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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.

Chapter List
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Sixty - Esthar

They were too late.
The three of them stopped running when the destroyed building came within sight. The massive structure looked as though it had been ripped apart by some monster. The metal the building had been built with was torn and bent in all sorts of ways, destroyed by a massive explosion and then yanked back by some kind of superhuman beast. Fires burned bright within the building and without, and wires sparked and jumped, snapping and popping as the exposed ends touched open air or each other.
Kaoru threw up his arm to protect his face as another explosion erupted from the building. The heat washed over him with startling intensity and it hurt to breathe for a second. Even Kai and Rin turned away from the blast of heat, shielding their faces. When it passed, the three of them looked back at the building, but they couldn’t make themselves move forward. There was no way anyone survived such a terrible catastrophe, and neither Kaoru nor Kai could sense anything except the overlying rage and hate and evil that saturated the very earth on which they stood.
“This is what the Brotherhood was after,” Kaoru said softly. “Whatever that was in this building, they were after.”
“But they’ve never been this obvious before.” Rinally said. She flung her arm wide, as if to encompass the scope of the destruction. “Look at this! They’ve all been about subtlety and keeping their actions on the down low. They’ve never once tried to get the attention of the entire world! Ennio only interacted with Gaston and his evil little imp. Even on Tsenacommacah, only Ratcliffe knew about the Brotherhood because he was the only one they interacted with. They never revealed themselves like this!”
Kai rubbed his jaw with the palm of his hand. “So what was here that was so important they had to destroy everything?”
“That,” came the tenor voice of a man from behind them, “is, or was, the Sorceress Memorial.”
The three of them whirled around to see a small group of people standing behind them. One of them was Rinoa, who stood between a tall, whipcord thin, dark-skinned man, and a large, bulky man who wore a blue bandana around his head and had a long scar running down his face. Kaoru didn’t think that man needed much help to lift a car up off its back wheels. Another was the man who had spoken, a tall brunette man whose hair was pulled into a loose ponytail over one shoulder. He wore slacks and a button-down dress shirt, and looked more like a kindly father than a warrior. At least, when Kaoru compared him to the two men standing near Rinoa. The next member of the group was a young woman in a khaki skirt and orange sleeveless top, with a green shawl wrapped around her shoulders and arms. She shared the same brunette coloring as the man, but their features didn’t favor each other as well as their coloring did.
At some unspoken signal, soldiers surrounded the three teenagers, pointing strange-looking guns at them.
Kaoru immediately put his hands up, as did Rin. Kai folded his arms over his chest and settled for staring at the brunette man.
The brunette man continued, “A very powerful, very evil sorceress was locked away inside there. She was supposed to remain there forever, under lock and key, never to be freed. And now, here we find three strangers to this world standing in front of that sorceress’s prison.”
“Laguna,” started Rinoa, “you can’t honestly believe-“
Laguna held up a hand and silenced her. “I can’t ignore what everyone saw, Rinoa. That girl used a spell only a sorceress can use. And continued using such spells to fight off that monster. And those two boys, everyone saw their armor and how they fought. Two Knights and a Sorceress.” He shook his head.
“They’re Keyblade wielders.” Rinoa protested. “I told you that. You can’t just go treating them like they’re evil monsters after they just killed that thing! You’re the one who wanted to meet them!”
“That was before this!” Laguna snapped. “How do you know these three aren’t the ones who destroyed the Sorceress Memorial? They’re here and Ultimecia is not.”
“Because I trust them, Laguna. If they were the ones who unleashed that monster on Esthar and wanted to steal Ultimecia’s Coffin, do you really think they’d fight so hard to kill it? Or that they would still be standing here, out of breath, pretty much powerless, once they had gotten what they were after?”
“Rinoa-“
“Rinally might be a sorceress, but she’s not evil! And Kaoru and Kai might be her Knights, but they’re not evil, either!”
“Rinally?”
Rin stiffened. Such a tiny question, posed in that a tiny voice she would recognize anywhere. Her heart fluttered in her chest, a rapid beat borne of hope and wonder and fear. She didn’t answer, too afraid that it might be a nightmare and she was about to wake up and all would be lost to the dream world.
Then a girl, no more than twelve, peeked out from behind the woman in the khaki skirt. Her hair was the same wild pink as Rinally’s, but her eyes were more sunset red than Rinally’s maroon. Those sunset red eyes widened, then filled with tears.
