When they arrived back at Traverse Town, everyone regrouped with Leon and his allies at their base within the third district. There was a lot for them to share, to say the least. All of which Qrow, Winter, Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith listened to intently. "So the darkness if flowing out of that Keyhole..."
"And Ansem was the one responsible for all of this..." Winter said with quiet fury. This entire time, the supposedly wise sage that Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, and Ozpin told them about was responsible for the destruction of all those worlds...
Aerith's worry was just as palpable as she sat on the nearby bed. "No wonder there are more and more Heartless everywhere. The only way to stop them is..."
Sora finished her sentence, holding his Keyblade out ever so proudly. "Seal the Keyhole, right?" They'd done it over half a dozen times already, so they just had to do it again!
"Yeah! We're all rested up and we've resupplied our ammo. That means all we have to do is go back there, fight through that swarm and then seal that Keyhole right up! Who's ready to smash more enemies?!" Nora exclaimed in excitement, twirling her hammer around, nearly hitting a ducking Jaune with it.
Ren lay one of his hands on Nora's shoulder, making her gently lower her weapon as he spoke up. "But it was already difficult the first time. Not to mention Cinder and the others might still be there."
"And now Adam, too..." Blake muttered, holding her arm anxiously. She had no idea what he was going to do now that he knew she was alive. Ruby shifted closer to Blake, laying a hand on her shoulder. She smiled weakly to her friend and team leader, trying to put on a show that she was okay.
"Oh come on, quit being a buncha buzzkills, guys." Nora said, waving things off as if it was no big deal. "Ozpin will take care of all of them. I mean he's the Headmaster of our school for a reason."
"Oz is strong, that's for sure," Qrow said, leaning against the wall, taking a sip from his flask. "But even he's got limits. And from what I'm seeing, those Heartless are getting stronger. Likely due to all that darkness overflowing outta that the Keyhole."
Yang gave a shrug, smiling as sunny as ever. "Then we'll seal it up, like Sora said. That's what we gotta do, right?" she said, giving a few punches in front of her for extra emphasis.
"Maybe. But no one knows what will happen once it's sealed." Leon said with an air of thoughtful uncertainty that...troubled Sora and his friends.
"Indeed. For all we know, something worse than what we've faced before could appear on the horizon of...whatever it was that the Heartless did to our worlds." Winter said skeptically, and with an edge of worry that Weiss rarely heard from her big sister. An understandable worry that everyone shared despite their attempts to keep up appearances.
"Well, we can't just stay here. We have to do something." I've got a friend back there." Sora's words surprised his companions. Despite everything that Riku had done to them, and especially him, Sora still thought of him as a friend.
While they had seen firsthand Riku holding back Ansem, the instant Sora shared his determination to save Riku, Ruby immediately nodded in agreement. "Exactly." she said, placing a clenched hand upon her chest. "It's because of all our friends who stayed behind that we were able to escape. We owe it to them to go back and help any way we can. We've can't just give up after coming this far together."
Leon went silent for a moment, taking in how certain Sora sounded. A certainty he hadn't felt in a long time. "That's right. You've have one more friend to worry about."
Not quite sure how to take his comment, Jaune marched up in Leon's face, saying, "What does that mean? Are you saying Sora shouldn't worry about Ri-" "Settle down, Jaune. Just let him finish." Yang said, yanking him away with a briefly choking arm around his neck.
Looking back at Sora, Leon continued. "Riku's Keyblade must have been born of the captive princess's hearts, just like that Keyhole you saw." His gaze shifted over to the princess currently in their midst. "Of course, without Kairi's heart, it remained incomplete."
"Until Sora sacrificed himself to free it and bring her back." Weiss said, earning a small nod from Leon, who continued again.
"Exactly. Once that Keyblade was destroyed, the princesses' hearts should've been freed." Immediately, everyone knew what that meant. With the help of the Princesses, they could seal the Keyhole. With that in mind, Leon looked Sora right in the eyes and said, "Don't worry Sora. If anyone can save your friend...you can."
