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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.

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Sixty-Three - Radiant Garden

The Paths of Darkness twisted and turned for what felt like hours, but their travel was peaceful and quiet. Yukari stared around at everything with wide eyes, as if she couldn’t believe where she was. Rinally explained to her that they were safe because of Kai’s powers, that he was special in this place because he wielded a Keyblade of Darkness. Even Rin now wielded a Keyblade, and hers had a Darkness affinity as well, so she was helping protect Yukari and Kaoru, who had a Keyblade of Light. Yukari only stared with her mouth open in awe as all three of them summoned their Keyblades to prove it to her.
When they reached the end of the path, Kai closed his eyes to open the portal that would take them out of the Paths of Darkness. The shimmering rip opened onto a wide plateau that was steeped in bright sunlight, and Rinally went through with Yukari first. Kaoru was second, followed by Kai. Once safely on the other side, Kai closed the doorway, and sucked in a deep breath as if he had just been punched in the chest.
Kaoru grabbed his shoulder, a worried expression on his face. “Kai? Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Kai replied, his syllables tinged with a growl. “This place just sucks. It’s full of Light, and I wasn’t prepared for it. Give me a minute; I’ll be okay.”
“It’s because Kai is Darkness, right?” Yukari asked, looking up at Rinally. “The Light makes him sick.”
Rinally nodded. “He’ll be okay. Both Kaoru and Kai are affected intensely by the opposites of their affinities. But once their bodies adjust, they’ll be okay.”
Kaoru watched Kai for a long while, watching the pain lines in his face and the tenseness in his body slowly drain away. He met Kaoru’s eyes and nodded, silently telling the smaller boy that he was fine now. Kaoru still looked worried, but nodded back, accepting Kai’s assessment of himself.
Kai straightened and smiled at Yukari. “See? I’m okay.”
Yukari searched his face much like Kaoru had done, but she said, “If you’re not feeling well, you should sit down.”
“Don’t worry. I’m better now.”
It was clear she didn’t believe him, but Rinally squeezed her sister’s shoulder and Yukari pressed her lips together to keep from saying anything else. Instead, she gripped Rinally’s hand tight and stared at Kai. Kai stared back before looking at Kaoru.
Kaoru was staring upwards at a giant wall. Beyond the wall, he could see the very tops of roofs. They were all tiled, either red or blue, and they were clustered together, almost like certain buildings in Twilight Town had been. He knew this wasn’t Twilight Town; it had a different feel to it, and far more Light than Twilight Town, almost as if there was a congregation of Light here that couldn’t be found on other worlds, even ones he’d visited before. He could still feel the tinges of Darkness at the edges of his perception, but they were further away from where the four of them stood now. He met Kai’s gaze, lifted his shoulders slightly, then pivoted to take stock of where they actually were.
They had emerged on a plateau that was bathed in bright sunlight. There looked to be a path that led up into the wall as it stretched around the cliffside and curved away out of sight. Kaoru started toward the path and found that it did go upwards, zigzagging up the cliffside until it disappeared into a gatehouse set into the wall. Where the path led from there, not even Kaoru could figure out until they went up there. He pointed it out to his friends, and they joined him as they headed up the cliffside. Up the zigzag path they walked until they reached the gated guardhouse. The gate wasn’t locked, so Kaoru pushed it open, and it swung on soundless hinges to admit them all into the city. Kaoru headed out of the guardhouse and through a covered tunnel before he emerged out into a wide square that had several paths leading off it, one heading to what looked like a construction site with huge scaffolding set against the side of a building that looked halfway to being completed, another leading into what looked like a residential area, another to what looked like a market area, and yet another leading out of the city entirely.
“Laguna gave us some munny,” Rinally said, holding up a small pouch. “Maybe we should get something to eat?”
“Probably wouldn’t hurt.” Kaoru replied. He looked at Kai, but the redhead only shrugged as if he didn’t much care what they did. He still looked a little peaky, but his color was returning, so Kaoru was certain that Kai was getting used to this world. “Besides, we have to find out where we are.”
