"So, for the benefit of everyone who wasn't there, what exactly happened, in quick notes, between then and now?" Aqua asked after a second, sitting forward in her seat and looking at the Islanders. The three of them exchanged a glance, Riku quickly looking away, and Sora decided to take the story.
"Well after that I arrived in Traverse Town and met Donald and Goofy, we traveled around the worlds for a while. We sealed some keyholes, fought some Heartless, and looked for Kairi and Riku. Then, after a while…" Sora trailed off, looking to Riku, who bit the inside of his mouth.
"I had been found by Maleficent," Riku said shortly. The other Keyblade Wielders blinked in surprise, recognizing the name. "She… convinced me that she could help save Kairi who had lost her heart. I didn't… listen to Sora."
"After a while, we ended up in Hollow Bastion," Sora continued with a quick concerned look to Riku. "Where Ansem, the man you saw before talking to me, possessed Riku's body. I released Kairi from my heart and then Riku and I managed to close the Door to Kingdom Hearts, though from opposite sides."
Riku scoffed to himself. Sora was skipping over a lot of the terrible things Riku had done. Well, it didn't matter. The rest of them would see them soon.
"Something else happened after that, though I can't remember it. Then I woke up and we traveled around more worlds, fighting people from Organization 13. After that, Riku and I ended up in the Realm of Darkness and now, we're here." Sora leaned forward. "What about you?"
"Terra, Ven, and I traveled around the worlds similar to you," Aqua explained. "We were searching for each other. But… we were betrayed. Terra ended up possessed, I was trapped in the Realm of Darkness, and Ven fell into an unending sleep. Vanitas," Aqua said the name in anger and said boy raised an eyebrow at her, resting his head on one of his hands and watching the conversation with an expression of careful blankness. "is supposed to be dead."
"Welcome to the club," Roxas snarked from his place near Axel. "I suppose it's our turn. Xion, Axel, and I were all part of Organization 13, a group of Nobodies who were attempting to create Kingdom Hearts to give ourselves hearts, which we lost when our Somebodies were split into a Heartless and a Nobody. Xion and I ended up fighting due to the Organization's scheming and I ended up having to kill her." Roxas's gaze flickered at that and Xion reached out, taking Roxas's hand gently and Axel's hand settled on Roxas's back in support. "After that, I was thrown into a virtual reality by that one," pointing at Riku, "and DiZ, so I could die "at the proper moment" and bring Sora back. Which they got." He sat back with a huff, crossing his arms.
"I kidnapped Kairi in order to get Sora killed by a Heartless so Roxas would come back," Axel said bluntly, taking several people aback when he just blatantly admitted that he had been a villain. "But eventually, I tried to help and ended up sacrificing myself to get Sora and his cohorts into where the leader of Organization 13 was. So, I'm dead."
"You're not dead," Mickey said, shaking his head. "You're recompleting. Eventually."
"You said that earlier and it didn't make sense then, so it doesn't make sense now," Axel told him, shaking his head. "What does that even mean?"
"It means, when a Heartless and a Nobody of the same person eventually perish, the Somebody of that person will return," Mickey explained, gesturing to Axel. "You're either already a Somebody or, when Brain pulled us here, he pulled you in from Kingdom Hearts, where you would have been residing until your Heartless died."
"Huh," Axel hummed, sitting back slightly. "Strange." Both Xion and Roxas looked at him. "Nothing's wrong guys," he responded to their unasked question.
"I'm from the part during which Sora can't remember," Naminé contributed in her soft voice, arms wrapping around herself again like she would have if she had a sketchbook to cling to her chest. "I'm Kairi's Nobody and I thought I was also dead as well."
"That part," Sora started, leaning forward. "It will probably be shown, right?" Naminé stiffened and Axel's eyes shot over to her in a second, knowing exactly why she was worried. And it wasn't because she thought Sora was going to be mad at her.
"Probably," Naminé confirmed, looking down, and Sora nodded.
"Then, we don't really need to discuss it." He sat back, leaning on Riku's shoulder. He knew this was probably really troubling for Riku, so he wanted to show him that nothing had changed. Nothing was wrong now that they had to see it again. Riku had broken himself out of the darkness and he was here again. Sora wasn't going to lose him, not over this.
"And Mickey?" Terra asked, looking at the king, who shrugged.
"I mostly was in the Realm of Darkness during this first part, then I mostly stuck with Riku, then Sora," the king explained. "Nothing big happened with me."
Aqua sat back with a hum, only Terra being able to see the worry and concern in her otherwise calm expression. Her fingertips danced on her leg and her eyes flicked around the group. Not because she was worried about what they would do, but because she didn't know who to watch. It was clear all of them had some form of trauma response to something that they would be shown. Riku had succumbed to darkness, Roxas killed Xion, Sora forgot some stuff which had to be at least some version of worrying (She had grown up with Ven, she knew that for a fact), Kairi had been kidnapped by someone sitting in the room, and while they weren't "kids" kids, both her and Terra had also been through some… things. And she highly doubted that any of them had taken a chance to sit and process it.
At least Master Eraqus waited until Terra and I were eighteen to have us take the Mark of Mastery. And even then, it should have been purely ceremonial, at least for the first couple of months. As the different groups descended into talking to each other, she pressed a hand to her mouth, under the pretext of supporting her head as she leaned to the side, to cover up the frown on her face. And maybe it was because she had memories of just a few weeks ago, to her, about meeting Sora and Riku and them being shorter than her waist.