It was a great relief to hear Leon, initially the most skeptical of the group, have such faith in Sora. It seemed his belief in Sora's worth for the Keyblade changed for the better compared to when they first met. Pyrrha noticed the curious look on Aerith's face and asked her, "Is something wrong?"
Aerith looked up at Sora, pausing as she considered how to word what was on her mind. "I just thought about Qrow's words. The Heartless ARE getting stronger, but I thought it would be even more than this. It's almost like the power is being held back."
That was certainly not something they expected to hear. What could be holding back the Heartless if this wasn't them at their MOST powerful?
And Sun had yet another question to add to the ever growing pile. "Sooo Kairi. How did you know that that Heartless was Sora? More importantly, how'd you turn him back into a person?" he inquired.
"I'm... not sure," Kairi said. She'd been thinking about it ever since they escaped from Hollow Bastion. "It was...just a feeling. Even as a Heartless, I knew it was him."
"Heh. Maybe it's true love?" Neptune muttered jokingly, earning an elbow to his ribs and a glare from Weiss. The last thing those two needed right now was teasing.
Fortunately Sora and Kairi didn't seem to hear, as former spoke up again. "Alright. I think we should go talk to Cid, get in our ship and prepare for returning to Hollow Bastion." Their course of action was clear, and Sora's companions were all onboard with a mutual cheer.
After having another swig of...whatever he was drinking, Qrow looked to them preparing to leave. "Be careful kids. More kinds of Heartless are popping up around town. Tougher than the ones we'd had before. We'll hold down the fort here until you get back from Hollow Bastion."
As the group piled out of the house one by one, Ruby ran up to her uncle, hugging him tightly. "Bye for now Uncle Qrow. See you later." she said affectionately as she squeezed him tightly...which wasn't that tight, given her slight frame.
The older man huffed a laugh through his nose and gently pried her off and playfully saying to her, "Get outta here, pipsqueak." in his own endearing. Though he didn't forget to give Yang her own hug as well before they both followed after everyone else.
"Don't be reckless. Remain constantly vigilant and think wisely. Understand?" Winter said ever so formally to her younger sibling. Weiss stiffened up and gave a firm nod in response, only for her sister to suddenly speak in a much more...gentle, affectionate tone. "And I hope you return here soon...my dear sister."
That last bit of well-wishing was enough to make Weiss smile back at Winter just as lovingly, before joining the rest her team outside. When they were gone, Qrow leaned to her with a coy grin. "Awwww. So you do have feelings, after all." A comment which made Winter glare enough daggers that would have impaled him from all corners of his body, if looks could kill.
After resupplying items and ammunition, Sora, Ruby, and their friends went to find Cid, who just finished working out the kinks in their Gummi Ship after how hard Sora pushed it in their escape from Hollow Bastion. "Hey there, kids. Y'all doin' alright?" he greeted them with a tone of unconvincing cheer. It was clear that he was just as worried about the influx of Heartless as they were.
Sora however didn't beat around the bush as he approached the shipwright and said, "Cid, I need to go back to Hollow Bastion."
Of all the things Cid hoped to hear, that was not one of them. And yet, he expected this at the same time. "I don't think I can't let ya do that."
His response shocked everyone speechless for a moment. "What!? But why!?" Jaune asked, askance.
"The Heartless there are multiplyin' by the minute. They'd eat your ship up." he answered, running his fist along his scruffy chin.
"But...We can't just do nothing." Ruby said, downcast. If they didn't do anything...then more worlds would suffer the same fate as Remnant, Destiny islands, and who knows how many other worlds?
Sora however wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. They couldn't afford to at this juncture. "Then what can we do?" he asked firmly.
Cid's initial serious expression turned to a crooked grin as he remembered something. "Simple. Go around em instead of through. Install a new navigation gummi and find a new route."
