AN: Okay so glad to see so many people have read this story in just a couple of days, but come on guys, I don't say read and review just for the fun of it. Seriously, reviews help a guy improve on stuff that he can do better on, and you guys are killing me here. Again, not literally Hades, so back away from me, make like your overgrown, three headed mutt, and sit!
Hades: WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?! Don't you know who I am?! I am Hades, Lord of the dead, ruler of
AN: The Underworld, blah, blah, blah, and the guy who got his butt kicked by a dude who rides on a flying horse and who's only weapons at the time were his bear hands.
Hades: [erupts into orange and red flames] Hey! Leave that out this! I'd like to see you take on a demi-god and come out on top!
AN: Hades, back away now! I will push this button!
Hades: [Cools down to usual flames] Oh, you think I don't know how that works, kid? Come on, seriously, I know you only do that whole little, hit the button, crazy gag bit when someone's about to give away a spoiler, but, hey little newsflash, I haven't done that. So whatcha gonna do about it?
AN: Okay, you asked for it. [hits button anyway]
?: Oh, Haaaaaadeeeeeees.
Hades: Oh you've gotta be kidding me.
[Hercules drops down and slams a fist into Hades that sends him flying out of the room]
AN: Thanks Herc.
Hercules: No problem, but shouldn't Sora or one of the other guys that are specifically from Kingdom Hearts be here right now?
AN: Well hey, I tried getting 'em here, but they were all busy with other stuff. Other fanfiction stories, preparing for the big day when Kingdom Hearts III finally comes out, fighting Heartless, you know.
Hercules: Ah, I gotcha. A hero's work is never done and all that.
AN: Plus, I may or may not have heard a certain, brown spiky haired keyblade wielder rehearsing how he's going to ask his red haired princess out on a date in the mirror earlier. [grins mischievously]
Hercules: Oooh, you.
AN: Anyway, with all that little bit of fun out of the way, let's get on with the story. For those of you wondering how much of the original cannon is in this story, you're about to find out a little bit of that for yourselves.
I do not own anything from the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Chapter II
As Sora and Kairi fell through to the past, it felt as though they were caught in a massive vortex that spun them around and around at incredible speeds, and the force of this was so great that it honestly surprised them both that they had not gotten sick. Eventually, the two began to wonder how long it had been since they had started going through this great vortex through time or even if they were close to the end of it, until they suddenly saw a faint light at the end of the tunnel. Upon seeing this, Sora immediately maneuvered himself over to Kairi and reached out his hand to her, which the red haired girl immediately grasped as soon as it was close enough to her while Sora shouted for her to hold on tight.
A minute later, they found themselves falling from the sky, and upon seeing how fast they were approaching the ground, Sora immediately pulled Kairi into him, and spun around so that he would take the worst of it when they hit the ground. When they finally hit the ground bellow them, they ended up landing rather roughly and then slid along the grassy terrain before finally coming to a stop. As soon as they did stop, Kairi tried to lift herself up, but found that she could not for some reason, and when she finally realized what the reason was, her face began to burn up from the blush that had reached it as she told the boy beneath her, "Um Sora, we're not falling anymore, so can you let me up now?"
Sora winced a bit from the pain he had to endure upon hitting the ground before he finally opened his eyes and realized the position he and Kairi were currently in after hearing what the red haired Princess of Heart had said. Upon gaining this realization, Sora's face gained a blush that matched Kairi's before he quickly released her and then scooted back while the girl stood up and tried to look away in slight embarrassment. After taking a moment to compose himself, Sora chanced a glance over at Kairi for a minute so that he could apologize for his earlier actions until he noticed something different about her. "Hey Kairi, when did you change your outfit," Sora asked.
Kairi just raised an eyebrow in confusion for a minute until she saw her reflection in a nearby pond and gasped at what she saw. Her outfit was still the same for the most part, except that it now also included a pair of grey, fingerless gloves on her hands, and silver colored sleeves that covered her arms with a strange piece of shoulder armor on her left shoulder that was colored pink with white highlights. In addition to this, Kairi also noticed that she was now wearing a pair of silver shorts under her pink dress, white leggings that went up to her mid-thighs, finishing up with a pair of steel boots that were the same colors as her usual sneakers. If she were being honest with herself, Kairi honestly thought that she looked pretty impressive, and that she looked a bit more like a Keyblade warrior now. She then looked over to Sora with a smile, which quickly turned to mild shock as she pointed out, "I think you should be asking yourself that same question."
Sora then glanced down at his appearance and saw that, like Kairi, his usual outfit had remained the same for the most part, as he still had his usual red shirt, black short-sleeved jacket and baggy pants with many pockets, fingerless black gloves, and large black and yellow shoes, but in addition to this, he had gained a small set of shoulder armor on his left shoulder like Kairi's, except his armor was slightly bigger and had a set of three points on the upper edges while being colored black with red highlights, and his left arm also had a bit of armor on it that was colored in the same way as the shoulder armor. Sora crossed his arms in thought for a minute as he thought aloud, "Well, whenever we traveled to other worlds before, Donald would use his magic to change our appearance and bodies so that we would be able to fit in and be able to handle the environment right, so maybe that's kind of what happened here."
