AN: Hey guys, we back for another round of Keyblades of Future past, and let me just say, this chapter was a long one, and both really fun and really hard to write since I wanted so many things to happen here in this particular chapter and I wasn't entirely sure how to fit them all in. Admittedly, there was at least one part that I had to cut out, but whaddya gonna do?
Axel: Probably just rock it out and burn through to an idea that works. Got it memorized?
AN: Whatever you say, Axel. Please tell me that Xion has calmed down since what happened in the last chapter's authors note.
Axel: Well she's not planning to murder you in your sleep or anything like that anymore, but if you're asking if she's willing to be all buddy-buddy with you now, I wouldn't hold my breathe.
AN: Dude, do I look worried?
Axel: Fair enough. Say don't you think its weird that Hades hasn't shown up yet?
AN: No but I don't hear anyone complaining. Besides, he's not going to show up until someone says something involving that which he is a god of.
Axel: You mean death?
AN: Yep.
Roxas: At least no one will be dying of laughter this time after seeing him get humiliated like that.
[Hades bursts onto the scene in a blast of fire and starts scoping out targets till AN pulls a lever that sends him down the same trap door Xion fell down in the previous chapter]
Hades: OH COME ON ALREADYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
AN: You just had to say it didn't you?
Roxas: Sorry.
AN: Anyhow, let's move on to the story, and I think everyone will find something that we all kind of expect from any sort of time travel story like this one happening here.
I do not own anything from the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Chapter IV
Kairi was not entirely sure what she should have been feeling at the moment as the four Keyblade wielders flew through the Lanes Between towards their next destination, which just happened to be her original homeworld. On the one hand, she knew it more recently as the place where Maleficent and Ansem, Seeker of Darkness had set up as their base of operations during Sora's first adventure as well as the place where many terrible things had happened, such as Sora disappearing and losing his heart to darkness right before her eyes, but on the other hand, it was her homeworld in the past, before Maleficent had taken it over and plunged it into darkness, transforming it into Hollow Bastion, and from what she heard from Ventus and Aqua, it was quite beautiful. Not that she really needed them to tell her that fact, but she was just a little girl when she ended up thrown away from Radiant Garden and off to Destiny Islands, so her memory of the place was not as clear as she wished it could be. Of course, that just raised another point that she was concerned about.
Going to her original home in the past meant that Kairi was likely to meet her past self there along with anyone she was close to when she lived on Radiant Garden, and she was not sure what would happen if or when that happened. Would she be able to hide who she really was from them, would coming into contact with her past self cause something to happen that would put her and Sora's entire mission into jeopardy, and what would happen if she did something that would prevent her from ever meeting Sora in the first place? These questions and many others were racing through Kairi's mind non-stop, and it did not take a genius to figure out that she was getting very stressed over the matter, even while she was wearing her armor, especially if someone knew her well enough.
As it happened, Sora knew Kairi quite well, and he had known right from the moment Aqua said that they would be going to Radiant Garden that Kairi would be worrying about the matter as much as she was at the moment by now. When he glanced back and saw that he was correct in his assumptions, Sora immediately pulled back a bit so he could fly alongside the red head princess of heart and asked, "Hey, are you okay Kairi?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," Kairi attempted to reassure Sora, hoping that she was able to keep her nervousness out of her voice.
Unfortunately for her, Kairi had forgotten who she was talking to, as Sora had naturally picked up on said nervousness. Under normal circumstances, Sora would probably have reached out to place his hand on hers to reassure her, but since they were currently flying and he did not want to risk them crashing into anything, Sora simply smiled behind his helmet, hoping that said smile was showing through his words as he said, "Hey don't worry so much. I mean, we're going to get to see how Radiant Garden was before darkness had come along and destroyed it. If anything it's kind of exciting! We might get to see Leon, Yuffie, or any of our other friends from there when they were younger and before they ever met us!"
Kairi had chuckle a bit at Sora's enthusiasm, and that chuckle eventually turned into a laugh as Sora continued to talk excitedly about the things they could do and the people they could meet after they arrived in Radiant Garden, which Sora immediately took notice of. "There we go," Sora said happily. "Now that's more like the Kairi I know and love."
Kairi stopped laughing when she heard what Sora said, and Sora was quick to pick up on it too, as his face immediately became the same color as Kairi's hair behind his helmet while he tried to cover up what he said, not knowing that Kairi's face had turned the same shade of red as she let loose a bright smile behind her own helmet at hearing Sora say that. Sora continued to try and cover his small moment of accidentally letting his true feelings for Kairi nearly slip out until Ventus suddenly shouted, "Hey you guys! We're here!"
When they heard the blonde boy say that, they immediately followed him in descending down to the world they had just approached until they finally began soaring through skies and then landed in a back alley to dismiss both their Keyblade Gliders and armor without anyone noticing them. As soon as the four stepped out of the alleyway, Kairi and Sora both paused for a moment to look around in amazement as the spiky haired boy declared, "Wow! This is definitely not anything like the Radiant Garden that we knew!"
"No kidding," Kairi agreed. "It's beautiful!"
Kairi was not mistaken in that regard, as they had just walked out into the central square, and after seeing the run down state of Radiant Garden's market and palace so many times after Sora, Donald, and Goofy had freed it from Maleficent on their first adventure, they were truly amazed to see the town so clean, beautiful, and covered in flowers as it was. There did not seem to be a single scratch on any of the buildings or walkways, and the town seemed to sparkle before their eyes in a way that the two could only compare to stars in a clear night sky. They could have sworn that Aqua and Ventus had commented on it being just as they remembered it, but they really had not been paying that much attention to notice.
"I thought you guys said you had been here before, and Kairi, you do remember that this is your original homeworld, right," Aqua then said, finally breaking the two Keybearers from the future out of their trance.
