Chapter 77: Choice
Brian, Hikari and Zidane were in the cockpit as Brian summoned his Staff of Myths and Hikari and Zidane watched his actions. The Endless mage closed his eyes as he began to rotate his staff at a fast rate in his left hand before thrusting his right hand toward, "Cornwall Cresent! Little Devon!" Brian halted his staff, making the staff point to the front window of the gummi. The tomboy and thief turned to look into space and watched a white portal appear in the distance.
Zidane turned to Brian, seeing him dispose of his staff. "That is the worst portal password I have ever heard." He laughed.
Hikari looked at him suspiciously, "Where else have you heard a portal password?" She questioned him.
"I don't know but that has to be the worst one out there." Zidane replied. Hikari ended up agreeing with the monkey.
"The portal password might have some deep purpose if my brothers decided to go with that stupid name." Brian walked over to the controls and began to set the ship's co-ordinates.
"Maybe Cornwall Crescent is the key to your problems." Zidane suggested, "If you go to that world then maybe you'll gain your memory." Brian and Hikari had told Zidane about Brian's memory loss so that he wouldn't be left out and that he wouldn't question Brian and Hikari's fake argument. "Try don't you try seeing where the world is located and set a course to there after seeing what your brothers want."
"That's actually not a bad idea." Hikari smiled.
"Are you suggesting that my ideas are bad?" Zidaned questioned her, facing her. Hikari ignored him as she watched Brian type 'Cornwell Crescent' into the computer system, in search for the world.
"This might take some time." Brian said as the loading bar appeared on the screen, "There are many worlds." He looked at Hikari, who was looking at the white portal, before looking at Zidane. "Could you begin a steady course to the portal and call me when we're close to entering?" Zidane nodded as he took over the controls. Brian turned and began to head downstairs but halted at the stairs and looked at Hikari before heading downstairs.
Hikari could tell that Brian was signalling her to follow him downstairs to talk, properly about his amnesia since they quickly had to pull the trick on Sora and Kairi to be able to get them in the same room together. She looked over to Zidane, checking to see if he was alright with dealing with the piloting alone. After an assuring smile and nod of her old friend, she followed down the stairs and joined Brian in the bridge, where he was leaning against the doorframe that lead to the hallway.
Brian smiled warmly at his friend as she leaned against the other side of the doorframe and smiled back at him. Brian turned his view down the hallway, "Do you think that the plan is working?" He asked her as his eyed the cargo door and shine with a red light every now and again.
"You mean scheme." Hikari smirked as she corrected him.
Brian faced Hikari and smirked at her, "How is it a scheme?" He asked as laughter remained hidden behind his voice. "They're talking. It's a start."
Hikari giggled to herself as she looked down the hallway to face the enchanted cargo door, "They may be talking to each other, at least from what we can guess, but it doesn't mean that Kairi has forgiven him. We just have to wait and see what happens." She explained with a worried tone.
"I guess you're right." Brian pushed himself away from the doorframe and wandered over to the wooden table, removing his glove to feel the texture of the old oak with his claw.
Hikari faced away from the hallway to notice that Brian had moved over to the table, deep in thought while looking at his claw. "Brian?" Hikari slowly began to approach him with concern.
Brian didn't respond to her though as he continued to wave his claw over the table, looking at his claw, thousand questions crossing his mind, wondering why he never realised this sooner. One question kept repeating in his head though, "Are we still friends?" he asked out loud, saying his thoughts.
"Brian." Hikari stepped by his side and placed her hand on his shoulder, making him snap out of his thoughts and looked at the girl next to him. "Ever friendships have their ups and down like what we've been having for the last week or so. But I will be there for you, to help you uncover the truth that shouldn't have been hidden from you." She smiled at him.
Brian seemed confused by how Hikari was taking this; he would have expected a tear or two. "Aren't you upset that the good memories we have shared together have been broken away?" he asked her.
She nodded to this, "I am upset." She admitted. "But I'm happy as well." She smiled at this.
"I don't get it." He looked at his friend in wonder and bewildered from her answered. "Why?"
"I'm upset that you didn't tell me about yourself before the recon mission, that you were an Endless but knowing you, you properly didn't want to hurt me because of Sakuzy." Hikari explained with a hint of sadness as she mentioned her brother. Brian gave her a comforting smile before she continued, "I'm happy that you told me about your amnesia instead of hiding it from everyone. I always liked your honestly, Brian. I like you honestly because it reminds me of the old you before that stupid mission. It shows that you are a true friend, even if you do get out of hand some times." Hikari smiled back at him as she looked at her proudly, "I believe that you will find the truth."