“RINALLY!” the girl cried, breaking away from the woman who tried to hold her fast. She crossed the distance between the two groups quickly, only to be met halfway by Rinally.
“Yukari!” Rinally wrapped the girl in a tight hug, pulling her close in a fierce hold. Yukari burst into tears, her fingers gripping tight to Rin’s tank top, her knuckles turning white from the force of her hold. Rinally was crying too, unable to keep her emotions in check. Finally, Rin pulled back. “Thank the stars, Yukari, you’re okay!”
Yukari sniffled and nodded, and, still holding tight to her sister, turned to look at Laguna and his group. “Mister Laguna, Ellie, Rinnie, this is my sister! She’s the one I was telling you about!”
Laguna looked startled, as did the brunette woman. Rinoa only smiled widely.
Kai leaned closer to Kaoru. “You think that’s really her sister?”
Kaoru smiled. “It’s her. Rin’s heart would recognize her sister anywhere.” The sight of the sisters’ reunion was a little bittersweet for Kaoru. He still vividly remembered how his own reunion with his friends went, and how terribly that ended. “It’s amazing she ended up here when the Sky Islands were destroyed.”
“Hn. Perhaps Yukari’s a Princess of Heart, too.”
Kaoru shook her head. “She has Light in her, but not as much Light as a Princess. I think it’s because Yukari’s still a little girl. She’s only twelve.”
Kai only made a noise. His eyes remained on Laguna and his group, even as the soldiers posed the more likely threat.
Holding tight to Rinally’s hand, Yukari stood bravely with her sister, as if daring Laguna to try something. “My sister is a really, really nice sorceress.” Yukari said. “I mean, she yells at me sometimes, but that’s what sisters do, right?”
Laguna looked back at the two other men, who gave him a helpless shrug. When he looked at Rinoa, she just gave him a smug look in return. Finally, Laguna blew out a long sigh. “I guess we have some talking to do.” He shook his head. “Lower your weapons and bring the cars. It looks like we’ve got some new guests. Also, cordon off this area. I doubt anyone’s still here, but there’s no reason to take chances.”
As the soldiers moved to follow Laguna’s orders, Kaoru and Kai followed Rinally and Yukari to join Rinoa and the others, exchanging smiles with each other as Yukari began to tell her sister how she had spent her time in Esthar, and all the new friends she had made. And Rinally just listened, holding tight to her sister’s hand as if she were afraid the girl would disappear if she let go even for the slightest second.

Laguna insisted that the three teenagers get cleaned up once they arrived back at the Presidential Palace. They had learned on the drive that Laguna was one and the same with President Loire, the ruler of Esthar. His two companions were Kiros and Ward, and the young woman was Ellone, Laguna’s daughter. Rinoa mentioned that while Ellone wasn’t technically a sorceress, she had a special power of her own, and so that was why Yukari had been given into her care after Rinoa had tested her. Another reason was that Ellone never went anywhere without Kiros, Ward, Laguna, or all three of them, mostly because Odine - Kaoru didn’t enjoy the way Odine’s name kept popping up - wanted to study Ellone’s powers. They had caught sight of the short man as they had gone into the private wing of the Palace, but Odine hadn’t approached them yet.
Kaoru swore that if Odine even dared to touch Rinally or Yukari, he wouldn’t have to worry about touching anything ever again. Kai seemed to share his sentiments, though he hadn’t bothered to keep them to himself. His comment about taking the man’s hands and shoving them up somewhere unmentionable while they were still attached was inventive, anatomically impossible, and incredibly frightening when everyone else realized Kai meant what he said.
Kaoru and Rinally had just dissolved into a giggling fit at the adults’ expressions.
Once they had been shown a spare room they could utilize and had cleaned up and made themselves look somewhat presentable, Rinoa had escorted them to Laguna’s private meeting room. Before the meeting began in earnest, Laguna had some of the palace staff bring a meal for them to share. “Go ahead,” Laguna said. “No need to be polite on my account. According to what Rinoa’s told me, a sorceress needs to keep a decent amount of food in her so she doesn’t collapse from exhaustion.”
Rinally glanced at Rinoa, who just shrugged and smiled. “Thanks.”
They filled a few plates, and Rinally helped Yukari fill a plate for herself, and then the four of them sat at the round table across from Laguna, Kiros, Ward, Ellone, and Rinoa. The silence grew, as if neither side wanted to be the one to start the conversation.