Kairi nodded in agreement with Sora after he said that, seeing as that was the only thing that made sense at the moment, and then began to look at their surroundings for a minute as she asked, "So then where are we, anyway? Or when are we?"
Sora joined Kairi in observing their surroundings, and he could not help but feel saddened by what he saw. From what he could tell, they were standing in the ruins of what was likely once a large, beautiful world with grassy terrain, and many large, white structures, but what really stood out about their surroundings, was the large, white castle with gold colored roofs that was clearly tore apart by some strange force, as parts seemed to be missing and some of the brown chains that seemed almost like they were keeping it from lifting off the ground and flying away were hanging down loosely. For some reason he could only assume was because of having Ventus's heart inside of him, as Sora looked around he felt a sadness overcome him that normally only comes from seeing a place one had once called home now completely in ruins, and upon realizing this, Sora shook himself out of it before saying, "Well, I think we're in the right time, which can only mean that it worked, because this place seems familiar to me, in more ways than one for some reason."
"Do you think that it's because you have Ventus's heart inside of you and that this is a world that he once came to," Kairi asked after hearing that.
"Well…yeah, that's part of it, but there's something else too," Sora admitted. "I can't explain why or how, but for some reason, I feel like I've been here before myself, but that it was not like this when I came."
"You're right Sora. You have been here," a female voice suddenly called out to the two, startling them both for a minute until they recognized the voice.
"Naminé," Sora called out. "Where are you?"
"Calm down, Sora," Naminé replied. "I'm not actually there with you two. I'm still back in the present in Master Yen Sid's tower, but somehow, my powers are allowing me to communicate with you both."
"Can we also talk to the king and Yen Sid," Kairi asked.
"Sorry, but no. For some reason, my powers only allow me to talk with you both, and just you two," the blonde sorceress in training explained. "I can relay messages from them to you and vice-versa, but I can't get them to speak with you directly."
"Don't worry about it," Sora reassured his Nobody's girlfriend. "I'm just glad we can still talk to you guys in the present at all, but what did you mean when you said that I've been here before?"
"Because Sora, this is where you and I first met," Naminé immediately answered with a tone of fond, happiness. "This is a place that Master Yen Sid says was once known as the Land of Departure, until it eventually became Castle Oblivion."
"This is Castle Oblivion," Sora and Kairi both exclaimed, as the former suddenly started to feel a bit nervous as he remembered his first experience in the strangely shaped castle with a white interior and magical rooms.
"Well, it will be someday," Naminé corrected them. "I don't know what caused it to change, but it seems that it may be close to doing so, but don't worry, nothing that happened to you the last time you were here will happen now, Sora. Most of that was…my fault after all."
"Hey, it wasn't your fault, Naminé," Sora reassured her. "Organization XIII made you do all that stuff, but why did the spell put us here, anyway?"
"Master Yen Sid says that he intended to place you both somewhere close to where one of the Keyblade masters was, and that he was certain that you would at least end up on whatever world that particular master was on at the time. He also wants me to tell you that given your current location and what he remembers from history, the master that is likely to be here is definitely the perfect person to talk to first."
"So which one of them is it," Kairi asked excitedly.
"Mickey says that its Master Aqua, but you should still be prepared for anything. She wasn't exactly herself if the Land of Departure is in the state it sounds like its in."
"What do you mean by…," Sora began to ask, until he suddenly screamed in shock and jumped out of the way before being hit by a sudden Blizzard spell. Kairi was about to run over to him to see if he was okay, but she had to back track to cover as well just as a fire spell suddenly flew in her direction. When Sora saw that a barrage of spells seemed to be focusing on Kairi, he immediately summoned his Keyblade and rushed over to stand between her and the source of the spell barrage before casting a Reflect spell to repel the blasts.
"I don't know who you think you are, but you both need to get out," a female voice shouted at them before continuing the barrage from another direction, leading Kairi to summon her own Keyblade and cast the same spell as Sora.
"If that was the master we're looking for just now, I don't think she's too fond of visitors," Kairi remarked.
"No kidding," Sora agreed before he cast a Fire spell of his own in the direction of where the barrage was currently coming from. They found out a minute later that Sora's efforts provided no results, as the barrage immediately started coming from the opposite direction, leading him to swing his Keyblade around and cast Reflect once again. "You bored yet," Sora then asked.
"Yep," Kairi replied as she stepped forward and raised her Keyblade up above her. "WIND!"
The minute Kairi shouted out the element of the spell she cast, a large vortex rose up around her and Sora, and began to cover the surrounding area. Sora then pointed his Keyblade into the rushing winds and cast another Fire spell, letting out a swirling flurry of flames at their surroundings. At first it did not seem their efforts pay off, but soon enough, they heard a grunt of pain and then they both spun around to see a figure fall to the ground behind them. Sora then raced over as the figure was turning over and thrust the tip of his Keyblade at their throat as he told the person, "Look we didn't come here to fight, we're looking for a Keyblade Master who lives here!"
