Author's Note: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.
Notice: Oh, wow! I look up and find that Redemption has reached a total of three-thousands views! This is almost like a Christmas gift, and an awesome one at that! Thank you all so much, and I wish you a Merry Christmas!
Ch.26 Friends?
As the four of us flew through the space between worlds, I stared out, wondering what would happen now. I hadn't told Sora or the others, but when we were fighting Jafar I had felt a presence in the Cave above us. And that presence was that of Riku. But I had felt something different about him, a sense of darkness that hadn't been there before. The fact worried me; why would Riku possess darkness in his heart? I was a different case. The darkness within me was something I couldn't remove if I tried. I could only suppress it and hoped it stayed down. But Riku had a choice, so why was he letting darkness into his heart? Sora looked back at me and said "What's wrong, Dexal?" I shook my head and put on a smile, saying "Nothing important."
Thankfully, he bought the lie and shrugged, looking back ahead. I returned to my musing and my thoughts turned, from the darkness into Riku to the darkness that had been in one of my best friends, Terra. The two of them were awfully alike- both were the oldest in their group, physically strongest, and dreamed big, whether it be becoming a Master or seeing other worlds. It might not be so much of a surprise that Riku now had darkness especially if, as far as I knew, he was alone in all the worlds. I just hope that we saw him before long, and I could figure out what was going on. Then, suddenly, I was snapped out of my thoughts by Donald saying "What is that?" I looked up, saw a monolithic gray shape pass in front of the ship.
"Wow, it's huge!" Sora exclaimed. The shape passed by again, only this time it moved in front of the airship enough for us to determine its shape. "It's a giant whale!" Goofy said. Jiminy gasped from on top of Sora's shoulder. "It's Monstro! He's a whale of a whale, and vicious besides!" he said. Monstro turned around and seemed to look at us, before starting forward with his mouth wide open. "Whoa! Sora, get us out of here!" Donald said. "Too late! He's going to swallow us!" I said. Monstro reared closer, and Goofy yelled "Take cover!" We all grabbed onto something, and with an audible gulp Monstro swallowed us. Instantly everything went dark, and the airship was turned over and on its side as we were pulled farther in. My grip on my seat slipped, I hit my head on the control board and lost consciousness.
The sight was breathtaking. The stars shone like diamonds in the indigo sky, and whenever a meteor streamed by it looked like a flash of streaking silver. For a while I stood there admiring the view, until I heard footsteps behind me. I turned and saw Aqua walking towards me. "Hey Aqua, what brings you here?" She smiled and said "The same reason as you, I came to watch the meteor shower." Then her smile turned mischievous. "But it looks like someone beat the two of us to it." I blinked and looked over at our spot to see Ven lying in the grass, completely asleep. I smiled too. "Let's try to surprise him." Aqua nodded, and we both silently walked over to where Ven was sleeping.
When we were just behind him he started to wake and sat up, looking at the stars. Aqua and I leaned over him, and he stretched his arms and yawned. That's when he saw our faces directly above him. He shot up and said "Whoa!" Then he turned around to look at us, and we laughed. "Give me a break guys," he said. Aqua stood up and said "Ven, you hopeless sleepyhead. You know should have at least brought a blanket." He looked down. "But... did I dream that place up? It felt like I had really been there before, looking up at the stars." Then I reached down and ruffled his hair. "Except you've always lived here, just like me," I told him. "Yeah," he looked up at us and smiled. "I know."
All three of us walked over to the ledge where we sat, and did so. We looked up at the stars, until Ventus said "Hey Aqua." She looked and him and said "Hm?" "You ever wonder what stars are, where light comes from?" he asked. Aqua thought about it, and then said "Well, they say-" "That every star up there is another world," we heard a voice say. Recognizing that voice, we all turned to see that is was Terra. "Terra, it's you," I said. He nodded. "Yep. Hard to believe there are so many worlds out there besides our own." He started walking forward. "The light is their hearts. And it's shining down on us like a billion lanterns." Ven looked confused. "Huh? I don't get it." I smiled and stood up. "In other words, they're just like you Ven," I told him.
He turned to look at me. "What does THAT mean?" he asked. "You'll found out soon enough," Terra said. Ven said to him "I want to know now!" "You're too young to know now," Terra said. "Both of you quit treating me like a kid!" Then Aqua started laughing. "What's so funny?" I asked. "I can't help it," she said. "The three of you would make the weirdest brothers." This confused all three of us, until we all started laughing, the sound reaching into the sky. After a while we were content to just sit there, enjoying the view and each other's company. Then Aqua stood up and jumped down. "Oh yeah. Terra, Dexal, the three of us have our Mark of Mastery exams tomorrow. She pulled four charms out of her pocket.
"I made us good luck charms." We stood and Aqua tossed one to each of us, including Ven. "I get one too?" he asked. "Of course, one for each of us." Aqua said, and we held each held ours out for the others to look at. They were all in the shape of a star with a heart in the center, only each was a different color. Aqua's was blue, Ven's a light green, Terra's was an earthy brown, and mine was ruby-red. "Somewhere out there, there's this tree with star-shaped fruit, and the fruit represents an unbreakable connection. So if you and your friends carry good luck charms shaped like it, nothing will ever drive you apart. You'll always find your way back to each other," Aqua explained, before turning around to look at us.
