Chapter 22

(Please read the Warning: The following chapter contains some heavy subject matter that might trigger or upset a few readers. Read at your own discretion and please, if you feel the need to talk to somebody, reach out to a loved one, or call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline 1-800-273-8255)

A lot of things happened all at once. More Heartless appeared. Mole quickly digged underground with some special shovels he had and digged. After this, he urged Sora and Kairi to follow him. They both agreed, seeing that the Heartless were approaching. The Enchantress stayed behind, and opened her arms wide. With a blast of light, she banished the dark creatures into nothing. She then followed the others.

"I'm sorry my dear. I know the ground is not a suitable place for a fair lady such as yourself." said Mole.

"Flattery won't get you anywhere my friend. You still owe me for saving your bottom a while back." said the Enchantress with a wink.

"You know them too? From your dreams?" whispered Kairi in Sora's ear.

"Yeah, but those two are from completely different dreams. The Enchantress does spells. Mole is part of a team of archaeologists." whispered Sora back. Suddenly, they all heard noises.

"More Heartless?" asked Kairi.

"Could be." replied the Enchantress.

"We are almost to the checkpoint! We can't stop now!" cried Mole.

Everyone continued going underground when they all finally digged themselves out of the dirt and they were in a different place. It appeared that they were in some underground bunker. A large one, with computers all around and a ton of giant tanks and military equipment.

"This is the HQ of the Resistance!" said Mole.

Sora was taken aback by how many weapons and giant tanks were in that place. Kairi was also baffled and then she chuckled. "So, resistance for what?" asked Kairi.

The Enchantress pulled out a wand and showed Sora and Kairi a vision. They were seeing it in their minds, thanks to the Enchantress's magic.

"We are fighting against the Heartless. And its creator, Chernabog. That wicked lord of destruction was resurrected by the evil lord of the underworld, Hades. For years, Hades has been manipulating so much chaos in the world. He seduces people to the darkness and Heartless are then born from Chernabog's power…."

Sora shook his head, letting the vision disappear from his mind and he looked at the Enchantress.

"I'm sorry, but aren't we all supposed to be against Xehanort?" asked Sora.

"Xehanort? Who is that?" asked the Enchantress. Sora's jaw dropped.

"But Mickey told me you are all against Xehanort." said Sora.

"You mean the OTHER resistance! Yes, they are against the headmaster of that fancy highschool! They claim that the old bald man is some sort of evil power hungry person who wants to take over the world and such." said Mole.

"There are two resistances?" asked Kairi.

"Yes. They are led by Snow White." said Mole.

"I'm super confused." said Sora.

The Enchantress smiled. "We are the same resistance chld. But we are separated. Snow White leads the crusade against Xehanort. But he's not the only one who they worry about. There are other groups that are against other villains. Avalanche goes up against the one winged angel. The one Snow White leads, are against a man named Frollo. They are known as the Dreamers. Mickey leads the Mousekateers in Oblivion and I am the leader of the Lifestream foundation." said the Enchantress.

"All of this sounds so cool!" declared Kairi.

"You're enjoying this?" asked Sora.

"Don't you see what this means? There are good people who want to stop all those tyrants. Do you even know who Frollo is? He's a clergy whose been suspected of embezzlement and rumor has it he's involved in human trafficking." said Kairi.

"I know who that is. Even the one winged angel. But Kairi, you shouldn't be involved in any of this." said Sora.

"Why not? We can make a difference!" said Kairi.

"You are thinking of joining them? Kairi, no! You can get hurt!" said Sora.

"Sora, remember what I told you what happened. Oblivion is not the same school we both know. It's become a prison of sorts and your brothers are there! Didn't you say Ventus was missing?" asked Kairi.

Sora wanted to say more, but he stopped. Once again, something new came up. Something he never imagined. More resistances and more villains, such as Frollo and Sephiroth. Once again, more questions. And no answers.

"I need a moment to process all of this." said Sora quietly. He turned around and walked away slowly. Kairi bit her lip, thinking she said something wrong. She wanted to go after him, but the Enchantress put a hand on her shoulder.

