The rough, cool surface of stone was the first thing Riku felt as he stirred awake. Running water, the first thing he heard. His blurry vision slowly became more clear when he opened his eyes. When he looked at where his hands and feet were placed, he saw he was laying on a platform of some kind of cobblestone over a body of water. Water that somehow flowed upward in some areas of the pool before him. He slowly got to his feet, working out the soreness in his body and the remaining fog in his mind.
"Where... am I?" Wherever this was, it wasn't any place he was familiar with. The sky was a somewhat unsettling twilight color, its faded orange color contrasting very noticeably against the blue cobblestone he stood upon. The last thing Riku recalled was being on the Destiny Islands while the world was being consumed by darkness, Sora reaching for him...
It was then realized that the dear friend in question wasn't with him. Nor was the other. "Sora! Kairi!" His shout echoed through the waves but no response came. Hanging his head woefully, Riku could only hope his friends made it to the other side like he did.
Little did he realize that his arrival in this place attracted attention from higher above. From the top of the basin through some of the floating pieces of what looked to be ice, a figure was looking down at Riku with great interest. All that could be made out was they wore a black robe. Out of one of the sleeves was a pale, bony hand with long, sharp looking purple fingernails.
"Come on lazy bum. Wake up."
Sora recognized that voice. As his consciousness returned from his self-induced exhaustion, he turned to his side toward the source. He saw...Kairi! His vision was a bit blurry, but he was certain it was her! He knew that voice and that face anywhere! They were in what looked like a small bedroom with three doors, one at a different wall of the room. "You okay?" Despite the prevalent grogginess and soreness from that fight, had put on a weak smile and attempted to assure her, "I guess..."
"Those creatures that attacked you are after the Keyblade," Kairi said to him. "But it's your heart they really want, because you wield the Keyblade."
Sora wasn't sure how Kairi new about the mysterious weapon he recently obtained or how she got here, but he didn't care. Being reunited with her brought a warm, fuzzy feeling in him. A much more genuine smile touched his lips as he said, "I'm so glad that you're okay, Kairi."
"Kairi? Who are you talking about? I'm the great ninja, Yuffie."
"Huh?" Confusion crossed Sora as he noted the sudden in Kairi's voice at her last statement. His vision cleared up and his headache vanished, and sure enough...the person looking at him so closely was older and considerably different looking. It was the black haired woman who met up with the man who attacked Sora.
"I think you might have overdone it, Squall." Yuffie said when looking back at the third person to enter the room. It was Sora's assailant, who pointedly corrected Yuffie by saying, "That's 'Leon'." Sora flinched seeing him, but relaxed when it was clear he wasn't here to fight. Plus this 'Yuffie' and him seemed to be associates and she hadn't done anything threatening either. Perhaps there was something else going on. At the side of a wall near Leon, Sora saw his weapon. "The Keyblade..." Sora mumbled, clearly still unsure what to make of it.
"Yeah. We had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures. It turns out that's how they were tracking you." Yuffie explained.
"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them. But it won't work for long." Leon added before reaching down and grasping the Keyblade's hilt. "Still, hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one." He demonstrated it as he swung the Keyblade backwards, only for it to vanish from his hand in a flash of light. The same streams of light suddenly flashed around Sora's hand and before he knew it, he gasped in surprise as the Keyblade in his hand. This was just beyond bizarre. "Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers." Leon said in resignation. Whatever their thoughts, they weren't in much of a place to complain.
Sora however was extremely tired of all these questions without answers. "Why don't you start making sense? What's going on here?" he demanded with a great frown of frustration.
"Good a question as any to ask, I guess." Back within his shop, Cid was already preparing to hit Ruby with the same series of hard to grasp details. "Yeah, I uhh know I wasn't exactly helpful with my little word salad when I first woke up. I was just so confused and worried with a million different thoughts in my head. Doesn't really make things easy to register or sort out in my head. I've always had a bad habit of going off on tangents whenever I get nervous." Cid raised a hand in front of Ruby and said, "Yeah, I think I get the picture, kiddo. So just cool down and lemme get to explainin'. Okay?" Cid's interjection stopped Ruby from slipping into that tangent and helped her relax. "O-Okay."
