Chapter 120: Upendi!
The sound of the winds brushing through the tall grass, the chatter of the grasshoppers, the stars shining our on the clear night sky, the moon reflecting the light from the sun onto Pride Rock, it was nights like these that made people forget about the fear over the dark, for they could see a light in the distance. A couple of lioness raised an eyebrow when they saw the red coloured lion approach the edge of Pride Rock, only to look away when their precious king assured them of their worry before heading into his lands. The auburn coloured lion reached the end of the rock before lying down, looking over the Pride Lands once more. He watched the Lion King walk over to where Kiara and Kovu were currently laying, pointing out to the stars in the sky, he could only chuckle at the king's protectiveness over his daughter. He looked back over to Kovu, there was something about him that was off, it wasn't the fact that he was originally an outsider but it was the way he would act around Ventus or Hikari or the sight mention of the keyblade, it made him wonder.
Many things have made the Aversion Endless wonder recently, he wondered why his father let the Colonel go, what his destiny was, if he was to be cursed with his father's keyblade the minute he realises his destiny, if he would ever find Addie. The Aversion Endless sighed sadly, Addie, despite his thoughts of his father, the memory of watching her fall into the darkness kept replaying in his mind, making his heart ache. Brian shook his head as he sulked. "I'm a disappointment." He muttered. He has let down so many people. His father, Addie, Nikolai, his brothers, Sora, Kairi, Riku, Hikari, Max, Donald, Goofy, Jun and properly a lot of more people that he can't remember. Whatever my destiny is, I'll properly won't realise it. He thought before looking up at the stars, looking at the sparks of light within the space of darkness.
'There may be darkness around the worlds, but there is always that light that never goes out' His father's voice rang through him.
"You think I don't know that?" Brian could only growl at the comment in his mind.
"Yo dude, you alright?" Max's voice caught his attention. "You've been off since coming here. Wanna talk about it?" The red turtle made its way next to the Auburn Lion, looking up at the stars with his friend.
There was a moment of silence, the two friends looking at the stars together until Brian sighed as he asked. "What was I like when you first met me?" he suddenly asked.
"When you came to Little Devon?" Max questioned.
Brian nodded. "Yeah."
Max only chuckled at this. "Well, let's just say you came off as mysterious."
BOWBOWBOW
Little Devon
2008
It was all quiet at the Little Devon Academy as many of the students were still morning the loss of their family and friends from the Endless attack the other week. All that the teachers could do was to let the students relax and take it easy for a day or two until they have to go back to their lessons. Max could only shake his head at this, trust the Devon brothers to only give a couple of days for remorse and sorrow, the whole ordeal made him miss his father.
The humanoid dog teen shook his head at this. "Screw him. He's the reason I'd left in the first place." Max only growled before making his way through the halls. Perhaps he could find Hikari somewhere, he hasn't seen her since the attack happened and that was a week or so ago. "Maybe she went to see the Devons." The archer thought as he began to make his way out of the academy over to the Devon's house. He may have only known Hikari for a couple of weeks but no one should have to deal with losing someone on their own, that's for sure.
As he reached the centre of town, he looked around to notice the familiar light blue hair and tomboy attire. Max grinned as he know that this was Hikari but he raised an eyebrow at the boy that was walking around with her, looking around the town so intently. He noticed his spiky auburn hair from the distance, as well as taking in that he was wearing a red silk scarf around his neck as the ends when down his back, he wore a red and black T-shirt and deep blue cargo pants and had a red and black armguard on his right arm with a black glove underneath. Max could only wonder as he approached the two, hearing Hikari talk to the red haired boy.
"-And over there is the best damn stall you will ever find!" Hikari grinned as she pointed to her favourite stall.
"The cake stall?" The teen could only chuckle.
Hikari could only pout at the teen. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing." The teen smiled. "Just remembered something funny. My friend used to throw cakes at her husband if she was-"
"Hey Hikari!" Max waved at her, unaware of the teen's story as he approached the two. He looked at Hikari with comforting eyes. "How'll you feeling?" he asked.
Hikari could only sigh. "It's hard. But I'm pulling through. Brian's helping me out." She smiled sadly.
Max looked over to the red haired teen. "So, you're Brian?" he asked.
Hikari quickly jumped out of her thoughts. "Sorry guys! Brian. Max. Max. Brian." She quickly pointed to each of them as she introduced them to each other.
Max grinned. "Nice to meet ya, dude." Max handed his hand out.
"Likewise." Brian grinned as he shook Max's hand.
"I met Brian at the Passing." Hikari explained. "We're in the same boat, losing family and all, so he's helping me cope."
"Oh right." Max coughed before looked at him with sorrow. "Sorry for your loss."
"It's fine." Brian smiled sadly.
"So what was he like? Your father." Hikari asked.
