Hey everyone! It's the new year! 2023! May this new year be an amazing one for you all!
Now today's story is part two of "Longing Leads To A Place Like Home" and has been sitting on the document since last year... I've been holding onto it cause I just haven't been satisfied with my writing lately. It's been shifting from descriptive events to dialogue heavy. I'm honestly not sure how to change it, but I've come to a point where I think I'm good with sharing this chapter as it is.
Well, I won't bore you anymore with the details till after, so enjoy the new chapter!
*NOTE/SPOILER WARNING: It takes place AFTER KHIII*
NOTE 2: Lots of retelling of the experience of "Player" in KHχ[Chi] but in Sora's View
NOTE 3: Sora is NOT Player, he's just got similar experiences. Player exists somewhere doing the main story, but they don't cross paths... I Think...
DATE: January 10, 2022
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Chapter 16: The Glitches In Our Destiny
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How was it possible? How could someone from them be back?
"You're from the…" He couldn't even utter the words before the figure in the black coat filled in the blanks.
"The Organization? Wow Sora, I'm surprised at you! Just because I wear this coat, doesn't mean I'm part of them. OH, NO!" He dramatically exaggerated, "If ANYTHING, they're the ones who copied me. This is MY original design after all."
"Yuh-yours? What are you talking about? If you're not them, then who are you and how do you know my name?" He quickly summoned his Starlight Keyblade and pointed it sharply at the figure, stance ready for battle.
The figure simply touched the tip of the blade with one hand while using his other hand to wag his black gloved finger in his face, "Now now Sora, no need to go pointing my masterpiece back at me."
His masterpiece? What was that supposed mean?
"You're kind of slow on the uptake there, huh? Well, just don't think too hard about it. What you should be thinking about is, how did you get here?"
Now that he mentions it, Sora really wanted to know what was going on. How was he back here on the Play Island? Why now of all times, after so long of not finding a way back home? But as he looked around, something just felt wrong about this place. Was this really his home? If not, then why was he seeing it?
"What do you mean?"
The figure took an exaggerated pose, "Really? You're absolutely serious? As in YOU don't know?!" Sora shook his head. "I'm shocked beyond words!" Again, his actions were exaggeratedly expressing the emotions while his voice sounded believable and sarcastic at the same time.
"Ah, I guess I'll have to tell you then since I'm the one who can see that future. If I kept you guessing, we'd be here all day or probably all year at best."
"Hey!" Sora took a little offense to that, he was good at putting the pieces together if given enough clues. Oh, wait, huh? Did that guy just say he could see the future?
"Kidding, kidding." The person waved him off. As he finished, he sat back on the paopu tree poising himself upright, his voice getting a little more serious than before, "As far as I know, you're suppose to be elsewhere. Off in a world way beyond anyone's reach, where none can fathom. And yet, you're here with me, on the island no one should be seeing at all, let alone should even exist here and now. Care to explain?"
"I don't know! That's what you should be telling me!" Sora got back in his defensive pose, "Who are you?"
The organization lookalike could only sigh, "Still choosing to point it back at me." His arm raised up and his hand opened fully ready as if calling out a weapon. But what happened next, Sora didn't expect. His Keyblade disappeared form his hand and entered that person's hand. Sora was shocked before the figure spoke playfully once more, "Oh silly me, did I forget to introduce myself? Or did Chirithy never tell you about me?"
"Huh?" Sora was completely lost and still in shock of what just happened as the person placed the Keyblade back in his hands.
"What a space cadet. Guess I'M gonna have to retell the story now. What a way to make my job more harder on me, Chi-ri-thy." He muttered under his breath.
Back on the beach, Sora's Chirithy woke up and sneezed before snuggling back into the beach blanket to fall asleep again.
"Whadda you mean, Chirithy was supposed to tell me?"
The figure ignored him and started the story, "Long ago, in the age of fairytales… yada yadee yada… Keyblades were forged, the book of prophesies was given to the foretellers, the five unions under the masters were created, and out of all of them, my apprentice Luxu was given his duty. A bunch of boring details and story here and there, then… I VANISH, Dim, and fade away. Well, the real me does anyway."
