Chapter 101: Old habits
"HEY!"
The red headed mage shot his head up from the table, holding his head in pain, to see that the bridge lights were on and that the display clock read '9:30'. Looking at the time, he figured that he must have fallen asleep soon after he and Kairi had their midnight talk. It did make him wonder why, out of the blue, his heart has decided to skip a beat from the mention of the girl after one kiss on the cheek. He couldn't think about it for long as he looked up at the person to cause the sudden headache in his head, only to see a glaring blue spiky head above him. "What?" He asked innocently, seeing from the corner of his eye that the chocobo was looking at the tomboy in the same way.
"You're supposed to be resting!" She crossed her arms, not liking that her friend is simply ignoring her worries for him.
"I'm fine, Hikari." Brian told her.
"You were fading away!" Her voice rose in disbelief.
"I'm sure it happens to everyone." He just answered casually, picking up the box that he had been going through the night before. Placing all of the items, expect the charm , back in the box and began to walk over to the cupboard.
"Fading out of existence happens to everyone." She repeated, glaring at him through her disbelief, watching him place the box back into the cupboard.
"Well yeah." He smirked as he shut the cupboard door, "It happens when you lose your heart, when your Nobody's life ends, when you pass away. Where have you been for the last sixteen years?" He chuckled. "Besides, Kyle said that I was fine when you guys decided to call him. There is nothing to worry about." He leaned against the table, lifting his chocobo up from the table and onto the floor, allow little Steve to wander around the gummi freely.
"Nooooo. Kyle said that he had to check up on it." Hikari corrected him.
"Translation: I'm fine but will say that to make it sound like I'm doing something." He told her, laughing when her face turned full of frustration. He was interested with the choice of words that Hikari had used thought. Fade out of existence…. Like Daniel had said before.
"Kairi! Can I have that back?" Sora's voice could be heard from the hallway.
"You have to come and get it first." Laughter could be heard within the hallway, as well as running and slamming of doors.
Hikari raised an eyebrow at their laughter as she looked at the hallway, "Those two seem to sound cheerier than usual."
"Ah that's right."
Hikari jumped nearly out of her skin as Riku stood behind her, chuckling at her along with Brian. "Silver, you jerk! Where the hell did you come from?"
Riku leaned in slightly as he said, "Where ever you want me to come from." He smirked as he pulled away; Hikari just shook her head at him.
"Random flirting aside." Brian got back on subject, "You know why Sora and Kairi are acting like two little pre-schoolers right now?"
Riku nodded as searched through his pockets to show them a silver camcorder. "If Sora and Kairi ask, the camcorder was destroyed by some Unbirths."
"What are you doing with Sora's camera?" Brian asked while his friend gasped in realisation.
"You managed to catch them?" Hikari asked him.
She smiled as he nodded, handing over the camera to them. Hikari flips the screen open and when through the files that was already there before finding the file she was looking for, pressing play. Brian and Hikari watched the scene unfold, each of them on the tips of their toes as they watched. While Hikari gasped with happiness, the Endless could feel pure happiness for the two but a slight pain came from his heart. Surely just having a soft spot for someone shouldn't cause pain?
"Awwwww." Hikari cooed before looking back up at Riku. "Silver, you peeping tom!" She glared at him, passing the camera to Brian. "Invading your friends' private for proof that they are secret lovers."
"Would you rather have them know that I was shooting this?" The silver head smirked as he looked at her, crossing his arms.
"No not really." Hikari shook her head as she gently laughed.
"When exactly did you record this?" Brian suddenly asked, making the two look towards him.
"Right before I came back to the workshop." Riku answered.
"How long were you there for?" Brian questioned him.
Riku raised an eyebrow at Brian's expression, seeing panic and seriousness on his face. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. It's nothing." Brian pushed it away, some form of realisation forming in his head. What Daniel had said to him began to make sense now. Whenever Sora and Kairi had been on their own, most properly in another room, he would have strange attacks with his arm and heart, causing him to faint and now at the exact time that Sora and Kairi share their proper first kiss, he collapses on the floor, fading out of existence. He didn't know exactly when the deadline was, something that his dear brother had decided not to tell him, but he knew that he had to try and keep the two away from each other, not for his safety like a selfish person would do but for the safety of them two as well.
"I don't think that the two are together though." Riku said serious, taking the camera back from Brian and shutting it off. "They know what possible dangers are ahead. It is best for them to save it for when we return to Destiny Islands."
"Well, whatever they do, I think that the two would look cute together." Hikari smiled happily.
Riku looked over to Hikari, smirking as he gave her a weird look. "Hikari. You just said something girly."
"Don't make me hit you." She glared darkly at him, making the two boys laugh.