"A whatnow?" Sun asked, utterly befuddled.
Blake looked at Sun with a dry look, unable to believe, yet also not surprised he forgot about that detail in the lengthy rundown of events they gave him and Neptune.. "Navigation gummi. They're what allowed us to fly to all these different worlds in the first place." Blake explained, earning an "Oh." from Sun.
But speaking of which, that led to a problem. "A new Gummi? Where?" Sora asked.
"Yeah. We didn't pick up any new ones, Cid." Yang pointed out. They certainly hadn't had time to even LOOK for one in Hollow Bastion, given the...extenuating circumstances, to say the least.
Fortunately, Cid had just the answer for that as he grinned and said, "The secret waterway."
"You mean that place that Leon was training in that one time we came here?" Pyrrha asked, exchanging a curious look with with her friends.
"Why would there be a navigation gummi down there?" asked Weiss.
"When I came here nine years ago, I stored it in case I ever needed it," Cid explained as he brushed the underside of his nose with his thumb. He turned his head to the side and muttered with a disbelieving tone, "Never thought a buncha kids would be the ones to use it!"
"What was that?" Nora asked curiously.
Cid cleared his throat, looking to the side in an attempt to look inconspicuous. "Noth'n."
Pyrrha had a half-grin on her face but quickly changed the subject. "Well we know where we need to go, so let's go."
"Wait... waterway?" Neptune asked with his eyes darting and gave a smile belying fear. "Ummm... how about I meet you guys here at the shop when you get back?"
With a roll of his eyes, Sun said to him, "Yeah, sure." before they all departed, Weiss looking to Neptune with a shake of her head then joined the others when heading to the back alley. As they went to the waterway, everyone was attacked by the usual Heartless of this world but also with the ones they encountered in Hollow Bastion. They didn't want to use their ammunition because they had only just bought some and needed to conserve it for Hollow Bastion itself. That proved somewhat difficult even with all of them together but they eventually managed and made it to the waterway.
As they entered the waterway, Sora was surprised to see a familiar face standing in front of the water. "Kairi?"
The young redhead turned and smiled at the sound of his voice. "Hey."
Goofy hopped out of the water last as he asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I was exploring with Leon and the others when they went out on patrol. I found an old home where I met somebody named Merlin. I asked him if there was any interesting places nearby and he opened a secret passage here from the floor of his home." she said before looking ahead.
"See something?" Donald asked, looking in the direction Kairi did.
Everyone followed her gaze and saw that she was looking at some kind of mural at the other end of the waterway. It was dark, yet they could make out that it was a mural of a sun in a clear, lightly clouded sky. "What a mysterious mural...It's almost hypnotizing." Kairi said with a faraway voice. "...Is it?" Jaune asked, scratching his head with confusion. While everyone else was at a loss for what to think of it, Blake's eyes noticed something unusual about the Mural. "What a minute...That was a moon the last time we came down here." she observed. And speaking of Sun, "Again. Wasn't here for that. Wouldn't know." he commented dryly.
Sora wasn't sure why, but...he felt Kairi was right in that respect. He found himself oddly drawn to that mural. "Sora?" Goofy piped up curiously, following him with Donald and Duby as he walked towards it. Everyone else stayed back, watching them as they approached the mural. As Sora neared it, the sun suddenly illuminated with a ring golden light, shifting back into the crescent moon that Blake mentioned.
"Whoa. That's...different." Ruby said with surprise as a small object floated down into Sora's hand. Immediately, they realized what it was. "This must be the Navigation Gummi Cid was talking about." Sora observed. This was their key to back to Hollow Bastion safely. Right here under their noses all this time.
"Hey guys! We found it!" Ruby called back to her friends with a wave.
"We could hear Sora, Ruby!" Weiss called back with a roll of her eyes.
A collective "Sweet!" "Woo!" resounded between Jaune, Nora, Sun, and Yang at this.