The unions… Masters… His apprentice... The pieces were falling into place. "Wait, you? You're—"
"Now you got it! That's right, Master of Masters, here in person, sort of."
"But how?"
"Let's just say, I'm a silent observer that no one can see by normal means. But you, now you're not so normal. Ordinary, yes, but normal, not quite."
Sora knew that. He heard it from others before in the past. The worst was when Xehanort and his others had called him that, especially the original old man version. 'An ordinary-dull boy.' He could accept that he was just grateful to be a small part of something bigger and just helping those the Keyblade really did choose. But he couldn't deal with the pain of the hurt those words brought, the memories that caused him to be separated from his friends. So he chose to ignore them for now and question something else the figure mentioned.
"What did you mean about me being elsewhere?"
"Didn't I already tell you? As far I know, you're suppose to be elsewhere on your journey. I don't have all the details, but hey, I'm here for a reason, so maybe he saw something I didn't."
"Huh?"
"Clearly you don't understand me, so I'll stop beating around the bush." He points his finger once more and pokes Sora's chest, "You Sora, used the power of waking in a way that a little unorthodox, but got the job done. Right? You did end up vanishing from your world as you should have, after all it's a consequence, a price you had to pay. But somehow, you got put off course. Your very existence here, it shouldn't be. Yet, you didn't affect the Book of Prophesies in any, kind of, way. What a puzzle, isn't it?"
"The Book of Prophesies? That's the thing with the passage that says light would expire?"
"CONGRATULATIONS! You got it! If you're here, things should have changed. You know, what those people out there call, "wibbly wobbly, timey wimey" time travel shenanigans that only The Doctor, whoever that is, could fix." The Master pauses, "But nothing's changing. As far as I know, it still says the same words."
"So, I haven't changed anything?" It was a little surprising for Sora to hear, but also a little relief since he was worried that something he did in the past could cause a different future should he find a way back home.
"It's a mystery I tell you. But here are my two guesses. One, you being here was always meant to be, OR two," the Master of Masters paused, voice becoming playful and serious, "the fact that you're here won't change anything at all, no, matter, what. So which is it? Only the real me knows for sure. I wasn't given EVERYTHING, that sly guy we are."
"We?"
"And here I thought you were keeping up by now and using that little noggin of yours to figure it out. Look around you. Doesn't your home island look awfully strange?"
Now that the Master mentioned it, it did look off. Even though he saw his current home, there were things that just didn't look right. Some parts, if he looked close enough were patchy and glowing. They almost reminded him of that broken and smashed up computer back in the Data Twilight Town, the one Roxas destroyed. It also reminded him of the glow of another world, "Well, when I came here, I noticed these weird little glitch lines. They kind of reminded me of the stuff on the computer or television, and also of Tron's world a bit."
"And Bingo was his nameo!" The Master clapped cheerfully, applauding Sora for finally getting the answer, "We're currently in a data world."
"D-data world?!" He exclaimed in shock before thinking he remembered King Mickey saying something about that in the letter they got after defeating Xemnas. It didn't make that much sense to him, but all he took from it was there was another version of him and his friends living in the King's computer and Jiminy's Journal, like how Torn lived in the one in Hollow B- uh, Raidant Garden. "So that means you're like Tron? You're a program?"
"If you want to get technical about it, then I guess so." Sora wasn't sure how to react to his unsureness in his claim. "Anyway, the point is, I'm a version of the real Master's data and memories. I was just placed in here as a little, "just in case." A version of him who stays behind the scenes to fix things if anything goes awry. Though, like him, I was hoping this would be a nice cushy task where I could sit back and relax. Then YOU showed up."
"I'm, sorry?"
"Can't cry over the spilled milk. It's done, finished, finito."