"Well…" Brian started. Max looked at the redhead to notice that he was nervously looking around the town before he answered. "Is it best not to talk about it now? We should focus on the present instead of the past." He asked.
BOWBOWBOW
"I'd never actually heard what your father was like but I didn't want to ask after the things you said after the recon mission. I guess that keeping the story about your father a secret and some other stuff we said made you either burst out laughing or you would try to change the subject whenever we talked about certain things like Endless or Keyblades or about the news of Sora's adventuring saving the world." Max told him.
"So what you are saying is, I'm a complete nut job?" Brian concluded.
"I wouldn't say nut job." Max chuckled. "I would just say you're Brian."
"Gee thanks." Brian sighed before chuckling, looking back at the stars.
"There was this other thing though." Max added. "You used to mention a name in your sleep."
Brian looked at Max with confusion from his added piece of information. "A name?" He repeated.
"Yeah. Though I can't remember what name it was though." Max sighed.
Brian simply shrugged before looking at the stars. "I'm sure that it would come back to you."
"Yeah." Max nodded before looking up at the stars again. "Why are we looking up at the sky?" he asked.
"The sky is an example of the balance." Brian answered. He looked at Max's expression, only to groan with annoyance when he saw a confused one. "Look!" He pointed to the sky. "At night time, all we see is the night sky. Darkness covers everywhere." He pointed to a star. "But there is a small amount of light that never goes out. Right there." He placed his paw down and looked back at his friend. "It's the same in daylight, wherever the sun shines high, there are always small amounts of shadows waiting. No matter how much we fight the darkness, it's balanced with light. The way that the realms are can vary from time to time but it's the world's heart, it's Kingdom Hearts that had always been balanced."
"If only it stayed that way." Max sighed.
"Yeah." Brian said sadly. "If only."
Max jumped up from his position, looking back at Brian once he gained his balance. "We better go. Get the set up ready."
"A chance to play Cupid." Brian smirked as he got up from his position. "Shame Riku isn't here. I bet him and Hikari would love our little surprise."
Max laughed at this. "It's not too late to call Riku down."
"Hell no." Brian laughed as he began to walk. "Knowing Riku, he would just send Sora and Kairi down."
"True." Max nodded as he followed his friend.
"One more thing, Max."
"Huh?"
"Thanks." Brian grinned back at his friend.
Max smiled back at his friend. "No problem, man."
From the side of Pride Rock, Storm watched from a distance as Brian and Max began to make their way, making the Shock Endless sigh with annoyance. "Oh Brian. Why can't you just stay still?" He growled. The Endless twitched slightly, looking down at his infected claw in pain. "Ahhh. Stupid Claw. I'm balanced at the moment. This shouldn't be happening."
"Don't worry, Strom." The Shock Endless kept his sight on his claw, as he continued to listen to the Persistence Endless. "Once you truly accept your soul, the pain goes away."
Storm could only huff as he muttered. "Death or controlled. You lose who you are either way."
"So." Snake snared, making Storm gulp slightly as he was cut off from his mutters. "Why is the Aversion Endless walking about?" he questioned. "I told you to put him down."
"The chance hasn't come up yet." Storm replied, only to get struck down by the crocodile, gasping in pain as he watched the Persistence Endless change into human form once more. "I'm gonna do it." He gasped. "I'm just waiting for the right time."
"There was a perfectly good time just now." Snake grabbed the infected snow leopard and brought him to eye level. "You're just trying to make sure that no one has caught you doing the action."
"I rather be secretive." Storm responded.
"I rather the job be done." Snake argued back. "Now do what you are good at and surprise me." He stopped the Endless as he looked down. "Be creative. Create a hurricane. Blow trees at him. Just kill him." He told him. "If I come back to find that you haven't done the job then I won't hold back."
"Then I'll go against you." Storm growled.
Snake could only laugh at Storm's threat. "I may not waste the cattle but I will be damned if I kept one alive that chose not to listen to his master."
"You're no master." Storm told him. "You'll never be. You will remain under the Colonel's shadow forever-"
"ENOUGH!" Snake didn't waste time to crush his rock covered boot onto Storm's infected claw, making the snow leopard screech as loud as he can. "The Colonel won't be making the lead. I can make sure of that."
"Search over there. Check if they are alright. Make sure it's not an Outlander." Commands could be held over at Pride Rock, the silhouette of lions making their way over.
"Get the job done, Sakuzy!" Snake spat before changing back into his animal form, disappearing into the tall grass. Not wanting to get caught, Storm quickly did the same, watching from the sidelines as a group of lions ran straight pass him.
BOWBOWBOW
"Alright Ventus." Hikari grinned happily, walking across the savannah as they went to find Kovu and Kiara. "You ready?" she asked.
"I've never played cupid before." Ventus grinned like a child.