"Yeah, but I had forgotten just how amazing it was back then after I arrived on Destiny Islands," Kairi admitted.
"And every time I came here after my first adventure it wasn't anything like this," Sora then added. "I mean, why do you think that there was a Radiant Garden Restoration Committee in the first place? Well, I guess technically they now call themselves the Radiant Garden Liberation Committee, but you get my point."
Ventus and Aqua both nodded in understanding to the two before Ventus told them, "Well, if we're going to get Terra, then we should head for the palace, and I doubt that they'll let us in without an invitation."
"Don't worry, I know a few guys," Sora reassured Ventus. "They'd all be young men and women right now though, but first, do you guys mind giving us a minute to really look around?"
"I thought you said that we didn't have much time for your plan to work," Aqua pointed out.
"I know, but can we just take a minute for Kairi's sake," Sora then pleaded.
Aqua and Ventus looked between themselves before finally shrugging and turning back to Sora as the former of the two said, "I guess it couldn't hurt, and besides, if the place really is that different from what you're used to, then we probably should let you guys acquaint yourselves better with this time's version of the world."
"Thanks you guys," Sora said gratefully. "So, you ready to see what there is to see, Kairi?"
"Um Sora, Kairi kind of took off on her own already," Ventus admitted sheepishly as he pointed off in the direction that Kairi was heading before she suddenly disappeared down another street. Sora just sighed a bit and then took off after her with Aqua and Ventus right behind him, all while they were hoping that Kairi would be alright until they caught up with her.
As Kairi continued running down the streets, she could not help but smile and marvel at the sights that surrounded her. It felt as though she were running along a road that was so strange yet so familiar and welcoming to her, like an old home that she had not visited in many years, which technically it was, and as she could not blame herself for the many spins and leaps she made across the street as she looked at her surroundings, feeling her heart leap with joy as she did the whole time, and yet there was still something that was nagging at her in her mind, which was the main reason why she was running down these streets at the moment.
Kairi really could not explain what it was, but she just had a feeling that there was some place down this street that she needed to be right then, almost as though she knew instinctively that something bad would happen if she were not there. She was not entirely sure what the reason for the feeling was, though some would say that it was her instincts as a Princess of Heart that were guiding her. The reasoning behind that did seem rather sound, as Naminé and Yen Sid had both told her on many occasions that as a princess of heart, Kairi was more attuned to sensing darkness than anyone else, and that she should always trust her instincts since they would likely never be wrong in that regard, and as a result, her instincts in many difficult situations had always been correct so far. After a few more minutes of running Kairi quickly found that they were indeed correct once again when she heard someone scream out in fear.
Kairi immediately re-doubled her pace, and as soon as she reached the area that the scream had come from, her eyes instantly widened at the sight that greeted her. There, running away from a swarm of Unversed, was a little girl with short, red hair wearing a white dress with purple lining, and purple and white sandals that she immediately recognized as her past self. When she saw poor Little Kairi get backed into a corner, Kairi immediately summoned her Keyblade and rushed in with a powerful slash, destroying a small number of the Unversed swarm, and clearing a path for her past self. "Go and find a safe place to hide! I'll deal with these monsters," Kairi told her younger self, who immediately nodded with a bright smile in response before doing as she was told.
Once she was certain that Little Kairi was safe, Kairi charged in with Destiny's Embrace shinning in the sunlight as it was swung at the Unversed, slaying every enemy it came into contact with the minute that it connected. When the Unversed tried to change tactics and attack her from behind, Kairi simply spun around on one foot as she held her Keyblade out, and destroyed all the attackers with a series of spinning strikes. She then leapt into the air and fired a barrage of fire and ice spells at some of the Unversed that had tried to hide underground, instantly drawing them out for her to strike down upon landing on the ground, and with that done, Kairi soon noticed that the only enemies left were a small group of Archravens, which she quickly dispatched with a simple Thundara spell, ending the battle in victory for her.
After waiting for a moment in case there were any enemies that she had not dealt with yet, Kairi finally dismissed her Keyblade and then turned to where her younger self was hiding with a bright smile as she called out, "It's okay if you want to come out now! The monsters are all gone."
Little Kairi immediately stepped out from her hiding place behind some large boxes in a nearby alley and returned Kairi's smile as she ran up to her with a cute little laugh, leading Kairi to recall some of her memories from when she was that young. "Thank you for saving me," Little Kairi said as soon as she had reached the older red head.
"You're welcome," Kairi told her as she kneeled down to the little girl's level. "But what were you doing out here all by yourself?"
"I was getting some things from the store for my grandma," Little Kairi replied proudly. "She said that she had forgotten to get some of the things she needed to make dinner tonight, so I told her that I could go and get them for her."
"Oh that's so sweet of you," Kairi cooed as she patted her younger self's shoulder. "Would you mind if I helped you finish that favor for your grandmother in case any more monsters show up?"
"You'd really do that," Little Kairi asked. When Kairi nodded in affirmative, Little Kairi immediately beamed with delight as she said, "Okay, thanks. Oh, my name's Kairi by the way. What's yours?"
Kairi immediately froze for a minute, as she was not entirely sure what to say in response to her younger self, but in the end, she ended up going with the first name that popped into her head and simply replied, "I-I'm Naminé."
"Really? You're going to use my name as a cover for you when talking in the presence of or to your past self? I don't know if should feel offended or complimented, Kairi," Naminé's voice suddenly teased in Kairi's head.
"Not now Naminé, and cut me some slack, it was the first thing that popped into my head," Kairi thought back. "It's not like I had a plan for if something like this would happen."