Kairi then walked over to stand beside the boy she held strong feelings for and then gasped when she finally laid eyes on the figure that Sora had pinned down, getting a good look at the person for the first time. The figure was most certainly a young woman, who was probably just a little older than her and Sora by two or three years at least, with messy blue hair that extended half way to her mid back. The woman's clothing consisted of what Kairi could most closely consider as rags, as it consisted of tattered remains of a light blue cloak, a torn black shirt, light blue pants that had cuts and tears all throughout them, and worn out silver shoes. In all honesty, the woman looked like a mess, and if one were to judge by the state of her hair, which was disheveled and looking as though it had not been so much as touched by a brush in a long time, then they would say that she looked as though she had not even so much as showered in ages.
Kairi was soon brought out of her musings when the woman finally snarled at Sora saying, "Well then you're out of luck. The only master that ever lived here is long dead, struck down by his former friend after being weakened by one of his own students. The only one living here now is me, a person who is nothing more than a sham of a master, and who never deserved the right to be given that title."
Sora and Kairi's eyes both widened in surprise and for a moment they were both silent until Sora finally asked, "You're Master Aqua?!"
Aqua's eyes narrowed at hearing Sora's question, and she immediately slapped his Keyblade away before extending her hand forward and blasting the boy with a Blizzard spell that sent him flying back as she warned him menacingly, "Don't call me that! I'm not a master! Now for the last time, leave!"
Aqua then spun around on her heel and started to walk away until Kairi called out, "Aqua, please, wait a minute! We need your help! You're one of the only ones who can help us stop Xehanort and save the future!"
Aqua immediately froze when she heard Kairi say that, and she then turned back to give Kairi a quizzical expression as she asked, "How do you know about Xehanort, and what exactly do you mean by 'save the future'?"
"It's a long story, and we're more than willing to tell you everything, but first, can we go somewhere we can talk after you help me…," Kairi replied as she indicated Sora who was now struggling a bit to stand up when she finished.
Aqua looked between the two for a minute before she finally sighed and said, "Fine I'll hear you out after we get your lover fixed up."
"He's not my lover, he's my boyfriend," Kairi shouted. Her face then turned the same color as her hair when she realized what she said, and she quickly stuttered, "I-I mean, he's my best friend."
"Sure, and I'm a Princess of Heart," Aqua retorted sarcastically as she placed both hands over Sora's chest and began trying to heal him. Kairi took a moment to shake off her blush and the slight feeling of butterflies in her stomach and then summoned her Keyblade to help Aqua heal Sora more quickly, the whole time stealing a glance at Aqua, knowing full well what she would likely have to say if Aqua was going to believe them.
A few hours later, Sora had been completely healed up, and Aqua had lead both him and Kairi into a large room in the castle with a stain glass window over the entrance, and a set of three thrones at the head of the room, which Aqua explained to them was the room in which she had taken her Mark of Mastery Exam. After sitting down on the center throne, Aqua gestured for Sora and Kairi to start explaining, prompting the boy to step forward and begin their story. "Ma…Uh, Aqua," Sora began, quickly covering up his near slip up of calling Aqua "master" again. "We've been sent here from the future so that we could find you and two others to help us change it and prevent a war between light and darkness that has nearly destroyed all of the worlds."
"The future," Aqua asked sardonically. When Kairi and Sora both nodded in affirmative response, Aqua immediately let out a humorless laugh before asking, "Do you seriously expect me to believe that?"
"Please, just hear us out," Sora practically begged. When Aqua saw how serious Sora was from the look on his face, her face quickly morphed to an expression of seriousness as she nodded for Sora to continue, leading Sora to begin the tale of all that had happened to lead both him and Kairi to where they are now. "When this all began years ago, Xehanort was okay with just leaving the destruction of worlds to creatures born from the darkness in people's hearts known as the Heartless, one of his most loyal and trusted followers, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and a group of villains from a bunch of different worlds, which was lead by Maleficent. For a long time, the process of the worlds' destruction was slow going, even with the aid of the creatures known as the Unversed sometimes opening the way to a world and the world's heart for them, but it was still a serious problem. I myself was not involved in any of this until the darkness destroyed my home and separated me from two of my best friends, one of which being her." Kairi gained a small blush when Sora gestured to her, as she remembered exactly what Sora had to do to find and save her on that first adventure of his.
"It was around that same time that I was first deemed worthy to wield the Keyblade, and after arriving on the world of Traverse Town, I set out on a journey to find both my friends and save my world and all other worlds from being consumed by darkness alongside Donald and Goofy of Disney Castle," Sora continued. "Eventually, we did find both of my friends, but I'm sad to say that one of them had given over to the darkness after Xehanort had poisoned his heart with it, turning him into one of our greatest foes. I fought him with everything I had, and he did the same towards me, and somehow, I was able to eventually come out on top, but Ansem was able to pull him away into a Corridor of Darkness and back to Xehanort before I could do anything to save him. The only thing that I could do at that point was help seal the Door to Darkness, hopefully for good."
"Eventually, we discovered others who were deemed worthy of a Keyblade, including my friend here…"
"You mean, your girlfriend," Aqua interrupted.
"Sh-shut up, and let me finish," Sora immediately stuttered as his face began to heat up. He then coughed and regained his composure and continued on with what he was saying. "Anyway, after discovering that there were others who were worthy of the Keyblade, we tracked them down and formed a new group of guardians of light that would help us to oppose Xehanort. That was right around the time we first encountered the other side of Xehanort's forces, the Nobodies of Organization XIII."
