Re: Kingdom Hearts: Reborn from the Darkness (Contains recent game spoilers)
((Before I start, I want to humbly apologize for two things:
1. How long it took between the last part and this one, as well as failing to post it on the estimated date I could finish.
2. Not having enough room in this part for the other tragic event and Sora's foray into Hollow Bastion. However, I have not left those out, as they are crucial moments in the story, both for plot and for drama. Those will be in the next part, which I am almost finished writing as I type this. Sora also has a big moment in this part, along with Kairi, so I haven't really left enough out for it to not fit in the next part of the chapter. This part however, is without a doubt the longest in the entire fanfic to date. Get at least a beverage ready. 0_o
I was recently very sick, and still had to go to work on the same day for my own reasons. There were also several things I was trying to come together with in this part, but now it's finally finished. The biggest problem though was finding the time to finish writing it.
This part is probably the longest one yet; it follows Sora's and Kairi's visit to Radiant Garden to the end of their first visit, as well as other events. It also reveals several of the worlds that will be in future chapters. Hopefully the wait was well worth it for my audience, and I'm sorry it took so long and that I wasn't able to put all that was in the preview! It will be in the next part, I swear to you all on my skills as a writer!
In an attempt to additionally make up for this, I have made an
emblem for the Reborn, and it will make an appearance in this part of the chapter. All the Council members wear it on their shoulder armor, but this will be the first time a character takes notice of it))
CHAPTER 2 (Part 2/3): Kairi's Homecoming
A Corridor of Darkness had appeared on the balcony leading down to Radiant Garden's Market Square. Kairi, Riku, and Mickey had stepped out from it. Mickey had almost immediately recognized the world. "Kairi… this is your homeworld!"
"What?!" she was shocked. Kairi had always knew back on Destiny Islands that she wasn't originally from there. Sora and Riku were just as curious as to where she had come from, and it was even one of the reasons they set off to see other worlds.
Was Mickey telling her that she had finally arrived home?
Riku was just as dumbstruck as Kairi. "Mickey… how do you know?"
"I've been here before, and even met Kairi when she was just a little girl! There was another Keyblade master with me named Aqua, though I haven't heard from her since a long time ago. There was a threat to the worlds that we had to deal with, and we saved Kairi from several of the things that were attacking this place!"
"You mean to tell me that the Heartless weren't the first creatures to begin attacking the worlds?" Riku was now really curious about Mickey's past. He'd have plenty of time to find out on Kairi's journey though, and he also hadn't been to Hollow Bastion since his clashes with Sora there years ago. If he was just as curious as Kairi was about her hometown, Riku wanted to have a look around too, not just at the castle but at the other places the young man hadn't been to.
As they both came into the Market Place, several people came up to greet Kairi. "Princess… you've returned!"
Kairi knew that she was no longer a Princess of Heart, but the people of Radiant Garden didn't know that. Unless Yen Sid or Mickey didn't tell them what happened? Whatever the case, Kairi decided to greet them and get more acquainted with Radiant Garden.
Mickey then told the commoners, "Excuse us for a moment, there is something I must tell the Princess…" The King, Riku, and Kairi then formed a circle and then bent their heads inward, as if discussing a football strategy.
"Kairi, you
mustn't turn into your Anti Form here. Think of the effect it would have on the citizens and your family to see that a Princess of Heart has become filled with darkness!" Mickey urgently explained. "Yen Sid sent a message ahead to inform them that you were coming, but he hasn't told them the whole deal about you gaining dark powers!"
"Why wouldn't he tell th-" Kairi was curious as to why, but then stopped herself as she suddenly realized how much of an impact it would have on them. As Riku had told her earlier back on Destiny Islands during their conversation, Ansem the Wise was once the ruler of Radiant Garden, but had studied the darkness in an effort to protect his kingdom. The results however, were disastrous; it was the birth of the emblem Heartless. They already had one reason to distrust the darkness; she didn't want to give them another. "Alright, I understand."
"Thank you Kairi. Now let's explore around, shall we?"
"But wait… what if I had to fight enemies here?" Kairi didn't want to be helpless again, even though she knew why she couldn't use her Anti Form powers, or heck ANY dark powers for that matter while she was at Radiant Garden.
"Remember the D-Links? Use mine! And only attack with the Keyblade when you can't use it. Me and Riku will also back you up, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about." Mickey had suggested to Kairi. "And remember, this is only while you're here. When we're in other worlds, don't be afraid to cut loose!" The King then added, "… within reason of course, since we don't know the full details about how you use the darkness."
Kairi hated that she had to basically lie to people in her own homeworld, but decided that it was in their own best interests. At the very least, she was more than glad she had allies that would help her no matter what; Riku didn't have to worry about not using dark powers, since it wasn't him they were concerned about. With King Mickey by their side, at least he would be able to keep the people convinced as a representative of Yen Sid that the trio was there to help.
"Kairi, welcome home!" A woman had come out from the crowd to personally greet her. She was tall and had long, brown hair with large bangs that curved down, along with mini ponytails at the sides and a large one in back. Her dress was very much like Kairi's, but with a large skirt and brown boots.
"Aerith, it's so nice to see you again!" Kairi remembered the woman from Traverse Town before Sora had left to return to Hollow Bastion and stop Xehanort's Heartless. It was when she first gave him her lucky charm, which granted him access to the Oathkeeper Keyblade. "This is my friend Riku, and I'm sure you've already met the King!"
"I've heard so much about you from Sora, it's nice to finally meet you! And it's good to have you with us again King Mickey! We all have so much to talk about, so if you'd please come with me to the Restoration Committee Headquarters…"
"Certainly." Kairi said, as the trio came along with Aerith to see the rest of the gang. The young woman wanted to remember more about her home, and then remembered; Naminé had power over memories, so she could help restore them!