Terra prodded her in the arm, using Ven's back as a shield to keep people from noticing he was doing it, and she flicked her eyes over to him.
You okay? He asked with his eyes. She paused, then shook her head minutely. Her eyes traveled back around the room before ending on Terra.
Kids, she told him, and he grimaced slightly. While he clearly hadn't been on the same vein of thought as she was, he had clearly been thinking something similar.
Why are kids saving our world and who told them they had to?
"Riku," Sora asked quietly, after the group had split into smaller groups after explaining what had happened. "Are you going to be okay?" With seeing everything all over again?
Riku didn't answer for a second, still looking off to the side, before his eyes finally moved to Sora's.
"I don't know," he admitted in a low voice. "Everything that happened, everything I did…"
"It wasn't your fault," Sora told him, reaching a hand out to take Riku's, holding it close. "Maleficent manipulated you, you only wanted to save Kairi. And you helped us in the end. You closed the door!"
"I think you're forgetting basically everything else that I did during that time," Riku muttered, looking down at their clasped hands. "I hurt you, badly. I took the Keyblade from you in a place infested with Heartless, I let Ansem posses me out of petty jealousy, I didn't stop him from fighting you."
"But you sacrificed yourself to the Realm of Darkness to save us, you protected me for a year, you saved Kairi when she got kidnapped." Sora looked up into Riku's eyes, waiting until the older boy looked back to him. "I'm not going to let you forget that, got it? I'll remind you every minute if I have to during these watches. You're a good person, Riku. My best friend."
Riku paused, an aborted breath going through him, before he sighed and looked away. "I'm not going anywhere," Sora promised, holding Riku's hand close.
Watching this, Mickey smiled slightly. He knew how much everything weighed on Riku, everything that had happened and everything that Riku had done. He was glad, at least, that Riku wouldn't suffer alone during the viewing.
He was distracted by a sigh.
"Kairi?" He asked quietly, leaning over slightly to look at the girl. She was watching Sora and Riku interact with a melancholy expression on her face. She jumped in surprise when Mickey spoke to her.
"Oh, King Mickey," she greeted. "How can I help you?"
"First, it's just Mickey, you're not one of my citizens," he told her, smiling at the young girl. "And second, what's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," she started but quickly stopped when it was clear Mickey wasn't believing her. "It's just… They've both changed so much. And they're so much stronger now. Yes, I have a Keyblade, but… where does that leave me?"
"Well," Mickey started. "Sometimes things change, relations change. It doesn't mean you're not friends, you just have to find a new way to be friends."
"So, Sora and I could repair our relationship?" She questioned, already turning to look at the boys, and Mickey winced. That wasn't really what he meant. He knew what the girl wanted, and there was nothing wrong with it, but he had a feeling even though she knew things had changed, she hadn't realized that they had changed too much.
"Maybe," he said slowly. He couldn't tell her that Sora was gone for her, he couldn't do that to her. He needed her to realize it for herself, as much as that would hurt. And he would always be here as a shoulder to cry on if she needed it. All of the children needed support.
"Axel," Xion said quietly, watching the room at large. "Should we be concerned about them turning on us when they see what we did?" Axel blinked in surprise before looking down at the girl at his side. Roxas turned to him as well, wide eyed from Xion's question.
"No, absolutely not," he reassured them, reaching out and placing his hands on their backs. "You two did nothing bad at all. You had no memories and the first person you met told you he could get you hearts, a sentiment only backed up by everyone you met. It is not your fault. And if they did, I would find some way to break out of this place and take you two with me, okay?"
Xion paused but nodded, looking a little bit more reassured.
"But what about you?" Roxas asked, watching Axel, who grimaced.
"I… did a bit more," he admitted. "I did try to kill Sora on multiple occasions. And while I accept that many people are going to be mad at me, I don't think they'd attack me over it. They're heroes of light and all that." Xion giggled slightly at the sarcastic lilt to his voice at the title and Roxas smiled, leaning more on Axel's side. "We're going to be just fine. My main concern is that you're going to see what happened in Castle Oblivion."
Roxas tensed, remembering the few days he had thought Axel was dead. The dull grey that had passed over his eyes and refused to leave, uncaring about the world.
"Everyone died at Castle Oblivion, right?" Xion asked and Axel nodded.
"But several of those deaths were thanks to me, so just… remember that." Xion blinked before looking up at him.
"That's not going to change how we feel about you," she told him seriously. "You're our friend. No matter what."
Ven couldn't help the way that his eyes kept flicking over to Vanitas. His other half didn't look… sad in any conventional way, but he sure didn't look happy or comfortable, despite his attempts to look so. It was clear that Aqua hated him, and Terra, at least, disliked him. If not for Brain taking away their ability to use their Keyblades, Aqua probably would have attacked and either severely hurt or even killed Vanitas.
And it wasn't like Ven wasn't mad at Vanitas. He had scattered Unversed across the worlds, had possessed Ven and attempted to kill his friends, and had caused Ven to fall into his sleep, which he had, technically, not awoken from yet.
But at the same time… He couldn't help but remember the few memories he had from his time as Master Xehanort's apprentice. It hadn't been… fun, to put it lightly, and he had only been there for about a year. He couldn't imagine dealing with it for four more years.