"Nobodies," Aqua asked in confusion.
Sora nodded and quickly explained, "You see, when a particularly powerful person's heart falls to darkness and causes them to become a Heartless, their empty shell that's left behind gains a life of its own, creating a creature known as a Nobody. They're basically a being that doesn't have a heart, the opposite of a Heartless in a sense, but they aren't of light or darkness, and a few retain their original body. Normally, a Nobody would only be created if a person became a Heartless, but Xehanort discovered a way to create Nobodies of someone who had darkness in their heart for even a moment, darkness that was powerful enough to have caused them to become a Heartless themselves. The end results were almost exactly what he wanted, but these artificial Nobodies were not as strong as they would have been if their original had fallen to darkness. They soon found a way around that problem though, because eventually, we found out that if an artificial Nobody's original were to be destroyed, then the artificial Nobody would become a full fledged, true Nobody, and gain their full power, especially in the case of the ones in Organization XIII, which is led by Xemnas."
"With the aid of Organization XIII and their army of Nobodies, Xehanort's efforts to plunge the worlds into darkness were soon back at full strength before becoming re-doubled, and while we're fortunate that two Nobodies, who go by the names of Roxas and Naminé, joined our side, Organization XIII was quick to fill the gap that Roxas had left in their ranks with someone who's essentially a clone of Roxas who goes by the name of Xion. Now, the only worlds left are Traverse Town, Disney Town, and the Mysterious Tower. We had all begun to think that everything we had been through and fought for was starting to seem hopeless, especially after losing so many of our own forces, until we discovered that someone had tampered with history, changing it from what it should be into what it is now. After discovering this, my friend, and yes I do mean friend, and I came back in time to find the only people who can help us set things right, and you're one of those people."
Aqua took a moment to take in all that Sora had told her, and then seemed to think over all that he had said before she finally stood up and turned to leave the room saying, "I'll admit that your story's very interesting, even though it's extremely hard to believe, but I can't help you. Why don't you both just go back to the future and tell whoever sent you that I'm sorry, but it's just not possible."
Kairi looked like she wanted to protest, but Sora just shook his head no to her and let Aqua walk away for a minute before he finally called out, "The people who sent us was Master Yen Sid and King Mickey of Disney Castle."
Aqua immediately froze upon hearing that, and then spun around, ran up to Sora, and grabbed his shoulders as she hurriedly asked, "You've seen Mickey?! You know where he is?!"
"Calm down, please! I think I'm going to be sick," Sora told the blue haired Keyblade wielder as his face turned green for a minute due to Aqua shaking him. Aqua immediately released Sora and backed up with a sheepish expression quickly finding its way to her face, while Sora tired to get his breath back and straightened out his jacket before finally replying, "Yes we know Mickey, but we don't know where he is. At least not your Mickey, because we know where future Mickey is, and he knows where this time's Mickey is, but he said he wouldn't tell us until we found you and the other two."
Aqua looked at Sora in consideration for a minute until she finally turned around again, but this time it was not to walk away, but so that she could hide the look of shame that had found its way onto her face as she hung her head in the same manner saying, "I'm sorry, but I really can't help you. I'm not even able to summon my Keyblade to me anymore, and my closest friends and I…we're not friends anymore either."
From only one glance at Kairi's face, one could tell that the girl was clearly getting frustrated with her senior Keybearer, but that frustration quickly turned to curiosity when she saw that Aqua had pulled out a blue, star-shaped charm with silver lining as she had said that last bit. "What's that in your hand," Kairi asked.
Aqua then seemed to gain a faint trace of a smile on her face for a full minute before it vanished again as she explained, "It's a Wayfinder, a kind of good luck charm that I made for myself and my friends. I had heard that somewhere out there is a world with star-shaped fruit which represents an unbreakable connection and that so long as you and your friends carry good luck charms shaped like it, nothing could ever drive you apart, and you would always find your way back to each other. I know that technically you're supposed to use seashells to make them, but I did the best with what I could when I made mine and the ones I also made for my best friends at the time, Terra and Ven."
"It looks beautiful," Kairi commented as she stepped up to get a better look at it before she pulled out her own star-shaped good luck charm to show to Aqua. "I've got one just like it, and I can tell you that the legend is definitely true. This good luck charm has always helped me to make sure that Sora and I always make it back to each other many times in the past, and I'm sure that yours will help you reunite with Terra and Ventus soon too."
Aqua smiled lightly when she heard what Kairi said about her good luck charm, but the minute the redhead had mentioned Terra and Ventus, that smile was replaced by a scowl as she said, "Don't bother trying. I have no clue where to even start looking for Ventus and as for Terra…if I ever saw his face again, it would be too soon. That man is nothing more than a monster."
"Well, I'd hate to break it to you, but we need to find Ventus and Terra if we're going to save the future," Kairi told Aqua. When Aqua just huffed and turned away with her arms crossed, Kairi finally reached her breaking point and said, "If you won't do this for them, then you could at least do it for all the people you've saved on other worlds, including that little girl you once saved from the Unversed in Radiant Garden!"
Aqua gasped in shock before she slowly turned to Kairi and whispered, "How did you know about that?"