Rin led the way this time, taking the path toward the market area. It was bustling with people, which was a stark contrast to Twilight Town and Traverse Town, and no one seemed to pay the four strangers any mind, even smiling at them as if Kaoru, Kai, Rinally, and Yukari were actual denizens of the world. It felt so much like Paradise City’s shopping district that Kaoru found himself relaxing here, but a part of him also said it was because Light was in such abundance in this place that he felt much stronger than he probably really was.
As Kai and Kaoru waited for the girls to pick out snacks at a sandwich stall set up along one side of the street, Kaoru studied the buildings and the people around them without trying to seem too obvious at being out of place. None of the buildings seemed to have signs of wear or damage, nor did the people seem to be afraid of any danger that might be lurking about. Snippets of conversation he overheard spoke about the world being quiet and peaceful for some time, for the world seemed to have an abundance of protectors and an anti-Heartless system that activated each time a Heartless reared its little black head. The only places people really avoided was a place called The Great Maw and an area past the Bailey, which Kaoru assumed was where he and his friends had arrived. Some changes had been made to the town over the long years, such as the wall that had been built to ensure no surprises came in from the places where Heartless roamed free and unaccosted, not that the wall did much to prevent people from going out, and the various gatehouses that had been installed to allow access to certain areas that were often off-limits for the public but were where the world’s protectors had to get to quickly and couldn’t afford to dodge traffic or be stopped by people.
But Kaoru never once heard anyone call the world by its name, and he was afraid to ask, not wanting to stand out as someone not belonging here. After all, they didn’t know if this world was a hub world and therefore saw plenty of visitors, or if it was a Closed World as Lumina Cross had been, and they had only gotten in because of Kai’s ability to open portals between worlds by accessing the Paths of Darkness.
Kai nudged Kaoru with his elbow, making the small blonde look up at him. “Have you heard anyone say any names about the world’s protectors?” Kai asked.
Kaoru shook his head. “Not really. Someone did mention a Leon and a Yuffie, and then there was a Merlin. But they didn’t say much else.”
“That’s what I heard, too.”
“I wonder if Rin and Yukari heard any more.”
The girls arrived a few minutes later, and Rin canted her head to one side, her shoulders lifting in a shrug when Kaoru asked her. “I heard pretty much the same things you guys did. Only there was an Aerith that someone was talking about. She sells flowers on the street corner most days, but she wasn’t there today.”
“Yeah,” agreed Yukari. “The lady who was talking was really upset because she wanted a bouquet to surprise someone with, and Aerith wasn’t there.”
“Did you two hear anything else?”
“Only that there had to be something important going on, because the Committee or whatever had suddenly suggested that people be on the look out for anything strange.”
“Like what kind of strange?”
Rinally shrugged. “Heartless strange, I guess. People have been talking about the Heartless like they talk about the weather. But I haven’t heard anything really important, except that maybe something might be going on, because the Committee doesn’t make suggestions unless something dangerous might happen.”
Then the four of them found a place where they could sit without being in the way of pedestrians and Rinally and Yukari passed out sandwiches and drinks. Kaoru ate his sandwich almost absentmindedly, watching the people in the crowd as they went about their business. He wished there was more information that people were willingly giving in their every-day conversations, but he also understood why they were being so miserly with it. It had been the same with people in Paradise City; no one wanted to give tourists any more reason to stay and catch a glimpse of something or somebody if they didn’t think they could do so while they were touring the city and its special places. And in Kaoru’s experience, unless there was no other choice, it was best for strangers to a world to try not to be strangers if they could fit in easily. Eventually, the strangers would either move on or find where they needed to be.