And it hurt that he knew if he tried to reach out, he would be rebuffed harshly. By both Vanitas and Aqua. But… Vanitas was a part of him once, and while he was his own person now, it didn't stop Ven from being some form of worried for him.
He wished he could help him.
"Are we ready to start watching again?" Mickey asked the group after the conversations that had started petered off slowly. Several people exchanged glances, and Sora's hand tightened around Riku's, but no one objected. "Room?" Mickey asked, looking up, and the lights started to dim again.
The black square began to show images.
Donald and Goofy walk down the town and Donald wonders about where the key would be.
"Was he hoping you would just appear from the sky?" Axel asked with a raised eyebrow. "Mickey specifically said that you were a person with a key." Sora shrugged. He was aware of Donald's… lack of patience, but it hadn't ever affected him badly.
Goofy says they should go find Leon. Pluto starts walking off and Goofy tries to draw attention to it but Donald ignores him.
Sora could help the small chuckle that slipped out of him. Had they followed Pluto, they would have found him much faster.
Pluto finds Sora.
"You were just there?" Aqua asked, watching the town. "Just appeared?"
"Well, Traverse Town was specifically created by the worlds as a place that people go when their world disappears," Mickey explained. "People do just appear there once their world falls to darkness." Aqua nodded slowly.
Pluto licks Sora, who wakes up slowly.
"Didn't your world just end in a big, epic fight with a creature and a cataclysmic storm?" Roxas asked, seeing Sora sit up on screen. "Shouldn't you be more awake?"
"Sora's always slept very heavily," Kairi said with a giggle. "No one can wake up Sora except Sora and apparently Pluto." Sora shrugged with a smile. There was a perk to it. He was never tired because he always got enough sleep.
Sora looks at Pluto and remarks about what a strange dream. Pluto jumps on Sora, making him realize that it wasn't a dream.
"No… you just got that?" Vanitas snarked, watching the events through half-lidded eyes. Sora shot him a look but didn't say anything.
Sora gets up and wonders where he is. He asks Pluto.
"Did you think the dog was going to answer you?" Riku asked and Sora huffed. He would be more offended, but it was a nice sign that Riku was teasing him. It meant Riku couldn't be too upset.
"Well, I was in a new world and had just seen… all of what happened in our world," Sora defended himself. "How did I know the dog wasn't going to talk?"
"Because he's a dog?" Roxas deadpanned but Xion flicked him in the shoulder.
"Don't be mean," she admonished. "Sometimes, it seems like Pluto can actually understand and talk to you. He's a smart dog." Mickey flashed her a smile. He knew it well. It was why he entrusted his letter to Pluto. He knew the dog wouldn't eat it.
Pluto runs off and Sora heads to the town square, remarking about how weird it was.
"That whole day was weird," Sora sighed. He remembered; they went to Wonderland after this. That place would forever be bonkers.
He realizes he's in another world.
As he walks, he sees a person stumble out of the alley before their heart pulls itself out of their chest and they turn into a Heartless.
All of them either jumped or felt dread settle into their stomachs.
"You just… saw that Sora?" Kairi asked, leaning on his side slightly. "Just like that, right as you woke up?" Sora nodded mutely. It had been scary, really scary. He had just fought several of those beasts before and it had hit him that those things had been people. Of course, he would learn later that they were nothing more than a dark will holding a heart, but it still had made him sick for a while.
Riku shivered as he watched the creation of the Heartless. It wasn't his first time seeing it, but still. When he had traveled around the worlds, he had seen plenty of darkness and people succumbing to it, and his possessed self had made a Heartless out of Maleficent, but… A Heartless that close to Sora when he was still relatively new to the Keyblade and defending himself. Not to mention how much that would have scared younger Sora.
The others, minus Mickey and Axel, leaned forward. None of them had ever truly seen the creation of a Heartless before. Xion and Roxas had fought and destroyed plenty, as had Aqua, but the creation process was new. Roxas and Naminé both watched with a sense of… familiarity. It was how they had been created, after all. Roxas, at least. And the three former Organization 13 members knew that a Nobody had just been created. Probably a lesser one, like the dusks, but maybe they were mistaken.
Several Heartless rise up from the ground around Sora and he realizes that they're the same creatures from the Islands.
He fights them off.
Riku couldn't help but be glad that he and Sora had sparred so often on the Islands. Now, Sora had at least some version of knowledge on how to fight, even if it was now with a giant key instead of a sword.
Kairi was worried when she watched Sora fight off the creatures. She knew that Sora was capable now, but back then he hadn't had any experience.
Aqua thought that Sora holding a weapon and fighting the creatures looked wrong, especially at his age. Yes, he was only a year younger than Ven, but he hadn't been supposed to leave either.
A voice from behind Sora tells him that the Heartless will come at him out of nowhere. When Sora asks who it is, the man says that they won't stop coming after him as long as he wields the Keyblade.
"Leon, I presume?" Terra asked, looking to Mickey, who nodded.
Leon wonders why it would choose a kid like him.
Aqua blinked at that. That was a good point, if not for the reason Leon thought. Who had Bequeathed the Keyblade to Sora? As far as she knew, that was the only way to get one. She and Terra had been Bequeathed by Master Eraqus and Ven by Master Xehanort, but who had Bequeathed Sora? It couldn't have been someone from his home, because she assumed they would have told him if they gave him the ability to wield a giant key. And it hadn't been her. It could have been Terra, but he wouldn't have been that foolish to give the destiny to a child, right?