Knowing they weren’t going to get anywhere if someone didn’t start, Kaoru asked, “Ultimecia... is she really so dangerous?”
It was Ellone who answered. “She is. She has the power to control time, and can send her consciousness into different places in time. Through any sorceress she’s able to connect to, she can alter the events there. But that alone wouldn’t have sealed her away. She hates, Kaoru. She hates everyone and everything. She wants to destroy worlds.”
Kaoru, Kai, and Rin exchanged looks. The three of them were sharing the same thought: Why would Ennio want such a volatile power? If anything, Ultimecia would be exactly the opposite of what Ennio was after.
“Unless,” Kai said, “Ennio’s got nothing to do with it.”
“You think it’s someone who found out the truth, like Lorne did?” Rinally wondered.
Kai shook his head. “I think once Lorne found out the truth, Ennio probably did his best to plug the leak. No, I think whoever did this is acting exactly to the plan Ennio told his followers. Ultimecia wants to destroy worlds and has the power to change time, right? What easier way to get what Ennio claims he wants than get someone who can go back in time and kill Sora before he even becomes a Keyblade wielder?”
Laguna leaned back in his chair, his fingers twining together. “Who’s Ennio?”
Kaoru, with help from Kai and Rinally, began to explain to the President the Brotherhood, the group’s outward goal of destroying the balance between Light and Darkness and annihilating the Keyblade wielders, and the true goal of their leader, Ennio. “He wants to reach Kingdom Hearts,” Kaoru continued, “but we haven’t figured out why.”
Laguna was quiet for a moment, staring at the glossy top of the table. His blue-grey eyes were narrowed slightly, and his lips were pushed into a thin line. “The goal of destroying Light and Darkness and the Keyblade wielders is a rather ingenious smoke screen. It keeps his followers from realizing the truth, and it keeps the other side from catching on until it’s too late. But it also serves a purpose. If his minions succeed, then he’s free to act as he pleases.”
“So this Brotherhood is here?” asked Kiros, his deep voice rumbling in his slight frame. “They’re the ones who unleashed that monster upon Esthar and destroyed the Sorceress Memorial?”
“They have to be.” Rinoa answered. “The monster was a distraction. They couldn’t have realized that two Keyblade wielders would be here, and that they would be able to defeat it. I think that’s why the Sorceress Memorial was destroyed. They ran out of time.”
“Which means they couldn’t have awakened Ultimecia,” Ellone said. “And without the equipment to thaw her out, they won’t be able to remove her from the Coffin.”
“But her influence is still affecting the world.” Kai said, his green eyes focused on the grape he was rolling about on his plate with his index finger. “I felt a terrible, evil darkness the moment the Sorceress Memorial must have been bombed. It was a twisted, malicious presence against my mind.”
“I felt it too,” Kaoru said softly. Rinally added her agreement, earning a worried look from Yukari. “An immense darkness... a fury that wanted to destroy everything.”
“How can you fight something like that?” Yukari asked her sister.
Rinally looked at her and lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “I don’t know. But if she wakes up, we’ll have to.”
“Why?”
“Because Kaoru and Kai are Keyblade wielders. It’s their duty to make sure Light and Darkness stay in balance. If Ultimecia wakes up and is allowed to start spreading her darkness all over, then someone’s got to stand against her as a champion of the light.”
“But why do you have to fight?”
Rinally smiled gently. “Because Kaoru and Kai count on me to heal them and protect them. We’re a team. We fight together, even when we’re apart.”
The quiet that filled the room after her words was more contemplative than oppressive or worried. Yukari seemed to understand and gave her sister a long, searching look. “You’re different, Rin. I don’t know how, but you’re different, somehow.”
Rinally smiled and ruffled her sister’s hair.
“Hopefully,” Laguna said then, “Ultimecia doesn’t wake up and the Brotherhood doesn’t find a way to do so. Kai, you can sense this darkness? Can you sense it now?”
Kai closed his eyes, and Kaoru felt his power brush against his mind as Kai sought for Ultimecia’s darkness. After five minutes, he opened his eyes and shook his head. “Not anymore. Wherever they took her, they’ve either shielded her from my senses or they’re out of range.”
