Kingdom Hearts: Dark Dawn | By : RotSeele Category: Kingdom Hearts > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 3168 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I do not make any money from this story. |
Forty-Six - Sora Interlude; Radiant Garden
“Mail’s here!” called Yuffie, entering into Aerith’s house with her hands full of letters. There wasn’t an answer right away, but Yuffie heard Aerith’s voice from the kitchen and knew the brunette woman would be out soon to help her sort the day’s delivery of correspondence.
Yuffie wasn’t surprised that Aerith was the only one in the house. Everyone tended to use either Aerith’s home or Merlin’s house as meeting places. Lately, what with the Brotherhood moving as much as they were, there was an unspoken rule that Aerith’s house would be used as a congregation point. Rather, the congregation point. Even if they weren’t inside keeping watch, Leon and Cloud were always lurking around outside keeping watch. They had help in the form of Aqua, Terra, and Ventus, the three Keyblade wielders who had come before Sora, Riku, and Kairi and were directly responsible for those three getting Keyblades themselves. Yuffie didn’t quite understand it, but she usually didn’t pay attention when the Keyblade wielders got together and talked shop.
Yuffie set the piles of mail on the table and leaned her hands on the wood and stared at all the envelopes laid out on the table. Some were fan letters from people all over the known worlds, some were bills and those Yuffie would let Leon deal with because for some inexplicable reason she couldn’t fathom, he was good at that kind of stuff, and some were letters from friends both distant and intimate. Everyone’s mail ended up here at Radiant Garden since it was everyone’s last known location, but if someone wasn’t here they’d either hold the mail until they returned - like when Leon and Cloud went to the Coliseum - or they would find a way for the mail’s intended recipient to get their stuff, like giving the sack full of undelivered letters to Cid to deliver when he made trips to other worlds.
“Oh, Sora,” said Aerith as she exited the kitchen and looked behind Yuffie, “welcome back.”
Yuffie looked over her shoulder at Sora, Riku, and Kairi. They had been gone for a few days, meeting up with friends from Twilight Town before Sora’s inexplicable need to be somewhere took them to Ivalice, then to Eos, and then to Disney Castle where they met with King Mickey and Queen Minnie, along with Donald and Goofy. They looked a little tired, but then, Yuffie surmised, they all did after a while.
Sora smiled at Aerith. “Thanks. Have you seen Aqua and the others? We did a quick circuit around Radiant Garden, but we haven’t been able to find them.”
Aerith tapped her chin. “Oh, I think they went with Leon and Cloud out to The Great Maw. There’s been more Heartless activity out there, and Leon doesn’t want it spilling in to the town.”
Riku blew out a sigh. “A Keyblade Master’s work is never done.”
“Are you guys hungry? I just finished making lunch.”
“Sure. I’m pretty famished myself. But I’m gonna hurry up to my room and clean up a little bit.” Kairi all but skipped away from her friends, dashing up the stairs near the back of the house and disappearing.
“I’ll be right back.” Aerith disappeared into the kitchen again and soon they could hear sounds of plates being pulled from cabinets.
Sora and Riku headed toward the table, where Yuffie gave them both a big smile. “Did you guys have fun?”
Riku settled into a chair and folded his arms over his chest. “Define ‘fun’.”
“Well, you know. Did you get to see any sights? Did you get to fight anything cool? Did you bring me back anything?”
“Typical Yuffie. Always wanting souvenirs.” Sora said with a grin. He sat down beside Riku and dug in his pack, pulling out a little brown box wrapped in plain paper and tied with string. He offered it to her. “You might want to open it outside.”
Yuffie took it with a confused but pleased expression. She lifted it up to her ear and gave it a little shake. “Why? What is it?”
“Well, considering the last time we brought you something back, you went nuts with excitement and it took us hours to put Aerith’s furniture back in the right spots.”
“Oh, right.” Grinning, Yuffie headed toward the door. She opened it, paused, and turned back to look at Sora and Riku. “Since you’re here, you can help Aerith sort mail.” Then she promptly jumped out of the door, making odd noises as she started tearing at the wrapping.
“Did she just squeal?” Riku asked, staring at the closed door like it was going to fly open and Yuffie was going to launch herself at him to hug him to death, or something of that nature.
Sora laughed. “Probably. I didn’t think she’d like the shuriken that much.”
“That girl loves weapons more than she likes people.”
“That’s not true. She also likes sneaking around and spying on people when she thinks they’re not paying attention.”
Riku grunted. He leaned his head back against the chair’s back and closed his eyes.
“You could go upstairs and take a nap, you know.” Sora said quietly as he studied the piles of envelopes before him.