"This should be fun then." Hikari smiled before halting, pointing out the silhouette shape of two lions. She couldn't wait to have her little go of matching the two together, since there wasn't really any time for any romantic gestures and even if there was, Brian had basically prevented her from trying to get Sora and Kairi together ever since Sora's Outburst on the ship. So, being asked to set two beings up so that the keyhole would show is a nice difference from fighting all of the time. "Let's go." She said and she and Ventus made their way over to the two silhouettes.
They could only smile as they saw that the two silhouettes were in fact, Kovu and Kiara, hugging as lions do under the star light. "Hey guys!" Hikari grinned, her typical way to interrupting moments between two people. She could only chuckle at the sight of watching the two teen lions jump around, looking embarrassed and shy. "We're not interrupting anything, are we?" She smirked.
"No. It was nothing." Kovu coughed nervously before adding impatiently. "Are we going or what?"
Ventus could only laugh. "Follow me. I think I know the perfect place to start the search." He told them before he headed off, creating a ball of light to follow him and he ran into the dark.
"What's with the light?" Kovu questioned.
"It's so you don't get lost. Let's go." Hikari smiled before following the light.
"C'mon Kovu." Kiara laughed as she followed the two travellers.
"Kiara! Wait up!" Kovu called out before following the lioness.
Hikari quickly ran pass the light, quickening her pace so that she was running side by side with Ventus. She quickly looked to her side to face Ventus. "Ready?" she asked.
"Ready." Ventus nodded as he spun before coming to a halt. The spin had caused the ball of light to head into a different direction, leading Kovu and Kiara to the chosen location. "That was easy." He smiled.
Hikari could only smirk. "C'mon. We need to get the other two." She told him before running off.
Ventus could look at Hikari with confusion as he repeated. "Other two?"
Kovu and Kiara continued to follow the ball of light, the brown furred lion started to wonder where the keybearer and his friend had disappeared too. "Kiara! Wait!" The lion halted.
The blonde lioness halted her action, the ball of light fading as she looked back. "Kovu." She looked at her friend with concern. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." The lion sighed.
"Kovu.."
"It's just that… my whole life I've been trained to…." Kovu looked up at the princess before shaking his head. "I better go." He turns around and begins to walk off.
"Kovu-" Kiara stepped forward, almost begging as she said. "wait."
The Outlander halts his actions and looks back at Kiara's face, seeing her stare back at him with a sad expression. He looked away sadly and he continued to make his way, only to be stopped by the appearance of an old baboon, pointing at him from the grass. "And where are you going?" The baboon questioned with a smirk.
"Nuhh…" Kovu could only sigh. "Nowhere."
"That's what you thing?" The baboon chuckled before tugging at Kovu's tail. "Come on! You follow old Rafiki; he knows the way!" He laughed as he disappeared into the grass once more, only to appear within the trees, the ball of light following him.
"The way where?" Kovu asked hesitantly.
"You follow—you'll see!" Rafiki replied before he began to swing on the vines.
Kiara could only giggle before encouraging Kovu to come with her to follow the old baboon. They were amazed to come across a pink lit paradise. "What is this place?" She said with wonder.
"A special place in your heart…" Rafiki lowered himself down to hover above the two lions, gesturing their heads to face each other. "called Upendi."
The lions could only look lovingly at each other.
BOWBOWBOW
Brian, Max, Donald and Goofy remained hidden upon a high cliff in the paradise that they had managed to create for the two lions, only just managing to get it finished before Rafiki had returned with Kovu and Kiara. They were now waiting for Hikari and Ventus to return so they can see if the setup have caused the two teen lions to fall in love and balanced the way the world is.
"Awwwwwwwwwwww!" Donald and Goofy watched the sight as Kovu and Kiara began to discover their Upendi with Rafiki. "They look like Sora and Kairi." Donald pointed out.
"Yeah. They do. Ah-yuck!" Goofy awed.
Brian rolled his eyes at the similarity comments. "You guys just want Sora and Kairi together." He mocked.
Max chuckled at this. "Who doesn't? They're destined for each other."
"OR they could be just close friends." Brian suggested. "Just because her heart was rested in him and he sacrificed himself to save her doesn't mean they are romantically involved."
Max raised an eyebrow at his defensive behaviour. "You alright man?"
"I'm fine." Brian growled slightly. "I just wish that whenever something cute and romantic is happening, people aren't reminded of Sora and Kairi. Why not Hikari and Riku or Donald and Daisy? Why is it always Sora and Kairi?" He could only sigh when he saw Max, Donald and Goofy look at him suspiciously. "I just don't want Kairi hurt." He said honestly.
"Well, Sora would never hurt Kairi." Goofy told him. "I mean, sure, the virus is making Sora attack Kairi but he wouldn't do that if it wasn't for the virus. And even with the virus, he halted some of his attacks on Kairi."