"Okay, you know there are many other worlds out there, besides your castle and this town, right?" The braided girl said to Donald and Goofy, in an adjacent room of the hotel. "Yeah." Donald said with a nod. "But they're supposed to be a secret." Goofy said, clasping his hands over his mouth. He thought that nobody was supposed to know this. Something that the young lady before them explained. "They've been, secret because they've never been connected. Until now. When the Heartless came...everything changed."
"The Heartless?" Sora asked. He'd never heard of such things before. Unless..."The ones who attacked you, you remember?" Yuffie's clarification confirmed what he suspected. That was the name of those dark creatures. The Heartless...
-
"Like the name they go by," Cid said when looking out the window at the starry sky as if reminiscing. "They don't have hearts. No emotions, good or bad. Or what makes them 'them' like how you and me are our own people. No ties to anyone or anythin'. Fittin' name as any, I say." Cid said, crossing his arms with a huff.
These Heartless made Ruby go silent as she took in what Cid told her. These creatures were like the Grimm, yet different as well. The Heartless weren't as animalistic and the Grimm seemed more vicious with their faster movements or wild behavior. But then again, there could also have been more variants that she simply hadn't seen yet. "But...Why did they attackwhat do they want?" she asked.
"The darkness in people's hearts. That's what attracts them." Yuffie answered Sora. Leon chimed in with that same serious, and downright grim tone in his voice. "And there is darkness within every heart." Darkness in every heart...so was that why that one Heartless attacked that man? Because it was drawn to the darkness in his heart? Sora just couldn't make heads or tails of this. But the line of questions and exposition wasn't done yet.
"Say. Have you heard of somebody named Ansem?" Yuffie asked Sora, trying to keep the conversation from getting too bleak.
"Ansem?" Goofy asked, rubbing his chin as Aerith asked him the very same question. His inquiry made it clear he hadn't, so Aerith elaborated. "He was studying the Heartless. He recorded all of his findings into a very detailed report."
"Indeed, Ms. Gainsborough. And that report holds the key to understanding exactly what it is that's happening to the worlds."
A sharp yet smooth, scholarly voice rang out in their room, drawing the attention of Donald and Goofy. Both blinked with surprise at the sight of the white haired, small round glasses toting man clad in a black suit over a dark green button up shirt with a thick collar, a a gold buckled belt, and a pair of black shoes partly covered by the legs of his suit pants. it belonged to appearing seemingly from out of nowhere. "It's good to meet you, Court Wizard Donald Duck and Captain Goofy of the Castle Guard. I am Professor Ozpin. An old friend of King Mickey's."
Donald and Goofy's eyes widened with surprise. "Wak? I thought the worlds were supposed to be secret." Donald said, crossing his arms and looking suspiciously at Ozpin. How could he possibly know the King? It was an expression Ozpin was used to getting as he chuckled at Donald. "As Ms. Gainsborough said, the worlds have never been connected. But that doesn't mean that they were never traversed by those who did know of them. It was that curiosity that gave birth to Ansem's report, after all."
Ozpin's explanation got the pair thinking that this report really must have been super important. "Gawrsh, can we see it?" Goofy asked, holding his hands out to Aerith who shook her head. "Its pages are scattered everywhere." "Scattered?" Donald asked. "To many different worlds." Aerith clarified. If these pages were really that important..."Oh, then maybe the King went to find 'em." Goofy deduced, earning a nod of agreement from Donald. "Yes. Those were my thoughts exactly." Aerith said in agreement. Then they had no time to lose! "We gotta find him quick!" Goofy said, now realizing just how urgent their mission had become.
"Wait! First we need that 'key'!" Donald reminded. The King was very specific about this 'key' being what would save them all. "Yes. The Keyblade." Aerith said in agreement. The mention of the Keyblade drew a nostalgic smile to Ozpin's face. "Ah yes. Its chosen one has been found."