Kairi just took a calming breath before she began saying, "When you first visited Radiant Garden, you went up to the castle and found a little girl being chased by the Unversed and immediately summoned your Keyblade in order to help her, but you knew that you wouldn't be able to fight well and protect her at the same time. That was when King Mickey appeared and fought to stall the Unversed long enough for you to get that girl to safety before coming back to help him finish off the Unversed. When you did, Mickey disappeared in a flash of blue light after introducing himself to you and telling you that he thought that the monsters were after the girl because she held a great deal of pure light within her heart. After staring at the sky where Mickey had disappeared to for a minute, you looked down to see that the girl was presenting you with a small bouquet of flowers that she picked herself as thanks for saving her. Before the girl left with her grandmother, you cast a magic spell on her saying that one day when she was in trouble the light within her would lead her to the light of another, someone to keep her safe." Kairi paused in her answer for a moment before she finally looked Aqua straight in the eye and finished, "That spell, allowed her to be sent to a world called Destiny Islands when Radiant Garden fell to darkness and was transformed into Hollow Bastion, where she met two boys that became her new best friends, one of which was Sora, allowed her heart to find safety inside of Sora's heart before it was taken by darkness, and then eventually allowed her to become one of the most powerful Keyblade Wielders to fight for the light. Aqua…that little girl is me. I am Kairi."
Aqua's eyes instantly widened in shock when she heard this and she slowly walked over to Kairi and raised her hand up to Kairi's face, almost as though she were not sure if what she was looking at was real or not. When her hand finally touched Kairi's cheek, she suddenly saw Kairi change from the strong and brave Keyblade Wielder before her into a small girl with shorter hair in a white dress and purple sandals carrying a few flowers with a bright smile. "By the worlds," Aqua gasped. "You…you really are…"
"When I arrived on Destiny Islands, I lost my memories of where I came from for a little while, but after I regained them, I remembered everything about that day with crystal clarity," Kairi told Aqua proudly. "And when I gained my Keyblade, I did my best to be just as strong a Keybearer as you were so that I could hopefully one day meet you and fight alongside you, while also training to become strong enough to fight alongside Sora and all of our friends as well. Aqua, in my eyes, you've always been more than worthy to be called a Keyblade Master, and I still believe that even now."
Aqua stared at Kairi in shock for a few more minutes until she finally began to let a few tears fall from her eyes as she embraced Kairi in a tight hug, crying into the red haired girl's shoulder as she did. Kairi was a bit hesitant at first, but eventually, she returned the hug as she patted Aqua's back in an attempt to calm her down. When Aqua finally regained control of herself and released Kairi, she looked between the young princess of heart and Sora and said, "Okay, I'll help, but what can I really do if I can't use the Keyblade anymore?"
Kairi tapped her chin in thought for a minute before she turned to Sora and asked, "Do you have any ideas, Sora?"
"I don't really know," Sora replied as he crossed his arms in thought for a minute. He was about to say something else when his face suddenly lit up with excitement and he exclaimed, "Wait a minute, maybe I do. Kairi, summon your Keyblade and hold it out to Aqua."
Kairi raised an eyebrow at Sora, an action that Sora thought made her look rather cute when she did, but in the end she simply shrugged and elected to trust Sora's judgment as she summoned Destiny's Embrace to her hand. Sora then walked up to stand next to Kairi and whispered something in her ear that made Kairi blush a minute due to Sora's close proximity and then grin excitedly when she heard the idea. After Sora moved back, Kairi cleared her throat as she turned to Aqua with her Keyblade's hilt extended towards her and said, "In your hand take this key. So long as you still have the makings, then through this act of taking, its wielder you shall once again be. And you will find me again, friend, no ocean shall contain you once again. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love."
Aqua looked at the two in surprise for a minute upon realizing what they were doing before she finally gave a small smile and reached out to grasp the handle of Kairi's Keyblade. After holding the handle of the blade for a minute or two, Aqua let go of the golden, flowery Keyblade and stepped back, feeling strangely re-energized for some reason that she could not quite explain, and upon raising her hand up on instinct, a flash of blue light reached everyone's eyes, and a navy blue Keyblade with a black and grey circular, jagged edged guard, and four short, blunt spikes surrounded by a rectangular frame for teeth appeared in her hand. "My Keyblade," Aqua exclaimed as she looked at the mystical weapon with great joy. "It's really back! I can't believe that actually worked, and don't try to act like you guys didn't just do an altered version of the Keyblade inheritance ceremony just now, because I know you did."
Sora just placed his hands behind his hand while Kairi placed hers behind her back as they both gave her a small laugh and a cheesy grin in response. "Hey, it worked didn't it," Sora asked. "So what's this Keyblade called?"
Aqua looked back down at her Keyblade happily for a minute before she softly replied, "Stormfall."
Kairi and Sora both nodded in reply to this as Aqua dismissed her reacquired Keyblade before Sora said, "Well now that we've taken care that, let's go find Ventus and Terra, and then go find Mickey."
"Hold on," Aqua suddenly said, causing the two time-travelers to pause and just barely hold back a groan of annoyance from thinking that Aqua was still hesitant to come. "I can't go with you guys, at least not while I'm dressed like this. Go on ahead and I'll meet you outside the castle's entrance."