"(Hey Naminé, can I ask you a favor?)" Kairi silently asked the Nobody who became her friend.
"(Sure, what is it Kairi?)" the other had responded.
"(I might have some memories of this place inside me, do you think you could help me to remember them?)" Kairi further asked.
"(Yeah, if they're already inside you but you just can't remember them, I should be able to help with no problem! Just give me a while)" Naminé responded.
As Kairi walked toward Merlin's House, memories of both Radiant Garden and her childhood began coming back to her. It had been such a long time since she had left, and Kairi wondered how her grandmother was doing...
---
Sora was on his way to Hollow Bastion to stop whatever Heartless and Nobodies Arlene had summoned, but on his way to the Bailey he saw a crowd gathering outside Merlin's House.
"What's everyone gathering there for?" Sora curiously asked Donald and Goofy.
"I dunno, but we better get to Hollow Bastion quick! Better that almost everyone's there instead of at the castle!" Goofy reminded Sora.
"Yeah, come on! We got a castle to save!" Sora exclaimed. The trio headed through the Bailey, then made their way to Hollow Bastion.
As they went through a pathway that cut through the mountains, they saw Arlene flying through the air far above them, oblivious to their presence and headed toward the plateau where Sora had once single-handedly battled thousands of Heartless and Nobodies. Following her were several Dragoons and Air Soldiers. Sora guessed that must've been the aerial forces, while the ground units were on their way. "Come on, we gotta cut them off!" Sora yelled.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy finally arrived to the large expanse of field between the Crystal Fissure and the cliff overlooking the Dark Depths of Hollow Bastion. Arlene had appeared at the entrance they came through just before they made it to the cliffs to stand between them and the castle.
"Sora, Sora, Sora… it's just too much of a problem having you always interfering with our plans! Back then, we NEEDED you for us to get hearts, and then we became whole anyway. So you're just a stupid
thorn in our side now!" The woman had shouted with an annoyed voice. "I don't know if you're the one behind that stupid indestructible furniture, but I don't care. Heartless and Nobodies will be destroyed by it anyway, creating Reborn all the same, so I decided to take an entire battalion… just to go after YOU!" Her hands started brimming with electricity. All around the field, thunderbolts had come down. From where they struck, Heartless and Nobodies had appeared after the flashes went away. There were Armored Knight and Yellow Opera Heartless, along with Dragoon and Samurai Nobodies. The total number was a hundred and fifty.
Sora had assumed that the other types were attacking Hollow Bastion, so he would turn his attention to the multitude that had appeared before him.
"GAWRSH! She just summoned a whole army of them!"
"Relax Goofy, we beat more than this many before!" Donald reassured him.
"I'm fairly confident that this time, that
won't be happening," Arlene made an evil laugh, then continued, "… so I'll just be on my way now. Xehanort sent me to summon this many because he knew they would almost all get destroyed anyway, and we want that! Since you're not going to survive this Sora, I thought I'd let you know what is going to happen once we have enough Reb-" Just behind her, Ienzo appeared then grabbed her arm.
"What the… I thought YOU were in Prydain?!" She screamed out at him.
"I was, but I figured I would continue negotiations with the Horned King after checking in on things. Looks like I was right to come! You love to torment your victims by letting them know of the plan in an attempt to spite them, but I'm not going to let you divulge the Superior's plans while I'M here! He also gave me another mission for you to carry out after you've summoned all the Nobodies and Heartless that were to attack, which you clearly have done now. You are to head to the town of Port Royal in The Pirate Seas immediately; the government there has been taken over by a man named Cutler Beckett, and he could be of great use to our affairs in that world."
Ienzo then turned to Sora. "Since you now know some of our affairs, I thought that I would ensure you won't be leaving here alive, so I brought these with me just for this occasion!" He took out a lexicon which he then opened, and almost instantly several more groups of enemies appeared alongside the ones Arlene had summoned: Bookmaster and Neoshadow Heartless, together with Sorcerer and Creeper Nobodies. The total number was now three hundred. "Should you survive, it will only mean that we have that many more of the Reborn for our purposes. It's times like THIS that are among the reasons why the Superior deems me one of his most valuable members!"
"Oh shut up alre-" A hard slap from Ienzo came directly to Arlene's face. She screamed out in pain, then charged her hands with lightning and shot several bolts at Ienzo, to which he quickly responded by opening his lexicon to absorb the electricity. A portal then opened behind Arlene, and the lightning then shocked her from behind. As she was recovering from the unanticipated burst, Ienzo then began talking down to her, "Remember that it was
you who nearly spilled our entire plan to Sora! Don't you dare take that kind of tone with me! Even Braig reluctantly acknowledges that I am now of equal authority to him and Isa. The three of us and the Superior keep all you scoundrels in check, remember that! And after Dilan is done with his mission in the newly born world, and the other three are back from spying on the Princess who has just retur-"
"WHAT?! Who is this 'Princess' you're talking about?!" Sora shouted out.
"Oh, you haven't heard? I thought all the commotion in the city would be enough of an indication…" Ienzo smirked as he looked at Sora, though the Keybearer couldn't see the expression through the Reborn's large book-like mask. "It seems your dear friend Kairi has left the islands, along with Riku and the King. They are here in Hollow Bastion, and the fools known as the Restoration Committee have come to greet her. I smelled something… notably different about her as I went to check into the situation. But I figured it would be more interesting for you to find out! Oh wait, that's right… you're going to die here and now against all these!" He gestured to all the thousands of Heartless and Nobodies on the field. "But should you survive, by some extremely unlikely miracle I would imagine, then just see for yourself!"
Ienzo then turned to Larxene, "And as I had said earlier before I was so rudely interrupted, once those four are done with their missions and my business in Prydain is over with, you can certainly bet that I, along with anyone who Xehanort doesn't have work for at the time, will come to check up on you in The Pirate Seas… I will expect nothing less than proper results!"
