Re: Kingdom Hearts: Hearts in Unison (Chapter 29 posted)
Aw..
I'm sorry you got sick.. I know it's not fun! And Nov must be busy, huh? Well, I hope she can finish it up and give it to you so you can post it here for us fans to read!
Edit: It has been a long time since the last chapter.. Where is everybody?! ;_;
Thanks, and guess what, I got some sickness hit this December-weekend again, only this time it wasn't a cold but stomach problems. <__<
Nov was very busy indeed, and this postphoned the next chapter considerably.
But now, after I'm finally resonably up running again I can finally give out chapter 30 after an overlong gap of over a month which I'm truly sorry for:
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XXX. Warnings of the witch
"Uhm, ok...although I do really feel a bit stupid having no clue or whatever." She whispered more directed at herself, but Namine heard it nonetheless.
"Lack of knowledge is not a real problem...willful ignorance or unwillingness to change that state is."
Namine stepped another step nearer, now closely beside Kairi and displaying that encouraging smile again.
"Alright then, let's see. These two paintings with Riku and Sora in armor...how could you draw them so detailed? Both of them never had any armor."
"Those...those are not pictures formed from any memories I saw. It was either a vision or a dream in which I saw them. The mere fact that I could remember the layout of the armors in so much detail led me to believe it is important."
"Clearly strange...could it be that you have some sort of limited clairvoyance?"
Namine shrugged her shoulders, looking somewhat uneasy. "I don't know...and if it would be like this I could not say that I would be very happy about it. The powers I already possess are unsettling and creepy enough."
"Unsettling and creepy? You mean your memory powers? But you saved Sora with them..."
Kairi was a bit baffled.
The blonde girl shook her head vigorously.
"No! I only repaired the damage I did to him with those very powers in the first place...and even that brought so much more suffering to others. In order to save Sora, I had to hurt other beings despite not wanting to. My powers always only brought upon misery and suffering."
"What the heck are you talking about? Were it not also your powers that brought the information of all the people who are suffering so badly into the light? Isn't there a chance now to heal that pain somehow because of this fact?"
The Princess's voice was louder than she wanted, but she couldn't just let her other half blame herself for everything when it wasn't truly her fault.
Ignoring the louder tone, Namine's bitter expression didn't change. "Yeah, that's true...as is the fact that some of all this suffering was nonetheless caused by my powers..."
"You really loathe them..."
Kairi could not do more than stating the obvious, unsure what to really make of Namine's outburst.
"...guess I shouldn't have mentioned that clairvoyance-thing." She whispered, biting her lower lip a little.
A drawn out sigh was heard as Namine shook her head again. "Let's change the topic ok? To sort out this we really have no time for now."
The Princess did not want to let it slide just yet, seeing how it obviously was so painful for the other girl.
Still, Namine's expression clearly indicated that she was neither willing nor able to talk about her own issues now.
Grudgingly, Kairi nodded to that, changing the attention to the pictures again.
"These next two pictures...the first one depicts memories of Sora's fight against "Ansem" at the remains of Destiny Islands together with Donald and Goofy, that's clear. The second one though...why does it show Axel out of all persons, and then running through strange white hallways?"
"That one is a tricky piece, since I saw it only as glimpses. The tricky part is that this one apparently is only a faint copy of one of Axel's memories, which got through whatever means accessible to Sora's heart. I suspect it has to do with Roxas...but I'm afraid more information is not available."
"So you don't know what he's doing there or where it is?"
"The place, according to the layout, could be Castle Oblivion, but I can't give full ensurance for that." Namine turned slightly to the picture, narrowing her eyes at it.
The redheaded girl gave away another nod at this, turning to the big picture that depicted her younger self running away from Heartless.
"This one...another of the forgotten memories of my original home world? It has to be...and those two people...their statures are familiar, but only by a faint margin. I can't remember names nor faces."
"Yes, these belong also to your forgotten past. I don't have any names nor better appearances of those people either."
"Okay...the next ones, with Riku and you before Sora's sleeping pod and you opposite Roxas are your own memories I assume...you look so guilt-stricken there..."
"You're right, the first one is an actual memory of me while the second one is a recurring nightmare I have...but that's not the point now."
Hearing directly that Namine didn't want to disclose anything more about these things regarding herself Kairi didn't press on further, despite Riku's pained expression in the first of those two bothering her.
Instead she turned to the last one still hanging on the wall which depicted little Sora, Riku and that tall brown-haired guy.
"From the perspective I would say it's one of Sora's memories, but what does it mean?"
"It is. Although it is a buried memory Sora has no recollection of and he apparently also couldn't understand what the young man and Riku were doing."
"It looks like that guy offered little Riku a Keyblade." Kairi whispered, eyes also narrowed.
"Maybe the most sure way to shed light on that would be to ask Riku himself." Namine said warmly.
"Yes...if it isn't a buried memory for him as well." The Princess retorted.
"That will be only shown if the question is asked. Even then, asking about it may trigger that memory to come to the surface."
"You're right, thanks Namine. Now, for that one I have in my hand here...it's certainly strange not only because it depicts Kingdom Hearts. I understand Mickey and Riku there...but, why did you draw Roxas twice there?"
Kairi raised the picture in her hand again, showing it to Namine by extending it on one hand, the other girl gripping the border with her right hand, causing both girls to hold it together.
The Princess tapped shortly on the part where the three boys holding hands stood below Kingdom Hearts, the one on the right being clearly Sora with his spiky brown hair.
He was holding the middle boy's right hand with his own left one, who had the same flaky blonde hair as the third boy on the left who held the middle boy's left hand with his own right one...they were identical.
