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Kingdom Hearts: Dark Dawn	By : RotSeele Category: Kingdom Hearts > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 3169 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I do not make any money from this story.

Chapter List
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Thirty-One - Twilight Town

Somehow, they found sleep.
When Kaoru woke, he found Rin standing over him, a broad smile upon her face. That confused him, considering he wasn’t sure why she would be smiling like that, but then he remembered what had happened last night and remembered where he was.
Rinally mouthed, I told you so.
Kaoru replied, Shut up. And blushed.
Kai was still asleep, with his arm firmly around Kaoru’s shoulders. Kaoru’s head had ended up pillowed on Kai’s shoulder, his own body snuggled close to the redhead’s. Kai’s chin almost touched his chest, his red hair making a sort of curtain between him and Kaoru’s face. The hold Kai had on Kaoru was entirely possessive, and it was clear that Kaoru wouldn’t be able to move without disturbing Kai. Kaoru had a sinking feeling that if he so much as twitched funny, Kai would snap awake and be ready to kill something with Sanctuary.
It took Kaoru a minute to gather the courage to even attempt to move. Somehow, he managed to extricate himself from Kai’s hold, moving away from the older boy only centimeters at a time. When he was at last free, he got to his feet and joined Rin, who was grinning madly but doing her best not to burst into a giggle fit. They didn’t move far away from Kai, just to the edge of the wall, and stared out onto the town, which now was coming to life.
“Soooo,” Rin started, her voice a sing-song croon, “when did he get back?”
Kaoru hated that he blushed so easily. “Late.”
“Late? That’s it?”
“I wasn’t exactly keeping an eye on the time. Maybe a little after four.”
Rin’s eyebrow rose toward her hairline. “What happened?”
“Nothing that you need to know about.”
“Oh, come on, Kaoru.”
Kaoru stared out across the town, his lips pressed firmly together. Finally, he told her what had happened while she’d been sleeping. She was silent as he talked, her eyes sliding away from him and out onto the town. When he finally stopped talking, Rin folded her arms over her chest and tilted her head to the side.
“Do you really think you saw him? Your friend Hiromu, I mean.”
Kaoru lifted his shoulders in a helpless shrug. “I don’t know. If you had asked me last night, I would have sworn that I had. But... it was only a shadow. Maybe I was seeing things.”
“What does your heart say?”
Kaoru placed his hand over his heart, feeling the steady beat of it against his palm. He closed his eyes. “I saw him. He was really there. But... I don’t know why he would run away from me. I don’t know why he wouldn’t recognize me.”
“Maybe he saw the same thing you did, a shadow illumined by light. Maybe he couldn’t recognize you.”
“Maybe.”
“We could go there to look for him. Maybe there was a reason he was in that creepy forest.”
Kaoru looked at her, feeling an ember of hope kindle inside him. “You think maybe Tae is with him?”
Rinally nodded. “It’s the only explanation that makes sense. Maybe they landed here like we did in Traverse Town. Maybe they picked that spot to hide because no one goes there.”
Kaoru smiled. “Maybe we should go look then. If I can find them now, then all of us can travel together, and once we find Sora and Radiant Garden, he can help us get our worlds back.”
Rinally grinned. “Yeah. And at the very least, we’ll be safe on Radiant Garden. I mean, if that’s Sora’s base, then I’m sure it’s gotta be Heartless- and Creepy Coat-free.”
“Creepy-Coat?”
“I thought of it myself, too. It sounds better than just calling Them ‘They’ or whatever, capital T.”
Kaoru laughed. “Sometimes the way your mind works amazes me.”
“I amaze myself.”
“...I’m less than impressed.”
Kaoru and Rinally turned to look at Kai, who stood behind them with his arms crossed over his chest. His head canted to one side as he studied Kaoru and Rin in turn, and then he stepped up between them, his green eyes flicking around the town below. Rin blew out a long, exaggerated sigh. “I don’t care if you’re impressed or not.” she told Kai. “I didn’t say it for your benefit.”
Kai turned an unreadable expression onto her and Kaoru thought for a minute that he was going to provoke her somehow. But Kai just said, “If this is the best you can come up with, I suggest you don’t quit your day job.”
“You realize that day job is hanging out with you and Kaoru and fighting Heartless and things like that?”
“I realize.”
Rinally blinked, as if she couldn’t decide if Kai had just made a joke at her expense or had readily admitted that he accepted her as his friend. Then a little smile appeared on her face and Kaoru knew that she had decided to accept the latter explanation. Then she asked, “Did you find anything interesting on your prowl last night?”