"Yeah, I think you mean 'when' this happened," Naminé corrected as Little Kairi told her future self that it was nice to meet her and then led her into the market place by the hand. "Let's face it, Kairi. This was bound to happen right from the moment that you found out that you had to go to the Radiant Garden of the past."
"Thank you Miss Know-It-All-Nobody-Who-Doesn't-Know-When-to-Shut-Up," Kairi retorted with heavy sarcasm. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to focus on the fact that my younger self is leading me along to the market so she can help our grandmother get the things she needs to make her dinner."
"Alright, alright, Miss Joy-Kill; I'll leave you alone. I hope you and Sora swallow each other during your first make-out session," Naminé then retorted back, getting both the last word in and a mega blush to appear on her other's face before she ceased communication for the moment.
"Are you okay, Naminé," Little Kairi asked when she saw Kairi's blush.
"Um, yeah fine," Kairi replied. "I was just thinking about someone."
"Is it a boy you love," Little Kairi asked innocently.
"Well…kind of," Kairi admitted. "The truth is…I haven't really told him my feelings yet because we've been best friends for years and I'm worried it will ruin our friendship."
"But would it be so bad if he felt the same way," Little Kairi asked. "Maybe you should tell him, and see what he says. He could love you just as much as you love him, and then you'll both live happily ever after like a princess and a knight in shining armor from a fairy tale!"
The irony of both the situation that her past self described and from the fact that she was getting relationship advice from her past self at all was certainly not lost Kairi, but she still had to smile and admit that the little girl who she once was did have a point and was definitely right in what she was saying. If her past self was so sure that she should tell Sora about her feelings despite the fact that she barely knew either one of them then who was Kairi to argue with the little girl, especially when one considers the sweet, innocent little look that Little Kairi was giving her the whole time that she said that? Kairi was so caught up in her thoughts on the matter that she never realized that her past self had finished the errands she needed to run and had now led her back to her house until she was actually in said house.
"Oh Kairi, I hope you found everything that I needed," a kind elderly woman stated as she walked into the room that the two red heads had entered after the came in the door.
"Yep, I sure did Grandma," Little Kairi replied proudly. "And this nice lady helped me, too."
"Oh well thank you both," Kairi's grandmother said in reply with a small bow to both of the girls before she turned to Kairi herself. "And what's your name, dear?"
"Oh, I'm Naminé," Kairi replied. "I ran into Kairi here while I was walking around town and thought she might need some help."
"Well that was quite sweet of you my dear," the old woman told Kairi as she walked over to the younger red haired girl. "Kairi, could you be so kind and take these groceries to the kitchen for me? I just want to speak with your new friend for a minute before I start on dinner."
"Okay," Little Kairi replied. "Could you tell me that story later though?"
"Again dear," Kairi's grandmother chuckled.
"Please?"
"Oh alright, but only if you're a good girl and do what I say, and no trying to listen in," Kairi's grandmother finally relented, getting a happy giggle out of the little girl as she ran into the kitchen with the groceries just as the elderly woman turned to face Kairi.
"Your granddaughter is a very sweet girl," Kairi commented fondly.
"Yes she is, and I'm happy to see that she grows up to be a lovely young woman," Kairi's grandmother then said with a knowing look, immediately causing Kairi to freeze in shock. Before the red haired Princess of Heart could say anything, her grandmother merely chuckled and said, "Oh don't worry, dear, there's no harm in my knowing it's you. Besides, you don't really think that you could fool your own grandmother into thinking you were someone else do you…Kairi?"
Kairi's shock instantly grew to a new level, but after a moment, she shook it off and then wrapped her grandmother in a tight hug as she whispered, "I've missed you so much Grandma." The two held their hug for a few more minutes before Kairi finally let go and dried the happy tears that had fallen from her eyes for a minute as she asked, "How did you know it was me?"
"Two reasons really," Kairi's grandmother replied. "One being that I am your grandmother, and I'd know my own grandchild anywhere, no matter what her age is, especially given that she has such lovely hair and beautiful eyes, and the other reason is that you don't become shopping friends with Merlin the Wizard and not learn a few things."
Kairi could only chuckle in response to her grandmother's claim before she said, "Grandma, could you…"
"You don't even need to ask, Kairi," her grandmother told her. "I won't tell the little one or anyone else anything on the matter, and while I may not know how you are really here, I do know that it is for a good reason, and that you will succeed in whatever task you have undertaken that led you here. Just promise me you'll be safe."
"I promise," Kairi immediately replied happily. "After all, I've got a great person looking out for me, and he's always done everything he can to save me whenever I do get into trouble."
Kairi's grandmother nodded in approval of this and then turned to go back to the kitchen after receiving one last hug from Kairi, letting Kairi get ready to leave herself just as her past self ran up to her. "Are you leaving already," the little girl Kairi once was asked.
"Yeah, I have to," Kairi replied sadly. "My friends need my help right now."
"Okay," Little Kairi said with a cheerful yet somewhat sad tone.
"Oh, Kairi, one last thing," Kairi suddenly said as she knelt down to the little girl. "You may not remember me telling you this, but I want you to know that someday, you'll meet someone very special, a boy your age, who will become a big part of your life. He may sometimes seem a bit lazy and laid-back, but his heart will always be kind and caring for everyone, and he'll become someone that will always be there to save you if you need him to."
"Really," Little Kairi asked. When Kairi nodded, Little Kairi had to ask, "What's his name?"
"Sorry, I can't tell you that," Kairi replied in a slightly teasing tone.
"Awe, please," Little Kairi whined for a minute.
"…Okay, I guess I can give you a hint," Kairi finally relented as she leaned closer to her past self's ear so that she could whisper the hint to her. "Starts with an 'S'."