And who would even give it to Sora of all children? No offence to Sora, but there was nothing special about him when she had visited. No spark of light that she had seen in Riku, no Bloodline that she could tell. Nothing about him at all screamed "Potential Powerful Keyblade Wielder". So, who had done it? And why?
Sora asks what Leon means but he brushes him aside, instead asking to see the Keyblade. Sora says that Leon can't have it. Leon pulls out his sword.
"Mickey, why is your friend attacking Sora?" Aqua asked tightly, eyes flicking between the Sora and Leon on the screen. Mickey paused, trying to think it over.
"I think, it might be to protect Sora?" He said slowly, getting several long looks from the other adults in the room and Riku. "He did just say that the Heartless won't leave him alone if he has the Keyblade."
"Don't attack people if you're trying to protect them," Terra mumbled, mind flicking back to the last time he saw his Master. He curled his hands into fists to stop them from shaking.
Both Roxas and Xion gave Axel a look. "Oh shh," the older man retorted, gently whacking them on the backs of their heads. "Our situation was different."
Leon knocks Sora out.
Sora could feel Riku tense from next to him. "I'm okay," he told him, nudging him slightly. "Leon has only been helpful since them." Riku gave him a look. Sora could basically read it. You're too forgiving. He smiled at Riku.
A girl tells Leon that he's slipping. The girl is revealed.
"Yuffie," Sora explains before anyone could ask. "She used to live in Traverse Town with Leon and Aerith."
Leon said that he went easy on Sora. He says that things are clearly a lot worse than they thought.
"Because a child is holding a Keyblade?" Vanitas asked drily, raising an eyebrow. Sora paused before looking at Vanitas. Ven flicked his eyes over to Vanitas.
"Careful Vanitas," he teased gently. "That could almost be interpreted as defending Sora." Vanitas's nose scrunched up, face falling into a scowl.
"It's not," he spat back. "Why would I defend kid Keybearer who is as clearly as pathetic as you?"
Ven didn't respond but his smile didn't fade. Vanitas huffed and crossed his arms, glaring off to the side.
The screen fades back into color, revealing Riku waking up on the ground.
"Riku!" Sora exclaimed. He hadn't ever seen it; he didn't know what had happened to Riku before he appeared in Traverse Town. "It's you!"
Riku gave him a look, one eyebrow arcing up as he looked back to Sora. "Yes?" He responded. Sora flushed.
"No, it's just that I never knew that this happened." Riku looked away at that, swallowing, and Sora squeezed the hand he was holding again. I'm here.
Riku looked around in confusion, wondering where he was.
Sora suddenly gasped. "Riku, are you in Hollow Bastion?" He asked and Riku flinched slightly. A second later, he nodded.
"Hollow Bastion, the place where you fought Ansem?" Aqua asked, thinking back to Sora's earlier explanation. Sora nodded. Aqua grimaced, trying not to let the worry show on her face. So Riku, who was already struggling with some form of darkness, was delivered on a silver platter to Maleficent, all alone.
Her eyes flicked to Terra. It was making more and more sense why Riku would have sided with Maleficent. She could have even pretended to be good, for a while at least, until Riku was too far in to get out. Terra knew at least how manipulative she could be, even if he hadn't fallen for it. But he had been more secure in himself, had an already established mission, and had some idea of darkness and its components. Riku had none of that.
He calls his friends names.
Kairi blinked in surprise. Riku, of all people, was looking for her? She knew that he had been trying to get her heart back for her, even if she never found out why, but she had thought that had happened after he happened upon her body and just decided to do it. She honestly thought he would only be searching for Sora. Even before, when he said to Sora that Kairi was coming with them, it surprised her.
In the distance, Maleficent is seen watching him.
Riku wasn't the only one to shiver upon the realization that Maleficent was watching him. He knew that she had been the first one he had seen, but still, seeing it was something else. Sora leaned a little on Riku's side. He didn't like to hate, he didn't like the feeling, but he thought he hated Maleficent just a little, for what she did to Riku.
In Traverse Town, Goofy and Donald are walking down that path. Goofy remarks that no one is there.
"Why is no one there?" Naminé asked quietly, leaning on the side of her plush chair. "Wouldn't it be full of people if the stars are continually going out?"
"Well, like Jiminy said, there wasn't a guarantee that they would make it to Traverse Town," Mickey explained with a sad smile, trying not to look at Riku as he explained. He knew that it would only make the boy feel worse. "He was the only one to get to the castle after all. Also, there were Heartless loose on the streets, not that it was Sora's fault." He gave the boy a look. "They might have all been hiding."
Donald said he wasn't scared only to jump onto Goofy's back as he was tapped on the shoulder.
They all had a good laugh at that, the scene providing some much-needed levity to the room.
A woman asks if the king sent them.
"Aerith," Sora said, not even needing to specify who he was talking about.
As Sora wakes up, he thinks Kairi is next to him.
"Sora?" Kairi asked quietly, knowing very well that she wasn't anywhere near Traverse Town or even awake enough to be there.
"Yuffie looked a lot like you to my addled brain," Sora said as an explanation. Kairi nodded.
She explains that the creatures were after him because of the Keyblade, even though it's his heart they really want.