Kairi and Sora both nodded in understanding before they turned and raced to the entrance of the castle while Aqua walked off in the direction of her room. Once she had reached her room, Aqua walked up to one of the two closets that were in there, and opened it up to reveal the outfit that was inside as she softly muttered, "It's been a long time since I've worn this, but maybe I'm finally ready to do so again."
"How long does it take for one person to change clothes," Sora moaned impatiently as he sat on the steps next to Kairi waiting for Aqua.
Kairi could only roll her eyes at Sora's childishness, but admittedly, she was glad that was something about the wielder of the Kingdom Key that had not changed. "Give her a break Sora," Kairi told him off. "It did seem like it's been a while since she wore something other than what she was wearing a minute ago. Maybe she's just having trouble finding a good outfit that would be suitable for traveling the worlds and fighting."
"Oi, after all that blasting and stuff, it seems that even that woman can be a total girl sometimes," Sora sighed.
"Hey, what do you mean 'sometimes'," Aqua's voice suddenly asked, making Sora jump up from his seat on the steps and spin around in preparation to block the possible attack that was heading his way. Before he even attempted to summon his Keyblade though, he got a look at Aqua and had to pause and stare for a moment, which led Kairi to turn around and gasp in shock at the sight of what Sora had seen.
There stood Aqua at the top of the steps, but she was now looking much better than she had before. Gone were the rags that she had been wearing before, and in their place, Aqua now wore a black and navy blue, high-collared halter top, a black corset with two pairs of white laces, and two pink straps that intersected over her chest in an x-shape with a strangely shaped, silver badge in the center. Her arms were now covered by a pair of white bell-sleeves, with a segmented piece of silver-blue armor on her upper arms over both sleeves, while her hands were now covered by a pair of tan, fingerless gloves. Looking downward, one could see that she was also sporting a pair of black shorts and similarly colored stockings that reached halfway up her thighs, leaving a small amount of her skin bear. A strip of blue cloth was draped over both of her hips, while a smaller, white strip was tied around her waist in the same way, while a pair of pointed, silver, armored boots completed her outfit. Aqua had left her hair at its current length, but it was now clearly combed and brushed so that it was not the bushy, untamed mess that it was before, giving her the appearance of a beautiful, elegant, yet also powerful warrior.
"Wow," Kairi breathed in awe. "You look exactly like how remember you from when we first met, except with longer hair. Are you sure you don't want to get it cut real quick? I think you looked much prettier when it was shorter."
Aqua giggled for a minute before she shook her head and adopted a serious expression as she said, "There's not really any time for that right now. We need to get moving quickly."
"Right, but we can't go anywhere just yet," Sora suddenly said as he turned away from Aqua with his arms crossed.
"Now what's wrong," Kairi moaned.
"Simple," Sora replied as he spun around and pointed at Aqua. "You can't come along looking like that."
"What? Why, what's wrong with my outfit," Aqua asked in confusion, mostly because it was what she always wore when she was traveling the worlds before and when she was training.
"Not your outfit, your face," Sora clarified. Kairi's face instantly lit up in amusement as she tried to suppress her giggles while Aqua's only gained a look of confusion until Sora clarified, "If you're gonna travel with us, then you've gotta remember the first rule of doing so. No frowning, no sad faces. You've gotta be happy."
"Happy," Aqua asked. "I'm not sure if I even know how to smile anymore. After all that had happened, how am I supposed to do that?"
"Like this," Sora replied simply as he made a ridiculous face at Aqua. After looking at this for a minute, Aqua found she could not help but burst out laughing at the face Sora was making, and Kairi was soon right behind her in that regard. "See that's better."
Aqua smiled a bit before she softly said, "Thank you, Sora. I guess I really needed that more than I realized. Now, if we're going to do this, we should start by finding Ven. I know where Terra is, and I can guarantee you that he's not going anywhere any time soon."
"Okay then, so where is Ventus," Kairi asked.
"He's off on one of the other worlds," Aqua replied. "I'm not entirely sure which one, but if I had to guess, I'd say he's probably either in Neverland, Disney Town, or the Castle of Dreams."
"Well then just lead us to the Gummi Ship and we'll be on our way in no time," Sora said as he turned to head down the path in front of them.
Sora was soon brought to a halt when Aqua asked, "Lead you to the what ship?"
Sora turned around to give Aqua a deadpan look as he elaborated, "The Gummi Ship. You know, big ship made of a material known as Gummi blocks, used for traveling between worlds, has weapons for dealing with any monsters we might encounter along the way?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Aqua told Sora flatly.
"Um, Sora," Naminé suddenly called out. "Gummi Ships hadn't been invented yet in that time."
"WHAT," Sora cried out. "They haven't been invented…you're telling us this now?! Thanks a lot Naminé, and that goes for Mickey and Master Yen Sid too."
Aqua slowly backed away from Sora for a minute before she leaned over to Kairi and asked, "Are you sure you guys aren't crazy?"
"No, Sora's just talking to Naminé," Kairi replied.
"And who's Naminé?"
"Oh, she's my Nobody," Kairi replied casually. "She's also a powerful sorceress that has been training under Master Yen Sid ever since Sora rescued her from Castle Oblivion. Since she helped send us back in time, she's able to communicate with us telepathically or something."