With that said, Kairi bade her past self one last goodbye, which granted her a happy smile and a small wave in response as she walked out the door and down the street. Just after she had gotten a fair distance from the house, someone suddenly said, "You seem like you had fun."
Kairi nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of the person's voice, but when she turned around and saw Sora leaned back against the wall with a goofy grin on his face, she immediately relaxed and just said, "Gimme a break, Sora."
"Sorry, no-can-do Kairi, you lazy bum," Sora then teased the girl. "So how did it feel to meet your past self?"
"It was…kind of fun actually," Kairi admitted. "I actually forgot how sweet and kind I was back then."
"You forgot to mention cute," Sora whispered to himself with a slight tint of pink finding its way to his cheeks.
Kairi did not seem to hear him as she continued to stare down the street towards the house she used to live in until she finally said, "I've really changed a lot since then."
Sora could tell instantly by the look on her face that Kairi did not mean that in a good way, and he immediately went to work getting Kairi to smile again by saying, "You may have changed physically, and sure you may be more experienced and wiser now, but you'll always be that same, sweet, kind, caring, and cute little girl on the inside because it's part of who you are. Besides, now you're even more beautiful than ever too, so that's not a bad thing."
Sora's hands immediately flew to his mouth when he realized that he let that last part slip out, while his face went bright red, hoping that Kairi did not catch it. Unfortunately for Sora, Kairi did, but to his surprise, Kairi just laughed and leaned closer to him as she said, "Thanks Sora. That's really sweet of you."
A minute after telling him that, Kairi leaned a little closer to Sora and gave him a small kiss on the cheek, leading the wielder of the Kingdom Key to drop his hands from his mouth and freeze in shock before he gained a wide, goofy, love-struck grin on his face. "Come on," Kairi then said as she grabbed Sora's hand. "We should catch up with Aqua and Ventus so that we can go and get Terra."
"Yeah, sure," Sora replied in a slight daze, letting Kairi drag him along the street. He did not even lose the look on his face from when Kairi kissed him until they finally met up with Aqua and Ventus and began discussing how they would get into the palace to see Terra and convince him to join their group.
"Well this was a real great idea," Ventus remarked sarcastically as he and the other three Keybearers were escorted through the castle of Radiant Garden by the same two guards that had barred his way the first time he had been there. After the four had met up again and Kairi had filled Aqua and Ventus in on what she had been doing, Sora led them off to try and find some of their friends from Radiant Garden. In the end, they ran into Lea and Isa, who were both ecstatic at seeing Ventus again, and they immediately agreed to help them get into the castle, claiming that they had a sure fire way of getting them inside. What they did not mention was that the "sure fire way" was a passage that they would normally use to sneak into the castle's guard room, where they had immediately encountered a few guards. It seemed that they were all going to get thrown out, but after Sora and the others summoned their Keyblades in self-defense, the guards had paused for a minute after grabbing Lea and Isa, and then requested that the four Keybearers come with them to see their king. Of course, given the armed escorts that they currently had, none of them felt that it was likely to be a friendly visit. "Really, you couldn't have gotten us into a bigger mess," Ventus then added on with a pointed look at Sora.
"Hey come on," Sora complained. "How was I supposed to know that Lea and Isa normally got caught whenever they snuck into this place, or that we would end up becoming prisoners just because we summoned our Keyblades?"
"Well for one thing, one of the people who helped us sneak in was Lea," Kairi pointed out. "That alone should've been a big clue. Remind me, why didn't we try to find Yuffie again?"
"We didn't have the time," Sora reminded her as he spared a small glance in Aqua's direction. "In case you hadn't noticed, Aqua hasn't exactly had a very long fuse since we got here," he then added in a whisper.
"I heard that," Aqua suddenly said.
"Sorry."
"Silence," the guard holding a lance told them before they came to a stop outside a door at the end of the hallway. The other guard leading them, who carried a tomahawk, knocked on the door a couple of times before hearing someone tell them to come in, and then opened the door to lead the four inside the large, circular room, where a man with long, blonde hair and a beard was sitting behind a desk.
One look at the man behind the desk was all it took for Kairi and Sora to instantly recognize him as Ansem the Wise, an ally of theirs in the future who took on the alias of DiZ for a short time, and they instantly began to worry a bit more about what would happen until Ansem finally said, "Thank you both for bringing them to me. You may leave us now." The minute that the two guards had left the room and closed the door, Ansem looked to the four and smile as he reached into a drawer in his desk and produced a few sticks of ice cream and asked, "Would any of you care for some sea-salt ice cream? It's my personal favorite."
The four looked between themselves for a minute before Sora and Kairi both smiled and accepted Ansem's offer along with two sticks of the ice cream that so many people seemed to enjoy, prompting Aqua and Ventus to accept a couple of bars as well. "It's salty…yet sweet," Ventus commented after he took a small taste.
"Yes, that is one of the reasons why so many enjoy it so much," Ansem chuckled happily. "I'm terribly sorry if my guards gave you the wrong impression, but I assure you, any who wield the Keyblade are more than welcome here."
"How do you know about the Keyblade," Aqua asked in surprise as she paused in eating her ice cream.
"For starters, I happen to be good friends with a young Keyblade Master by the name of King Mickey, though it has been some time since I last heard from him," Ansem admitted. "And it also helps that one of my castle's most recent guests happens to wield one as well. I'm assuming that you are here to see him?"
"Yeah," Sora admitted. "How'd you know?"
"I've spoken with the young man many times, and he has often mentioned two friends of his who seem to match the appearance of these two here, if his description is accurate," Ansem told them as he stood up from his desk and walked around it to them, indicating Aqua and Ventus as he mentioned the last bit. "I have offered to find them for him many times, but he has always insisted that I don't every time, almost as though he is frightened of what might happen should he encounter them again."