"That Keyblade is the only thing capable of truly destroyin' the Heartless. We want any chance of winning, we need its chosen one." Cid explained. "Still I gotta say..." Cid paused his words as he whistled toward the ceiling. A moment later, the moogles all came flapping down the stairway carrying a very familiar red mechanical scythe in their hands. "Your own weapon is quite a work of art in and of itself, little lady. Ain't seen another quite like it." he said, speaking with professional admiration of an inventor.
Ruby's eyes widened with awe, relief, and elation as she saw her weapon being carried down by the moogles. Ruby as she ran up to them in excitement and immediately yoinked the weapon out of their hands, hoisting it up like it was nothing. "Crescent Rose! Ohmygosh, I thought maybe I lost you when I was sucked into that black hole!" she squealed in excitement as she grabbing it and holding it in her arms, before nuzzling it like a doting mother would a precious child. The moogles and Cid looked with uncertain expressions before Ruby perked up. "Oh my gosh, baby girl, you look so clean! Your blade's been re-sharpened, too!"
"Yeah. We did that, kupo. We moogles are natural smiths and apothecaries. Crafting is something we take pride in, kupo. Someday we'll make the ultimate weapon, one that can best any opponent or monster, kupo." Ruby's smile grew as she collapsed her weapon and holstered it on the back of her waist under her cape. "That's awesome. You guys are adorable and hard workers. Thanks for that."
"Ahem." Cid's cleared his throat to draw Ruby back to the important matter at hand. As overjoyed as she was to have her weapon back, she sat back down with an awkward statement of, "Oh, right. Keyblade."
-
"So... this is the key?" Sora asked, examining the aptly named weapon. This was what allowed him to not only harm but destroy the Heartless? "Exactly." Yuffie affirmed with a nod. "The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade. That's why they'll keep coming after you no matter what." Leon said, walking to the farthest end of the room from Sora's bed.
"Well I didn't ask for this." Sora said, feeling incredibly anxious at the target that seemed to be painted on his back. Now he too couldn't help wondering how and why such a weapon chose someone like him to begin with.
"The Keyblade chooses it's master. And it chose you." Yuffie explained turning to face Sora again. "So tough luck." Leon told him apathetically with a wave when leaning to a door leading to the next apartment room over. Sora was just going to have to deal with the cards he'd been dealt, like they had.
All of this still didn't answer one of the major questions on his mind, however. "How did all of this happen? I remember being in my room..."
He gasped and shot to his feet, wondering why he didn't think of it until now. His home islands were surrounded by a dark storm while the Heartless invaded. His friends, his family, everyone was still there when the island was attacked. "Wait a minute! What happened to my home?! My island!"
But the thing that worried Sora the most was the fate of his two most precious friends. "Riku! Kairi!"
Apathetic as Leon was toward Sora being chosen by the Keyblade, the fear and worry that the boy exuded toward his home and his friends, his loved ones...It was a feeling Leon knew very well. One that caused him to forsake his old name. The name of the man who failed those he loved. And all he could say to Sora in response was..."You know what?...I really don't know."
"But if it was anythin' like what happened to the world my friends and I came from...I can only hope your friends were as lucky as you were and survived. I dunno what the Heartless do to the worlds they destroy, and I don't wanna know. But with the help of the one the Keyblade has chosen, we might just have a chance to set all this right." Cid said with a sigh. Holding Crescent Rose close, Ruby looked down as he finished speaking. 'Weiss...Blake...Yang...Everyone...Please be okay.' She could only hope that if she survived, so too did they. But if not here...where could they be?