He then turned to Sora again, "This meeting of ours must now be cut short… ATTACK!!" Ienzo had shouted to the legions of enemies that now surrounded the trio, then both he and Arlene disappeared through Corridors of Darkness.
---
In Merlin's house, Kairi had met the rest of the Restoration Committee, and then a citizen came bursting in. "Kairi, I have urgent news… your grandmother was in the library of Hollow Bastion, when several books had flown off the shelves and attacked her when the castle became haunted! She has heard the news of your arrival, and has requested to see you. Your grandmother…" he grimly explained, "… is in critical condition, I'm afraid."
Naminé restored Kairi's forgotten memories earlier on the way to Merlin's house as Kairi had requested. Due to the fact that remembered her relatives again, Kairi had fallen to her knees upon hearing the news of what happened to her grandmother, then got back up. "Where is she…?!"
"Right this way!" The man had led the trio to a makeshift hospital that was being rebuilt after the invasion of Radiant Garden had occurred during Sora's second journey. Kairi requested to see her grandmother alone when they got to her room, to which everyone understandingly obliged.
"Kairi… is that you…?" Her grandmother lay in a hospital bed, coughing after he said the words.
"Yes grandma, I'm here…!" Kairi couldn't believe it. Her grandma, who she had just recovered memories about thanks to Naminé, was dying. It was the first time the young woman had seen her only living relative since the she was sent to Destiny Islands, and Kairi was afraid it would also be her last.
"Kairi… my dear, sweet little light! You've come back after all these years…!" She was coughing again. Kairi had seen what the haunted books had done to her grandmother; bruises covered her arms, and her head was half-covered in bandages. Her two eyes were uncovered however, and she could see Kairi. "My how you've grown! Kairi, do you remember that tale I told you, so long ago? I'd like you to say it to me if that's alright dear..."
She did, and began reciting it, "'Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of the light. Everyone loved the light.'"
Kairi's grandmother closed her eyes and began coughing again as Kairi recited the first two lines. "Don't worry, go on darling…"
"…'Then people began to fight over it. They wanted the light for themselves. And…'"
She hesitated for a moment, then said, "… 'darkness was born in their hearts.'" Kairi gulped, then continued on, "'The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. It covered everything, and the world disappeared.'"
As she had said that last line, her grief was becoming heavily apparent, and darkness began slowly coming out of her as it reacted to her emotions. "(No!! NOT HERE! I can't let my dying grandmother see me like THAT!!)" She had fought to push it back, then realized that her emotions were tied with her darkness. Kairi had struggled to hold back her grief, but it was too late. Kairi's grandmother had seen the darkness in Kairi, and her eyes were wide open with shock.
"Kairi… what's happened to you since I last saw you? You were a Princess of Light… how can darkness be coming out of you?"
Mickey and Riku had heard from outside, and rushed in to tell Kairi to stop, but instead Kairi began saying something, completely unaware of the fact that they were now in the room. "Wait, how did you know I was a Princess of Heart? You never told me before…?" Kairi was desperately trying to change the subject to keep her grandmother's mind off the fact that she had accepted darkness into her heart.
"I knew lots of things I had kept from you Kairi, because they were too painful. That man, that
terrible man Xehanort, had been trying to put darkness into your heart with his experiments when you were just a young girl. He kept muttering about finding the Keyblade after he read some notes he had found the other day, and he was so angry whenever the experiments had failed, which was all the time. I knew that because darkness could not enter your heart simply because you willed it not to, you were one of the seven Princesses of Light. But now," she said, "now you have darkness in your heart. I can only imagine it's because he succeeded, but how?"
Kairi couldn't believe that she would have to lie to her own grandmother in order to keep her from knowing that she willingly accepted it. She thought the pain of knowing the truth would be too much for the old woman, but Kairi
hated that she had to hide it from someone who cared so much about her.
"Yes grandma, Xehanort's last experiment on me succeeded... I had enough of all the pain, and just wanted to keep him from getting angry at me. So I allowed darkness into my heart."
"Kairi, what are you say-" Riku began to say that it wasn't true, then was interrupted by Naminé telling him to stay quiet.
The former Princess of Heart had felt so much grief. But she couldn't let her grandma know that it was fully her decision to accept darkness into her heart!
"Kairi, I want to see for myself what the darkness has done to you." her grandmother had requested.
Kairi suddenly felt as though a knife was stuck through her heart, her grief was so great. "Grandma, are you certain…?"
"Yes…"
She didn't want to cause her grandmother such grief, but it was now unavoidable at this point. "Mickey, Riku… close the door."
"Kairi…!" Both of them began to protest.
"I said close it, please…"
They reluctantly did as she requested, at least reassured by the fact that only her grandmother would see her Anti Form. Darkness had then enveloped Kairi, and her eyes began glowing yellow again.
"Kairi… this is what he did to you…?" her grandmother's expression turned sad.
"Yes grandma…" Tears had begun to come from her eyes, only visible by the reflection of their yellow glow. Kairi didn't even know that those under the effects of such deep darkness could cry. She barely payed any attention to it though, for her mind was more fixated on her own grief and the guilt she felt from bending the truth to her grandma, even though Kairi knew she couldn't give her the knowledge that her own granddaughter had willingly accepted the darkness to the point of even stealing it from another person's heart. At least it was an indication to her that even in her Anti Form, she was still human. Kairi would have to find out exactly what Naminé did to her heart to make it work this way later on, but all she wanted right now was to be with her grandmother.
"My granddaughter, do you remember the second-to-last part of that poem?"