Kaoru finished his bite of sandwich and began to lift his water bottle to his mouth when he caught a flash of something in the crowd, joining the flow of people as if it had been there all along. Blinking, Kaoru stood up to try and find that flash, earning curious looks from his friends. He didn’t explain his behavior, just continuing to stare out onto the moving crowd to try and find what he had seen out of the corner of his eye. It had been silver, not quite the flash of metal in sunlight, but more muted, more subtle. And not quite a there-and-gone flash either, for Kaoru had gotten more than a brief glimpse of it but not enough of a sighting to make out what it actually had been. But his heart had begun hammering in his chest as adrenaline rushed through his system as his memories of what felt to be a lifetime ago began to bubble up in his mind.
He reached up to his neck and gripped his headphones.
His eyes remained riveted on the crowd, near the last place he had seen that silvery flash.
Then, he saw it.
Moving away from the crowd was a tall silver-haired man dressed in a white and yellow jacket, dark blue pants, and sneakers. He had a bag over one shoulder, and he was facing away from Kaoru, but there was no mistaking that man. He wasn’t alone; there was a young woman beside him dressed in a pink tank top and a pink skirt, with white sneakers on her feet. She had long mulberry-colored hair that had two small braids along the sides that joined together in a larger braid that hung down with her otherwise straight and free hair. Kaoru didn’t recognize the woman, but he knew the man. There was no way he could forget Riku.
Kaoru didn’t dare call out across the crowd, but he looked down at his friends and said, “We need to go. Now.”
“What?” Rinally started. “We haven’t finished eating yet.”
“Wrap it up and bring it with you, but we have to go. I think I know where we are, and if I’m right, we need to move.”
Rinally blinked, glanced at her sister, then at Kai. Kai was already surging to his feet, wrapping his half-eaten sandwich and stuffing it into his pack. Sighing, Rin started to do the same, then helped Yukari wrap her food up and stuffed both hers and her sister’s into her backpack. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Kaoru.” Rin grumbled.
“Yeah, so do I.”
Though Kaoru was itching to move, he held himself back until his companions had situated themselves. He hadn’t lost sight of Riku yet, but the silver-haired man was getting further away from them. The second they were ready, Kaoru started after Riku, dodging people with practiced ease. Kai was keeping pace with him, and Rinally and Yukari were bringing up the rear, holding onto each other’s hands so they wouldn’t lose each other.
As the crowd thinned out, it was easier for Kaoru and his friends to navigate the streets. Riku and his companion left the shopping district and entered the courtyard where Kaoru had arrived not too long ago. Rather than staying there, though, Riku turned for the street that appeared to travel toward a residential area. His voice and that of his companion’s drifted back to Kaoru, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. He only continued to follow Riku and the woman with a single-minded intensity, waiting for the streets to clear of people before he dared to call out Riku’s name. The behavior of the crowd in the shopping district had shown him that people had known who Riku was, but they hadn’t approached him, as if there was some sort of signal going out that told everyone that he didn’t want to be bothered, or couldn’t be bothered, as if he were on some sort of important mission.
The residential area was quiet and peaceful, with laundry hanging on lines between the buildings. The street steadily widened until it opened into another set of streets, one of which Riku and his companion were heading toward at the other end. Afraid that he would lose them if they took that far street, which slanted downwards toward somewhere Kaoru couldn’t see, he finally drew breath into his lungs and shouted.
“RIKU!”
The silver-haired man froze immediately. So did his companion. Kaoru stopped moving maybe thirty or forty feet away from Riku and his companion, and Kai, Rin, and Yukari ranged themselves either beside him or behind him, in Yukari’s case. He stood there, fists pressed into his thighs, watching as Riku and his friend slowly pivoted to face the direction from where Riku’s name had come from.
Riku’s aquamarine blue eyes, blue eyes that Kaoru definitely could never forget, went wide with recognition. The man’s gaze traveled from Kaoru’s feet to his head and back again before lingering on the headphones resting around Kaoru’s neck. Slowly, his eyes then went to Kai, and they darkened slightly when they rested upon the redhead. Once he’d finished his appraisal of Kai, Riku switched his gaze to Rinally, studying her in much the same way. The woman beside him looked confused for a brief moment, but recognition also flooded her face as she looked at Rinally. Rin, too, seemed to tense with knowing, apparently recognizing the woman.
