Hey, UknownHero here and welcome to another chapter of Awaken By Time! I really need to start updating my other stories but with React Watch Believe Yikes doing so well and the fact I made a promise that I would update every week is kinda making it tough. Also to the weird kid: My story, my logic. But thanks for pointing out my mistakes. Anyway, enough of me blabbing. Thanks logiemon2020 for making me do this and at least reminding me I have other fics and they're not dead. Alright, let the games begin!
Chapter 6: Traversing the Town
Donald Duck and Goofy Goof. They were well known at their home world as the loyal mage and knight of Disney Castle as well as good friends with the king himself. A few days ago, their king had gone missing for mysterious reasons, other than finding out what's happening and why all the stars have been going out. Now with a mission to find the Key to fixing their problems as well as their beloved king, they set off to Traverse Town.
But not without getting very exciting news.
"I wonder where Master Aqua is now." Goofy thought out loud while he was walking with Donald and the king's loyal dog, Pluto, "I hope she isn't hurt somewhere by the Heartfull."
"'Heartless'!" Donald corrected getting pretty annoyed,
"Right, the Heartless." Goofy then looked down sadly, "I hope she's alright."
"And don't worry, Goofy. Remember what Yen Sid said. Master Aqua is a Keyblade Master! I'm sure she can take care of herself." Donald said, trying to cheer up the dog,
"And what 'bout Ventus?" Goofy asked,
"Don't you trust him at all? Yen Sid also said he was doing pretty well by himself. Well, apart from when he was possessed by his own darkness…" Goofy was about to say something else, but saw something happening in the sky,
"Donald!" Goofy exclaimed as he nudged the duck's shoulder and pointed up, "Look, a star's goin' out!" Donald's widened as he looked up as well. He couldn't help but gasp at the sight of a star blinking out of the sky, somehow making this world a lot less brighter now. They knew right then and there that they needed to hurry and find Leon, before more stars disappear,
"Come on. Let's hurry!" Donald said as they started making their way to the Second District entrance, "Where's that Key…"
"Hey, ya know, maybe we ought to go find Leon." Goofy suggested to Donald, before seeing Pluto going the other direction, "Uh, Donald. Ya know, I betcha that... "
"Aw, what do you know, ya big palooka!" Donald said without even looking back. The faster they do this, the faster they could save the king and the faster they could get to Aqua,
"What do I know? Hmm... Come on, Pluto!" Goofy called out, not seeing Pluto licking an unconscious boy's face with a blue haired girl resting her head on his lap.
(Aqua's dream)
"Where… am I?" Aqua mumbled as she slowly stood up. It was back at the Land of Departure. Except it was completely fine. Not like when it was when she last visited it. She wanted to pick up her Master's Keyblade but left it there as a grave marker of sorts, 'Why am I here? Is this another dream? Or maybe it's a nightmare.' Aqua thought as she saw the castle in the distance. Right now, she was where she, Terra and Ven trained the night before their Mark of Mastery Exams, 'I wonder if this is a memory.' Aqua wanted to make sure so she started making her way to the castle. When she got there, she gasped in horror, "MASTER?!" She exclaimed as she saw Erauqs getting ready to eliminate Ven. She was about to intervene in a hopeless attempt to stop it when Terra appeared out of nowhere. She couldn't hear anything but she could tell that Terra wanted Ven to get away, 'I guess that's why he wanted us to kill him.' Aqua thought sadly as she looked down, remembering the moment clearly. He was 14 and he wanted his two best friends to end his life if the X-Blade was created. She wasn't going to do it as a friend but her professional side told her she had to. She snapped out of her trance when she saw Ven escaping, with Terra staying behind to fend off Master. Then it just cut to black, 'What was the point of that?' Aqua thought before her eyes widened as she heard a voice at the back of her head,
Stop worrying about me Aqua. I'm not a baby, you know?
(Reality)
"Ven?" Aqua mumbled as she slowly woke up. She just wanted to go back to sleep. She was still tired from the Darkside battle. And now that she thought about, when did she start calling out attacks? 'Ugh, maybe I was in the heat of the moment or something.'
"What a dream…" Sora groaned as the orange dog was licking him. Pluto stopped for a second before jumping kicking him in the chest, waking them both up, "This isn't a dream!"
"Ugh… what happened?" Aqua mumbled as she & Sora got up. When her vision cleared, she saw that they were in some alleyway, 'Definitely not the island…'
"Where are we? Oh, boy." Sora muttered as he bent down to Pluto's level, "Do you know where we are?" Pluto ran out of the alleyway to go and look for Donald & Goofy, "Hey…"
"We better go follow him." Aqua said as she ran off as well. Sora shook off the cobwebs in his head and followed his fellow Keyblade Wielder. When they got out of the alleyway, they saw that they were definitely not on the island anymore, "Oh my…"
"This is totally weird..." Sora said as he looked around. There was a restaurant, an item shop, community mailbox and even a strange-looking teddy bear with bat wings, which Aqua recognized as a Moogle, "I'm, I mean, we're in another world!"