"'Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you. Believe in the light, and the darkness will never defeat you.' Yes grandma, I remember it perfectly…"
"You have made several good friends, I'm so proud of you…" she began coughing heavily, then continued, "Listen Kairi… even though Xehanort has put darkness in your heart, you can still use it to help your friends."
"…What?" Kairi was confused at her grandmother's response.
"I had met a young man when you were little, that was on his way to the catacombs beneath the castle. He used the darkness to destroy several monsters, and when I asked him why he wielded the darkness, he said it was 'to protect the only one he could trust.' I had felt a great amount of dark power inside him. But the fact that he was using that darkness to protect someone, and that he hadn't turned into a monster, had shown me something. I began to think that maybe darkness itself was not evil, but those who used the darkness to bring pain to the worlds were."
Kairi's grandma coughed, then continued. "So Kairi, listen to me: if you use the darkness only to protect those you care about, you are not an evil person. Do not let the darkness control you, but control the darkness instead, and use it for good! You have the power in your heart to do this Kairi. Remember that…!"
"Don't worry grandma, I will…"
Her grandmother's eyes began closing, and Kairi didn't want to lose the only remaining relative she knew. "Mickey, isn't there something we can do? Can't we heal her?!"
"... She's too badly injured. Trying to heal her like that will only make it worse. I'm sorry…" The King had a depressed note in his voice. He wanted to help Kairi save her grandmother just as much as she did, but there was nothing they could do for her now.
"Kairi…" Her grandmother opened her eyes again slowly.
"… Yes grandma…?" Kairi hugged her grandmother, fearing she would lose her. No… the young woman had felt her instincts tell her that she was was going to lose her grandmother. She didn't want to listen to them now. Kairi didn't want to have the feeling of
knowing her grandmother was going to die. She fought them back, pushed them away… anything to get them off her mind.
Just then, Kairi's grandma spoke, "No matter who you are, you'll always be my little light within the darkness…"
Kairi's grandmother then collapsed.
"Grandma…?" There was no response. "…Grandma?!" She went to put her hand on her shoulder, and her head tilted limply to the side of her pillow. "GRANDMA...!?" Several tears began streaming from Kairi's eyes.
Her body then began to fade, until it completely dispersed into light, just like how Sora had done when he collapsed into her arms after unlocking his heart with the Keyblade created by Xehanort's Heartless. However, this time there was no Shadow for her to change back to a human. Her grandmother… was gone. She had spoken her very last words of comfort to Kairi.
"No… NOOOO!!" Kairi couldn't hold back her tears anymore, and she fell face first onto the bed formerly occupied by her grandmother. Riku had come over and put his hand on her back, then she turned around and embraced him, crying on his shoulder as he held Kairi in his arms.
"Man I could write a reaaaaally sad song about this! But Dolur, which instrument to use?"
"Dear, sweet little Kairi has gained dark powers? Looks like the game has dealt her some lucky draws after all… then again, I'd say what just happened was more of a bad starting hand… funny how I can feel now too! Fortune can be a strange, cruel, and lovely mistress all at the same time Emyd…"
"I had to see it for myself to believe it! How is it possible that a Princess of Heart could bring darkness into her being?! Is there some set of rules I'm not aware of? Perhaps I could somehow gather Data that could be of use to us! Come to think of it, after hearing about Sora's new powers from Ienzo, I think his Data should be obtained as well!"
As Kairi was still crying, several voices from outside were heard.
"Those voices…" Riku alerted himself to them, especially the latter two for they sounded familiar to his ears. What Vexen's voice also said about gathering Data disturbed him greatly; he imagined replicas of Sora and Kairi, and promised himself that he wouldn't let that happen. But what were these "new powers" of Sora's that he mentioned?
"It's the Council!" Mickey confirmed from looking outside a window in the hallway of the makeshift hospital.
"Kairi, I understand that what just happened is extremely painful, but… we have to deal with them!" Riku comforted Kairi, then got up and drew Way to the Dawn.
After she stopped crying for a second, Kairi had wondered if THEY were the cause of what happened to trigger her grandma's slow death. "You're right...!" She reverted to her human form with Naminé's help, drew Destiny Place, and then the trio went outside to confront them.
---
Sora, Donald, and Goofy had stood their ground, and were now facing three hundred of several types of powerful Heartless and Nobodies.
"We took on thousands of them before guys, we can handle this!" Sora assured Donald and Goofy as the three of them stood in the middle of it all.
"You ready Sora?" Donald and Goofy had both asked.
"All for one…" Sora started.
"And one for all!" The three of them charged out at the nearest circle of the creatures. Sora cast Shockstorm directly above where he was standing as he engaged the first group, with its lightning bolts striking several of the creatures attacking from behind and sucking them into the vortex of clouds.
As an Armored Knight Heartless jumped into the air, Sora reacted by blocking with both of his Keyblades, which had also deflected several magic projectiles from a Bookmaster. He then used Flametongue, and slashed forward as several fire waves had cut down a group of Yellow Operas and Neoshadows.
Donald and Goofy were fighting side by side, with Donald using Fire to burn away enemies that surrounded him and Goofy using his Tornado to great effect. Sora was gradually feeling tired by the time he had cast Shockstorm and Flametongue again, and had cut down more of the enemies.
"(I can't be getting tired
now!)" Sora was desperate to keep fighting, and then an idea had occurred to him: what if the D-Links restored his energy in some way, like the Drive Forms had before?
Sora decided now would be the perfect time to try out the Goofy D-Link. "Give me strength!" His hand glowed with light, and he felt much less tired afterward. His idea had worked, and now it was time to mow down more enemies! His Keyblade attacks felt stronger, and Sora began to unleash combos. It felt almost like his Valor Form that he once used, but there was no change in his clothing, and he was already dual wielding.