A moment of silence washed over Cid's shop in the wake of the finishing of his tale. "Ah, kid...What're we standin' around mopin' for?! We've got work to do!" Cid said, brightening right up in an instant. Ruby snapped up in surprise at the gruff shopkeeper's words, but at the very least, the mood had lightened up. "My friends Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie seem to have found the one the Keyblade chose in this town. If you can find him, maybe he'll be able to help you find any of the friends from your own world." Ruby immediately brightened up with hope at the possibility. But before she could speak, Cid interjected with a grim addendum. "But if the guy really is here...that means the Heartless will be hot on his tail soon." That addendum caused a proverbial fire to light underneath Ruby as her eyes widened. "What?! Then we've gotta find him quickly! He might need help!" Ruby said, flying to her feet, making sure Crescent Rose was secure as she dashed for the door. "Hold on, wait just a second!" Cid called out, only for Ruby to dart out the door in an instant. Sighing wearily, Cid rubbed his neck saying, "Oh boy. Kids these days."
Trying again to not let the gloomy atmosphere linger, Yuffie smiled at Sora and shared another nugget of Keyblade wisdom. "I've heard the Keyblade can open all sorts of locks. Give it a try the next time you find a treasure chest or a door lock." Or perhaps theory was more accurate.
Sora however said nothing. He was too worried about what had happened to him so soon, what happened to his friends, where they might be, how he might find them. He wasn't sure what to do, or even what he COULD do.
Thankfully Yuffie spoke up again, gently reassuring him, "Perhaps your friends manage to find their way here, too. You could go searching for them. Think of it like an adventure." That got Sora's attention as he lifted his head, his eyes beginning to show a small glimmer of hope. An adventure..."But be careful," Leon warned as Sora walked toward the door Leon was leaning on. "Sooner or later, the Heartless will find you. You'd best prepare yourself."
"Prepare myself?" Sora asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer. Leon gave it to him anyway in his usual stoic tone. "To fight for your life. Are you ready?" It went without saying that it wasn't something Sora was looking forward to. At the same time, he knew the Heartless would keep hunting him like Leon said. But if he didn't...more people might suffer the same fate he did. Worse still, he might never see Kairi or Riku again if he just kept running. He was more concerned about the well being of those he cared for. And if he had to fight to find them...then he would fight. With a firm nod, Sora said with renewed confidence, "I'm ready."
Squall could see the honest determination that was rising, even amidst the doubt in Sora's eyes. He wouldn't say so out loud, but perhaps there was more to Sora than he initially thought. "Yuffie. Let's go join Aerith. She should be there with the other visitors, by now." Leon said as he stood away from the door.
"Leon!" Right as it happened, Yuffie jumped in surprise and pointed to the opposite end of the room as something materialized before them: the soldier like Heartless Sora saw take that man's heart in the second district! It turned to them, shambling where it stood, staring right at them with the threatening yellow eyes in its helmet.
Leon immediately pushed off the door, jumping in front of Yuffie and Sora as the soldier-like Heartless appeared in their room. "Yuffie! Go!" he yelled. Suffice it to say, Yuffie didn't need to be told twice and ran right for the door.
Donald and Goofy had just finished receiving their explanation and exposition from Aerith and Ozpin and were about to leave. SLAM "WAK!"...when the door suddenly flew open and smacked Donald against the wall, with a fleeing Yuffie running out from behind it. "Yuffie!" Aerith called out, running after her ninja friend. Ozpin's eyes narrowed as he realized that sure enough, he was right. "So it's begun already." he said to himself , pushing up his glasses as one of those shadowy, antennae Heartless rose up behind him. The creature stalked toward him and reared back to lunge at him, only to be struck and destroyed in a blur of motion by Ozpin's cane. Wasting no time, the Headmaster of Beacon made his way out of the hotel after Yuffie and Aerith.
Leon brandished his gunblade at the soldier Heartless, in a much more fierce and serious air than when he fought Sora. "Sora, let's go!" Wasting no time, Leon swung his Gunblade, sending the Heartless flying out the window and jumping out into the alleyway. Sora wasted no time, running after Leon, jumping out of the window after him. What he didn't realize was that the room that Yuffie ran into...was where Goofy and a very flattened Donald were. It seemed their attempt to find the 'key' was thwarted again. And just when he was right around the corner too.
