~~Dearly Beloved: A Mere Shell~~
“There are many paths to tread through shadow, to the edge of right. Until the stars are all alight.”
Dear Sora,
I pray that where ever you are, accompanied by Donald and Goofy, that you are all safe…and out of trouble. As you have seen, Pluto delivered this letter to you. For your sake to know, Riku is safe and accompanying me along my travels. He hopes you are takin’ care of Kairi and yourself.
But Sora, the reason I wrote this letter was to tell you something awfully important. Your heart isn’t what it used to be. You aren’t who you used to be. Things have changed. you need to remember things, you need to realize the danger ahead. You must find something…but in order to find it, you must lose something dear to you. I am truly sorry that I cannot tell you no more.
As well, you may have noticed the sudden chill in the winds. I fear the worst is at hand…The Heartless are back. And that means that Ansem didn’t disappear like we thought he did. He’s come back. There’s trouble brewin’ again, and we need to stop it. When you receive this, start searching for a town called ‘Twilight Town’. There, you will meet new acquaintances. Hopefully, we will find each other soon. Till then, take care! Best wishes to you all.
-Sincerely,
King Mickey
Sora read the letter over and over, searching for some kind of clue to what the King had informed him with. ‘You heart isn’t what it used to be. You must find something…but in order to find it, you must lose something dear to you.’ What could it possibly mean?
“This doesn’t make sense.” Sora cried in frustration. “Does your King always confuse people?”
“Umm…well, no.” Donald responded.
“He usually gets to the point.” Goofy added.
“Well, he’s done a pretty good job of messing with my head.” Sora snapped, taking a seat on a nearby rock. Pretty weird though, that there was a rock. Usually, all the three came across was a dirt road, skies, and fields of grass. What would a rock, big enough for someone to sit on, be doing in the middle of a never-ending road? Sora shoved his face into his hands, sighing.
“Aw, Sora. It’ll get better. I bet that the Door to the Light is right around the corner, and Riku and King Mickey will be waitin’ for you at it.”
“I hope so…” Sora mumbled through his hands.
“Cheer up! What’d I tell you before? We need happy thoughts! No sad faces, no frowning.”
Yeah, Sora remembered. That was the first time he had met Donald and Goofy. They had really stuck with him through all of this. They really were gonna be there for him, through think and thin. It made Sora slightly smile. Pluto came over and nudged Sora’s leg with his head.
“Come on, Sora! We need to get going.” Donald urged.
Gloomily, Sora stood up and began walking down the path again. Donald and Goofy exchanged glances, sighed, then started after the youth, Pluto at their heels.
“You think Sora’s gonna be okay?” Goofy asked, leaning down to whisper to Donald.
“He’s fine!” Donald replied. Goofy straightened back up and put a finger to his chin.
* * * *
‘”I fear the worst is at hand…The Heartless are back.” That’s impossible! I destroyed Ansem. I saw it with my own eyes! There’s no way he survived…’
Sora was so busy off in his own little world, he didn’t notice the strange scene ahead and Donald screaming in his ear.
“Soraaaa? Earth to Sora?” the duck angrily squawked. “SORA!”
The sudden outburst caused Sora to jump. “What?!” he snapped at Donald.
Donald just impatiently tapped his foot and pointed ahead, somewhat scared. Sora cautiously turned around to see a figure in a black rain coat standing a few feet away from them; arms crossed across his chest and hood up, concealing the figure’s identity.
“Wha? Who-Who’s there?” It was just like the time Ansem appeared in the Secret Place. Almost exactly the same. An icy breeze sent shivers coursing up and down Sora’s spine. He spun around to grab Donald and Goofy and run, but they were no where in sight.
“Alone…are you?” a raspy voice leaked from under the hood. “My name is…not important. All you need know, is that I am one of the non-existent ones.”
“The non-exist what?”
‘One who knows nothing can understand nothing…’
“Well, what d’ya want with me?” Sora asked.
The cloaked figure just laughed. “Foolish boy. Do you not know who you are?”
“I’m Sora-”
“The Keyblade Master!” the figure finished the sentence for him. “What do you think I want with you?”
Sora summoned his keyblade behind his back. “I dunno.” He could tell the stranger was snickering.
“No need to summon your weapon. I am not here to fight.”
“Then why are you here?!” Sora shouted.
“Simply to chat.”
“About what?” Sora retorted.
The figure laughed again. “Of the Light,” he held out a hand, palm opened, as a spinning orb of light formed in his hand. “And of Darkness…” he held out his other hand, palm facing towards the sky, as a dark orb of smoky black and deep purple spun around his fingers.
“What about them?” Sora asked.
“Your friend, Riku, gave his heart to the darkness. Did he not?”
Sora clenched his fists. “What about it?” He said through gritted teeth.
“But you…you entered the Light.”
“What are you going on about? Get to the point!” Sora shouted.
“No need to rush. But since you want to get the nub of things…” The figure began to fade away. Sora rushed a few steps forward. “Where do you think you’re going?!” Sora called into the thin air. He lashed his head from left-to-right, looking for the unknown. Behind him, the figure materialized again, causing Sora to jump in surprise.