Several Sorcerer Nobodies had then appeared, and attacked from the front with their cubes swinging in a line. Sora blocked the attacks with both Keyblades, but then they re-arranged the cubes and had begun hitting around Sora. Normally, the combo would have badly hurt, but the power of the D-Link also caused Sora to take less damage from it. The D-Link was also extending the same benefit to his allies, for which they greatly appreciated it, and Donald took the opportunity to cast Cure on himself and Goofy. Sora however, was out of range for the spell, but the damage he was sustaining from the weak combos by the cubes was moderate at best.
As Sora had unleashed several combos on the Sorcerers, his hands suddenly began glowing with light again after he finished his third combo. He gathered all his energy and began spinning around the battlefield with both Keyblades, with the three Sorcerers being the first to be destroyed.
Was he using Tornado? Sora didn't mind, as it was really helping out; the enemies were already down to approximately two-hundred and thirty strong by the time he finished.
Sora then cast Vigilance incase he was about to be hit again, so that he'd take less damage on the next hit and heal his wounds up. He was actually getting used to his new skills, and a more perfect opportunity couldn't have presented itself. The power of the D-Link had faded after the spinning attack however, and Donald and Goofy were starting to take a thrashing from several Samurai. Sora ran over and dashed with his Keyblades at the one attacking Goofy. It had countered by drawing all of its blades and slashing at Sora, but the first hit had healed him and Goofy, who then used his Turbo to interrupt the rest of the Samurai's combo, allowing Sora to finish it off.
The remaining army then surrounded them, two-hundred strong. Sora was running out of ideas, because he tried to invoke another D-Link of Goofy but found he needed more time for the object to refresh. Just then, Sora pointed his Keyblade to attack the nearest enemy, but he noticed several green circles appearing around multiple enemies as he stood still.
What were they?
As they had stopped appearing, Sora rushed with both blades forward at all the enemies that had the green circles on them. He was apparently using Sonic Blade on them, which was very useful indeed, but it was a more powerful version; Sora was
warping over to enemies before each dash with the Keyblades. Was this another power of the D-Link? If so, what was it supposed to be? As Sora was plowing through more enemies, he had remembered that one of the reasons he visited Radiant Garden was to see Merlin and practice with his new magic. Perhaps he would be able to explain the green circles, and the fact that Sora could warp across distances to use Sonic Blade when they appeared?
The enemies were now only a hundred and thirty-five strong. Sora's new version of Sonic Blade, Donald's Fire spells, and Goofy's Tornado abilities had been cutting down the army's numbers surprisingly fast.
Sora had landed several more combos on nearby enemies, also using Shockstorm and Flametongue as much as he could, when suddenly his hands started glowing again. He didn't have a D-Link active, so what could this be? As Sora used the energy, something astonishing had happened; Sora began glowing with light, and as he flashed, his hair turned blonde and his clothes were like what Roxas wore.
"WHAT? Is that Roxas?!" Donald stared in amazement.
"I dunno, he's got Sora's hairstyle! Sora, is that you?" They both wondered what happened, but had little time for thinking about it, as they were still busy cutting down Heartless.
"It's me, but… I look almost like Roxas?!" Sora wondered as he looked down at the clothes he now wore. "Yeah, you do kind of look like me!" Sora had said, but with Roxas's voice. He put his hands over his mouth, then took them off just as quickly. "WHAT'S GOING ON?!"
This was getting extremely weird! Both of the Keyblades Sora held were enchanted, but with different elements. One was with Fire, and the other was with Ice. It was almost as if he was using Flametongue and Icebrand together! He also wasn't feeling tired after all the spells and combos he did before this happened. "Okay, now I REALLY have to find out!" Sora said. "Ditto, I want some answers!" Roxas also said through Sora.
That would have to wait though, as Sora needed to rid himself and his group of the rest of the surrounding enemies. Donald and Goofy He cut through several of them with his Keyblades, with fireballs erupting and exploding at different enemies and bursts of icy wind had plowed through the ones further in front of him.
Just as he was getting used to his new combat abilities, it was as if a new one kept emerging… when was Sora going to learn it all? He guessed it wouldn't be until his journey was almost over. Did this all have to do with his D-Link, or was some of this part of the "new powers" he gained in his Awakening with Roxas? Or was it a combination of both?
The enemies were becoming fewer in number and more spread out, which meant Sora would have less problems with having to dodge their attacks. However, Sora noticed that the light in his main hand was fading slowly, but glowing brighter as he hit enemies. He deducted that if the glowing light faded completely, it would cause whatever this was to be over. Sora then wondered what would happen if it were to glow very bright; he imagined he'd gain access to a powerful move like he did with his D-Link, but he'd have to just see if that was true.
He found several enemies grouped together, and used Shockstorm on them. As they were spinning around the vortex of clouds, the light continually grew brighter, and Sora whacked away at the helpless victims of the spell with his Keyblades. Finally, the light started flashing multiple times; Sora figured this would be the time to use whatever the move was. Sora shouted, "Okay!" then both of his Keyblades pointed into the air and shot a long jet of fire and ice, which met in the air above him. The fire had melted the ice as both swirled around to create a giant globe of water. Sora's Keyblades then began glowing, and he wondered if he was supposed to hit it. Roxas shouted, "Come on!" from Sora's body, then Sora threw them at the globe, and it split into many bubbles of water which chased after the enemies that remained.
The entire army of Heartless and Nobodies were vanquished before the combined might of Sora's new powers as well as Donald and Goofy. Sora then suddenly fell on his knees from both the stress caused and energy expended during the massive battle.
"Gawrsh Sora, go ahead and take a breather! I think we all deserve one after all that! When those Council members first summoned them powerful Heartless and Nobodies, I thought we were done for! But it turns out Sora's got all kinds of tricks up his sleeve now, ahyuk!" Goofy then sat down to catch his breath.