"I just hope it works." Blake said, a bit more serious than everyone else.
Her skepticism earned her an arm slinging around her shoulders from Yang. "Aw, come on Blake. Lighten up. We've all gotten this far. We'll be fine so long as we stick together." she said optimistically. Blake's worry however was palpable. Especially remembering who was waiting for her back there. For her friends' sake, she hoped Yang was right.
With the Navigation gummi in hand, Sora came to Kairi and said "Let's go back and join the others. We should rest up."
Nodding in agreement, Kairi responded, "Okay." Everyone started walking away and leaving the waterway. Sora stopped when he noticed Kairi was lingering behind, still looking down at the tunnel. "A light. At the end of the tunnel."
It took Sora but a moment to realize what she was talking about it. "Oh, your grandma's story, right?"
Kairi turned to him in surprise, wondering how he knew something like that since she only recently remembered it. Only to smile as she recalled the reason why. Ever since that moment, her memories of her time before living on Destiny Islands was returning to her in the time her heart resided within Sora. "That's right. We were together."
"You know what's funny?" Sora said, a smile working its way on his lips as he approached her. "I looked everywhere for you. But you were with me all along. Finally, we're together, Kairi." Looking down the tunnel, Sora spoke again with even more determination than before. "Now, it's time to get Riku back."
Having the memories shared with Sora when her heart was within him, Kairi was aware of everything. The good as well as the bad. She knew how Riku treated him and all the friends he'd made. The misconceptions he had in his mind that Maleficent had wrongly stoked. "You think it'll ever be the same again between us? Riku's lost his..."
She didn't have it in herself to say the rest. Unbeknownst to her and Sora, the two weren't as alone as they believed in the waterway. From around one corner was Ruby and Pyrrha had lingered behind, noticing the two of them talking. They both seemed concerned about the two of them, remaining silent as they listened to the heartfelt conversation.
Sora wasn't worried though. After all..."When I turned into a Heartless, you saved me, remember?" Sora said, looking to Kairi again. Sora closed his eyes as he recalled the numb, dulling experience as he drifted in a sea of pure blackness. How everything was fading away bit by bit. "I was lost in the darkness. I couldn't find my way. As I stumbled through the dark, I started forgetting things. My friends, who I was...The darkness almost swallowed me...But then I heard a voice. YOUR voice. You brought me back." The moment he found the strength to open his eyes amidst that abyss...and see the light again, following Kairi's voice back to where he belonged...He'd never forget that feeling.
The certainty with which he spoke left no room for doubt in Kairi's heart. Sora often had that effect on her in those rare moments back home when he spoke like this. But now...she felt it more keenly than ever before. "I didn't want to just forget about you, Sora. I couldn't." she said softly. If she were to every forget about Sora of all people, she'd never have forgiven herself.
Pyrrha and Ruby both smiled, the former letting out an adoring sigh and the latter suppressing a delighted squeal at the two younger adolescents. Whether or not Sra or Kairi realized it, Ruby and Pyrrha could see the blooming of young love between the two of them. Of course, that may have just been their hopelessly romantic hearts talking, but they still adored the sight. Maybe Neptune wasn't too far off the mark with his joke.
"That's it!" Sora exclaimed with a smile of realization. The reason he'd been able to hear her, to find his way out of the dark. "Our hearts are connected." he said, putting his hand over his own. "And the light from our hearts broke through the darkness. I saw that light. I think that's what saved me." Sora's gaze fixed upon the dark tunnel with the mural, realizing in this moment, the truth hidden within Kairi's grandmother's story. "No matter how deep the darkness, a light shines within. I guess it's more than just a fairy tale." he said cheerfully. And If he found his way back, then he knew they could do the same for Riku.
"Well, let's go." Kairi said, feeling determined from their conversation.