Kai shook his head. “Not really. It’s a pretty big town, and that clocktower seems to be the center of it. There’s an underground area, as well, but I didn’t explore it.”
“Did you see any people?” Kaoru asked.
“No. Not at that time. Though,” Kai’s eyes narrowed, “though I thought I sensed something. It wasn’t friendly.”
“Was it Kaoru’s mysterious shadow?” Rinally asked.
Kai paused, but he shook his head after a minute. “No, I don’t think it was that. But whatever was out there was definitely unfriendly.” He looked at Kaoru with a warm gaze. Kaoru gave him an unsure-but-game smile in return.
Rin tapped her fingers against her lips. “Well, whatever it was, we aren’t going to learn anything if we just keep standing here all day. Look, there are plenty more people out now, so maybe we can get some information. Along with something to eat.”
“Lead the way, princess.” Kai said.
Kaoru elbowed him in the ribs. “Stop antagonizing her.”
Kai rubbed the sore spot on his chest but said nothing, a tiny, amused smile playing on his lips. Rin could only smirk, and she went to retrieve their stuff. When she returned, the three of them began to explore the town now that it was more active.
They didn’t find much, though an enterprising shop owner promised them free food if they went around town putting up posters. With the three of them, they managed to finish in a decent amount of time, though they were in agreement that they really hoped they would get off this world soon so they wouldn’t have to do such tedious, time-consuming jobs just to eat. With their bellies filled, they continued to explore the town, delving into the underground where they encountered weak Shadows that ran away from them rather than fight.
When they emerged back into the twilight, Kai led the way through the town once more, his path a winding one without any real destination. The twists and turns took them up to an alleyway which was actually a dead end. They turned back around and started down out of the alley, Kai leading. He stopped walking suddenly, nearly causing Kaoru to slam into his back, and Rinally to crash into Kaoru. The two managed to catch themselves before they caused any serious injury to each other, then peered around Kai to see what had caused him to stop so suddenly.
Ahead of them, looking startled, was a young woman with brown hair braided into twin pigtails. She was at least in her early to mid-twenties, dressed in an orange top and khaki capri pants. In her arms were two grocery bags filled with items, along with a plastic bag that clearly had ice cream packaging inside it. She didn’t seem to be dangerous. In fact, she seemed incredibly perplexed by their presence, if not a little afraid. Kaoru wasn’t sure if her fear came from the fact Kai was staring at her like he was about to murder her, or if her fear came from the fact she was by herself with three strangers.
“Yo, Olette! What’s taking you so-“
The speaker, a blonde young man dressed in fatigue pants and a black t-shirt, appeared from the opposite direction of the woman. Puffing up behind him came another young man, this one dressed in a red t-shirt and blue jeans. His dark hair stood up from his head in mimicry of a broom, held in place by a white and blue headband. His eyes, like the first man’s, went wide at spotting Kaoru, Kai, and Rin, and he lifted a hand to point at them, little sounds escaping his mouth but no coherent words.
Olette, the young woman, seemed to compose herself faster than her friends. “Um, hi there.”
Kai glanced back at Kaoru, who gave a helpless little shrug. Since when was he leader? But Rin gave him a little push on the back, forcing him to take a step forward and assume that role, standing just in front of Kai. “Hello.” he said, unsure.
Olette gave him a bright smile, clearly relieved for some reason. “When did you three arrive? We haven’t seen any gummi ships today.”
“Olette,” said the blonde man, “are you sure you should be chatting up strangers? I mean, I’m sure they’re really busy.”
“Yeah,” said the man in red, “the sea salt ice cream is melting.”
“Gross.” Rinally whispered. Kaoru glanced back at her and wondered if Rin realized that Kai shared her sentiments about that particular flavor of ice cream.
“Well, Hayner, if you haven’t noticed, they’re kind of between us and our secret place.” Olette said, turning a narrow-eyed stare onto the blonde man. “They’re probably lost, anyway. Lots of tourists come here and end up getting lost.”
“Um,” Kaoru said, “we’re not... we’re not actually all that lost. I mean, we’ve been all over this town. It’s just... we don’t know where we are and...”
“And we don’t actually have a clue as to what we’re looking for.” Rin jumped in, moving up to Kaoru’s side. “See, we didn’t use a gummi ship to get here. These two might not look it, but they’re Keyblade wielders. We used the Paths to get here. I guess if you know where the gummi ship station is, could you point us in the right direction?”
“We’re trying to get to Radiant Garden.” Kai supplied. “We’re looking for someone.”