Brian smiled at this and pulled Hikari into a friendly hug, "Thanks Hikari."
"Here! I want to show you something." Hikari pulled out of the hug and placed her right hand, in fist form, in front of her. She could see that the Endless was confused by her placing her hand in front of him. She shook her head at this in amusement before grabbing his claw and enclosed it. She moved his clenched claw to bump onto of her hand before she bumped her hand on his claw. She crashed the two hands together before relaxing his claw by opening the claw so that the fingertips of his and her hand would touch each. "Wiggle your fingers." Hikari instructed him. He shrugged and moved his fingers with her before both of them pulled their arms back, clicking their hand behind their heads before both of them slam their hands together into a firm handshake. "Do you remember this?" She asked as she let go of his hand.
"Bits and pieces." Brian thought about it, "You, me and Max used to do that all the time."
"That's because it's our friendship shake." She said, "You'll learn it again." Brian smiled at this before placing his black glove back on his hand. "So, did you find out what's wrong with Sora while you were down at Mousedom?" She changed the subject.
"Err...yeah. Yeah I did." Brian said nervously, wondering whether it would be safe to tell Hikari or not as he remembered the conversation that he had with Riku, 'If safer for all of us' he remembered himself saying to him about the unreliable results.
"Well? What's wrong with Sora?" Hikari impatiently waited for an answer.
There goes the honest that Hikari was talking about. "He had HDS." Brian quickly answered. I'm sorry, Hikari. I'll tell you and Kairi when I have full proved the virus is within him. Even though it's easy to tell that there's something wrong with Bigfoot.
"HDS?" Hikari looked surprised by his reply, "I would have thought that he had the virus." She said her opinion.
"They both have the same symptoms. The only difference is that it affects the heart instead of soul which is more likely to happen since he had turned himself into a heartless." Brian told her, "Besides, the reason why I stayed behind in Mousedom was because Basil and I were quickly running a test of a sample of Sora's blood and the results came back positive on the HDS test."
That was only half true, Brian and Basil did run the tests but for both the virus and HDS tests, the results were unreliable meaning that at this very moment, it could be either one since they had the same symptoms. What amazed him more was that he had left the previous results that he had conducted, before crashing on St DragonKnight, in his pocket allowing him to compare the results. Drunk at the time, he had thought that he had received some results but soon realised that they were unreliable as well since they were actually the same as the new results.
Hikari nodded her head at her explanation before looking at Brian suspiciously, "And how did you get Sora's blood without him questioning why?" she asked him.
"I pushed him off the hot air balloon that we were riding." Brian answered truthfully.
"Brian!" Hikari scowled at him.
"You said you wanted honestly?!" Brian laughed as he held up his hands in defence. Hikari shook her head at this.
"BRIAN!! WE'RE AT THE PORTAL!!!" Zidane shouted from the cockpit as his voice echoed from the staircase that leads up there. "THE SEARCH IS DONE AS WELL!!!"
"OKAY!!!" He shouted back before handing over a red orb to Hikari. He managed to answer before she could ask, "The red orb is to misbalance the charmed lock on the door so that it breaks. Only use it when they come to some form of agreement." Hikari nodded as Brian before heading over to the staircase.
"Brian." Hikari called her, making the red head halt and turn to face her. Hikari walked over to him and raised her arm upwards, "Stick like glue?" She tried to remind him of another handshake they did in the past.
Brian smirked at this; this was one of the things that I will never forget. "Yeah." He said as he grinned and grasped her hand in his, making it clap when the two hands went together once more. "Stick like glue."
BOWBOWBOW
"Fight you?" She watched as Sora stepped away from her, looking at her with surprise and a hint of fear in his eyes.
Kairi looked away from him and back to the floor as she explained, "I was thinking of what you had said back at Destiny Islands, before the letter came. You were saying that I wasn't ready to fight. I also thought of what you said earlier and the other day. I don't only need to do this to show you that I'm not just a Princess of Heart." Sora placed his head down in shame at that, "but I need to prove it to myself."
Sora could see why she would want to fight; he could see that boldness that she had slowly begun to recover had been destroyed because of the soul's stupid game. He knew that she wanted to gain her fighting spirit back but he didn't want to hurt her. "Fighting each other won't solve this." He said to her.
Kairi looked up angrily at him as she pushed herself up from the floor, "Why did you bring me then?!" Kairi asked him. "I'm not going to remain of the sidelines."
"I just don't want to fight you." Sora avoided the question.
"Why?" Kairi demanded.
"Because of what's happening to me." Sora stepped towards her as he tried to make her understand. "What if we're fighting and I lose myself again, I don't want to hurt you."