"If she can talk to you guys through your minds, then why is Sora shouting out to the sky like that," Aqua then asked as she pointed to Sora who was doing exactly as she said he was while jumping up and down and waving his arms around wildly in anger.
"I really have no idea," Kairi replied honestly. "Any other questions?"
"Yeah, are you guys telling me that you've never used a Keyblade Glider before," Aqua asked.
"Keyblade what," Kairi and Sora both asked, taking their own turns to be confused at the same time as the latter finally stopped ranting to the sky while shouting at Naminé.
"Keyblade Glider," Aqua explained. "It's an ability that the Keyblade possesses that allows it to become a transport for its wielder, allowing them to travel between the worlds. Here, let me show you." Aqua then summoned Stormfall to her hand after tapping the armor piece on her left arm and gaining a set of blue, silver, grey, and black armor in a sudden flash of light, leaving the younger Keyblade wielders in awe for a minute at the sight of her armor. Aqua then tossed her Keyblade high into the air, and it spun around a few times before transforming into a vehicle that seemed to be a two-part bow-and-platform device which she soon mounted a minute later.
"Wow, I didn't know that the Keyblade could do stuff like that," Sora exclaimed in wide-eyed excitement. "But what's with the armor?"
"It's to keep you safe from the darkness that's around you when you're traveling between the worlds," Aqua replied. "I thought you already knew that kind of thing since you both have your own sets of armor."
Sora and Kairi both then glanced at their respective shoulder armors, finally realizing one of the reasons that they each had said accessory, and then mimicked Aqua's actions and summoned their own armors forth. In terms of overall appearance, Kairi's armor was honestly not all that different from Aqua's aside from the fact that it was mostly pink, white, and purple and that it held a gold, crown shaped symbol on the center of the chest plate. Sora's on the other hand seemed to be rather slim fitting, almost as though it was fitted to his exact body shape, and was colored mostly black and red with gold highlights. A silver version of the crown symbol on Kairi's armor was also worn on the chest plate of his armor, and his black helmet had a pair of brown prongs on either side that extended upwards diagonally.
"Hey, check us out," Sora exclaimed after looking over his new armor for a minute.
"Oh I am," Kairi muttered as she gazed at Sora's new armored form with a dreamy look in her eyes, extremely thankful that said look was hidden by her helmet along with the blush she had gained a minute later after she realized she had said that aloud.
"Okay, now that you've got your armors on, try summoning your Keyblade Gliders," Aqua instructed. "When you throw your Keyblades up, try imagining that your flying and that the Keyblades are your wings beginning to spread."
Sora and Kairi both nodded in understanding as they summoned the Kingdom Key and Destiny's Embrace respectively, and then did exactly as Aqua told them to before throwing their respective swords into the air. For a minute, nothing seemed to happen, until finally both Keyblades disappeared in a flash of light and then swooped back down to them in new forms. Kairi's Keyblade had transformed into a vehicle that was similar to Aqua's except in the colors of Destiny's Embrace with an added flower design, while Sora's became something that was more akin to a large, silver motorcycle with yellow highlights and a pair of extensions on the front of said motorcycle that indicated that it also possessed a bit of long range firing power in it. The two could only stare at the vehicles in awe for a minute before they both laughed in excitement and climbed aboard the vehicles.
"Okay Aqua, lead the way out of here so we can go and find Ventus," Sora jokingly ordered, clearly showing how excited he was to really try out his new ride.
Aqua could only chuckle in amusement for a minute before she replied in an equally joking tone, "Yes sir."
Aqua then shot off into the sky with Sora and Kairi right behind her as a portal to the lanes between opened up before them and allowed them all to pass through. As they raced between the worlds to their first destination, Sora and Kairi seemed to pause for a minute as they received a message from Naminé, which Kairi immediately relayed to Aqua by saying, "Aqua, Mickey says that we should try looking at the Castle of Dreams first."
"Uh just to be clear, you mean future Mickey, right," Aqua asked.
"Well I don't mean past Mickey," Kairi joked.
"Wait, which past Mickey, because from your perspective, my time's Mickey would be a past version, so do you mean my present-day Mickey/your past Mickey, or a past Mickey before both of our present Mickeys," Aqua asked.
"I hate you so much," Sora growled, knowing that Aqua had only said that to tease them and her doing so had caused his head to hurt. The sole boy of the three Keyblade wielders then rocketed ahead to leave the girls behind and allow them to laugh at his expense for a minute before racing ahead to catch up with him.
As soon as she was next to him, Kairi smirked and called out to Sora, "Come on you lazy bum, is that really as fast as you can go?"
"Oh you are so on," Sora chuckled challengingly, and he and Kairi immediately began to literally race towards the Castle of Dreams with Aqua joining in a few seconds later. As they watched their senior Keyblade wielder enjoy herself in the way she was, Sora and Kairi could not help but feel that somehow, they were already well on their way to fixing the past and saving the future.