Laguna’s face was an impassive mask after that. He rose from his seat and clasped his hands behind his back as he headed over to a large bay window, staring out over Esthar and the plume of smoke that still rose from the destroyed Sorceress Memorial. No one seemed to want to break whatever train of thought the President was considering, but after a minute, Ellone got up from her seat to join her father by the window, linking her arm with his.
Kaoru leaned back in his chair, dropping his gaze to his lap. They couldn’t have gone far, really. It hadn’t been that long a time between when the Heartless had attacked Esthar to when Kaoru, Kai, and Rinally had defeated it, and the explosion that had unleashed that terrible feeling into the ether. It had been a long distance to run, but even still, there should have been some sign of the Brotherhood’s presence. They couldn’t just take Ultimecia’s Coffin and vanish into thin air. Could they? Had they brought her into the World Between Worlds and used that place to travel rather than more conventional means? Kaoru had surmised early on that the Brotherhood members were able to use the Paths just like he, Kai, and Rinally could. Even Hiromu had been able to summon a portal into the World Between Worlds. But Kai should have still been able to pick up something, even a trace. Kaoru, too, should have been able to sense something. There was always a certain feel of a portal being opened or freshly closed that he supposed all Keyblade wielders were able to sense to a certain degree. At least, that was his theory, considering he always felt a strange little tickle each time Kai opened a portal or closed one. But here, he had felt nothing. Kai had felt nothing. Even Rin had felt nothing.
“I don’t like being on the defensive like this,” Kai growled.
“Me neither,” Rinally said softly. She glanced at her sister, finding Yukari playing with a carrot stick and a raisin as if the former was a hockey stick and the latter the puck. She smiled and turned her attention back to her friends. “This must be why we were sent here. Beyond finding Yukari, anyway.”
“But how can you find something you don’t even have a clue as to how to find?” Kai shook his head and closed his eyes. “Every direction I stretch my senses to is the same result. Nothing. Nothing. A whole bunch of nothing.”
Kaoru kept his silence and continued to stare at his lap, his eyes trailing the fibers of his pants. Maybe we’re going about this all wrong, he thought to himself. Before, it was always living subjects, like Gaston and John Smith. So why would the Brotherhood take someone sealed away in order to experiment on them? That was the part that didn’t make any sense. The black rods had been used to corrupt Gaston and John Smith, and the black rods controlled the Heartless that the Brotherhood made. But they were alive in some way. Active.
Ultimecia was technically alive. She wasn’t dead in her Coffin, despite the name. She was just frozen, sealed away. When she had been forcibly removed from the Memorial, a portion of that immense evil and hate had leaked out. That was what Kaoru, Kai, and Rinally had felt.
It dawned on Kaoru then, in that moment, that it wasn’t Ultimecia herself that the Brotherhood was after, but her immense and powerful and rage-and-hate-filled darkness.
Gaston had been filled with rage and hatred for the Beast, who had won Belle’s heart. John Smith had been filled with rage and hatred for Ratcliffe, who had taken his freedom away. Even Hiromu was filled with rage and hatred, all of it aimed at Kaoru. Morgana had been filled with rage and hate for Melody and the girl’s role in her first imprisonment. But Kaoru had cleared Gaston of his rage and hate and had done the much the same for John Smith with Thomas’s help. Hiromu had been stopped by Kai, who in turn had been stopped by Tae. Morgana had absorbed Lorne, driving him into deep darkness, and Rinally had saved him from that.
The cycle of Darkness and Light. The ever-present balance.
It hit Kaoru then, and understanding filled him. They were after Ultimecia’s darkness to find her light.
Kaoru immediately looked at Rinoa.
If Rinoa was the sorceress who had helped seal away Ultimecia to begin with, then Rinoa had to be Ultimecia’s light. Gaston’s light was Belle, that much Kaoru was certain of, except Belle was also the light of her whole world, as its Princess of Heart. For John Smith, it had to have been Thomas. Kaoru remembered the young man shining with muted light, and it had been Thomas who had drawn John Smith back to himself from the darkness. In each situation, it was the same. The Darkness was seeking the Light, seeking that eternal balance. Ennio was seeking the Light, in order to...
To what?
Kaoru frowned, still studying Rinoa. She seemed to notice him staring and canted her head to one side, her eyebrows coming together slightly. Still she didn’t seem about to draw attention to Kaoru’s sudden interest in her, rather watching him right back.