Another pair of laughter soon joined them as the spiky brunette and female red head bursting into the bridge with laughter as Kairi shot herself around to face Sora, holding one of his boots behind her back. "I don't have it Sora." Her smile seemed to stretch across her face.
"Yes you do." He grinned as he came close to her, wrapping his arms around her to try and grab the shoe off of her.
"I haven't got it." Kairi giggled, the others watching as she would move Sora's boot to the side, her hands resting at the side.
"Sora. It's at your side." Brian interrupted, preventing them from getting any closer. Not only didn't he like it when the two would randomly go lovey dovey on each but he would like to have the morning when his thoughts are not proven right.
"Ohhhhhh Brian. You ruined the show." Hikari glared at him, seeing Sora and Kairi step away from each other, their faces bright red as Kairi handed back Sora's shoe.
"Sora. Kairi." Riku walked towards his friends, watching Sora hop on one foot to try and get his boot back on. "We'll be separating into groups again when we land."
"We are?" Brian questioned, confused by why they were separating.
Riku stepped away from the four before turning around, facing them. "Donald and Goofy have managed to pinpoint the gummi in a location that we can visit two worlds at once, to make up for our lost time." He explained to them.
"What worlds are they?" He said, relaxing against the wall.
"Neverland and Atlantica." Hikari answered him.
"We only get to go to one?" Sora whined before sighing, leaning more against the wall. "I like those worlds."
"Well, I'm going to Atlantica." Riku informed them, "If I go to Neverland then I'm not sure what will happen."
"Exactly how many worlds will you not go to?" Hikari asked him, only to get a shrug of the Wielder of Dawn.
"What about groups of three?" Brian suggested.
"There are only eight of us." Hikair flicked his head.
Brian held his head once more before glaring at her. "Let me finish before you decide to cause physical pain." He faced the others again, "Three should go to Neveland, three to Altantica and the other two will guard the gummi ship with Steve." He stepped forward as he spoke, "I think Sora, Donald and Goofy should go to Altantica since I heard that Kng Triton is wary about new visitors while me, Max and Kairi head to Neverland."
"And leave me and Riku on the ship?" Hikari questioned, "What exactly are we supposed to do?"
"We could continue our war." Riku suggested, Hikari smirked at the suggestion.
"NO!" Brian shouted at the two of them, "No more dessert wars." The last thing that he wants is his gummi covered in cream and pie fillings again.
"Brian." Kairi looked at him seriously as she stood beside Sora. "Maybe we should talk to the others before we start setting teams." She suggested.
"You're absolutely right, Kai." Brian grinned as he stepped towards Sora and Kairi, earning suspicious looks from Sora, Riku and Hikari. The Endless managed to step in between the Keyblade Master and the Princess of Heart, separating them as he placed his arm around Kairi's shoulders. "Let's go find Max." He said.
"I don't need guiding, Brian." She giggled at him, removing his arm before she began heading to the hallway with the red headed mage slowly following behind.
Brian quickly turned around to face the confused, yet angered Sora. "Hey Sora! Better check up on your remedy. You don't look good." He chuckled before following the Princess of Heart. There goes that truce.
As the two left the room, Sora blinked in disbelief before looking at Riku and Hikari, "What just happened?" Sora asked in confusion.
Riku only looked at Hikari, only to get a nasty glare back. "Don't look at me! I can't read his mind."
"You don't think that attack has made him go cocky again do you?" Sora asked, just the thought of Brian flirting with Kairi again made him angry.
"I'm sure he's just joking." Riku assured his friend, "Brian knows by now how close you and Kairi are, he's an idiot if he tries to come in between."
"Unless he thinks he's got a good reason." Hikari added before looking at Sora, noticing that he was breathing slightly heavier. "Sora, maybe you should check to see if you have taken the remedy, you don't look so good."
"I'll be fin-"
"Guys! ENEMY SHIPS APPROACHING!" Donald shouted from the cockpit.
"I'll be righ-"The ship shook violently from the incoming blasts, sending the alarms off, throwing some of the cupboards began to fly open, Sora, Riku and Hikari gasped in shock from the sudden movement, nearly making them lose their balance. "I'm going to head to the controls. You guys take the side cannons." Sora instructed as he slowly began to move towards the door that took him to the cockpit.
"Right." Riku and Hikari quickly nodded before balancing themselves again from the ship's rocking, each looking at their spiky haired friend with concern.
As soon as he reached the door, Sora rushed through the door and up the stairs that lead him to the cockpit, where Donald and Goofy was stationed, trying to avoid the on-coming attack. "What's the situation?" Sora asked as he jumped in one of the pilot seats.
"They just appeared out of nowhere." Donald reported, sending main controls over to Sora. "They look like they belong to the Order by the looks of it."