"They don't get to have your heart," Kairi murmured into his shoulder, and he smiled gently at her. She smiled back, an unknown light in her eyes.
Sora calls her Kairi, and she corrects him. The screen flickers before showing Yuffie.
"How old is Yuffie anyway?" Kairi asked and Sora paused before shrugging.
"Maybe, a little older than us?" He wondered. "I never really asked."
Leon enters and Yuffie introduces him. Sora notices the Keyblade against the wall and Yuffie tells him they had to get it away from him in order to get rid of the Heartless.
Point to Leon, Riku thought. Why he couldn't just explain that, Riku didn't know, but at least he hadn't done anything else.
Leon says that was how they were tracking him, and it wouldn't last for long. He says that it was hard to believe Sora was the chosen one.
"Terra," Aqua whispered under her breath, knowing Terra would hear her. "You didn't Bequeath to Sora, right?" For a second Terra didn't respond and she almost turned to look at him, but he shifted.
"No," he said eventually, an uncertain note to his voice. But Aqua couldn't hear a lie in his voice, so she let it go.
Terra wondered if she would let him say his goodbyes before she murdered him once it came out that he Bequeathed to Riku.
Leon picks up the Keyblade and it reappears in Sora's hand.
"The amount of times where that has been useful in uncountable," Sora muttered, hearing noises of agreement from Riku, Mickey, and the other teenagers. It was always nice when your weapon came back to you and villains couldn't steal it.
Leon says beggars can't be choosers.
Riku really didn't know whether to like him or not.
Sora asks what was going on. The scene switches to Aerith explaining about other worlds. Goofy says they're supposed to be secret. Aerith says they were secret because they were never connected.
"What would you call what Aqua, Ven, and I did then?" Terra asked, tipping his head to the side. "We traveled to the different worlds."
"Yes, but you had special materials to do that," Mickey told him. "Like my star shard and your gliders. The worlds themselves weren't connected, but you could travel them."
"Like Donald, Goofy, and I did later? Using the Gummiship?" Sora asked and Mickey nodded.
Aerith says that it changed once the Heartless appeared. Sora questions Heartless and Yuffie explains that they attack him. Leon says they're beings without hearts, made of darkness.
"Wouldn't that be the Nobodies though?" Roxas interjected. "We're the ones without hearts and emotions."
"Well…" Mickey started, but trailed off, thinking. The others thought about it as well, until Vanitas interrupted them with a laugh.
"Who named these things?" He snickered, oblivious or ignoring the looks Aqua was giving him. "The beings made of the body of the Somebody is called the Nobody while the beings made of the hearts of the Somebody is called the Heartless." For a second, it was only Vanitas's laughter before Sora snickered, hand clapping to his mouth to attempt to stifle the sound.
Riku chuckled slightly, as did Xion, while Mickey thought back.
"I believe it was the person you knew as DiZ, or Ansem the Wise," the king told them, and while the Wayfinder Trio blinked in confusion, an expression of surprise malice crossed over both Naminé's and Roxas's faces.
"Makes sense," Naminé spat out, making several people turn to her in shock. "That man could never do anything right."
A second later, Roxas burst out into full laughter, both at her comment and Vanitas's older one. Any opportunity to make fun of DiZ was an opportunity he'd take. His laughter spurred on Riku's, who in turn affected both Kairi and Sora. Xion started giggling when Roxas's did, and Ven couldn't help the laughter that slipped through him at his other half's words. Naminé was already giggling again.
For a moment, the four adults of the room surveyed the multiple laughing teens, smiles flitting across their own faces at the moment of laughter in the otherwise tense atmosphere. Even Vanitas hadn't stopped laughing since his comment, only spurred on by the surprising malicious statement from the girl in white. She had seemed so soft spoken. Unless you mentioned that man apparently.
"Do we want to know?" Aqua asked, raising an eyebrow at Mickey. The king smiled, eyes resting on Riku for a second, before moving back to Aqua.
"I don't know most of it, but I think both Naminé and Roxas had… bad experiences with the man."
"He was the one to trap Roxas in the virtual reality," Axel explained, and she looked over at him. "He also verbally, and there's a chance physically, abused Naminé for a year. And convinced Riku to be an accomplice to murder when he was trying to redeem himself." Aqua blinked, taken aback, and could already feel a little bit of ire growing at the man, even though she had never met him. If he had hurt the kids…
"Yeah, none of us like him," Roxas snarked out as the laughter started to die down. "What happened to him anyway?"
"His machine exploded and took him with it," Riku said bluntly, and Roxas paused, before starting to laugh again. Aqua caught Naminé hiding a smile behind a hand. Well, if the kids didn't like him, he couldn't have been a good person.
As Roxas's laughter petered out again, Sora shot a look at Riku. For a second, it almost seemed like the pre-Destiny Islands falling to darkness Riku was back.
Leon says that the darkness in people's hearts attracts them. And that there was darkness in every heart.
While Aqua and Terra both made faces at that, both of them flashing back to Master Eraqus's lectures about how bad darkness was, Kairi giggled slightly.
"Well, most of them," she said and Ven looked over at her in intrigue.
"What do you mean?" He asked and she blinked, taken off guard by his interest.
"Well, there are seven "Princesses of Heart," she explained. "They are characterized by having no darkness in their hearts at all. I happen to be one of them."