“Kaoru?” Riku called back, apparently deciding to shout rather than approach.
Kaoru grinned widely and said, “I know you and Sora said you’d come find me in ten years, but I guess I’m the one doing the finding.”
Riku blinked, and then his face relaxed into a smile. He looked at the woman and said something, who also replied and gestured toward Rinally. They apparently made a decision then, for they approached Kaoru and his friends together.
Staring up at Riku, Kaoru was reminded of the time when he was four, staring up at the two incredible men that had fought to save him from the monster that had attacked him. Riku was still taller than him, and taller than Kai, even, which made all of them have to look up to meet his eyes. The woman was only as tall as Riku’s shoulders, but somehow she seemed to be taller. Kaoru wondered if it was in the way she held herself, or if it was because of the light she radiated with. Her light reminded him of Belle, and he began to wonder if this woman was a Princess of Heart, just like Belle and Tae were.
“We got word about you and your friends from Olette not too long ago,” Riku said as he came to stand before Kaoru, Kai, Rin, and Yukari. “She said she met you all maybe minutes after we left.”
Kaoru nodded. “A lot has happened between then and now.” A moment later, it dawned on him where they must be if Riku was actually here. “This is Radiant Garden, isn’t it?”
“That it is,” said the woman. “Nice to meet you. I’m Kairi.” As she said her name, Kaoru became even more certain that Kairi was a Princess of Heart. Light seemed to radiate off her in waves, bright and pure. He shook her hand, then looked over at Kai when the redhead winced after shaking Kairi’s hand. Kairi studied Kai as she shook Rin’s hand, then smiled at the girl. “It’s nice to see you again, Rinally. And you, Yukari.”
Yukari beamed. “You remembered my name!”
Kairi smiled, then looked at Riku. Riku was still studying Kaoru, though his attention then turned to Kai. “Like calls to like, doesn’t it?” Kairi asked with a knowing smile.
Riku glanced at her and scowled slightly. “Shut up.”
“Where’s Sora?” Kaoru asked.
“He’s back at the base. There was a fluctuation of Darkness not too long ago, so everyone went out to see what it was. We were heading back when you called out.”
“Maybe it was Kai.” Yukari supplied. “He can open portals! It’s sooo cool! We went from this one world where I was and through this really dark and creepy place to here.”
Riku’s eyebrow rose and he turned to regard Kai again. “Perhaps. The Heartless have been moving quite a bit lately in The Great Maw and beyond it, so we’ve been a little more on edge lately.”
Kai folded his arms over his chest. “They’re probably moving because the Brotherhood’s making them do it. We crossed paths with a few of them over the worlds we’ve gone to, and we learned what their leader, Ennio, is really after.”
“Well, before we get into that,” Riku said, “we’ll take you back to our base of operations. That way, you only have to tell the story once, and you’ll only have to show off your Keyblades once.”
“Why would we show them off at all?” Kaoru questioned, falling into step beside the older Keyblade wielder.
“Oh, mostly because everyone’s curious about your Keyblades,” Kairi replied. “You two have very special Keyblades, so it’s only natural everyone wants to take a look at them.”
Kaoru and Kai glanced at one another. “Special Keyblades?” Kai asked.
“There are many different kinds of Keyblades, but there are generally two types: forged and created. Forged Keyblades can have varied affinities and can change their shape, depending on what Keychain gets attached. Sora’s Kingdom Key is like that. My Way to Dawn is a forged Keyblade that is strong in Darkness, while Kairi’s Destiny’s Embrace is a forged Keyblade that’s strong in Light.”
“Because she’s a Princess of Heart.” Kaoru reasoned.