"As he should be," Aqua muttered softly, with only Ventus hearing what she said and casting her a concerned look in response.
"Can you take us to him," Sora quickly asked in an attempt to get to Terra before Aqua or Ventus said something they would later regret.
Ansem nodded in affirmative reply and then asked for them to follow him as he lead them out of the room and through the castle, to its lower depths. "I must admit, when he first came here and asked us to lock him up, we were all quite worried about him," Ansem informed the group as they walked lower and lower into the palace. "But despite our concerns, he was very adamant in his desires to be locked away, insisting that he was too dangerous otherwise, so we could nothing more than what he asked us to do. When we tried sealing him in the standard dungeons though, his strange powers seemed to lash out and then they destroyed…"
"The bars on his cell, right," Ventus asked, feeling as though he were expecting that.
"No, half of the dungeon," Ansem replied stoically, causing the four to pause in surprise for a minute before they quickened their pace to catch up with him. "Some were convinced that he was trying to destroy the entire palace from the inside, but when I saw the pained look on his face, I knew that he had been doing his best to hold it back, and that indicated that he had no control over those strange powers. With this new knowledge in mind, my apprentices and I constructed a special holding cell beneath the palace that would contain his powers and prevent them from harming either him or anyone else, and thus minimizing the risks to the palace and all those in it."
It was at this point that Sora and Kairi both noticed that they had entered a corridor that they found to be very similar to the inside of the Castle that Never Was, as the walls were the same shade of grey and white, while having strange black markings that resembled chains running along them which seemed to pulse with a strange energy. Upon further inspection, they noted that the corridor only had two entry points: the one that they had just come through, and another one at the end of the hallway, which seemed to be where the energy pulses were going to, and was sealed off by a door with bars on its single window. Admittedly, the fact that the place was so similar to Xehanort's base of operations in the future alone was enough to make them nervous as it was, and the fact that it seemed to be merely the threshold to a holding cell like the one that Ansem the Wise had described was not helping that nervous feeling at all. Still, they were able to shake that feeling off and steel themselves for the inevitable encounter that was about to come.
The minute they all reached the door, Ansem tapped a control on the right side of the door's frame and inputted a special code that instantly opened it. He then motioned for them to follow him inside slowly, and once they were all inside, Ansem said, "My friend, I do hope you'll forgive the sudden visit, but it seems that you have guests who are quite eager to see you."
At that point, Sora and the others all gave a slight gasp at the only figure in the room, who at first was hunched over on the floor with his back turned to them until Ansem had spoke up. Upon turning around, they all got a better look at him, and saw that he was a young man who seemed to be slightly older than both Aqua and Ventus, with dark brown hair, blue eyes, and a disheveled beard, which indicated that he had not shaved in quite some time. Upon standing up, Sora and Kairi saw that the man was obviously taller than Aqua, who was only taller than the other three by a couple of inches, and he was wearing a skintight, black, high-collared shirt that showed off his muscles, tan pants that were dark grey at the top, a set of red intersecting straps on his chest like Aqua and Ventus's, black boots, a set of armor on his left shoulder along with armor on the same arm that was similar to the armor that Sora wore, and a gold colored version of Aqua and Ventus's badge on his belt. If the two Keybearers of the future were to judge by the look in the man's eyes when they finally fell on Aqua and Ventus, then they would be correct to assume that the man was shocked, angry, and slightly frightened at the sight of the two Keybearers from the Land of Departure. Sora and Kairi did not need to look in Aqua's direction to know what her expression was like at the moment, as the dangerous aura they felt coming from that direction was indication enough for them, and they had no clue what Ventus's expression was as that would have required looking past Aqua to see since he was on the other side of the female Keyblade Master.
"Ven, Aqua," the man finally whispered. "What…what are you two doing here? How did you even find me?"
"I was here when I saw you ask them to put you down here," Ventus replied after a minute. He then hesitated for another moment before he finally said, "It's good to see you again, Terra."
For a moment, no one said or did anything more, aside from Ansem who merely moved off to the side so that the group could talk without him standing in between them, until Terra finally looked to the side and stuttered, "I…I mean it's…"
"What's wrong? The darkness in your heart lead you so far astray that you don't know what to say to 'friends' anymore," Aqua finally cut in, her tone barely hiding any of the anger she was clearly feeling. "Or do you just not know how to properly apologize for murdering the man that we all considered to be our father."
"Don't go there, Aqua," Terra hissed.
"Oh I'm sorry, does the truth hurt," Aqua retorted in the same tone as before. "Have you seen what's happened to our home, Terra, because I have ever since you caused all of this to happen."
"I caused this to happen? You think I wanted Master Eraqus to die," Terra demanded. "You think I wanted to so much as fight him?! He raised his Keyblade against Ven, he was trying to destroy him, and I only fought against him so that I could protect my friend, something you seem to have a hard time grasping, Master Aqua!"
"Hey guys calm down," Kairi tried to say, but her pleas fell on deaf ears, as Terra and Aqua continued to go at it.
"Don't talk to me about protecting things," Aqua hissed. "Because of you, so many people have suffered, and a lot of worlds nearly fell into darkness because of your actions!"
"You want to talk about results of things that I did or didn't do," Terra started shouting, never noticing that a dark aura was beginning to build around him. "Well how about we point out the things that happened because of what you led us to do."
"Terra, stop," Ventus then shouted when he noticed the aura that had begun to build up, but Terra still did not listen, and continued to shout at Aqua.