Ven felt his mouth open slightly in surprise before snapping it shut with some effort. "Oh," he responded vaguely, trying to think. He had never met another person like him, with no darkness at all. And even if he wasn't… natural, like they were, it was still interesting. It would be nice to talk to Kairi sometime, get her insight on it.
Vanitas looked at his other half through the corner of his eye, knowing what he was thinking.
Yuffie asks if Sora's ever heard of someone named Ansem.
"Both of them and they're both terrible," Riku quipped, and Sora laughed slightly. He squeezed Riku's hand. He was glad Riku was able to joke and laugh like he used to. Even if it got worse deeper into the recordings, at least he had this moment.
Aerith tells Goofy and Donald that Ansem was studying the Heartless and recorded all his findings in a report. Goofy asks if they could see it but Aerith tells him it was scattered across the worlds.
Mickey couldn't help the small spark of melancholy that went through him at the mention of Ansem. He remembered meeting the man all those years ago. Meeting him and seeing his lab, seeing the reports. Ansem had seemed like such a good person then, interested in only helping people. But pride and revenge could take everyone it seemed, and it was clear that the man Mickey once had known was gone. The man Mickey had known would never have treated Naminé like he did, even if she was a Nobody. He had adored Ienzo and any other child he had come across. The old him never would have taken something that Naminé's status as a Nobody as an excuse to hurt her.
Distantly, he wondered what happened to Ienzo when the world fell. He would have been nineteen this year, if he had lived. Barely older than Aqua and Terra. Only three years older than Riku. Had he made it to one of the sanctuary worlds, like Traverse Town? Or had he perished in the fall of Radiant Garden, without even living a decade?
Goofy says that was probably where the king went. Aerith agrees with him.
Several looks were aimed Mickey's way, who chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head, ears twitching self-consciously. While that might have been a plan, it wasn't the one he had eventually settled on.
Goofy says they have to find the king, but Donald insists on finding the key. Aerith calls it the Keyblade.
Sora asks if the Keyblade is the key and Yuffie confirms it. Leon says that the Heartless fear the Keyblade, so they'll keep coming after him.
"Even if they weren't coming after me, I'd still go out and fight them," Sora murmured, watching the screen. "Other people can't fight them off."
Sora says he didn't ask for it and Yuffie says the Keyblade chooses its master.
"Well, that's not entirely true," Aqua said, causing several looks to be aimed at her way.
"What do you mean?" Sora asked, sitting up, and Aqua made a face.
"Basically, Keyblades don't really choose people," she explained. "Instead, a Keyblade Master or Bearer, though it's usually a Master, can Bequeath a Keyblade to someone, thus giving them the power of the Keyblade. It's how Terra and I got our Keyblades. Master Eraqus Bequeathed them to us when we were ten, though he had already been training us for a couple of years."
Ven couldn't help the remembered agitation and jealousy that went through him at that. While he knew now that the reason Eraqus refused to teach him much was the X-Blade and his role in it, it didn't make any of his past frustration and anger go away.
"So, someone must have… Bequeathed the Keyblade to Sora?" Kairi asked and Aqua nodded.
"Could it have been someone on your island?" Terra asked and the three of them exchanged glances.
"I don't think so," Sora said slowly. "We would have known about it then, right? At least, I like to think that whoever gave me the Keyblade would have told me about it."
Riku furrowed his eyebrows, silently watching the conversation. All this… was reminding him of a long-forgotten memory. Something he had dismissed as a dream years ago. But now, hearing this and looking at Terra, could it have been a memory?
Terra, or at least someone who looked like Terra, kneeling in front of him, holding the end of his Keyblade to him. Asking him to touch it.
Was that… a Bequeathing ritual? Had Terra Bequeathed a Keyblade to him?
He blinked again, eyes flicking to Terra, who was watching Aqua with careful consideration, clearly thinking about what she was saying. Had Terra given him his Keyblade, all those years ago, in a memory that felt like a dream? But why wasn't Terra saying anything about it?
Riku paused before resolving to ask Terra about it later.
"But what about me and Xion?" Roxas asked, resting his head against Axel's shoulder. "No one Bequeathed to us."
"Well, you're a part of Sora, aren't you?" Aqua asked, turning to the teenager. "You're Sora's Nobody and even if you don't have a heart of your own, that shouldn't stop your ability to wield a Keyblade. Just look at Xehanort." It was clear that the last line was meant to be just for her, with the way it was muttered, but Vanitas still heard it and couldn't help the snort that escaped him. Even if Master Xehanort wasn't truly heartless, he surely acted like it.
Aqua jumped in surprise at the laugh from Vanitas, who immediately stifled the noise and looked away. She didn't say anything, staring at him in shock. Had he just… laughed at something she had said? And it hadn't been his mocking laughter, she knew what that sounded like.
"What about me?" Xion asked, bringing Aqua's attention back to her. "I'm just made of memories."
"Have you ever held Roxas's Keyblade?" Terra asked instead, and Aqua looked to him in confusion. But he seemed sure in what he was saying, so she didn't interrupt him. "Before you had your Keyblade?" Xion paused, thinking back, before nodding slowly. "I bet that Roxas accidentally Bequeathed it to you during that moment. Bequeathing, at its most basic, requires that the recipient of the Bequeathing has contact with the Keyblade and that the Bearer of the Keyblade has some sort of intent that the person holding either can use it, or hold it, or something like that. Bequeathings differ for each person."