“I could, but I don’t want to.”
“Sleeping in the chair is going to be hell on your neck.”
“I’m not sleeping. I’m just resting my eyes.”
Sora choked on a laugh. “Where have I heard that before?”
Riku’s silence was about as close to a ‘shut up’ as Sora was about to get. None of them had gotten much rest during their outing. After they had left Twilight Town, Sora suggested that they try the Coliseum to see if anyone there had heard any news. Hercules and Phil hadn’t heard anything about Kaoru or anyone matching his description. Sephiroth, after a lengthy battle with Sora and Riku, mentioned something about the Brotherhood moving in Ivalice, which was news he’d gotten from two new-comers to the Coliseum, a boy and a girl by the name of Vaan and Penelo. They claimed they were sky-pirates, but as far as Sora could tell, they weren’t very good at being pirates. Still, they talked to Vaan and Penelo, then headed to Ivalice themselves, where they discovered the Brotherhood trying to reignite the war between Rozarria and Archadia, which would in turn destroy the small kingdom of Dalmasca, which would be caught in between.
So they had helped Queen Ashe reestablish communication with many of her allies, and one of her allies in particular, the Emperor Larsa of Archadia, and together put a stop to the Brotherhood’s plans. They had learned that the Brotherhood had been trying to gather Mist to power machinery that they had squirreled away somewhere, but they hadn’t been able to learn where. The Brotherhood members that they’d managed to capture refused to talk after revealing that much, and had attacked Sora, Ashe, and Larsa while their backs had been turned. Sora had managed to dispatch two of them, and Kairi had intercepted and defeated the third. Riku, who had been outside with Basch, had been attacked by a fourth Brotherhood member pretending to be an Archadian guard, and together he and Basch had put the imposter down.
After that, they had gone to Eos where they had helped Noctis and his friends deal with a Daemon surge, and once that had been taken care of, they had made their way to Disney Castle, only to find it under siege by Heartless. In all, their time away had been filled with nothing but fighting, and they were really, really looking forward to a break.
“Riku?”
“Nn.”
“Go upstairs.”
“Aerith is bringing lunch soon.”
Sora shook his head and chuckled softly. Riku would never admit that he was exhausted, nor that he was taking a nap, if he was in the same room as Sora. It was a protective thing, Sora had discovered. Darkness tended to follow Light around and remain at the edges until the Light needed it. So as much as Riku enjoyed the lone wolf at times, whenever Sora was around, he was always right behind him. Sora could say the same for Kairi, because Riku often hovered over her without actually seeming like he was hovering. Sora was guilty of that too, but Kairi was used to him being around her, so she didn’t complain much about it.
Figuring he might as well make himself useful, and let Riku take his nap, Sora began to sort the mail. He started separate piles for Leon and Cloud, bills, Cid, and miscellaneous letters to be delivered elsewhere, like the letters the Princesses wrote to each other on occasion. As he continued sorting through the envelopes, he came across one near the bottom of the pile that had his name on it. It wasn’t unusual. People from all over wrote him letters all the time. They were fan letters or pleas for help with small, insignificant problems. Not that Sora wanted to belittle their problems as insignificant, but they weren’t problems that could be solved with a Keyblade. But this one seemed different. The envelope was plain white, with only his name and the words ‘urgent’ and ‘top secret’ scrawled on the front. He didn’t recognize the handwriting, but he’d never gotten a letter with the word ‘urgent’ on it either.
He was distracted by Kairi’s return. He looked up as she tromped down the stairs, still using a towel to dry her hair. At the same time, Aerith exited the kitchen holding a tray filled with plates of cucumber sandwiches and tall glasses of cold tea. Riku stirred, and opened his eyes to refocus on Sora and Kairi. He stood up and moved to help Aerith bring the tray to the table. Kairi came to stand beside Sora, looking over the mail before she looked toward Sora’s hand.
“Hey,” she said, “that’s from Olette.”
Sora blinked. “Olette? Why would she send me a letter?”
“I don’t know. Open it.”
Sora looked at Riku, who lifted an elegant eyebrow as if to say ‘why are you asking me?’. Sora shrugged, slid his finger under the seal Olette had placed on the back of the letter, and opened it. He found several pages of notebook paper inside, all written in Olette’s hand. He skimmed the writing of the first page, but found nothing of interest. It was the second page that caught his attention.
“What is it?” Riku asked, looking over Sora’s shoulder. Kairi peered over Sora’s other shoulder, frowning slightly.