Brian looked at Goofy questionably. "No he didn't." He objected.
"He did too." Donald butted in. "Kairi told us."
"She did?" Brian said with confusion before clearing up his point. "Whether he did or not, it won't be long until we lost Sora all together to the virus. The virus will have full control over Sora's heart and body, he won't be able to prevent strikes like he di—" The Aversion Endless was cut off as a strong gust of wind appeared, blowing the lion nearly off the cliff.
"Brian!" Max summoned his weapon, only to watch it drop to the ground. "What the-"
Brian watched as Max dropped his weapon to the ground before feeling the winds slash him violently. Feeling the slashs of the wind cut at his fur, the auburn lion cub growled as he spun and shouting, "Gravity!" as force of gravity pushing the strong winds away from him. He glared up at the source of the winds only to see grey feathered birds looking back at him, glaring at them with their red eyes and bearing the Unbirth symbol. Without a second thought, Brian jumped back. "We've got trouble." He spoke as more of the bird Unbirth appeared in front of them.
Donald quickly spun into action as he summoned his staff, providing Brian with coverage. "Thunderaga!" He casted, watching as huge amounts of lightning bolts struck down at the Unbirths. The tropical bird quacked viciously and impatiently as he burst into the horde of Unbirth Birds that had gathered at the short time, covering himself in electrical bursts as he flew into the centre.
Brian summoned his staff, only to watch it drop to the ground due to no having his hands. "Of course." He grumbled. Knowing some knowledge of behind struck in animal form due to the incident in Land of Dragons, Brian wasted no time to pick up the staff by his mouth and began to fire thunder spells at the giant horde of birds that was surrounding Donald, despite striking at a slower rate in speed. Ahh! We need to get rid of the birds before Kovu and Kiara notice! Brian thought.
Suddenly, a huge burst of thunder came from the middle of the horde, causing most of the Unbirth to disappear but the sudden attack had caused Donald to crash back towards the grassy cliff. "Ouch!" The bird moaned. Goofy and Max, who had given up summoning his weapon, quickly rushed to Donald's aid, letting the Captain of the Guards attack the birds on strike, along with Brian until all of the them was gone.
"Hey!"
Brian disposed of his staff as he watched Ventus and Hikari approach them. "Took your time!" He moaned. "We just had to fight some Unbirths—Don't you dare!"
"Told you!" Hikari poked her touge out as she watched Brian glare at her. "Woop! Another point to me!" She grinned.
Hikari:12 Brian:4
"What do they mean by points?" Ventus asked Max, confused to what the two were referring too.
"Trust me." Max said. "You don't want to know."
"So what happened?" Hikari asked. "Did the plan work?"
"Well, Brian was moaning about Sora and Kairi again when these wind based Unbirth birds showed up and-" Max began to explain, only to feel Brian's paw over Max's mouth, preventing him to speak anymore.
Unfortunately, the Aversion Endless knew he wasn't quick enough to quite his friend as he watched Hikari's sad expression. "Hikari.." Brian began to walk towards Hikari, looking into her eyes to get an idea what she was about to do. "Don't-"
"I have to find him!" Hikari proclaimed as she began to make her way out of the Upendi.
"Hikari! Wait!" Brian wasted no time to chase after his friend, only to lose his balance as his claw began to burn him, sending him crashing to the ground.
"Brian!" Ventus called with concern, as well as wondering why none of Hikari's other friends try to chase after her. He looked back at them, only to see that they were distracted by something else. He quickly took a closer look, only to gasp in surprise.
A white and brown spiky mane lion cub and a light pink lioness were in their Upendi set up!
Ventus looked back at Brian, seeing him struggle to get back on his feet do to having no feeling in one of his front legs where his infection was. With the keybearer's knowledge, it didn't take long for him to connect the dots. He looked at the others. "Donald! Goofy! Go get them two out of the set-up!" Ventus commanded, grabbing their attention. "Max! Help Brian!"
Max only looked at Ventus in confusion before looking at the fallen Brian, making the red turtle spring into action. "Dude! You okay?"
It didn't take long for Donald and Goofy to spring into action as well; Ventus only look around their surroundings, hoping to find sight of their snow leopard friend as the night began to show once more. He only hoped that Kovu and Kiara are together because now they had worse problems.
A/N: Ahhh Upendi…what a lovely place. Okay. Damn revision has delayed my plans for update…that and lack of inspiration lately T~T. The first update of the year, hopefully this isn't the only update. XD I hoped you guys had a good Christmas and an awesome new years day. Now that my energy has ran out from my energy drink, I SHALL SLEEP! Until after my exam and hopefully before my lessons start again. On the plus side, I'm getting better at my animation so I might be able to make Brian and everyone else a real series one day. THAT is my inspiration: D
Kingdommad