At the mention of this last word, something happened to the island. It warped and the static lines appeared all around. People began appearing like phantoms on the beach as scenes played out before their eyes. For a moment, Sora was hit with waves of nostalgia and longing as he saw memories play out all over the beach. Some of them were of his childhood, the trio running around, play sword fighting, and building structures in the sand. Some were from the moments before their whole journey began, where they were gathering materials to build a raft and later racing on the beach. Others were more recent, like the memories before and after the second Keyblade War. There were even memories of Roxas and Xion on the islands, and surprisingly Ventus and Vanitas as they argued about something. As he looked at the bridge, he saw 4-years-old he and 5-years-old Riku under the bridge talking to a teen girl, it kind of looked like Aqua. Those scenes glitched out and he saw himself and Riku running on the bridge. When he looked at the tree, he saw all three of them, he, Riku, and Kairi sitting and talking about the outside world. Then it fizzled out and was replaced with their older selves, ready to take on a new adventure after defeating Xemnas. Finally, the last scene played out before them, his final moment where he said he had to go. His final words to Kairi, and hers to him.
"Oh, that's different. Never seen this happen before."
"What's happening?" His head was beginning to hurt.
"You Sora. I suspect the program is doing its job."
"Job?"
"You see, this island shouldn't exist in this data world. I explicitly made sure of that. But since you're here, someone from the far off future, the program is creating a world based off your own memories. Although it should only be doing the ones from the Book of Prophesies, it recognizes you as being a part of that future. It's extracting your memories like a zip file and materializing those particular memories and places. Thus the reason this island is here and… UH OH."
"What?" He asks as he applies pressure to his forehead.
"A world I purposely left out may come to be accessible if something isn't done."
"World?"
"Ah you know, the one where your princess girlfriend is originally from."
"Kairi?!"
"Ah so you admit it~! Yeah, her."
"You see, all the worlds in the Book, besides the Coliseum, they're worlds all associated with the seven lights… wait, you're supposed to know that already."
"I figured." Sora huffed as he tried to alleviate his headache.
"I purposely left one out so the little old darkies wouldn't interfere with their own future. SO, since this is all YOUR fault, YOU'RE going to have to be the one to seal the world before anyone can get to it, especially before the union leaders find out a new pathway opened up."
"Me?"
"Well, I'm not the one who got lost from my destination and ended up traveling on the wrong lane, now am I?" He put his fist to his hip and pointed at him almost like a parent scolding a child.
"NO, but, how was it my fault?" Sora backed away, putting up his hands.
"Who knows, Sora. But the point is, you've got to take responsibility now." He turned away and shrugged, "Your memories are going to be causing even more troubles here. So better get to work."
"How do I even get there?"
The Master of Masters turned back and pointed to Sora's heart simply saying, "May your heart be your guiding key." After he said that, he sat back on the tree yelling, "I'll be here waiting. Make sure you come back here once you're done."
Was Sora really going to listen to him? What did he mean by the old darkies and the future? But… If there was any chance that this would cause the future to turn out bad, then he did not want to chance it. Slowly, he closed his eyes and pointed his Keyblade. Once the gateway opened up, he noticed that it looked a little different than the others, it seemed just like the sky and the island around him, a little glitchy.
Before stepping through, he thought, 'Sorry Chirithy, [Insert Name Here], I'll be a little late coming back.'
But unbeknownst to everyone in Daybreak Data Town, no-one would really notice that the time of day started moving much much slower, to the point the sunset looked nearly still. The Master of Masters could only sigh.
TBC
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Okay, I'm going to say it now... I couldn't resist throwing in that causal Doctor Who mention. I mean, The Doctor's old friend/rival/enemy is "The Master" so why not? Writing The Master of Master's dialogue was fun, but I hope he wasn't too out of character.
As for the chapter itself, it was NOT supposed to go this direction. Sora was actually going to go a different route, but then, it just went the Coded/Re:Coded direction. Also a bit of the 358/2 Days, since he has a tiny bit of a reverse-Xion moment on island. The headache is not as severe as hers since only certain memories are being taken from him, not everything. So now it's time for Sora to revisit Hollowe B-ah, I mean, Radiant Garden again, Data version. But will it be the one he knows or not? Gotta wait till the next chapter to see.
Well, that's all for the new chapter! If you have any ideas, suggestions, questions, or any comments for this story, feel free to let me know. Thanks for reading everybody! :D