"Aurora, Snow White, Cinderella," Terra listed, earning surprised looks from the four when he mentioned the last one. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice when they suddenly disappeared into darkness?! We were supposed to protect them! We were supposed to guard the light of the worlds! We were supposed to be a team, no a family, and you destroyed that all, Aqua! Xehanort may have been the one to start things off and push it to the breaking point, but you're the one who caused it in the first place!"
"I'm not the one who allowed darkness into their heart just because I didn't pass the Mark of Mastery Exam and got jealous for no reason, nor was I the one who helped a madman murder our father," Aqua shouted, also seeming to be oblivious to the dark aura that was building up around Terra. "If anyone is to blame for the destruction of our bond, it's you Terra! Not me!"
At that point, Terra's aura finally seemed ready to explode, and it did just that, as dark spheres of energy suddenly began shooting out of his body all across the room, forcing everyone else to either make a mad dash to dodge or take cover until it ended. Once it had though, Ventus, Sora, and Kairi heard a distinct clashing of metal on metal and looked up to see that both Terra and Aqua had summoned their respective Keyblades and were now locked in a brutal battle against one and other, though some would argue that it would be more appropriate to say that it was not a battle, but a grudge match that would likely result in one or the other being seriously hurt or worse. A moment after the two were beginning to charge each other again, with their blades pulled back to strike, both of their eyes widened in shock at the sound of someone shouting, "ENOUGH!"
The two were then brought to an immediate halt when their Keyblades were suddenly intercepted by Sora and Kairi, both of whom were clearly pissed off at the way their senior Keyblade wielders were acting. "Get out of my way, Kairi," Aqua ordered. "He deserves this!"
"No! You're going to back off and calm down while Sora deals with both Terra and this little situation the way it should've been dealt with in the first place," Kairi immediately shouted in reply before pushing Aqua back and into Ventus's waiting arms. The minute Ventus had a hold of Aqua, the blue haired woman had immediately began struggling to get free, only to find that her younger friend's grasp was much stronger than one would have expected, and for some reason, she also began to find her face heating up a little when her mind suddenly registered that Ventus seemed to have gained a little more muscle.
The minute he heard Kairi tell off Aqua and Aqua's struggling to get free of Ventus's hold afterward, Sora took that as his cue to push Terra back and then begin to launch an assault of his own with the Kingdom Key swinging. At first, Terra had been put completely on the defensive due to his shock at this strange boy he had never seen before wielding a Keyblade, but after getting over it, he raised his Ends of the Earth Keyblade and tried to fight back with a series of powerful strikes, which Sora nimbly evaded or rolled away from before taking advantage of Terra's moment of disorientation from using such powerful strikes, or the openings that said strikes had left for him to strike back. With both his clear advantage of having caught his opponent off guard and being able to move faster than Terra due to his size and Terra's need to go for more powerful swings and attacks, it was not long after that until Sora had finally knocked Terra onto his back and then held the taller Keybearer down with the Kingdom Key's tip pointed towards him.
"Who are you, and why do you have a Keyblade," Terra gasped in slight, residual anger as he glared up the Keyblade's shaft towards Sora.
"My name is Sora, wielder of the Kingdom Key, and one of two Keyblade Masters of the future who were sent back to the past by Master Yen Sid and King Mickey in order to change the past and save the future," Sora panted with his blue eyes burning with a fire of determination that dared Terra to try and keep fighting.
Terra's eyes widened in shock when he heard that and a quick glance in Kairi's direction immediately told him that the second of the two Keyblade Masters that Sora was talking about was clearly her. Upon reaching that conclusion, Terra dismissed his Keyblade and then simply asked, "Why would a Keyblade Master of the future, let alone two, need me to help them when they've already got the great Master Aqua and Ventus to help them?"
"You willing to calm down and hear us out," Sora asked in reply. "Because it's a long story that you'll need a lot of patience to hear until the end."
Terra glanced between Sora and Kairi and their respective Keyblades for another minute until he finally nodded and agreed to let Sora tell him their tale, his curiosity truly peaked by what he was likely about to hear.
A short while after Terra's little outburst and the subsequent battle that had followed, Sora and Kairi had finally finished explaining their situation to Terra and why they needed him, Aqua, and Ventus to come back together again so that they could change the future, and needless to say, Terra was stunned by what he had heard. After taking a moment to allow himself to take in the information, Terra finally asked, "So in the end, Xehanort wins?"
"No, he hasn't won yet," Sora immediately retorted. "And he may not ever win if you guys can help us."
"Like that's even remotely possible," Terra argued as he crossed his arms. "In case you hadn't noticed, I can't control the powers of darkness that I now have because of Xehanort's manipulations. I'm just…"
"Terra, if you're about to say that you're too dangerous to be around, let me save you the trouble and tell you that it won't make a difference no matter how many times you say it. Trust me, these guys won't accept it," Ventus interrupted with a small smile as he placed both hands behind his head.
"Even if it is true," Aqua muttered under her breathe.
"You keep quiet," Sora snapped at Aqua with an accusing finger.
"No by all means, let her talk," Terra immediately argued. "It'll just prove my point as to why I shouldn't go with you guys. If you think that the list of people that more than likely hate my guts stops with Aqua, then you're going to be in for a rude awakening. Any chance of our supposedly 'unbreakable connection' being repaired is long gone, and not even a couple of Keyblade Masters from the future can fix it."
"Okay, you need to shut up as well," Sora then snapped at Terra. "Listen, I don't know exactly what happened between you guys, or how things were supposed to work out for you before history had been changed, but I do know that we have a chance to set things right and save the future, not just for the sake of the worlds, but for the sake of the three of you as well. There's always a chance for you guys to make things right between you, because your bond of friendship is still there, and the reason for that is because your hearts are connected. I know you guys can make things right between you, even if you have to go to the ends of the worlds to do it."
"But…the darkness inside of me," Terra tried to argue.