"You are taking all of this well. I must say, I'm surprised you are accepting of this." said the Enchantress.

"I know there is evil in our world. The Heartless felt like evil. And so did Xehanort. They are all connected and I have friends back in Oblivion. I want to help them. Tell me, where should I go?" asked Kairi.

"For now, Xehanort won't be doing anything. He and his cronies are just setting themselves ready for the storm that will be unleashed." said the Enchantress.

"And this Hades… and that thing you mentioned. Chernabog. Are they even human?" asked Kairi.

"No. They are creatures with immortality. They know very well how to destroy and corrupt a heart." said the Enchantress.

"I'm going to sound like Sora, but I'm confused too. Is something bad going to happen?" asked Kairi.

The Enchantress spoke and Kairi placed her hands on her face in shock.

….

Sora walked away from it all. He was tired of hearing about hostile takeovers, resistances, villains, and even the Heartless. How did things get so complicated? Sora continued walking and walking until he realized he was walking in some never ending tunnel. From both sides, it was dark. Sora was walking in the darkness, somehow. And yet, where he was standing, there was light. He continued on his way and light still shone brightly, showing him the way.

Sora eventually found a door. After he breathed a sigh of relief, he let himself in and found a room with a couch inside. There were blankets of the fuzzy kind and there was even food there! Sora felt he was dreaming, but he knew this food was real and so was the couch and the blankets. Sora closed the door behind him and sat down. He then began to eat some food, which were Paopu Fruit salad and some soda. He then felt incredibly tired and fell fast asleep.

….

"Christopher Robin has returned to the lifestream." said Arthur, crying and barely getting the tears out.

"Please no…" said Alice.

"You never loved him! You NEVER LOVED CHRISTOPHER ROBIN!" cried a boy, with jet black hair and with skin that was not quite white, nor was it brown. His skin looked almost golden and his eyes were big and brown, yet despite screaming at Arthur with anger, there was a warmth to him that made others feel welcomed around him. Even Arthur approached him, without any caution.

"Soren; that is not true. I loved Christopher Robin too." said Arthur.

Soren scoffed. "I don't believe you. You were always sulking whenever Alice was with him."

"Your majesty… please." said Arthur.

"Prince Soren! Compose yourself. That is no way for a prince to behave." said Sebastian the Crab, who was on top of a rock.

"Christopher Robin died in the name of light. It's a sacrifice that we should never take in vain." said Soren.

"Please Soren… I mean you majesty…. Please don't be cross with Arthur. You see, they both loved each other. But, they had no love for me." said Alice.

"What's this?" asked Soren.

Sebastian gasped. "No love for you? But dat is impossible! He loved you!" cried Sebastian.

Soren however got the idea. "Arthur… your heart belonged to him?" he asked. Arthur nodded and Soren walked up to him.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scream at you! I had no idea! But why did you all pretend that Alice was in love?" asked Soren.

"Their love was forbidden. Unfortunately under the unfair law. And if Lord Scar ever found out…" said Sebastian.

"What Scar doesn't know won't hurt him. We will keep this all a secret. In the meantime, Alice, Arthur, you must all leave the resistance." said Soren.

"We can't! Christopher Robin died to give us all the opportunity to fight! Sephiroth and Frollo will pay for what they did!" said Arthur.

"Exactly my point! My father and mother are already planning to attack one of these days! But the Enchantress, Mary Poppins and Rafiki are saying that we are to hold on. If we attack now, the darkness will rise again." said Soren.

"Your majesty, you just screamed at me. Isn't that darkness?" asked Arthur.

Soren smiled. "I'm afraid so. But I mean more darkness!" said Soren.

"How can you two children joke at a time like this?!" complained Sebastian.

Suddenly, Balto appeared. "Everyone… the funeral is going to begin underground. Prince Soren, your mother and father are looking for you."

"They are huh? Figured." said Soren. He quickly collected his spear and put on his hood. He then looked at his necklace.