"So, Roxas… gave me his Keyblade?" Xion wondered, turning to look at Roxas who looked just as mystified as her.
"More like, gave you the ability to unlock your own," Terra explained. Xion blinked but smiled at Roxas.
"Well, thanks then," she told him, and he nodded.
"Of course," he responded, holding her hand gently.
"Though, that doesn't explain Sora," Aqua murmured.
"Maybe, we'll find out while watching this," Mickey volunteered. "Brain did say that we'd see the future as well. Maybe an answer will be given then."
Sora asks what happened to his home and friends. Leon says he doesn't know.
Riku flinched again, smaller than before, and the only reason Sora felt it was because he was leaning on him. He squeezed his hand again. Still here.
A Heartless suddenly appears in the room, shocking Yuffie, who Leon tells to run. Yuffie runs into the next room, which has Aerith, Donald, and Goofy.
"Wait, you were that close to each other?" Kairi asked and Sora nodded.
Leon jumps out the window and Sora runs down the stairs. The door swings back to reveal that it crushed Donald.
There were few snickers from across the room, but the tension was rising again as the Heartless appeared.
Leon says to find the leader and he and Sora fight the Heartless.
"Leader?" Ven asked, trying to learn as much as he could about the Heartless. Once he was awake in the real world, he was going to help them save the world.
"Sometimes Heartless have leaders that direct them, but not all places," Sora explained, getting a nod from Ven.
Goofy asks if they are the Heartless and Donald says to fight them. They end up being flung off the wall and land on Sora.
"And thus, I met them," Sora said, a smile curling around his mouth.
"Are you okay, Sora?" Kairi asked, staring at the pile of three half pints. "That looks like it could have hurt."
"Oh, it's nothing," Sora replied with a wave. "Barely a scratch compared to what I get now." The four adults thought that Sora's statement wasn't nearly as reassuring as he thought it was.
Donald and Goofy spot the Keyblade. Rumbling sounds from all around.
More Heartless appear and Donald, Goofy, and Sora fight them.
"Do they ever stop?" Terra wondered only for a big one to appear on screen once the rest of the little ones disappeared. "I take it back."
The three of them attack and destroy the Heartless.
"Good job," Riku murmured, and Sora smiled at him.
Sora asks about Goofy and Donald looking for him. The two of them confirm.
Leon says that they were also searching for the Keyblade Wielder.
Sora couldn't help the smallest sigh that went through him. That still hadn't changed. It seemed like everyone was always looking for him or looking to him.
Goofy offers to a chance to Sora to come with them.
"Just like that?" Roxas asked, a hint of incredulity in his voice. No one ever… just offered things in the world. It was always take, take, take. And if anyone ever offered something, it was because they were using you.
Axel looked down at the boy, knowing exactly what was going through his brain. He reached out an arm and wrapped it around the Nobody, holding him close.
That wouldn't be Roxas's world anymore. Not if he had anything to say about it.
"Just the way Goofy was," Sora responded with a smile, oblivious to Roxas's true feelings about the question.
Donald agrees, causing Goofy to question him. Donald says he can help them find the king.
"Sora?" Mickey asked, the unasked question in his voice making Sora wince slightly.
"Yes, Donald and I had some… disagreements in the beginning," he conceded, not looking at anyone in the room. "At the start, he only wanted to find you and I only wanted to find my friends. But we worked through our feelings together and we are friends now. No matter how it started."
None of the adults said anything.
Mickey frowned. Donald should have been…
Leon says Sora should go with them, especially if he wanted to find his friends.
Sora leaned on Riku for a quick second, while his other hand snaked back and held Kairi's. They were both here now. He didn't have to search anymore.
Donald says he couldn't come with them looking like that. He says no frowning.
Aqua narrowed her eyes slightly. That… was very close to toxic positivity. Had Sora always been told that?
Goofy says he has to look silly, like them. Donald says the Gummiship runs on happy faces.
Terra didn't completely understand what had just happened, but Aqua had suddenly gotten very tense. He shot her a look, trying to figure out what had happened, but she didn't respond.
Sora smiles wide at them.
While a few others, mostly the teenagers, laughed at Sora face, Riku couldn't help but remember the way that Sora had reassured him about going home. Was that something he had learned there? Just like now, it had made him laugh then too. Made him think for just a second that things would be okay.
Sora says he'll go with them. They introduce themselves.
"Wait, you agreed to go with them without knowing their names?" Kairi asked, shooting Sora a look.
He rubbed the back of his head while laughing nervously. "They seemed trustworthy?" The look didn't lessen.
The scene switches to a dark room where the image of Sora, Goofy, and Donald is shown. An unknown voice remarks on how they took down the Heartless.
Just like water dousing a candle, all lightness and levity in the air disappeared instantly. Sora shivered slightly. They had been… watching them? How was this even possible?
Riku went stiff at the sight of the room, where Maleficent and her cohorts had done most of their planning. He had avoided it as much as he could, but he had still seen it a few times. Just looking at it… Everything he had done…
He gently extracted his hand from Sora's, thankful that the boy hadn't noticed. He rubbed them together, trying to force all the negative thoughts out of his head and silently hoped that his mental state would draw darkness or light to his hands, which had happened several times when he had gotten stressed. The last thing he needed was to remind everyone of all the terrible things he had done.