"Those D-Links sure would've come in handy a long time ago, huh Sora?" Donald joked with him, remembering key situations in their previous journey where it would have made certain situations a breeze.
"Yeah, but somehow I think those other two powers we just saw didn't have all to do with the Dimension Link, or did they?" Sora pondered now that he had time to think.
"I'm really curious how Roxas also started talking when you did that thing where your Keyblades were enchanted with two elements just now!" Donald had reminded Sora.
"Yeah, I wonder what that was all about? I doubt that was the D-Link just now…"
"Well Sora, these are all your abilities, why don't you give them more names?" Goofy suggested.
"Umm… okay!" Sora was still tired but he decided to head over to the cliffs to continue their quick rest, but also wanted something to do that didn't require much effort now that the army before them was gone. He had pondered why more enemies weren't coming to his area.
As they were walking toward the cliffs, Sora began reviewing his two new abilities and naming them. He came up with the name "Super Sonic" for his move where the green circles appeared to his eyes only, and the name "Frozen Flame" for the power he got from Roxas appearing through him.
He noticed that both abilities were very different, because Super Sonic involved what looked like something that was used to target the enemies that it hit, and Frozen Flame involved a light similar to his D-Links, but it diminished when he didn't hit enemies. Also,
Roxas could talk through Sora while it happened!
The trio finally arrived at the cliff, then looked around Hollow Bastion's exterior from a distance. He couldn't see any signs of fighting, or Heartless and Nobodies. Why weren't they coming? Didn't Ienzo and Arlene summon swarms of them to also attack Hollow Bastion? If they did, were the forces haunting the castle really that strong?
"You know guys, we gotta go in there. First to clear out any remaining Heartless and Nobodies, and second to deal with whatever this 'haunted castle' problem is that's causing so much trouble for the Committee."
"Yeah, come on Sora, I think we've rested enough!" Donald said, as the trio got up and headed for the castle.
---
Kairi, Riku, and Mickey stood outside the hospice with Keyblades drawn, staring at their enemies who had appeared. All three of the Council members wore the same style of coat, skirt, and armor, with their own unique masks.
The man on the left had short, blonde hair that formed a mullet. His unique version of the golden mask comprised of two upside-down musical notes in symmetry, with their bottoms surrounding his eyes. "Nice to meet you sweetheart! The name's Emyd! I've been hearing all kinds of stuff about how Sora was chasing you, so I wrote this little piece…" He had boldy introduced himself to Kairi, then raised his hand as if to summon a musical instrument.
"Are you a complete moron?! Were you joking just now, or did you really think you'd have fun by singing a song for the enemy? Even if you were just saying that to fight, we have specific orders to visit three different worlds!" The man on the right had snapped at him. He had long, blonde hair and his mask was a giant golden snowflake that covered his face.
"Even, bro you really need to lighten up! We don't have to go on those missions
right now, let's have a little fun first!" Emyd had countered.
"I was thinking we could play a game with the Princess!" The man in the middle had a card for a face. It had the letter "K" in the top left corner and the bottom right corner to indicate that it was a King card, while its symbol was not like anything in a standard deck of playing cards.
The symbol itself was shaped like a heart, but unlike the Heartless or Nobody symbols, this heart had no lines or dents through it, but at the top of it the two lines that were about to meet in the middle instead curved inward. From the sides of the heart, the same curls had appeared, pointing out and downward. At the bottom of the heart, an upside down crown had appeared to give the illusion that the usual stem of the symbol was the middle spike on the crown and the other two spikes on the crown were the prongs. Kairi saw this symbol on Dolur's mask, and wondered if it was the emblem of the Reborn. They were also wearing the same graphic on their shoulderpads.
A portrait of his unmasked face was etched on the middle of the card mask; it had looked just like that of Luxord.
"Listen to both of you!" Even turned to Emyd, "You want to have a freaking CONCERT with the enemy," then he faced Dolur, "And you want to play poker with them! Why on earth did I get stuck with you dimwits? Why couldn't I have come with Aeleus and Ienzo to gather intelligence like the Superior had originally planned, before he decided to send the former to the Stone Kingdom and the latter to Prydain?"
"First off mate," Dolur began to counter, "Me and my bloke Emyd have missions of our own. After this I'm off to City of Festive Streets, and Emyd is off to Sherwood Forest."
Even interrupted, "Yes, because the Festival of Fools is taking place in the world your visiting! Fitting name by the way, wonder why Xehanort didn't send Emyd with you. And in Sherwood Forest they're having some carnival with an archery tournament and bards that will be playing." He then turned to the other. "Hear that Emyd? Guess you'll fit right in! Maybe you can entice the locals with your songs to summon Heartless and Nobodies, then maybe have the summoned ones kill each other off with another lovely tune? Oh wait, I forgot, you're probably just there to screw around and try to woe maidens with your charming melodies, bah!"
Kairi, Riku, and Mickey were confused; did they want to fight, or just argue with each other? They also had wondered why nobody else was around watching; they had all assumed that they ran away in fear because of the Council members appearing.
"Think what you want mate, but I'm at the Festival on official business with the officials! And trust me when I say my kind of Poker ain't the one where you sit down at some bloody tables, make no mistake!"
"Don't you guys think we're all forgetting about someone here?" Emyd pointed to Kairi's trio.
"Ah yes… Kairi, I am quite amused that you have gained dark powers! Everyone here in the town thinks you're still their Princess of Heart, but neither Yen Sid nor Mickey had told them the truth now, did they?"
"How d'ya fellas know about Master Yen Sid's involvement?!" Mickey snapped at him.
"Let's just say that we're very resourceful when it comes to… intelligence gathering." Even smirked.
Kairi suddenly realized that they all knew what she was trying to keep a secret during her stay in Radiant Garden, and were perhaps planning to tell the public. "That's a lie! I have no such powers!"