"No kidding…" Aqua muttered quietly before shaking her head, "Okay, before we do anything we should gather information about this world. I'll talk to the locals. You should go visit the shops, okay?" Aqua said, only to find Sora playing with a Moogle's pom-pom thing (AN: Yeah, fan of Kingdom Hearts. Hater of Final Fantasy). Aqua couldn't help but giggle a little, remembering when a Moogle came to the Land of Departure to set up one of his holograms about a few weeks after she & Terra met Ven. Actually, Sora was acting exactly like Ven was when he first saw one, "Sora! Don't touch that!" Aqua scolded as she pulled the Moogle away and apologized for the New Keyblade Wielder, "Sora, you need to control yourself. We may not be natives of this world but it doesn't mean you can mess with those who are." Aqua said, giving the same speech that Erauqs told her when she landed on her first world. It was one of the requirements to qualify for the Mastery Exam to spend one week in another world, Sora just scratched the back of his head in response,
"Sorry Aqua. I just got excited." Sora apologized, "Alright, I guess I'll start with the Accessory Shop. You should go and talk to the teddy bear since you're on better terms with him."
"Moogle." Aqua corrected,
"Right, Moogle. Got it." Sora said as he started walking to the shop. Aqua started talking to the Moogle and discovered that the name of the world was Traverse Town. What shocked Aqua was that many of the townsfolk were 'asylum seekers' in a sense and have lost their home to the same Shadows that she & Sora fought. She quickly looked up at the sky and saw a star blinking out, 'Oh no! The Land of Departure!' Aqua thought, worried about her world. She knew Xehanort probably plunged it into darkness, whether or not it was before or after she time travelled, but it couldn't hurt to see the state of her home. She might even find her Master's Keyblade there as well, "Hey! Aqua, I'm back!"
"Huh?" Aqua said as she snapped out of her thoughts, "Oh right, um… the world's name is…"
"Traverse Town." Sora quickly answered before he looked around, "I can't find Riku & Kairi here and Cid said that there are three districts here. There was a 4th but it was blocked off a long time ago. I guess we should go and explore a bit." Aqua nodded and followed Sora to the Second District entrance. When they stepped into the 2nd District, they saw a man running away from something before tripping,
"Hey! Do you need any," Aqua didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as a crystal heart floated from the man's body before his body burst into light while his heart was getting covered in darkness and spawning a knight-like Shadow, "…help."
"Aqua, watch out!" Sora exclaimed as a feeling in his gut caused him to summon his Keyblade. Aqua quickly followed suit and summoned her one as well as Shadows started appearing, "It's those creatures from the island!"
"And they brought friends!" Aqua called out as the knight-like Shadows came running towards them. Suddenly, she felt a strange energy hit the back of her eyes. She winced before realizing she was able to see how weak an enemy was, as well know their names, "Soldiers and Shadows…" She muttered as she narrowed her eyes before grinning a little. She just learned, no, remembered her Scan ability. She learned a long time ago that while it wasn't as useful as any other abilities like Aerial Recovery and High Jump, it gave Keyblade Wielders a small drive that got them through many battles. She wasn't sure why but it helped for some reason. Anyway, after fighting off a few Shadows and Soldiers, they knew that it was too dangerous to go any further without any equipment,
"Cid said to come back when we're in trouble so we better get back to the First District!" Sora told Aqua as he helped her fight a Large Body, before taking it down with a dual attack. Aqua nodded and ran back to the 1st District. When they saw the place completely empty, they knew something was up. It was confirmed as Shadows start jumping from the ground and trying to rip their faces off. Sora quickly knocked them back while they were in midair, "I thought the First District was safe!" Sora exclaimed as he vanquished another Shadow before ducking under one,
"I don't think anywhere is safe right now!" Aqua called back before getting scratched by a Shadow before countering and taking it down, "We have to move! Now!" She yelled out as Sora threw a crate he found at the Shadows. It didn't do very much but it did put them into a daze, allowing them to escape into Cid's shop. Aqua flopped onto a chair and looked around the shop. It was pretty nice, although it felt a little like a living room with a fire place to her. After Sora talked to Cid and bought a few items, he went up to Aqua and gave her a few accessories that increased her pain tolerance and her magic while Sora got attack and defense boosting equipment before resting on the couch. Aqua then remembered what happened back on the island with Kairi's heart, 'If I tell him, he'll freak out about how his best friend's is in him now. But if I don't he'll be reckless and risk Kairi's heart in the process. What do I do?' Aqua thought as she placed her hand on her chest. She could feel a small part of Kairi in her, but it was sleeping. She looked at Sora for a few minutes before she sighed. If she didn't tell him now, Kairi might never regain her full heart, "Sora…"
"Yeah?" Sora asked while his mouth was full from eating an apple, not knowing it was just a leftover,
"I-I have to tell you something."