"I don't want to hurt you either but I have to do this." Kairi looked at him before sighing, "It'll also give Naminé some time to figure out what has happened to Roxas." She watched Sora looked at her with shock, "And find out what that voice is." She said.
Sora looked away from her as he began to wander the room, looking in the boxes to find a roll of bandages. He grabbed the roll and began to wrap it around his claw, "How did you find out?" Sora asked quietly as he continued to wrap his arm.
"Our hearts are connected." Kairi reminded him, moving her hand to where her heart was. "Or at least they used to be." Sora looked at Kairi as the hurt began to form in his heart, halting the motion of wrapping his arm. "I want to believe in what you are saying but how can I if you hide yourself? I trust you, Sora. I trust you but you're making it hard for me to trust. There's no friendship without trust and the last thing that I want is to lose you."
"I guess that's why you're not wielding Oathkeeper." Sora pointed to her keyblade that had remained in her hand during the whole conversation. "Are you saying that if I don't fight you, you won't be my friend anymore?" He didn't want to believe that Kairi would make that sort of deal.
"I'm not saying that, Sora." Kairi assured him, "It's just that me and Riku can help. We want to help get Roxas back for you, we want to find whatever is causing you to act like this and fix it. We just want the Sora that we miss being around." She watched as Sora finished covering his claw with bandages. "I just want to know what's wrong with you." Kairi told him as she began to approach him, placing her arms around his claw, making it glow slightly. "Please Sora..."
The clock is ticking. Which road do you want to choose, Light or Darkness? Both roads lead you to your end.
Then I better tell her since I'm going to fall anyways instead of hiding the shadows of my fears. He waited for a response but he didn't receive any sound from the soul, it's gone. Sora was expecting to have his life threatened if he was to reveal anything about his existence...he was surprised to see that there was not any form of responses. Sora looked towards Kairi, seeing that she was holding tightly to his wrapped arm. He managed to notice the colour of his arm was beginning to fade out to its original colour. Roxas was right. He thought as he watched his two shadowed spikes, which he failed to wrap, were tilting towards his arm. If I keep Kairi close to me then the virus might not be able to attack me. He watched as she tilted her head up to face him. Roxas, if you can hear me. Save me if this doesn't work. "You deserve the truth, Kairi." He turned to face her as he placed both of his hands on her shoulders, seeing Kairi look up at him with a mix of emotions, mainly worry. "Ever since that attack in Notre Dame, I've been feeling myself fall apart inside. First, I gain this." He refers to his claw on her shoulder. "Then I start hearing this voice, the one that's guided me and Roxas before but the attack had done something to it, causing Roxas' disappearance and the way that I've been acting. I have no idea what's happening to me, Kairi." Sora looked sadly at her. "You have to believe me, if you don't then-"
The ship shook rapidly, causing the cargo bay to shake dangerously as the boxes holding Snake's large collection of western term objects began to fall out of their boxes. As Sora and Kairi were keeping their balance, wandering what was going on, the engraved book that Kairi had placed by the side for later soon became covered by a number of fallen boxes and western items. Both of the keybladers were trying to keep their balance that they didn't notice one of the metal plating on the ceiling was coming out of place. Sora looked up to see the metal plating above him before seeing it get shot at with a burst of water, making the metal plating hit the charmed door as well as getting struck in the wooden door.
Sora looked back to see that Kairi have managed to cast a perfect water spell without being in her element. She really is getting better... Sora said to himself, I wish I was there to train her. "That's was great, Kairi!" Sora smiled to approach her again, "Even I couldn't do-"
"Will you fight me?" Kairi cut him off, bringing the subject that they were talking about back in play.
"Kairi..." Sora looked away from her.
"Why won't you fight me?" Kairi questioned, "I can take care of my own share. You've seen me." She waited for him to answer but saw that he only began to walk over to the door since it was now broken. "Sora!" Kairi called him back.
"I'm not fighting you." He finished as he began to walk up the wooden stairs.
"Then I'm leaving."
This froze Sora's actions as he was about to attempt to break the door down to free the both of them. He slowly turned away from the door and faced the Princess of Heart, who was starting to gain fresh tears. He knew for a fact that this was out of character for Kairi, he could tell by her face that even suggesting her actions was hurting her as much as the thought of losing her on this journey. "Kairi..." Sora said to her as if he was begging her to reconsider.