"Sora! Look out!" Goofy pointed out the sudden wave of dark blue ships that had hovered in front of them, shooting their blasters.
"Hang on!" Sora shot the gummi into a barrel roll, avoiding the blasts before shooting at the ships, blasting them out of the way.
"Hey Sora! How about you wait to hear that we're strapped in before you decide to do a random barrel roll?"Brian shouted on the com.
""Brian! Where are ya?" Goofy asked him, allowing Sora to concentrate on flying.
"Me and Max are in the engine room. Kairi went to the radar." He reported. "You better not crash my gummi, Sora." Brian warned him.
"Don't worry, Brian." Sora smiled, "I won't let anything happen to your gummi."
"Sora!" Kairi called in. "Enemy approaching to the left."
"Riku! Take control!" Sora commanded as he levelled the gummi with the incoming ships on the side, rolling out of shots in the process.
"You got it!" He reported in. A number of ships began to zoom in on the red gummi ship, shooting at the ship at a rapid rate, something that the gummi shouldn't dodge. Seconds later, the gummi locked onto the ships and shot them down with its lock on lasers.
Sora groaned from the violent vibrations, accidently knocking on his claw a couple of times. "They act more quickly than any Heartless or Nobody ships." He muttered as he looked up ahead, seeing a formation form in front of him."Brian! What's the status on the shields?" He asked as Donald and Goofy took out the ships at front.
"Shields are at 90%. We're doing good so far." Max reported.
"Sora! Something big is up ahead!" Kairi warned him.
"Donald. Can you see anything?" Sora asked his duck friend. He began to wish that Chip and Dale was with them, not back at Radiant Garden. They were good at pointing something unusual out.
Donald jumped up to grab the scope, only taking one look to see the huge charging beam ahead of them. "Sora! Move!" Donald shouted at him with panic.
Sora didn't question the panicking duck as he dived to the left, only for more ships to stop in his path. "Get out of the way!" Hikari yelled over the com as she began to blast the enemy away. As soon as the enemy were in pieces, Sora quickly barrel rolled out of the way of the giant green blaster.
"That was close." Goofy sighed in relief.
The gummi shot forward from the blast impact from behind them, "Huh?" Sora swung the gummi around to see bomb like ships appearing behind them. "This isn't good." Sora gulped slightly before he began shooting at them.
"Sora! What's going on? The shields just dropped by 20%." Brian demanded.
"Bombs." Sora simply said as he shot the bomb like ships away from the gummi, watching as they got closer and closer. As he shot the incoming bombs down, more enemies began to surround the gummi, taking up Riku and Hikari's efforts, the gummi began shake even more from the damage that it was taking.
"Sora!" Kairi called in again, "Enemies approaching from behind."
Sora grunted with annoyance, trying to avoid the blasts and keeping the bombs away from the ship, "There's too many!" He cried out, whenever he would shoot one down, another three replaced it.
Goofy quickly looked over at the scanners to see that they had reached the point where they can use the teleport device was in range. "Hey fellas, the teleport is on." Goofy told them.
Since Sora was busy trying to make sure that they didn't blow up to many little pieces, Donald gasped as an idea struck in his head. "Sora! You can warp out of here!" Donald told him.
"Warp?" Sora repeating before grinning at the idea. "Good idea, Donald." He smiled as he dodged and destroyed another bomb, beginning to set up the warp drive.
"Sora! Don't you even think about warping the gummi! We've took too much damage!" Brian shouted over the com.
"If we stay here, either the bombs or that giant laser will take us down." Sora argued before setting the codes into the computer, setting the teleportation device up. "Guys! I'm going to attempt to warp the gummi, I need you guys to teleport down to the worlds."
"We're staying Sora." Goofy sat in his head, shooting the enemy approaching the ship, Donald nodded in agreement.
"You guys are the only ones that can make sure that the others can be trusted." Sora said to them, knowing that their friends on the worlds might have some trouble with Riku. "You have to go."
"But Sora.." Donald sat up.
"Sora's right." Goofy stopped the duck before looking back at their friend. "Now don't get yourself hurt now."
"Don't worry guys." He flashed a grin at his friends. "I come back safe."
"My Gummi better come back safe." Brian said over the com, a comment that was ignored as Donald and Goofy rushed into the bridge.
Riku emerged from his firing section, noticing that Sora had took the power from the guns, heading to the hallway as he found Hikari, Kairi and the Chocobo. The ship shook once more from the attack, throwing them all off balance, hitting the metal floor hard. They didn't waste time on the pain though, they needed to escape. The Wielder of Dawn pushed himself up, looking back at the girls. "We gonna go."
"Wait!" Kairi halted them, "What about Sora?"
"He'll be fine." Riku simply said, "Sora isn't one to go down so easy."