"Can be controlled," Sora immediately finished for him. "A friend of mine nearly had his heart consumed by darkness because he thought he was too weak to help his friends, but he was able to fight it off and then channel it as a weapon of his own. He was so close to being able to master the power of darkness inside of him, and I'm sure he would've too, if it weren't for Xehanort completely poisoning my friend's heart with his own darkness to the point where there did not seem to be even a speck of light left. If my friend, who in this time is just a five or six year old boy could nearly get control of his darkness, then why can't you, a guy who's been training for years to become a Keyblade Master be able to do the same?"
Terra stared at Sora in shock for a minute before he began thinking over Sora's words. As he let them run through his head, Sora went on to point out, "The difference between you and my friend is that my friend was constantly trying to do things on his own, mostly because he had ended up in a situation where he felt like he had no other choice, while you have your friends right here in front of you and showing that they're willing to help you out. Whether or not your successful may not even matter though, because if you don't help us then there really won't be a future for anyone. Please Terra; we need you just as much as you need us."
Terra threw a nervous glance in the direction of Kairi, Ventus, and Aqua, the last of which turned away after glaring at him for a minute, and saw that Sora seemed to be at least partially right in what he said, judging by the kind and confident looks that Kairi and Ventus had in their eyes alone. Upon seeing this, Terra allowed himself a small smile and extended his hand towards Sora as he said, "Alright, I'm in."
Sora smiled and accepted the offered hand in a handshake just as Ventus was coming up to them and saying, "Now this is a bit more like it. We've got the old team back together, a couple of Keyblade Masters from the future, and now Vanitas and Xehanort really don't stand a chance against us."
"Don't forget that Vanitas and Xehanort aren't the only problem," Kairi reminded him just as Sora and Terra were turning around to face the group. "There's still the fact that we'll have to deal with whoever went back in time and changed the past to begin with."
"Either way, we'll stop them no matter what," Terra said confidently.
Aqua looked at Terra a bit hesitantly for a moment before she finally said, "I guess there is something that the two of us can agree on after all."
The two then stared at each other for another minute until Aqua finally extended a hand to Terra, and the taller Keyblade wielder accepted it in a firm handshake as a way of saying that they were both willing to bury the hatchet for the moment. After watching the two finally agree to at least put things aside and work together again for a minute, Sora turned to Ansem the Wise and asked, "Hey, any chance you can keep all this a secret? Mainly the fact that me and my friend are…"
"Not to worry," Ansem reassured Sora with a smile. "As a scientist I am well aware of the dangers that come with certain knowledge, and I know full well when something shouldn't be tampered with. You have my word that what has happened here today will remain between us until my dying breathe."
Sora nodded in thanks and the group then moved to leave both Terra's former holding cell and the castle. "So what do we do now," Terra asked as they neared the main entrance of the castle.
"Well for starters, we should probably think about getting you acquainted with a razor so you can shave that monstrosity off your face," Ventus teased his older brother figure.
"Hey, with a hairstyle like yours I wouldn't be talking about that kind of thing," Terra immediately jabbed back, eliciting a laugh from both Sora and Kairi.
"In all seriousness though, we should probably try to find Mickey before we do anything else," Aqua interrupted, ending the small moment of jokes and teasing.
"Right," Sora agreed. "Let's go ahead and get going, while Kairi and I get in touch with Naminé so she can ask Mickey where we can find his past self."
"Okay, aside from the fact that I don't know who Naminé is, which I think will be explained eventually, I'm just going to go ahead and say that's going to get annoyingly confusing after a while," Terra quipped as he slammed his fist on the gem on his shoulder armor, summoning his brown, red, and gold suit onto his body.
"Hey how do you think Aqua and I feel," Ventus then quipped in reply as he summoned his armor as well. "We've had to deal with it longer than you."
"Excuse me, but I think I've had it worse than either of you seeing as they came to my doorstep first and I had to endure watching them either gaze off into space or shout into the sky whenever they were talking with Naminé," Aqua then told both of the two boys as she summoned her armor and then led her fellow students of Eraqus in summoning their Keyblade Gliders.
"Sora, you get the feeling that we were just made the butt of a joke," Kairi asked as she and Sora both summoned their armors and Keyblade Gliders so that the group could take off into the sky.
"A little bit," Sora replied. "But keep in mind that we can still pull the fact that we're from the future on them and call them a bunch of old timers or fossils whenever we want."
Kairi had to laugh at Sora's little joke, and it was not long until that laughter spread to the entire group and then seemed to echo through the sky as they returned to the Lanes Between to set out for the next destination on their journey.
Somewhere far from where the five heroes were, Xehanort himself was watching them along with two other figures that were standing in the shadows and Vanitas as the group made to continue their quest to save the future. "Well, this is rather unexpected," Xehanort commented casually in a tone that indicated he was not all that worried. "What do you make of this development, my friends?"
"It doesn't matter what they do," Vanitas commented. "They'll just end up getting toasted one way or the other."
"Why wait to finish them," one of the two figures asked in a deep, baritone voice. "We could easily finish them now when they least expect it, and then we'll have secured everything in our favor."
"We mustn't be too hasty my friend," the second figure said in a voice that was just as deep and yet cool and calculating, as he stepped forward to reveal a person who was wearing Organization XIII robes with the hood up. "After all, while the three are now together again, they were not brought together on their own. They came together as a result of the two new wild cards."
"Ah yes, the two Keybearers of the future," Xehanort commented as his gaze shifted to focus mainly on Sora and Kairi. "From what I had heard from you two, I had honestly expected someone more impressive, and yet they are both mere children who seem to be barely that much older than Ventus."