She ignored his silent pleas as she began to walk pass him, walking up the wooden stairs as she spoke, "I know that I said that where one of us goes, the others follow and I still stand by that. But how can I follow someone who doesn't trust me?" She looked back at Sora, waiting for an answer. After receiving a pressured silent from him, she turned towards the broken door and opened it. "If you trust me then you would trust me with a duel. The choice is yours, Sora." Kairi stepped out of the room and quickly rushed to her room once more, leaving the shattered Keyblader behind.
You know, which ever you pick won't bother me. She's going to get hurt either way.
He ignored the soul's demonic laugh and the fact of its sudden appearance the minute that Kairi leaves the room as he didn't know what to do. He looked at his wrapped arm to see that his infection was turning back into its light grey colour with the shadowed spikes returning to their original place. He sighed at this, placing his arm by his side before looking at the doorway with an empty glaze.
He needed advice…
He needed his friends…
He needed Kairi…
BOWBOWBOW
"Brian! Snap out of it!" Zidane shook the Aversion Endless as he slowly began to wake up. For some reason after Brian had token over Zidane's control of the ship and seeing the results of the world search, Brian seemed to grab his arm in pain and managed to rock the ship into mayhem before grabbing his head and falling out of the pilot seat unconscious. Zidane had to quickly balance the ship before placing the gummi on 'stand by' and heading over to Brian.
Hikari burst into the room just as Zidane was helping Brian up, "What happened?" She asked with worry.
"Brian fainted at the wheel." Zidane answered, stepping away from Brian to give him some room to gain balance.
"I didn't faint." He denied, wobbling slightly from the fainting spell. "I just felt that my arm was on fire and my head was about to explode and THEN I fainted."
"Isn't your Endless element fire anyway?" Hikari asked.
"You're destroying the logic." Brian quickly replied, making the tomboy roll her bright green eyes. "We shouldn't worry about me; you should be guarding the door." He started to push Hikari towards the staircase to the bridge.
"Well, I'm sorry for checking if my best friend was okay and checking if we were all going to die." She replied sarcastically before leaving to check on Sora and Kairi.
Brian smiled at her sarcastic comment as she left, "Yep! Everything is back to normal." He said before turning towards Zidane, "Well, as normal as I can remember."
Zidane watched Brian walk over to the pilot seat and began to take control of the ship as if nothing had happened. "Are you sure that you should be driving? You just fainted." Zidane said with concern.
"I'll be fine." Brian muttered the answer, shrugging it off. "I just want to know where Cornwall Crescent came from." He referred to the results of the world scan as their showed 'No world selected' from typing in Cornwall Crescent in the search engine. "I mean, what's the purpose of placing it in the riddle?"
"Don't ask me, my friend." Zidane tried to avoid Brian's questionable look, "Just wait until you get home." Brian hummed in agreement.
"I'm sure that Daniel will tell otherwise he has my fist to face."
Brian and Zidane turn around to see Hikari staying right behind them, how could they have not heard her come up the stairs, she went down them loud enough. "Hikari, didn't I just chuck you out?" Brian questioned.
"No. I walked out on my own free will." Hikari smiled, "And you scheme didn't work. Kairi managed to escape and Sora has turned into a frozen depressed statue."
Zidane sighed at the news, "And things were going soo well." He said before heading downstairs, leaving the two friends alone.
"Yeah. Shame." For some reason, Brian couldn't help but smile at this as he turned back to drive.
Mad: Will Sora make the right decision? Why did Brian smile at the news? Will the Devon brothers reveal the truth to Brian? Tune in next time for Kingdom Hearts: Balance of Worlds.
Hey people, I would like to give you a heads-up that due to having a presentation coming up soon as well as wanting to make sure that I update my coursework and with Final Fantasy XIII coming out I won't be able to update for a while. Think of this as me taking a break from writing and playing some good games again. Hope that I can get my work done quickly so I can get back to writing.
Messages:
Grey vs Ale: You have to wait on the fight. Hahahaha
Blblblblbl: Nope! Their friendship isn't fixed yet. Hahahahaha
Future Keybearer: I will do but you properly have to wait three years as I haven't started uni yet that 3D animation is in the last year.
Kisdota-The Freak Gamer: Bet you didn't see that coming. Hehehehe
Island-style-girl: I found it funny while writing it. X3
Artism: Sora and Kairi aren't going out....even though they are acting that they are at the moment. Hehehe
Celticskyedancer: We'll see if Sora gives in to Kairi's last resort.
Roxas2134: I'm glad to hear that you like my story =)
Thanks for people that have reviewed and I promise that I will update after getting the presentation and updates in which should be.......next month bye.
Brian: NEXT MONTH!!! I'M IN THE PLANS FOR A MONTH!!!!
See ya next time.
Kingdommad