Dolur smirked, "Then I suppose you don't mind playing a few games? They're so… DIFFICULT to play when you add unnecessary rules to your side!" He took out a die and rolled it on the ground. A five had appeared, and Gambler Nobodies had been summoned as a result.
Even threw vials on the ground, and the resulting smoke summoned Defender and Blue Rhapsody Heartless, while Emyd whipped out his Sitar and summoned Dancer Nobodies to accompany the Gamblers summoned by Dolur.
"Capture her alive, I require her Data!" Even commanded to all the summoned creatures.
"Then why don't ya just freeze her yourself mate!?" Dolur suggested.
"Normally I would, but I must depart for my mission to Mermaid Ocean!" He disappeared through a Corridor of Darkness.
Mickey had whispered, "Remember Kairi, my D-Link and Keyblade attacks only while we're here!"
"Hey, we heard that! Why don't you let the Princess have some fun with her dark powers, huh?" Emyd snidely remarked at the King before leaving through his own portal.
"She just said she doesn't have any dark powers!" Riku yelled back.
"Keep telling everyone that chum, she'll have to play the Ace up her sleeve eventually! Back in the Realm of In-Between, the two of you couldn't even get past my cards without them, but now it's a new game and she's got quite the starting hand!" Dolur laughed, then headed through a Corridor of Darkness.
"They're a bunch of liars! Kairi doesn't have anything like that!" Mickey yelled out to apparently whomever was listening to the conversation. Kairi was getting annoyed with all the covering up they had to do while at Radiant Garden, but since she was going after them when they were finished with the creatures, she figured that it wouldn't be long.
She saw a Defender hiding behind its shield. Knowing that attacks from the front would most likely get blocked, she figured she had to get behind it. As she ran forward to jump over, it lunged at her with its shield. Kairi had impulsively dashed to the side in a way she never knew she could do. "(What was that just now?)" She felt a blur of motion as she dashed. It was only a short range and she had stopped, almost as if she was running quickly but wasn't really running, as she had dashed across air on the ground.
"Kairi, I didn't know you could use Quick Run!" Mickey had shouted as he was slashing away several Dancers.
"Me neither!" Kairi at least knew two things now. She could still dodge attacks to a degree outside her Anti Form, and she still had the instincts outside of her Anti Form. Perhaps the later was a universal ability of her dark powers regardless of her state, but she was glad that nobody could notice them; it was one of the things she desperately needed. Kairi however had feared that she might use a dark power by accident should the instinct to use it kick in.
She figured the sooner she ended this the better, and had seen an opportunity to attack the Defender from the sides where its shield didn't protect. As she attacked it, however, her hands began to emit darkness. She finished the Defender with another combo, and then her hands were surrounded by brimming orbs of dark energy.
"Kairi, I thought I told you… err…" Mickey wasn't sure if Kairi was causing her hands to create darkness or if it was something else, "told you to watch out for that thing's darkness attacks! They make your hands turn weird!"
"Yeah, be careful Kairi!" Riku had yelled in agreement with Mickey
Kairi had grown increasingly irritated by the charades they were putting up. "(My grandmother just
died and you're both telling me to not use the darkness when we're clearly in a bad situation here? SHE accepted the fact that I had gained dark powers, maybe most of my subjects wouldn't be so shocked either! You sure sounded pretty fake in trying to make the Council members look like liars, I bet half the people heard and don't believe the
real lies anymore!)"
The darkness had started to emerge more as her anger swelled at the situation. "(No, I promised grandma I wouldn't let the darkness control me, but that I would control it! I have the power!)" She remembered that there was still the Mickey D-Link. Kairi wondered if it would keep the darkness off her hands long enough to finish off all the Heartless and Nobodies the three Council members had summoned.
"Mickey, Riku, I'm gonna use the D-Link. Help me clean up all these as fast as you can before it wears off, got it?"
"Hear ya!" Mickey shouted back.
"Let's do this Kairi!" Riku acknowledged.
"Lend me your power!" Kairi's hand glowed with light, and she gained Mickey's abilities. She swung at several Blue Rhapsodies, instantly wiping them out with fast Keyblade attacks. Mickey and Riku's attacks also grew faster, though she wondered why but certainly wasn't complaining.
Not having time to think, she cut down enemies with her Keyblade swings, until her hands glowed exceedingly bright with light energy. She had begun to grip her Keyblade tight, but then her instincts told her to instead use Pearl to deal with enemies. Kairi fired a Pearl shot and controlled it to blow through several Defenders from behind, unable to do a thing to block the spell.
Just then, a Dancer had begun glowing with an aura and was skating toward Kairi. She had seen them do this to Sora and Riku back in the Realm of In Between, so she ran away to avoid it, but then her instinct told her to Quick Run right into the creature. Kairi couldn't understand why, but the young woman had access to the Cure spell while using Mickey's D-Link, so if anything bad happened she could heal herself without using dark powers.
She gave it a try, and Kairi noticed that light began glowing around her as she dashed toward the Nobody. It hit the creature multiple times, knocking it out of its trance, and allowing Kairi to finish it with another shot of Pearl, which she then directed toward a Gambler that was about to throw dice at Riku. Kairi also used the current spell to deflect a Blue Rhapsody's Blizzard spell that it shot at Mickey, then hit the creature with it.
The trio kept fighting the creatures until only about seven remained. Kairi was starting to feel the D-Link was almost finished and that she would revert back to using her original powers, but then her instincts told Kairi to grip the Keyblade tight and twirl it around. She did so, and many orbs of Pearl energy had launched from her Keyblade, obliterating many of the remaining enemies.