"They are not the same as the ones we told you about," the first figure corrected. "If you would look closely, you could clearly see that they are obviously from a future that came about as a result of our being here, and with that in mind, they are more than likely a much lesser threat than the ones that the two of us had encountered before."
"Be that as it may," the second figure said as he adopted a thinking pose. "While these two may be from a different timeline than the one we had come to know, the fact remains that they are indeed the Keyblade Hero, Sora and his dear Princess of Heart, Kairi. They should not be underestimated, especially when one considers that it is not entirely known how great of a fighting force the two of them are in comparison to when either of them are working alongside their friend Riku. We should take some precautions to counter whatever may change as a result of their interference."
"I agree my friend," Xehanort said. "We must accelerate our plans and begin searching out other allies, and we should start with powerful allies that would grant us an army that we could use to bring darkness to the worlds even without the Unversed or the Heartless, or even these Nobodies that you have told me about."
"You saying that my power isn't good enough," Vanitas asked, his tone slightly demanding.
"Hardly Vanitas," Xehanort scoffed. "But you have only faced Aqua and Ventus, and while you have never faced Terra you do at least know about him. These two Keybearers of the future are people that we know next to nothing about aside from what our new friends here have told us, and since they come from an alternate timeline to the one that our friends had come from, we cannot even be certain that knowledge will even be accurate."
"Fair enough," Vanitas huffed. "At the very least it'll give me some new guys to mess with along with these two new idiots."
Xehanort then turned to the two figures and said, "Well then, if that's decided, there's a specific world that I want the two of you to go to so that you may recruit our next possible ally. He commands a vast army and great respect from all other forces of darkness in his world, and I believe he will be a great benefit to us."
"Right away," the first figure replied. "But there's really no need to explain your reasoning for approaching this individual to us my friend. After all, we know you better than anyone else ever could."
At that declaration, the two figures vanished into a portal of darkness, and set out to parts unknown so that they could carry out their dark, devious schemes.
Yen Sid Report 4:
The aid of Roxas proved to be more beneficial than we ever would have believed, as his help allowed us to not only gain a new Keyblade wielder for our cause, but also allowed Sora to awaken earlier than we had originally expected. I only wish we were able to celebrate this good fortune appropriately, but sadly the forces of darkness are proving once again that they never rest, and we now need Sora's power to help us once again.
Organization XIII is now making a more active movement against us, and not only that, but Number XIV, who Roxas has told us is named Xion, has now filled the gap in ranks that Roxas had left. Our only hopes of stopping them are for Sora and Roxas to lead the charge against both the Nobodies and the Heartless. I believe that we should be thankful that Kairi has been training so hard to fight as a Keyblade wielder while Sora was resting and is now ready to join them, for we have seen before just how great our odds increase from having three wielders of the Keyblade standing with the light in the past. I only hope that these three do not meet the same fate as their predecessors, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus ultimately had.
With Mickey and Ansem both working from the shadows to discover the truth about Xehanort's plans, and Donald and Goofy aiding Sora and the others, it has allowed me the time I need to continue training Naminé so that she may become a powerful sorceress one day. I can only hope that whatever we discover about Xehanort's plans, it won't be too late to stop it. I sense that the darkness that he would bring to the worlds growing stronger and stronger with each passing day, and I fear that it may only be a matter of time before it threatens to destroy all that we have worked so hard to keep safe.
AN: Well that was quite a trip. Kairi met her past self, which I made sure to refer to as Little Kairi to prevent confusion as best as I could, Terra and Aqua clashed against each other, we saw Terra still had powers of darkness that appear to be too much for him to handle, Sora gave a big speech, Ansem the Wise is in the know on Sora and Kairi's mission and has promised to keep it secret, and our heroes are off to their next destination. I think that pretty much covers everything we wanted to cover this time, right?
Axel: Yeah that's everything.
?: Except for one important thing.
AN: What? What do you mean by...hey wait a minute, when'd you even get here Riku?
Riku: Just now, and the thing I'm talking about was the fact that I've had zero to no time at all in this story.
AN: What? You have too. I mean you had like...
Riku: A bunch of vague mentions, a mention in a Yen Sid report, and a single appearance in the first chapter!
AN: Look, I'm sorry man, but I just haven't got a good way for you to have that many appearances in the story yet, and it's not like you're going to be going to the past any time soon, or weren't you paying attention to...
Riku: I don't care! JUST GIMMIE SOME SCREEN TIME ALREADY!
AN: [sigh] Dah, Dude throwin a diva tatrum. [hits the button and sends Riku down the trap door again]
Riku: XION'S RIGHT! THIS ISN'T FUNNYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! [splash]
Axel: That's probably going to get real old, real fast.
AN: Well, it's all we got for that kind of thing at the moment. Now, if you guys are expecting our heroes to go right to finding Mickey next chapter, think again. This story would be waaaaaay too short if I did that. No, we're going to be doing something else first, as you're about to see after I say, Onto the preview!...
Upon learning of Sora and Kairi successfully bringing the three Keybearers of the past back together, Mickey is all prepared to tell the two where to find him, when something unexpected happens. The first wave of Xehanort's forces attack the Mysterious Tower, but it is not what any of them had been expecting, as instead of Heartless or Nobodies, they are facing a swarm of strange robots and even stranger beings that the heroes of the light had never once seen before, let alone alongside Xehanort's forces. Sensing that something has happened in the past in response to what Sora and Kairi have done, Yen Sid quickly discovers the world these new enemies came from and asks Naminé to send our heroes there to either prevent this new alliance from forming or at least discover some new allies that may be able to help them against these new forces. Just what sort of world will our heroes encounter, and how far will they have to go in order to succeed in the latest task of their mission? The answers to these questions and more, next time.
Please read and review, and see ya real soon!