It was Kai who finally noticed that Kaoru and Rinoa were essentially having a staring contest that neither of them seemed close to winning or losing, and he reached to give Kaoru a light push, a red eyebrow rising in question when the blonde boy looked at him. Kai’s motion seemed to draw everyone’s attention, for Kaoru found the entire room staring at him with varying expressions. His shoulders tightened slightly, especially under Laguna’s intense gaze when the President turned from the window to look at him.
“You seem to have figured something out,” said the President, his expression betraying nothing of his emotions. “Would you care to explain it to us?”
Kaoru gave a helpless shrug. “I don’t know where to start. I don’t even know if it makes sense, but...” He stopped and took a minute to order his thoughts. “When we visited previous worlds, there was a situation like this. Ennio experimented with corrupting someone who was Light-oriented and turning them completely to Darkness. We could never figure out why, and I never thought anything of it because we were always able to save them and bring them back. But here... here, they took Ultimecia, and they can’t use her like they’re able to use the Heartless.”
“Because she’s in her Coffin,” Rinoa reasoned, nodding. She folded her arms over her chest and assumed a thoughtful expression. “Ultimecia is, essentially, frozen in time. Without the equipment to free her, they can’t use her. They can’t risk breaking open the Coffin because that just might kill her. But her Darkness is still leaking out into the world, and that they can use.”
“Maybe. But I don’t think it’s really Ultimecia’s Darkness they’re after. They’re after her Light. They’re after you, Rinoa.” Kaoru said. He waited until the room, which had erupted into confused noise, quieted before continuing. “This whole thing has been about acquiring Darkness and Light. Ennio’s been seeking a way to find Kingdom Hearts. I don’t know anything about the place, but if it’s anything like the Paths, then it’s a place of both Light and Darkness, and you need both to get into it.”
“But what’s that got to do with Rinoa?” Ellone asked.
“Everything. Rinoa is Ultimecia’s opposite, right? The good to Ultimecia’s evil. Essentially, her light.” Kaoru gestured to himself and Kai. “It’s like me and Kai. He’s my Darkness and I’m his Light. No matter where we are, we can find each other, because we’re connected. They took Ultimecia to find Rinoa, by following the connection the two of them share. But if they can find us, then we should be able to find them. Or, more accurately, Rinoa should be able to find Ultimecia.”
Rinoa looked apprehensive, but everyone else looked thoughtful or shocked. Rinoa asked, “How can I find her if Kai can’t?”
Kai slowly smiled as he caught on to what Kaoru was saying. “Because I’m not attuned to her like you are. Not only are you two sorceresses, but you’re also everything she isn’t. The good sorceress, the light of Esthar. It’s like Rinally said - no matter how far apart we may be, we’re always connected. We’re always together. There’s a part of you that will instinctively seek out your opposite. You should already have a feel for Ultimecia since you’ve fought her before. Just focused on that.”
Rinoa glanced at Laguna, Kiros, Ward, and Ellone, then nodded. “Supposing I do locate her, what are we going to do about it?”
“We’re going to stop Ultimecia from reviving fully,” Rinally said. “Me, Kaoru, and Kai can engage the Brotherhood and keep them away from you, while you and the Estharian forces take Ultimecia back.”
“It’s about the only plan we have.” Kiros grumbled when Laguna looked up at him. “We can’t do anything but sit here and wait for them to attack us, which we can’t afford. If we can beat them to the punch, we can get into position and perhaps turn the situation to our advantage.”
Laguna was silent for a while, turning back to the window and the scenery beyond. Beside him, Ellone watched her father’s face, as if she was trying to decipher his thoughts. Everyone else remained silent, watching Laguna. Finally, the President turned back to the group at the table and looked at Rinoa. “This might be our only chance. Do you think you can do this?”
Rinoa smiled. “I think so. I helped stop her once, I can do it again. And this time, we’re not alone in the fight.” She looked at Kaoru, Kai, and Rinally and smiled brightly.
Laguna followed her gaze, then returned his gaze to Rinoa. “All right then. Try and find Ultimecia, and we’ll get moving.”
Rinoa nodded and closed her eyes. Her face became completely impassive, a relaxed mask that made it seem as if she had turned into a statue. Only a handful of heartbeats passed before she opened her eyes again, her irises a bright gold. Her voice was soft as she spoke:
“I found her.”
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Kingdom Hearts: Dark Dawn