"The Wolf of Wisdom. I sure don't feel like one." said Soren as he walked beside Balto.

"Prince Soren, you are still a puppy. It's going to take years for you to actually become a wolf. Maturing takes a lot of time. It is not something that happens overnight." said Balto.

"But what about Christopher Robin. He became a man and fought against the giant Heartless to save us all." said Soren.

"Christopher Robin's heart was big enough to fight for everyone's future. And soon, we are going to need big hearts like yours to take down the darkness." said Balto.

"What are we fighting for? For the light?" asked Soren.

"No. For a better tomorrow." replied Balto.

…

Sora opened his eyes and sitting across from where he slept, snoring soundly and loudly was Goofy. His snores woke Sora up, and just in time. The dream ended.

"Prince… Soren?" he said aloud. Strange. His name almost sounded like…..

"Gwarsh! Morning Sora!" greeted Goofy.

"Goofy! It's good to see you. Where are we?" asked Sora.

"In the resistance HQ. I haven't been down here in years. Gwarsh. When I heard you were downhere, I had to come see you." said Goofy.

"It's morning already?" asked Sora.

"You could say that. You've been asleep for a week and we were starting to get worried." said Goofy.

Sora gasped. "A week?! I've been asleep for a week!?" cried Sora.

"Yeah. The Enchantress gave you more time to recover your body. You see, she said you were weak and you didn't get a good night's rest. She put a spell so you can relax. Maybe she overdid it?" said Goofy.

Sora stood up from the couch and decided to ask.

"Goofy, who's Soren?" asked Sora.

"Who?" asked Goofy. Sora observed Goofy closely.

"Soren? Prince Soren?" asked Sora.

"Prince Soren? I don't know any prince." said Goofy.

He was telling the truth, thought Sora. Goofy didn't look like he was hiding things. He was serious.

"You don't know?" asked Sora.

"The only royal person I know about is Princess Snow White. She is the founder of the resistance. But I never met her." said Goofy.

"You never met Snow White?" asked Sora, his head filling with images of Snow White. He saw her in nightmares where she was nearly killed by biting an enchanted apple and having to endure the abuse of her stepmother, the evil queen.

"Never. There a so many people we don't even know. You seem to know a lot of them, since they are in your dreams." said Goofy.

"Well here's the thing, I saw almost a lot of the people I met in dreams where they are heroes or the main character in their stories. They are like movies or books. But I have never seen Prince Soren anywhere. This last dream I just had was the first one." said Sora.

"I may not know much about sci fi, but perhaps your dreams will give you the answer? You found me, and Donald and Mickey through the dreams." said Goofy with a smile.

"Maybe. But I'm not so sure. The world is so confusing and I am seeing visions of people in different surroundings and…." Sora closed his eyes and continued.

"My head hurts with so much going on in my mind. I feel like I don't know anything at all. And my brothers…. They are so broken. Life was so much simpler.

It was just the four of us. Ventus, Vanitas, Roxas and me. We played a lot in Destiny Islands with our friends. Life was so beautiful. We played until nightfall, we'd watch movies together, played video games, read awesome comic books, listened to different music. We were together as a loving family with my parents. We seemed like the perfect family. But things didn't look so good underneath it all.

My father committed suicide one night. He had depression and none of us knew. My mother told us that he was sad and that sadness overtook him. So, we all moved to Twilight Town since Mom got a job there.

Eventually, she remarried with another fellow. And we started to have a lot of troubles. The man was an alcoholic. He beat up my Mom and Ventus and Vanitas would fight him. Roxas and I would hide in our bedroom, covering in the bedsheets.

One night, we heard noises. Uncomfortable noises. Mom was screaming. Ventus and Vanitas held on to us, covering our ears. The following day, Vanitas called the police and they arrived. They arrested the man, and my Mom was devastated. Not that she loved the man. She hated was he did to her. That man destroyed my Mom inside and out.