"C'mon!" Hikari called, pushing passed the keyblade wielders, grabbing Riku's hand. "We need to go." She said as she led them to the bridge.
As they got there, they watched as Brian and Max headed through the teleport to the world first, followed by Donald and Goofy. Kairi halted her actions, feeling Steve the chocobo jump on her shoulder as she watched Hikari run through the teleportation device. I can't leave Sora here on his own. She decided, turning her way towards the cockpit.
Riku quickly halted his action to go through the blinding light as he watched Kairi trying to get to the cockpit door. "Kairi!" He shouted at her, "Get back here!" He didn't have a chance to catch his friend as the ship tipped to its side at a fast rate, assuming that Sora thought that everyone has left, throwing Riku through the device before it shut off.
"C'mon! C'mon!" Sora muttered under his breathe, trying to get all the power that he had gained from the side cannons to gain enough power to perform a warp without harming the damaged engines while trying to fly at the same time. Maybe I should have kept someone here. He realises as he barrel rolled the gummi once more before shooting down another bomb.
"Sora!"
The Keyblade Master's eyes widened in shock from the voice, he thought that everyone was off the ship. "Kairi! You were supposed to evacuate. What are you doing here?" He said with surprise and fear, mainly fear since he was trying to attempt something that if not done correctly, the gummi's engines would blow.
She quickly made her way over to one of the pilot ships before looking back at him, "You can't do this on your own." She smiled at him with Steve's calls of encouragement.
Sora shook his head with a smile before looking at her, "As much as I appreciate this, Kai. Do you know anything about this gummi?" He asked her.
"I'm normally on scan duty, Sora." She told him.
"Never mind." He quickly said, quickly moving the gummi out of multiple shots that was heading towards them. "I need you to activate the warp when that bar is full." He pointed to the half full purple bar. "Okay?" The two jerked toward in their seats as another blast struck at them.
"Got it." She smiled as she began to transfer some power from the un-used side guns to the warp drive, remembering some gummi formations from when Sora had taught her to drive.
The red gummi continued to hold its position, shooting down the small ships now that the bombs were gone, allowing the gummi to use its absorb device, taking in the energy from the blasts as it filled up the warp drive. The number of enemies suddenly began to cease as some of the ships were moving out of the way, "Huh?" The pilot noticed their movement and swung the gummi back round, making his eyes widened. "Kairi! We need to activate the warp." He said as he tried to move his gummi. He had completely forgotten about the giant green laser since the idea of the warp came round.
"It's only at 75%." Kairi warned him.
Sora looked back at the huge charging laser that looked like a huge green star. "We have no choice." He said, typing in the location that was between both Neverland and Atlantica before nodding at Kairi to activate the warp block.
"Warning! Warp gummi disable!" The A.I spoke. The entire control console shut down on the both of them, leaving them with no control.
"Not now!" Sora quickly jumped out of his chair and ran over to the control panel, seeing that a couple of the main control wires had fried from the attacks. He would be able to fix them if they weren't so far back but decided to try and reach for it anyway.
Steve looked at Sora curiosity before hopping off of Kairi's shoulder and running over to the Keyblade Wielder. As soon as Sora had pulled out in an attempt to make a bigger hole, the little Chocobo quickly made its way through the control system before finding of burned wires. "Steve! Combine the wires at the back, it should shortly allow the console to work again." Sora told the little bird. Steve jumped with excitement, cutting some wires at the back with its peak before using its foot to twist the wires together. The console shot back on, allowing the warp block to activate within the gummi. The spiky brunette pulled the small chocobo out of the control unit and quickly jumped back in his seat, jump as the warp gummi shot them through space, making the laser miss them by mere inches.
A/N: STEVE the Chocobo saves the day ^^ Where do you think the others will go? We have two people on the gummi, who will go to Neverland and who will go to Atlantica? Tune in next time for Kingdom Hearts: Balance of Worlds. After playing Re:coded, I've decided that I'm gonna set this write before Mickey sends the letter, that way the secret ending does not affect the story and Kingdom Heart 3d will not be part of this story. NOTE! I have took the last comment that Brian made off the last chapter, it didn't really fit with this chapter so it still heads the same direction.
Janus-juan: I soooooo wish to comment on this but I can't cause it would ruin the great master surprise. I'm glad you like Brain's background, I work hard on my characters' backstories ^^
FloraFave: Hope you enjoyed this chapter ^^
Transitions End: Hehehe this story can be a brain twister. Trust me.
Future Keybearer: More is yet to come ^^
Kisdota-The Freak Gamer: This OC is only mentioned, she won't be making an appearance in this fic.
I'm thinking of taking a break from this to start Prince and the Pauper, what do you guys think?
Kingdommad