Kairi smile had an odd note to it. “I heard from Belle that you could see Light in other people, Kaoru. It’s no wonder you have a created Keyblade.”
“Created Keyblades,” Riku continued as though he hadn’t been interrupted, “are Keyblades forged from the power of the heart. Sora thinks that your Keyblades are this type, and since seeing you now, I have to agree. Being a denizen of the Dark myself, I can sense how powerful you are, Kai. No doubt your strength matches Kaoru’s with Light. But your Keyblades make you incredibly vulnerable as well.”
Thinking back to his first encounter with Hiromu in Halloween Town, Kaoru said, “Because if our Keyblades are destroyed, so are our hearts.”
Both Kairi and Riku looked startled that Kaoru would make such an astute assessment, and their reactions confirmed to Kaoru that his guess was dead on. Kai looked at Kaoru with a startled expression and Rinally stared with wide eyes. “That’s why Hiromu and Volstag always went for your heart.” she said. “If they could destroy your heart, they could destroy your Keyblade.”
“But how did they know?” Kaoru wondered. “Is it because Hiromu has a Keyblade too?”
Riku blinked. “A third Keyblade wielder?”
Kaoru nodded. “My friend... or at least, I thought he was my friend... he has a Keyblade, too. But it’s not like mine or Kai’s or even Rin’s. It looked like Sora’s Kingdom Key, just red and gold.”
“You have a Keyblade too?” Kairi asked, looking at Rinally.
The pink-haired girl only nodded. “But I don’t think it’s like Kaoru’s or Kai’s.”
“We’ll see, won’t we?” Riku pointed ahead to a modest little house nestled among a garden and a brick wall. “That’s our base. I’m sure everyone’s waiting.”
Riku and Kairi entered the house first, calling to everyone who might be inside. Then Kaoru, Kai, Rinally, and Yukari entered, finding at least ten people gathered around in a common room that was filled with furniture. Kaoru recognized Sora immediately, but he didn’t know who anyone else was. There was a group of three - two men and a woman - who stood close together. The tallest man was a brunette who wore earthen colored tones, then the woman who had blue hair and wore blue colored clothes, and the last, a blonde man who wore black and silver. There was another brunette who was leaning against the wall and who had a scar cutting across his face on a diagonal, right between his eyes. An elderly man sat on a couch with a cup of tea in his hands, a long white beard spilling onto the floor. There was a young woman in short beige shorts, a green top, and black hair held back from her face with a red bandanna, and beside her was a tall woman with long brown hair dressed in a pink sundress. An older blonde man sat in a chair with his feet propped up on the table, an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips.
Riku took the time to introduce everyone - Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Aerith, Leon, Yuffie, Merlin, Cid, and of course, Sora - then introduced Kaoru, Kai, Rinally, and Yukari to everyone.
Sora grinned brightly. “It’s not quite how I thought it’d be, but I’m glad you’re here and safe, Kaoru.”
Kaoru smiled, unable to help himself. “I’m glad I found you, Sora. I don’t know what I would’ve done if we had just kept traveling and traveling without ever crossing paths with you.”
“If you’ve arrived here on Radiant Garden,” started Aqua, “then there must be a reason.”
Kaoru’s smile faltered. “There is.”
With Rinally and Kai’s help, Kaoru described their adventures across the worlds they had visited. He described the antics of the Brotherhood, then began to explain that everything they had been fighting against was nothing but a smokescreen thought up by Ennio, who was the leader of the Brotherhood. The fact that Ennio wanted to reach Kingdom Hearts surprised everyone, and there was a moment of protests and exclamations in which Kaoru was forced to fall silent, but when Sora held up his hand, quiet filled the room. Kaoru continued his story, describing what had happened with Haiku, then with Lorne, then with Volstag. He even talked about Hiromu and Tae and caught sight of a strange emotion that flickered across the faces of Riku, Sora, and Kairi as he described what Hiromu had done to Tae with his Keyblade.