Sora's smile faded to a worried frown, realizing she wanted to come with him and the others. He didn't even hesitate with his response. "You can't go." he said firmly.
His refusal made Kairi frown. "Why not?" she asked angrily. After everything he went through for her, why should she not do the same for him and Riku?
Sora was ever so hesitant to give his answer, the momentary pause in his words heard as he spoke of only half the reason why. "Because it's way too dangerous."
Disappointment washed over Kairi as her head hung and held an arm behind her. Even though she knew Sora was worried about her, she couldn't help letting her worry for him pour forth. "Come on, Sora. We made it this far by sticking together. You can't go alone," she said, looking up at him with a small smile and a faint trace of pink dusting her pale cheeks. "As long as you're beside me, I know I'll be safe."
The words she spoke made Sora wince and shift awkwardly as a flush of pink touched his cheeks too. He was becoming flustered now too, looking to the side as he scratched his cheek. But as much as he loved having Kairi near him again...he didn't want to risk putting her in danger. He'd never forgive himself if she was taken by the Heartless for real. But he understood how she felt as well. So... "Kairi, even if we're apart, we're not alone anymore. Right?" So long as she was okay, that's what truly mattered. And he knew they'd see each other again by the end of it, so long as he knew she was waiting for him.
"I can't help?" Kairi asked him, her face softening as she started realizing one of the other reasons Sora wasn't letting her come.
"You'd kinda be in my way." Sora said, trying to laugh it off...despite how harsh the words themselves sounded.
Fortunately Kairi smiled with a small giggle and finally relented. "Okay. You win." But before he left, there was one thing she did want to do. She caught Sora's attention when he suddenly felt her put something in his hand. "Take this." His eyes widened when he realized...it was the little amulet made of thalassa shells she'd been making the night before their Island was destroyed. They were woven together and made a star shape and...what looked like a face at what was meant to be the top of it...with brown, spiky hair. Was it...supposed to be him? "It's my lucky charm. Be sure to bring it back to me." Kairi said, placing her hands on her hips with a stern face and tone.
Sora smiled and knew what Kairi was doing. An unspoken oath between the two of them that they would see other once again. An oath Sora would definitely keep as he gripped it close to his heart. "Don't worry. I will." he assured her.
Kairi smiled tenderly, gently asking him. "Promise?"
To which Sora nodded tersely, smiling still as he answered her with utmost certainty. "Promise."
A gentle, affectionate smile played upon Kairi's face as she looked Sora in the eyes and he into hers in return. He may have been a lazy bum in the past, but if there was one thing that she knew about him, it was that he always fulfilled any promise he made her. And after all they'd been through together...indirectly, of course, all he'd done for her, standing against even the most seemingly overwhelming foes from other worlds, she believed that he would be alright. And so, she said to Sora, with every ounce of hope she had within her, "Don't ever forget...No matter where you go, I'm always with you."
Their unseen audience couldn't help letting out little giggly squeals of delight at the romantic sight. One might find it amazing that Ruby and Pyrrha hadn't given their presence away with how excited they got over seeing Sora and Kairi exchange their heartfelt farewells to each other. And Kairi's lucky charm and the promise he made to return it...That was absolute the most wondrous way to cap it all off.
Of course, Pyrrha decided that perhaps no was the time for them to go back to the others. Thus she whispered to Ruby, "Maybe we should..." nodding toward the stairs behind them.
Ruby mouthed "Oh!" and quickly nodded. The others were probably wondering what they were doing, so it was best not to keep them waiting any longer.
Pyrrha however, hung back for a moment longer. While she was happy for Sora and for Kairi, she held a much more somber feeling in her heart. What they would be going up against when they returned to Hollow Bastion, not just the throng of Heartless waiting for them, but also those from their own world. Even if they claimed to have no intention of harming Sora until Remnant was restored...she couldn't afford to take that chance. 'Sora...You will fulfill your promise to her. I know you will.' she thought, as she ascended the stairs.