Yen Sid Report 2:
Castle Oblivion. How long has it been since I had last heard the name of that place which was once the beautiful and wondrous world of my late friend Eraqus and his pupils? I had long hoped that the next time I did hear of it was when we learned of Aqua's return or of the time when we finally found a way to restore poor Ventus's heart, but sadly, this did not come about because of either situation. Much to my surprise, Castle Oblivion was discovered by Sora, Donald, and Goofy after the three had felt as though something were calling them there, and it was there that they had their first great confrontation with Organization XIII. Suspecting that the castle was actually a stronghold for the dark group of Nobodies, Sora and his two friends went in to further investigate, only to find that as they progressed through the castle, they were losing very important memories of their adventures. Yet while Donald and Goofy continued to forget things, Sora seemed to gain new memories as well; memories of another girl being on the islands with him, Kairi, and Riku, a girl named Naminé. Eventually though, the memories of Naminé began to replace the memories Sora had of Kairi, until Naminé herself appeared before Sora and revealed the truth.
Naminé herself was in fact the Nobody of Kairi and she was a very unique case of Nobody at that. She had no memories of when she was human, and her appearance was nothing like that of Kairi's, but she still retained enough memories to know who's Nobody she was, and there was one other thing about Naminé that made her different from all other Nobodies. She possessed the power to tamper with and alter the memories of Sora and those close to him, and she had been forced to use these powers on Sora as he and his friends made their way through Castle Oblivion by a group from Organization XIII. Thankfully, the damage was not so great and Naminé was able to reveal the truth before it was too late, but despite his memories of her being false, Sora still fulfilled his promise to protect and rescue Naminé by freeing her from her imprisonment, and driving Organization XIII out of the castle.
After their escape, Sora brought Naminé to my tower where Sora introduced the young woman to both myself and Kairi, and true to her nature as a Princess of Heart, Kairi immediately forgave Naminé for her actions and became fast friends with the Nobody. I decided to take on Naminé as my apprentice in sorcery after sensing a great talent for magic within her, and she happily agreed to begin as soon as she had completed the restoration of Sora's true memories. The process would take a long time, but thankfully, we have the aid of Ansem the Wise to speed up the process. I can only hope that nothing shall occur to disrupt the process or bring about more problems for us as we wait for Sora to reawaken from the slumber he had to fall into in order for the process to take full effect.
AN: Well there you have it. As you can probably see, most of the events that happened in the first Kingdom Hearts game remain the same in this story with exception of Riku being taken by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and being completely brainwashed into staying on the side of darkness, and if you read the Yen Sid report, you'll find that the same is true for the story of Chain of Memories, except for the fact that none of the bad guys ended up dead, Naminé ended up becoming a magic apprentice under Yen Sid afterwards while restoring Sora's memories, and the fact that Kairi met her Nobody immediately after the whole ordeal instead of during the events of Kingdom Hearts II.
Now, if you're having trouble seeing the appearance of some things in this chapter, let me clear it up for you. Kairi's new look outside of her armor is basically a mix between her Kingdom Hearts II appearance and that of Aqua's appearance in Birth by Sleep, while Sora's remains the same except with shoulder armor like Ventus's and a set of armor on the same arm like the armor that Terra wore when he wasn't armored up. Kairi's armor is also the same as Aqua's except for the colors and the addition of the crown symbol which looks like the crown on Sora's necklace, and Sora's is basically like Ventus's armor in his colors with the same symbol. I added the crown symbol to their armors as a way of distinguishing Sora and Kairi from the heroes of Birth by Sleep. As I said, Kairi's Keyblade Rider is the same as Aqua's, because I didn't want to go to all the trouble of thinking up an entirely new set of Keyblade Riders for Sora and Kairi, while Sora's is like Terra's. I know that when some people give Sora a Keyblade Rider they like to give Sora one that looks like Ventus's, but I thought that the motorcycle one was cooler and would work better for Sora in this story.
As for Aqua's appearance, during initial appearance when she first shows up in this chapter, just think of Aqua with longer hair and wearing rags or something that you think she would wear if she had gone into a state of depression that would make one think she had given up hope. Her final appearance outside of the armor when she emerges from the castle is the same as her Birth by Sleep appearance, again with her hair still longer than it originally was.
Speaking of the Land of Departure, it's basically the way it was before it was turned into Castle Oblivion but after Xehanort had tried to destroy it, so sorry but Eraqus isn't around for those of you who were hoping to see him. I actually wanted to make sure that I had a few things that were also well known from Kingdom Hearts, like when Kairi mentioned her first meeting with Aqua, or when Sora called Aqua "such a girl" like Terra did at the beginning of Birth by Sleep. If you need me to point out the others, then you need to go back and review your Kingdom Hearts history and facts, but I threw that in there so that I could show that while many things have changed, there are some things that have still stayed the same.
I hope I didn't overdo it with the whole SoraxKairi relationship thing this chapter, but I honestly couldn't help myself. I just really love that Kingdom Hearts couple. Well, I've rambled enough, so onto the preview!...
Sora, Kairi, and Aqua arrive at the Castle of Dreams and begin their search for Ventus, while back in the present day, Mickey and Roxas greet the warriors that have gathered to defend the Mysterious Tower until the time traveling Keyblade Wielders' mission is complete. Will the gathered defenders be enough, and just what will Sora, Kairi, and Aqua discover upon reaching their destination? Find out next time.
Please, please, read and review, and see ya real soon!