said. He nodded and grabbed the rope with both hands, pulling down.
The wall swung one more time, this time accompanied by a semicircle of water jets. But then it glowed purple, and a large keyhole appeared. My eyes almost popped out of my skull; it wasn't a Keyhole. It was the Keyhole. An almost immediately a Heartless, a Guard Armor no less, dropped down on the ground and began walking towards it. "Oh no!" Donald yelled. "Come on! We have to stop it!" I said. "We'll never make it down in time!" Sora said. "Yes we will. Just jump! Trust me!" I added, seeing the looks of disbelief on their faces. But they trusted me, and jumped over the edge of the gizmo shop. I followed them, and the air whistled past my ears with frightening speed.
Then I called "Zero Graviga!" and created an anti-gravity field just before we hit. The result was that we floated in air for a few seconds, before landing on the ground and running forward. At the sound of us approaching the Guard Armor turned and I didn't even let it get a chance to attack. "This'll teach you! Meteor!" I called. A huge flaming rock fell from the heavens, and when it hit the resulting explosion sent the pieces of the Guard Armor flying back.
Or at least, that's what it was supposed to do.
By the Armor froze, and suddenly it changed shape. The hands planted themselves on the ground while the feet rose up in their place, closing in to form a set similar to claws. The entire chest was upside down, and the mask opened to reveal a hallow void from which two yellows eyes glowed. I paled and muttered "Uh oh…" This was no Guard Armor; in fact it was something more powerful. The Opposite Armor. And it was heading straight for us.
A cliffhanger to keep you all here, and another chapter down for me! Stay tuned though, as the next one will appear before long!
Please review! If you flame me Liam Neeson will look for you, he will find you, and he will kill you. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)