"Technically I think you're supposed to make them with seashells, but I did the best with what I had," she admitted. "Oi, sometimes you are such a girl," Terra declared. "Hey, what do you mean 'sometimes'?" she asked. Ven looked sad. "So this isn't a real good luck charm?" he asked. "Well, that remains to be seen. But I did work a little magic on it," Aqua told him. I raised an eyebrow. "Really, what?" I asked. She held up her charm. "An unbreakable connection," she said. We all looked at our charms, and I smiled. Here was physical proof- We would always find our way back.
I grunted and my eyes slowly opened, the back of my skull throbbing painfully. I cast Cura and felt it lessen somewhat, at least that my vision stopped blurring and I could look around me. "Knock it off!" Donald yelled, crushed under me, Sora and Goofy. Sora and Goofy got up, and I groaned as I did the same. "Hey Sora, Dexal. You guys okay?" goofy asked. Sora nodded, while I shrugged. "I'll get better once the cobwebs are gone. Where are we, anyway?" I asked, looking around. Suddenly a Gummi Block dropped down and almost hit me, and I looked around to see where it came from. The walls were a pinkish color and glistening with water, while not far ahead there was an actual body of it, towers of wood rising up from it.
"Uh, you know, I think that bog ol' whale Monstro swallowed us. And for today's weather: expect showers," Goofy said. Then another Gummi Block dropped from above, and hit him straight on the head. "Heavy showers!" Goofy added. "Hey! Who's there?" Donald called. "Oh, it's just Pinocchio… Pinocchio?!" Jiminy said in alarm. But he didn't hear him, and walked off with the Gummi Block he found. "Pinocchio? Pinocch, where are you going? Pinocch!" Jiminy called, before turning to us. "Come on, everybody! After him! Quick!" he said. Despite still being partially dazed, I nodded along with the others and started forward. The water prevented us from simply walking, but with a few Deep Freeze spells I was able to give us in impromptu ice bridge to walk on.
At the other end was a modest ship with a small candle burning at the top, where there was a bed, a bowl with a fish in it, and Pinocchio talking to an old man. He had kind blue eyes behind rectangular glasses, and his mustache and hair were a shade of gray nearing white. He had on a lilac shirt with a red vest and strap, with black pants and black shoes with gold buckles. "Look, Father! With this, we can get out of here," Pinocchio said, holding up the Gummi. "Really? With this big block? You think so?" the old man asked. We climbed and I said "It's true. But you'll need a lot more than just that one to make a vessel that can get out. Gepetto, is it?" He nodded. "Yes, it is. And you are…?" he asked.
"Dexal, sir. And this is Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy," I said, shaking his hand. At the mention of that last name his eyes widened, and he looked at Sora's shoulder. "Jiminy! My goodness, so the whale swallowed all of you too?" he asked. We nodded, and Jiminy asked "Is that how you got here, Pinocchio?" He nodded, and Geppetto said "Well, I might as well introduce myself. As you guessed, my name is Geppetto. I'm Pinocchio's father. When we were separated, I traveled all over, looking for him. Thanks goodness we're together again. So, you seem to know Pinocchio quite well. I hope he's been a good boy in my absence. We've all had quite a journey. Right, Pinocchio?"
But there was no response, and Geppetto looked around, calling "Pinocchio?" We all looked, but the puppet was nowhere to be seen. "He's gone!" Goofy said. "He must be off exploring. That boy has been poking around just about every inch of this monster. I know he means well, but it makes me worry…" Geppetto said, his eyes filled with concern. I looked at him and at the love and concern Geppetto obviously had for Pinocchio, and I didn't even have to think. "Don't worry; we'll find him," I assured him. Geppetto looked at me in surprise, before smiling and nodding his head. "Thank you. I'm very grateful," he said. "It's no problem," Sora said, and Donald and Goofy agreed. "Well then, let's go," Jiminy said.
We all nodded and jumped off the ship, landing on the patch of sand that led to the first chamber. Luck was on our side, because that was the very room Pinocchio was in. "What are you doing here? Come on; let's go back," I said. "You know, Geppetto's awfully worried about you," Goofy said. "Pinocchio, stop fooling around! This is no time for games!" Sora said sternly, and I nodded. But as we turned to leave, we heard a voice say "But Sora, Dexal, I thought you two liked games?" We both froze, and slowly turned around. Standing there, next to Pinocchio, was Riku. "Or are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?" he asked, his hands on his hips. "Riku!" we both exclaimed, and Sora asked "Wh-What are you doing here?"
"Just playing with Pinocchio," Riku replied simply. I frowned. "You know what he meant. Where's Kairi? Did you find her?" I asked. "Maybe. Catch us and I'll tell you what I know," he said. "Come on!" Sora said. But Riku simply grabbed Pinocchio's arm and ran further in. We had no choice, and followed.
Riku has appeared again, and this time his actions do not bode well. Can our heroes catch him and find out what he knows? Find out next chapter, and a Merry Christmas to you all!
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