Riku and Mickey then made very short work of those that remained. Kairi had won her first encounter with the Heartless and Nobodies, and felt somewhat better after what had just happened. She even defeated those creatures without the power of darkness! She did however realize that she had allies helping her, along with instincts that had practically acted as her instructor, but she'd much rather not fight alone anyway. Kairi thought it would be much easier if she was in her Anti Form, however, and Naminé assured her that they were going to another world next where she could use it.
"Hey guys, do we have to go to another world right away?" Kairi inquired.
"Well Kairi, you saw those Council members just leave for other worlds, so we have to be quick! Those three, and the rest of them I suspect, are probably furthering their evil plans as we speak!"
"I wanted to see Sora though. Aerith and the Committee told us they were here!" Kairi wanted to at the very least see Sora, though not while she exhibited any dark powers. She wanted to tell him about everything that happened, and more than anything needed to feel Sora's warm embrace, just like she did in the Realm of In Between.
"I understand how ya feel Kairi, but we can't bother Sora right now while he's off at Hollow Bastion tryin' to fix things. Ya know what? A great way to help him would be to at least chase down those three Council members, or any other ones we come across while Sora's on his journey!" Mickey suggested.
"And besides Kairi, Sora's very busy right now dealing with whatever it is they're up to here in Radiant Garden. I think it would be best for him if he didn't have to worry about us while he was here. He probably thinks we're still on the islands." Riku explained.
"And it's better that way." Mickey agreed with Riku.
"Part of the whole reason I came on this journey was to see Sora again and journey
with him! Not to take some kind of backseat!" Kairi frowned.
She didn't even get to see Sora now?! First she's told she can't use the darkness at Radiant Garden, then her grandma unexpectedly dies (the last time she would ever see her being the first time since she was a small child), and now Riku and Mickey were telling her that she couldn't see Sora? It was too much to bear!
"Kairi, please listen! You're not 'taking a backseat' or anything like that! You have as equally important a role on your journey as Sora does!" The King was desperately trying to convince Kairi to have the trio get to the next world as soon as they could.
"Hey Kairi, you remember how I told you about my journey earlier? I wanted so badly to be with Sora again, but I worked behind the scenes to ensure that he would defeat Organization XIII. And look how that worked out! We all got to see each other again! Sora himself even thanked me for everything I did after I got back to the islands. Wouldn't you want him to be just as grateful to you? Besides, I was nearly
alone when I was on my journey, with only the King to help me out in Castle Oblivion and a select few other times afterward. You have both of us, and you're not gonna feel lonely on your quest if we can help it!" Riku had known all along how his friend felt about Sora. He felt almost exactly the same, though he knew Kairi's feelings for Sora were perhaps stronger. Riku knew that if he left Radiant Garden, he might not see Sora for a while… maybe even for the rest of Kairi's journey.
"… Is my entire journey going to be like this?" Kairi had tears coming out of her eyes that were now clearly visible because she wasn't in Anti Form. "Am I going to have people close to me die like my grandma just did…?! Are people always going to try and hold me back!? Is it possible that I'll never see Sora again after this?!?!" Mickey and Riku were silent, a look of grief over their friend's pain on their faces. "…IS IT!?" Kairi had screamed out in response to their silence.
Darkness was flowing out of Kairi as it reacted to her emotions, and Mickey was concerned yet couldn't help but feel sad for Kairi; in just her first time home, she had to watch as her grandmother was dying and she could do nothing to help, was forced to avoid using her dark powers while here for the sake of the people of Radiant Garden, and now couldn't even go to see her best friend in what was perhaps her greatest time of need. It was all too much for the former Princess of Heart, and Mickey knew.
Riku had walked forward to hug his best friend. "Kairi… things are always bad in the beginning. Some of the most painful moments of my journey happened when I first went into Castle Oblivion. After I entered my memories of Hollow Bastion, and found that they were completely empty except for Maleficent and her Heartless because I had pushed away everyone I ever became close to, I had felt some of the greatest anguish I ever felt in my life! Kairi… I think that's the kind of grief you're going through right now. You want nothing more than to help those you care about, but you just lost one of them, and you're afraid you might never see our best friend again. I'm scared too, and I'm just as torn over your loss! I was reminded of my grief when I felt you crying on my shoulder..."
He continued, "I want you to know that me and Mickey are here for you Kairi. We don't want to hold you back, we want to help you succeed in your journey! I want you to be able help Sora in great ways, and for you to control your darkness… being able to do both are such wonderful gifts Kairi, things I wish could do in the same way you can! I want to help you achieve those goals…"
Kairi looked at her friend, then asked, "… Do you really mean that Riku…?" The sadness was still apparent in her voice, but the darkness was falling back under her control.
"Every word of it! You've already helped me in one of the largest ways I could imagine. I haven't felt, heard, or seen Xehanort's Heartless since your battle with him. And I know you can help Sora even greater than that Kairi. You've become like me in so many ways already, but you're journey is just beginning!" He comforted her.
"Ya just gotta believe in yourself Kairi, and in Sora too! I'm sure we'll see him again!" Mickey reassured her.
"Yeah, I'll count on it!" Kairi had become more cheerful, though the memories of what happened here would remain with her always.
Kairi decided that it was best to start by heading for the next world so that Sora wouldn't have to worry about what was happening, and that she could make his journey not only easier, but faster so that he could come back home as soon as possible. She had opened a Corridor of Darkness, and as Riku and Mickey went through, Kairi stayed behind for a moment. Naminé had reached her hand out towards Hollow Bastion, then Kairi went through the portal, wondering what that was all about.
"(There. Now everything is set)" Naminé silently contemplated. "(I think I've done all that I can to try and ensure your success Sora, and yours too Roxas. Now it's time for me to focus on assisting Kairi… because she's going to be perhaps the greatest help you both get)"
Kairi then walked through the Corridor of Darkness, headed toward the first world she would protect as a Keybearer.
((
Chapter 2 (Part 3/3)))