Kaoru watched the expressions on Hayner and Olette and the other man’s faces as Kai and Rinally spoke. Their eyes went wide when Rinally spoke of him and Kai being Keyblade wielders. Not wide in surprise, but wide in understanding and shock. Then their expressions changed from shock to disbelief upon hearing the way the three of them had come to this world, and then the three of them had glanced at each other when Kai mentioned Radiant Garden. They knew something, Kaoru realized. They knew something important.
Finally, Olette said, “Maybe you should join us. We were just about to sit down to study and have snacks.”
“Well, maybe you were going to study, Olette, but Pence and I were just going to eat the snacks.” Hayner said.
Olette turned that narrow-eyed stare on him again. “Just because it’s summer vacation doesn’t mean you can put off that project, Hayner. You procrastinate every year. It’s amazing you actually got into college. Even Seifer has a better GPA than you.”
Hayner winced and glowered. Kaoru smiled, amused that Olette’s easy mention of that name caused Hayner so much personal grief. “Well, if it’s not too much trouble, that would be nice. My name is Kaoru. This is Kai, and Rinally.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Kaoru. Now, shall we go inside?” Olette smiled as she moved up to them, then squeezed past them to lead them into a little break in the wall the three hadn’t noticed before. Hesitating only briefly, Kaoru and his friends followed her, with Pence and Hayner bringing up the rear.
Once they were all settled on the floor or the couches or chairs in the hidden room, Olette handed out little snack boxes from one of the bags to Kaoru, Kai, and Rinally. She handed Pence and Hayner two of the three sea salt ice creams that were in the plastic bag, then opened her own and sat back in her seat. The six studied each other, each group uncertain if they were the ones who were to start speaking first, or if they were the ones who were going to listen.
Deciding to take the lead, Kaoru licked peanut butter from his index finger and asked Olette, “Where are we?”
She smiled. “This is Twilight Town.”
“Twilight Town?”
“Mhm. It’s a hub world.”
Rinally leaned forward. “Like Traverse Town.” She looked at Kaoru. “I wonder why we ended up on a hub world? Do you think we’re needed here for some reason?”
Kaoru lifted his shoulders in a shrug, but it was Hayner who said, “I don’t know why junior Keyblade wielders would be needed here. I mean, Sora, Riku, and Kairi were here not too long ago. In fact, if you’d met us a little while earlier, you would have been able to meet them too. They literally just left.”
Kaoru stiffened. “Really?! I’ve been trying to find Sora ever since I got my Keyblade! That’s why we’ve been trying to get to Radiant Garden.”
Hayner’s smile was more of a grimace than anything else. “Yeah, they mentioned that they were looking for someone too. I don’t know if it was you they were looking for, but it seems like too much of a coincidence that you show up looking for Sora and he just left.”
Kaoru, Kai, and Rinally exchanged glances. “Did they say where they were going?” Rin asked.
Hayner shook his head. “Riku mentioned the Coliseum, but I think they were headed back to Radiant Garden. They went to check out the mansion on the other side of the wall, but I guess they didn’t find anything there.”
“What did they come to look for?” Kai asked.
“They didn’t really say,” Pence started, “but Sora said a few more worlds had disappeared and some really strange things had happened to some people that they know. Plus, the Emblem Heartless have started to become more prevalent on open worlds, along with more sightings of guys in Organization XIII coats.”
“Sora came to check on us.” Olette said. “Then he asked if anything weird’s been going on in town, and other than the usual, nothing weird has happened.”
“But we noticed that there were lights coming on in the mansion, so we mentioned it to him.” Pence added. “They went to go check it out. I swear that place is haunted, but no one believes me.”
“That’s because it’s not haunted.” Hayner drawled. “You thought it was haunted when we were kids and it wasn’t. Why would it be haunted now?”
Pence glowered at his friend. “Shut up.”
“So they checked it out,” Kai prompted, “and came back empty handed?”
“Yeah.” Hayner said. “I mean, even if they didn’t, they wouldn’t tell us. Sora just said to keep our eyes open and if we saw something strange, to lay low and try not to get involved.”
Kaoru stared down into his lap and thought about what he had learned. He was incredibly disappointed to realize that he had just missed meeting Sora. It seemed like he was doomed to wander forever before finally reaching his destination and meeting up with the older Keyblade Master. But it wasn’t a total loss. According to Hayner, Sora, Riku, and Kairi (whoever she was) had gone to check out a mansion. Hayner said the mansion was on the other side of the wall, and Kaoru could only surmise that the wall he’d been talking about was the same wall where he’d seen the apparition of Hiromu in that forest. Was there really a mansion beyond there? Maybe Rin was right, then. Maybe Hiromu and Tae had ended up here in Twilight Town, and were hiding out in the mansion. But if they were, wouldn’t Sora have found them? Maybe they didn’t know they could trust Sora and Riku. Maybe they hid when Sora went exploring, afraid of who he might be. What if Hiromu and Tae were hiding from the Creepy Coats, and they had believed Sora was one of them? Hiromu would want to protect Tae at all costs. The last memory Kaoru had of Tae was her glowing with bright light and screaming, so if she did survive Paradise City’s destruction, Hiromu would do whatever he needed to to protect her.