One of the voices says that it wasn't Sora, but the Keyblade.
Rude, a small part of Sora thought, taken aback. Riku had taught him to fight just fine, thank you. That was all Riku's teaching.
Another voice asks why they don't just turn him into a Heartless.
Several glares were aimed at the screen for that.
A voice says that the others were the king's lackeys.
Mickey paused, trying to place the voice and trying to figure out how they would know about Donald and Goofy. Disneytown didn't often get that many visitors.
The voices argue among themselves until Maleficent stops them.
Sora paused when he realized that all the voices were people he ended up facing during the search. He didn't know how to feel about that.
Riku went full body stiff at the sound of Maleficent's voice. Not here, not here, circled around his head in a mantra. It didn't matter that she was clearly not here, his heart started to race, and he could feel the pre-battle adrenaline start to race through him.
She's not here, he hissed at himself, curling his hands into his fists. A white noise started to build in his ears and his breathing picked up. She's gone, she'd dead. She's not here.
Distantly he realized that he stopped being able to hear what was going on around him, but his breathing continued to rush, his thoughts spinning and racing around his head.
She's not here!
A second later, he flinched, throwing himself backwards at the hands that suddenly grabbed his, forcing them from their fists. His eyes snapped open from where they had closed, but they saw nothing. He yanked on his hands, but whoever had them didn't let go. Instead, they clasped their hands with his, rubbing their thumbs on the backs of his hands. Another hand settled on his back and he flinched again. Hollow Bastion flashed through his mind, the darkness that seeped from walls and threatened to consume him.
But something prodded him in the side, sharp and sudden, and it yanked him out of his thoughts. The hands switched to rubbing his palms and the hand on his back hadn't left.
A voice slowly trickled in.
"-at's right, deep breaths, you can do it." It was a man's voice, deep and soothing, and Riku latched onto it, anything to drag himself from the memories. "Deep breaths, in for four, out for four." Riku tried to copy the voice's instructions, tried to slow his breath to match the counting that the voice started. The voice paused for a second, before continuing with his counting, maybe catching on that Riku was following. The hands on his stilled, instead just holding his hands carefully, while the hand on his back rubbed in clockwise circles, a soothing, grounding motion.
Riku's breathing slowly managed to match the voice's, which was starting to sound more and more familiar, counting, and he slowly became aware of certain things.
Like how his palms were burning in pain, the kind that came from an open wound exposed to air. The spot next to him was empty and there was quiet whispers coming from an area across from him. His eyes were squeezed tightly together, twin trails of liquid staining his cheeks.
"Riku?" Terra asked quietly, and the sixteen-year-old slowly opened his eyes, wincing slightly at the sudden brightness of the room. His eyes settled on Terra, who was kneeling in front of the couch Riku was sitting on, Riku's hands held in his own.
Behind him, both Kairi and Sora were standing near Aqua and Ven's couch, watching Riku worriedly. Aqua was standing, a pace away from Terra, and the three former Organization members were watching him, one in understanding, two in confusion. Vanitas was also looking at him in… understanding?
Naminé was curled up on her chair, knees pulled to her chest, and Mickey was nowhere to be found. The screen had faded away to black and the lights were back up.
"Riku, are you back with us?" Terra asked, voice low and gentle, and Riku's eyes flicked back to his as his brain started to function again. What had just…
"You had a panic attack," the older man told him gently, no doubt seeing the question in Riku's eyes. "Most likely triggered by Maleficent's voice." Riku paused, mind thinking back to what had happened. They had been watching and then…
"Oh," he said dully, eyes dropping to the ground. He knew of panic attacks, his mother had often been inflicted by them, an unfortunate side effect of her anxiety disorder but… He never thought one would happen to him. He hadn't ever had one, even when he had been going through it the first time. So why…?
"Gosh Riku," Mickey said, and Riku abruptly realized the hand on his back was Mickey's. Mickey jumped down to land on the couch at his side and Riku figured that Mickey had been standing on the back of the couch. "You sure you're okay?"
Riku swallowed, trying to get his thoughts back in order. "Will it… happen again?" He asked quietly, trying not to look at the others in the room and just at Terra. He was supposed to be the strong one, was supposed to look after and protect Sora and Kairi. He wasn't supposed to be this… weak.
Terra grimaced. "I don't know," he admitted, finally letting go of Riku's hands and letting the boy see the ten crescent moon shapes in his palms. "These things… are hard to understand. But there's nothing wrong with them."
Yeah, right, Riku hissed out in his mind. He should be better than this.
"But we'll keep an eye on it, okay?" Terra said, giving him a smile. "Tell us if you feel the beginning of another one coming on." The older man stood from his kneeling position and Riku felt his eyes drop again. He couldn't look at anyone else, not after they had just seen… that.
"Riku," Aqua said, voice soft, and Riku looked back up at her. "Are you going to be okay to watch the rest of it?" He nodded once, trying to press confidence into his motion. He was going to be okay dammit. He wasn't going to be as weak as he had been, both then and now.
Aqua nodded at him in return and she and Terra walked back to their couch. Sora and Kairi gently made their way back over and Riku hated the look in their eyes. It was pity. He didn't need it. He was the one who was supposed to protect them.
Mickey gave his shoulder a final squeeze and went back to his chair, allowing Sora and Kairi to take their seats again. Riku determinedly didn't look at them.
He would be fine. He had to be.