“Right after we left, Kaoru showed up.” Sora said. “Looks like he wasn’t alone. He had two other people with him - a boy named Kai, and a girl named Rinally. According to Olette, Kai’s a Keyblade wielder too, and Kaoru’s complete opposite. Rinally seems to be a sorceress.”
“How could Kai have a Keyblade?” Kairi asked.
“We don’t really know how the Keyblades work, except that they can be passed down from one wielder to another through ritual. That’s how Riku got his Keyblade originally, and me too, since I kept Ventus’s heart safe inside me.” Sora frowned. “You got yours because you met Aqua, but you were only able to really use it after Riku gave it to you.”
“So it’s completely conceivable that, because Kai met Kaoru, he was able to acquire a Keyblade?” Aerith asked.
“Yeah. But we don’t know what kind of Keyblade Kaoru has.” Sora pointed out. “He was only four when we met him.”
“What do you mean, what kind of Keyblade?” Aerith canted her head to one side. “I thought all the Keyblades are the same?”
Riku shook his head. “Keyblades are incredibly varied, not just in the affinities they have, but also in how they’re created. The six Keyblades we have here in Radiant Garden right now are forged Keyblades. They’re created from the powers of Light and Darkness and shaped with their wielder’s will. My Way to Dawn Keyblade is like that, but Sora’s Kingdom Key can take on a number of forms if he attaches certain keychains to it.”
“And my Destiny’s Embrace is the same way, except it’s stronger in Light.” Kairi explained.
“But the other form of Keyblades are ones made directly from the heart.” Sora added. “It takes a strong heart to be able to wield that kind of Keyblade, and they’re strictly a single affinity. Whereas Riku’s and mine can take on an aspect of Light and Darkness, the ones from the heart are only Light or Darkness.”
Aerith hummed. “So you’re saying that if this boy Kaoru and his friend Kai have Keyblades, then they’re not the forged type, but the ones created directly from their hearts?”
“Exactly. Which makes them both very dangerous and very vulnerable.”
Aerith looked at Riku, startled. “What do you mean?”
“If any one of us lose our Keyblade, we can keep fighting and summon it back.” Riku held out his hand and in it appeared Way to Dawn. He headed around the table and across the room, where he set the Keyblade gently against the wall. Then he returned to Sora’s side and held out his hand again. Aerith let out a soft gasp as the Keyblade vanished from where Riku had placed it, and reappeared in his hand. “If the Keyblade gets destroyed, we can reforge them.”
“They regenerate anyway after enough time has passed,” Sora said, “but that only applies to the forged type of Keyblades. That’s why they’re the most common. They’re only as powerful as their wielders.”
“The ones made directly from the heart, though, not only take strength from their wielder, but from their element as well. But if those Keyblades are destroyed...” Kairi trailed off. She looked at Olette’s letter. “If those Keyblades are destroyed, so are their wielders.”
Aerith’s eyes widened. “You mean, they die?”
“The Keyblades are manifestations of their wielder’s hearts. Destroy the Keyblade, destroy the heart.”
“That’s terrible! And you think those boys have that kind of Keyblade?”
Sora shrugged. “Olette describes them here, and based on what she says, it makes me think both Kaoru and Kai have this rare type. I doubt they know it themselves, though.”
Riku folded his arms over his chest. “What should we do? This letter is probably days old already. We can’t expect them to still be in Twilight Town.”
“I doubt they are.”
“Do you think we could pick up their trail?” Kairi asked.
Sora shook his head. “Doubt that. They ended up in Twilight Town after we left. Stands to reason they probably headed somewhere else as soon as they found what they were supposed to do there.”
“So what do we do?”
Sora was quiet for a little while. He re-read Olette’s letter, then set the papers down on the table and spread them out under his hands. He leaned his weight forward, frowning. He could feel Riku’s eyes on him, and Kairi’s, and knew they were expecting him to make a decision. Instinct raged at him to rush out right now and find Kaoru’s group to protect them, but he didn’t think that was the best course. It seemed that the three of them had survived just fine on their own so far. There had to be a reason why Kaoru’s path had yet to intersect with Sora’s, and Sora wasn’t sure why. Still...
“We have to trust them to take care of themselves right now.” Sora said at last. “They’re following their own path, just as we are. I’ve got a feeling that when all the Keyblades gather in one place, it’s going to be the final showdown. The longer we stay separated, maybe the longer we have to find a way to make sure we survive whatever’s coming.”
No one retorted. Sora lifted his head to look at both Kairi and Riku. Riku’s silver head dipped in a slight nod. “They’ll make it here.” he said at last. “They have to.”
“Yeah,” Sora agreed quietly. “I just hope they make it here in one piece.”
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