His hand went up to his headphones, where his fingers rubbed against the scorch mark left on the muff that had been closest to Tae. Despair flickered in his heart, warring with the hope that he would, eventually, find his friends.
Kai reached out and gripped Kaoru’s shoulder tightly, making the blonde look up at him in askance. Kai tilted his head, his expression a serious one. Kaoru smiled at him, but it was a little unsure.
“We can try and get into contact with Radiant Garden.” Olette said, reaching to put her popsicle stick into a nearby trash can. “Sora gave us a special set of pens and stationery that we could drop into the nearby mailbox and it’d get transported immediately there.”
Pence nodded. “All you’d have to do is wait here with us, and as soon as Sora gets the letter, I’m sure he’ll be back to get you.”
Kaoru looked up at Rinally and then at Kai. There was no telling how much time that would take, even if the letter Olette wrote made it to Radiant Garden on time. Sora might not even be there to accept the letter, and by the time he was, it might be too late. Still, Kaoru knew that he couldn’t just sit here and do nothing. If there was a chance - however slim - of finding Tae and Hiromu, then he needed to do it. He knew Kai and Rin would help him. He looked at Olette, Pence, and Hayner and smiled.
“Thanks,” Kaoru said, “but I think we’d better keep moving ourselves. I mean, if Sora wants you to lay low and stay safe, then us being here will only put you in danger.”
“Kaoru’s right,” Rin said. “Besides, we’re bound to meet up with them at some point. I couldn’t look them in the face if you guys ended up getting hurt because of us.”
“But you can write the letter anyway,” Kaoru added. “If Sora knows we’re looking for him, maybe he’ll start looking for us, too. Maybe he can set something up for us when we get to Radiant Garden.”
Olette nodded, smiling. “I can do that for you.”
“You shouldn’t go off without supplies, though.” Pence said. “Let’s see what you need. Hayner and I can go get them for you.”
Kaoru and Rinally upended their packs onto the floor. The clothes Belle had given them were discarded now, folded into a neat pile and set aside. That left a meager supply of things left for the three teenagers to use between them, and none of it was food. Rinally had a few mana potions and there was what looked like a health potion, but Kaoru had nothing left after his pack had been emptied and cleaned out. Kai looked on with a bemused smile, since he didn’t have a backpack to plunder through. He had only come with the clothes on his back and the Keyblade in his hand. It didn’t take long to put together a shopping list of what the three teenagers would need for their journey, however long it would take. There was no telling if they would be able to return to a hub world, or even if they would end up on a world as advanced as Twilight Town or any of the other worlds they had seen before. Hayner and Pence took the list, and with Rinally, went to go buy what the three of them would need for the foreseeable future.
That left Kai and Kaoru with Olette.
“So,” Olette started, nerves back in her voice, “you’re both Keyblade wielders?”
Kaoru nodded. He held up his right hand, and with a little bit of will and effort, Guardian materialized into his hand with a shimmer of light. Beside him, Kai did the same with his left hand, and Sanctuary appeared in a pop of darkness. Both Keyblades seemed to begin to diffuse a soft glow. “This is Guardian.” he said.
“This is Sanctuary.” Kai added, his deep voice oddly soft.
Olette stared at both Keyblades with an expression of awe. “I’ve never seen Keyblades like that before. Even Sora and Riku’s Keyblades don’t look like yours. It’s amazing; I can tell just by looking which one is Light and which one is Darkness.”
Kaoru smiled. “I guess it’s pretty easy, huh?” He let Guardian vanish. Kai did the same with Sanctuary.
Olette shook her head. “Sometimes, it isn’t as easy as you think. Someone you think that may be a champion of Light is really an agent of Darkness. Maybe even the other way around. You just have to trust what your heart tells you. Now, where is that paper? I know I had it somewhere in here.”
Kaoru looked up at Kai and smiled at him. Kai returned the gesture with just a twitch of his lips. Then they and Olette got down to the business of writing Sora’s letter, in hopes that maybe it would reach the Keyblade Master before Kaoru, Kai, and Rinally got into too much trouble
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Kingdom Hearts: Dark Dawn