"Aqua…" the Mage winced. There was a tingle at the back of her head but she tried to ignore it, "What is it?"
"I want to tell you that," The tingle in the back of her head was getting slightly worse now, but it wasn't enough to stop her, "That Kairi is," Suddenly, the tingle started to feel like pain and she had no idea why, "Kairi is-AH!" She yelled in pain as she clutched her head. It felt like it was burning,
'…elo?'
'…one… re?'
"Aqua, are you okay?" Sora asked worryingly as he saw Aqua in pain, "Aqua, you don't have to tell me if it's that pa-AH!" Sora then copied Aqua and clutched his head. As Aqua was experiencing the worst pain in her life, she heard the voice from the dreams.
Time is shifting now. The path is becoming dimmer, but not impossible to travel along, but now there are more forks in the road. Travel further and you cannot return. Go back, and let the path become clear again but have regret lead you through.
Are you sure?
'Yes, I am.' Aqua thought hesitation before forcing herself and Sora to look into each other's eyes, "Sora, Kairi." The pain was becoming more intense as each word was said, like it was trying to stop her, "Is." Sora wanted her to stop now, but for some reason wanted to power through it and hear what she has to say, "Within." They both couldn't handle it anymore so Aqua let it out in one burst,
"WE HAVE KAIRI'S HEART WITHIN US!" The pain suddenly stopped for both of them, like nothing ever happened.
The path has now dimmed and your choices have now affected many.
You will be rewarded accordingly.
'Huh?' Aqua thought before she started seeing… things. Memories.
But it wasn't her's.
It was Kairi's.
The same scene flashed in her head hundreds of times, seeing herself back at Radiant Garden performing one spell specifically, regaining the feeling of the spell before remembering how she mastered it. She knew it off by heart, as she heard herself scream out the magic word,
'REFLECT!'
A temporary bubble shield surrounded both Sora & Aqua before dispersing, "What was that?" Cid asked. Sora just groaned in response as they slowly got up,
"I-I'm not sure…" Sora muttered. He was trying to remember what happened in his head but all he remembered was something about the light bringing them closer…
"Well, if you two are alright, you better get outta here and find your friends before anything happens to them." They nodded slowly as they tiredly walked towards the door, "Oh, and here." Cid then threw two Potions at them. They caught it and drank it down in one big glup, gaining all their energy, "Good luck out there."
"Thanks!" The two say in unison as they summoned their Keyblades and walking out. Not even 3 seconds later, they heard a voice behind them,
"They'll come at you two out of nowhere."
"Huh? Who's there?" Aqua asked as they turned around,
"Who are you?" Sora asked as he looked at the man in front of them,
"And they'll keep on coming at you, as long as you continue to wield Keyblades." He looked at Sora before looking at Aqua, "But why? Why would it choose people like you?"
"Hey, what is that supposed to mean?" Sora asked, mad at the man in leather, "I don't know why the Keyblade chose me but Aqua was a Keyblade Master!" This surprised the man, 'Keyblade… Master?' He thought as he looked at Aqua again, who had already took on her battle stance, 'We may have a chance but first…'
"Who cares? Alright, now let's see those Keyblades." He said as he went for the weapons, but they both stepped back,
"What? Get real! There's no way you're ever getting these." Sora exclaimed as he went into his battle stance. The man sighed as he pulled out his Gunblade,
"All right, have it your way." Leon said as he went into his battle stance,
"Aqua." Sora said as he got ready for a fight,
"Yeah?" Aqua responded,
"Let me take him. One-on-One." Aqua was about to object but when she saw Sora's eyes she knew he didn't need her help. At least, that's what he thought,
"Okay, but if things get rough I'm helping."
"Thanks." Sora said as Aqua jumped back,
"Hm. No back up?" Leon said as he got ready,
"I don't need it." Sora replied as he decided to use a new stance and wield his Keyblade backwards, causing Aqua to gasp as it was identical to Ventus', "I can take you on myself!"
"Bring it." Leon said. Then they both charged at each other.
Save Game… Quit!
Whew! Done! See ya soon!
UknownHero signing off, my friends!