Eventually, a few days later, our mom was asleep, and she didn't wake up. Vanitas found the pills case next to her nightstand. After we buried Mom, the four of us ended up living in Twlight Town on our own. We had to leave the apartment we were in since Ventus and Vanitas couldn't get any jobs. I admit that they were just an year older than us, but they were much more responsible. And they got along well back then.

However, things went from bad to worse, little by little. Ventus and Vanitas enrolled us into Oblivion, in the hopes of getting a fresh start in life and starting school. Plus, there were dorms for all of us. We found a temporary home, but it was safe to be in. Then we made friends. Riku, Kairi, Xion, even creepy Axel. He was kind, but I called him creepy.

For four years, Oblivion was our home. I came in a 7th grader, and today, a sophomore. During those four years, we developed healthy relationships with our friends and even did well at school. That was before I had nightmares.

But once again, our lives changed suddenly. When I was twelve, Roxas and I heard screaming coming from Vanitas's dorm. We opened to see Ven confronting Vanitas, who was naked, covering himself with a blanket and Xion was in bed. Ven started to cry and ranted how much he loved Xion. He then stormed off, not knowing that would be the last time I would see him in a while. Vanitas and Xion were in a love triangle with Ven. Roxas and I didn't know about it until that day.

For some, it wouldn't have been a big deal, but it was for the three of us there. For a while, Vanitas stopped seeing us and Roxas and I were forced to have our own lives. The four brothers who lost it all were now officially lost. Roxas and I were the only ones that were somewhat close while Vanitas roamed the hallways under the thumb of Lord Xehanort. Ventus however was nowhere to be seen.

For a while, things were looking bleak. And soon I fell into depression…..

I didn't want to talk to anybody. I even skipped a few classes and my grades were falling behind. I didn't know it at the time, and with today's knowledge, things made a whole lot of sense. There was no teacher who asked me about my grades, let alone come to ask me in person. Xehanort controlled the school and some of the Teachers were at a secret war against him.

For a couple days, I became a shut in and Roxas tried to cheer me up, but it was no use. I lost purpose. I lost my sense in living. I thought about the horrible things that happened to us all. My parents committed suicide by horrible things that happened to them. Dad was depressed and Mom was depressed after she was violated.

Now I was falling into that abyss. I felt like it was the end. I was going to do it. I was going to put myself out. I was going to. As I was thinking long and hard about it, I saw my first nightmare.

I fell asleep where I was, on my bed perhaps. I was in a platform, with my face on it. And there was a voice. The voice said it was my heart. Then it showed me images. Images of lives that were in different stories. All at the same time. And then I woke up, feeling different.

After taking some time for myself and for slowly going back into my daily routines, the dreams were starting to appear. I guess they were around for a while now. A year perhaps. You could say that kept me busy. My mind was on something else and my sadness couldn't take over me. I then went on this mission. This mission to find out why I was starting to have nightmares that connected with so many of my classmates and friends….

Sora stopped talking. Sitting next to him was Goofy. He was listening to Sora's story.

"I'm sorry. I was talking so much, I hardly noticed you were there." said Sora.

Goofy nodded and didn't say a word.

"I know what I said upset you and…" Sora was saying.

"Upset me? Oh no! You did not upset me at all." said Goofy.

Sora felt relief and Goofy continued. "Thank you for being open about yourself with me. I don't know depression and I don't know anything about suicide. And I don't know how you feel. However, whatever you're going through, I'm going to be there all the way." said Goofy.

Sora looked at Goofy with tears forming in his eyes. "You mean it?" he said.

Goofy smiled and gave Sora a thumbs up. "Ahyuck."

Sora had tears rolling down his eyes and hugged Goofy tightly. Donald then entered the room and stopped.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

Goofy nodded and Donald understood. "I'm in the hallway when you guys are ready. We have something to talk about. Plus, she's here." said Donald.

"Who?" asked Sora, turning around to see Donald.

"The princess, Snow White! She's here!" said Donald.

"The lady you told me about!" said Goofy.

Sora smiled. "Let's go! I need to see if I can ask her myself."