“What? Did I scare you?” the figure laughed.
“Shut up!” Sora screamed, spinning his keyblade out and holding it to the figure’s throat.
“No need for violence.” the figure replied, taking two fingertips and pushing the overlarge key aside, sending a bolt of light-blue electricity to course down the keyblade. Sora shortly screamed in pain, dropping his Keyblade to the ground.
“What was that for?!” Sora angrily asked, clutching his right arm. The figure didn’t reply, but leaned down and picked the Keyblade up, holding it up towards the sky.
“Hey! Give that back!” Sora shouted, running forward, but was knocked back by a force-field. The unknown just kept staring at the Keyblade, as if it held the wonders of the world.
On the ground, Sora’s eyes widened as he stared at the unknown. “Riku…?” he whispered. That was the same thing that happened when Sora first encountered Riku in Traverse Town after they had been split up. He held the Keyblade in the same manner, examining it against the night sky. The figure turned it’s head to look at Sora. “Riku? No.” the figure replied in his raspy voice. He threw Sora the Keyblade, who swiftly caught it. Sora put the weapon away and dusted off his pants.
“Ahead lies what you seek…” the figure spoke, turning side-ways and pointing ahead down the path. “But to claim it, you must lose something dear to you...”
“The King told me the same thing. What do you mean by that?”
“…Time will tell…”
“Who are you?” Sora asked the figure once again.
“…I am of the non-existent ones. I am a Nobody….A mere shell.”
Sora groaned in frustration, and confusion. A wind rushed by, the figure started to disappear with it. “Hey! Come back here!” Sora shouted.
The figure had completely faded away by now. But a voice still remained. “The memory beyond…Beyond…beyond…The Memory…” It echoed. It suddenly became freezing. Sora hugged his arms around himself, shutting his eyes tight. A roaring wind blew around him, starting to lift his feet off the ground. “What the?” Soon, all became black…
The wind carried him far…the voice still echoing in his head.
‘The Memory Beyond. Beyond….your memories…’
Sora slightly opened his eyes. His was being carried across the ocean. His back towards the sea, riding the winds. Sora closed his eyes again. The darkness began to close in on him once more…
“Sora…” a gentle voice called. “Don’t give in!” There she was again…Namine`. Sora could see her face, clear-cut against the darkness around him. Her voice seemed to reach out towards him, pulling him out of the darkness of his memories.
“Sora!” a voice called again, but this time, it wasn’t Namine`. “Sora, please! Wake up!” Sora fluttered his eyes open. He was laying down flat on his back in the middle of the same dirt road. The faces of Donald and Goofy hovered above him.
“Hey guys.” he simply greeted. Donald and Goofy seemed to nearly faint.
“You-you-you…You stupid dimwit! You almost gave me a heart attack!” Donald shrieked, jumping up and down flapping his wings.
“Nice to see you, too, Donald.”
“Huh? Sora? What’s with the new dud?” Goofy asked, pointing to Sora’s outfit.
Sora looked down and gave a quick gasp. His old outfit that consisted of a red jumper, a small hoody jacket, over-large yellow shoes, a crown chain attached to his blue belt, and gloves covering his hands had been traded in for a completely new--completely black--outfit; a black shirt with a black hoody covered his chest, buckles attached themselves from around his shoulders, a black belt wrapped around his waist, holding up his black baggy pants. Across each leg was a yellow strap wrapping around them, and another yellow strap criss-crossing below his waist. What looked like two red pouches hung on each side of his legs from the belt and his white gloves had been replaced with black ones that had a silver line in the shape of an “X” across them. His shoes were now yellow at the top, and black at the bottom with dark-blue straps separating the two colors and a zipper starting at the top of the shoe and traveling down to the toe. The only thing that remained was his crown necklace, jingling around his neck.
Sora lifted up his arms, examining himself. ‘Whoah!…Weird.’ he thought to himself.
Donald was looking over Sora closely as well. “What happened?”
“What d’ya mean?” Sora asked his feathery friend.
“What do I mean?! I mean, what happened to you when that weird guy in the raincoat appeared!”
Sora was taken aback. He thought it was just a dream. “You mean…he was real?”
“YES! He was real! What else would he be?!”
“I thought it was just a dream…” Sora explained. “What happened to me?”
“Well, you uh, sorta fainted or somethin’ when he appeared. You looked right at him and collapsed. You were freezing. You kept tossing and turning, like you were in a nightmare. Ahyuck.” Goofy clarified.
“So…that’s what happened? Nothing else? What did that guy do?”
“He just disappeared when you fainted.” Goofy responded.
“You had us worried sick!” Donald added.
“Well, sorry.” Sora said with a childish smile, scratching the back of his head. He wanted to tell them what had happened, but he felt it wasn’t the right time yet. When things started to make more sense, then he would tell them what they needed to know. For now, it was Sora’s secret. Something for him to think on…instead of everything else. Sora reached into his pocket and sighed a relief.
His lucky charm was still there.