Namine sighed again, making a concerned face.
"I...I did not draw Roxas twice here. That third boy isn't Roxas, it's another boy who is very deeply connected with Sora, possibly more deeply than anyone else. Look closely and you'll see some slight differences between them."
Now that she took a closer look Kairi could see it, while their hair, stature and the red pleated collar was exactly the same, their other clothing and the wristbands they wore were different.
The boy in the middle sported a checkerboard-patterned wristband with black edges on his left arm while the left boy had one with white edges. The middle boy's upper clothes also were plain white with several checkerboard-patterns on it while his pants went down all the way to his sneakers in colors of black and beige.
The boy on the left had a jacket split between black and white without checkerboard-pattern and a strange piece of waist-armor. Another armor piece was situated on his left shoulder as well as two intersecting black straps on his upper back.
His pants were a mix of dark grey, beige and white and ended just halfway down his lower legs, ballooning out like caprice pants, leaving his lower legs partly bare.
That kid's shoes were also sneakers, but armored ones which looked quite different from the ones the boy in the middle had.
"It's...amazing and yet also strange. That boy on the left looking nearly exactly like Roxas..." She mumbled in awe.
"Actually, I would rather say it is the other way around. Roxas looks like that other boy, which is most likely due to the special connection between that boy and Sora. It affected Roxas." Namine answered in a low tone, her expression still concerned.
"Special connection with Sora? More deeply than anyone else? What's that about, Namine. What's going on with Sora and that boy?"
"I won't jump to conclusions...yet one thing is very clear. Roxas, as well as this other boy and also that brown haired young man are also part of those who are suffering. Since both Roxas and that boy are the closest to Sora, their pain is also the most dangerous to Sora himself."
Kairi stiffened at this, looking more intensively at the two blondes. "Who is that other boy? What's his name or the nature of his deep connection with Sora?"
Namine shook her head sadly. "That I can't yet say. His name was never mentioned in any memory...nor did I see him in any more than one memory so far. This picture is also made from a dream I had. The only things I could decipher was that nearly all of his memories are inside Sora and that they are inaccessible, which could mean that Sora is harboring this boy's heart inside his own...or what is left of it."
The Princess visibly shaked at this. "...what's left of it...? Could mean that..."
"I have no proof, it's only speculating with what little information I have. As is this..." She made a short pause.
"...come over here." Namine said then, leading the redhead over to another big painting which was split into three sections.
The top most section depicted a dimly lit dark abyss with an orange-colored, glass-like wayfinder floating in the middle.
Under the item there was the brown haired young man, flanked by both Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and Xemnas, the Superior of the In-Between a bit above him.
Over the item there was a third silver haired figure with piercing golden eyes, spreading out his arms in what looked like a puppet master holding Ansem's, Xemnas's and the brown haired guy's strings.
That silver haired guy had a smug, gleeful unsettling expression, Ansem looked mockingly and self-confident, Xemnas almost bored and uninterested while the brown haired guy had a look of terrible sadness, pain and anger.
The right section showed the blue haired girl, Aqua, with a brandished Keyblade in what seemed a world full of darkness surrounded by what looked like thousands of Heartless, her face showing exhaustion, grim determination but also sadness and pain. Over the scenery floated another wayfinder, colored in blue.
The left section had what looked like a totally shattered awakening platform, the boy who looked identical to Roxas sitting there with an agonized, pain-stricken expression, his eyes strangely glazed and clasping his bare chest with one hand on the left side while holding a green colored wayfinder in the other, above him floating a sharp, glowing "X".
"That looks all...horrible." Kairi only managed to utter with Namine nodding slowly.
"Getting these glimpses of their vast torment is mostly possible due to the connections forged between these people's hearts and also memories. All of them, Aqua, Roxas, these other two male Keyblade wielders and possibly even people who no one can remember are somehow connected with Sora's heart, and by extension also with yours and Riku's heart. Some of the connections even go over another heart before actually being connected to Sora, for example, I suspect this brown haired young man being more closely connected to Riku, but getting connected with Sora also through Riku and the small ties he has to Sora himself."
Hearing all those explanations made Kairi getting a bit dizzy again. "Uh...I think...I understand...not fully."
Namine gave away a sad smile again. "It can be really somewhat hard to understand, but it is nonetheless important. Kairi, the forged bonds between all our hearts and memories, even of those who don't have an own heart like Roxas and me, are of uttermost importance since these bonds can be taken literally on this plane of existence here. Our very most essences are tightly connected like in a network, it can be of much help for us, especially considering Sora's ability to connect with anyone naturally and preserve the lives of beings otherwise doomed to disappear completely.
However, there's also the danger of these connections being misused which brings about much danger for everyone...and that's the main reason I contacted you. I can feel there's something strange going on in both Sora's and Riku's hearts."
The Princess of Heart jumped like stung at this, the picture with Kingdom Hearts and the three boys slipping from her hands.
"What? What is going on there? We saw a strange darkness seeping from Riku's arm today...and he insisted it was not his nor "Ansem's". Sora too...gracious...tell me more, Namine. What's going on there...?"
Kairi was now shaking Namine tightly by the shoulders, upset.
"Ugh...I...I can't say any details...I only noticed an alarming increase of darkness in both of Sora's and Riku's hearts which is not due to them doing anything...there is someone or something interfering, and that may also hold dire consequences for the wounded beings Sora is housing inside himself. Please stop that now...it hurts."
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This chapter holds some subte hints of what will become an important plot point later, beside some more things Namine found out about those who are tied to Sora in torment.
I sincerely hope the gap between chapter 30 and 31 won't be as long as the last one. <__<