Then Sora had Kaoru, Kai, and Rinally summon their Keyblades, and he, Riku, Kairi, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus - who were all Keyblade Masters themselves - studied Guardian, Sanctuary, and Sorceress.
“There isn’t time to train you right now,” Sora said at last, once he allowed the three youngest Keyblade wielders to put away their weapons, “considering that Ennio is definitely after Kingdom Hearts, and therefore we have to move quickly. It seems you three have a pretty good grasp of your own weapons, which isn’t surprising.”
“Definitely not,” agreed Aqua. “There will be time for each of you to train with us after this is over, and really get a feel for your Keyblades. Perhaps even test for the Mark of Mastery.”
“Right now,” Leon said, pushing away from the wall, “our goal is to keep Ennio from reaching Kingdom Hearts. He’s already got one Key, if Hiromu is helping him. Hiromu is probably acting as the Key to Darkness, so Ennio needs a Key to Light. With Tae as you say she is, then she’s of no use to him, as a Princess of Heart.”
“Kingdom Hearts will appear when there’s a great concentration of both Light and Darkness and strong hearts.” Sora said. “It appeared to me and Riku when we both started this adventure as a Doorway, and a false one appeared in the sky as a yellow gem-like heart when Xemnas and Organization XIII collected enough hearts to forge one. There’s no telling what this one might appear as if he’s successful.”
“And it appeared to us as a blue gem,” Aqua added, gesturing to herself, Terra, and Ventus, but she elaborated no further.
Kaoru listened quietly as the Keyblade Masters, Leon, and the others discussed Ennio’s chances of getting Kingdom Hearts to appear. He sat in his chair and stared at the whorls of the grain in the wood of the table. Even if Ennio only had Hiromu to act as the Key to Darkness, with a high enough concentration of hearts, he could still make Kingdom Hearts appear. The only thing he’d be prevented from doing would be entering the place, because he didn’t have the Key to Light. He listened to Rinally ask questions about the two Keys, but it was clear that no one really knew what the Keys were. As Kingdom Hearts had appeared to all the Keyblade wielders in the room save Kaoru, Kai, and Rinally, there wasn’t an accurate correlation between the factors. There was always Light and Dark. There were always strong hearts. But was Kingdom Hearts an entity of its own, lured to these pockets of power, or did it have to be forged by a combination of powers? No one knew, and no one understood the circumstances that made the place appear, only that it did, and only that evil couldn’t be allowed to get their hands upon it.
Sora claimed that Kingdom Hearts was Light, a powerful source of it, but Riku said it also had Darkness deep inside. They both had fought Xemnas in his false one, preventing its power from being used by evil. The one that Aqua and her friends had seen had simply vanished, never to be seen again.
Had the circumstances not been met to bring Kingdom Hearts into being when Sora and Riku first encountered it? Or had there been the right conditions, but not enough of the something that made Kingdom Hearts manifest itself as more than a Door?
Kaoru pondered this over and over again, trying to find new facts to an old argument that had no new information to use. But he thought about Hiromu and he thought about Tae, and he thought about how both of his friends were being used by Ennio, and how Ennio had used Haiku and Volstag, and how he had used Lorne. He thought of how Ennio had manipulated a great many people, collecting stuff from them or from the worlds. He thought of how Ennio had mastered drawing Darkness out of people but had yet to master Light.
A theory wormed its way into Kaoru’s mind, a theory that made him dread the future even more, because of what the theory required to be valid. Because of what it decided Kingdom Hearts required to be summoned.
However, before Kaoru could interrupt the conversation and explain his theory, the door to the house was thrown open and a bundle of white with a red pom-pom attached to its head tumbled through the door, its little wings flapping hurriedly to turn it around so it could slam the door. It slowly turned its head to regard the congregation within the house, its tiny body shivering.
“Sora!” the strange creature cried. “There’s trouble, kupo! Big trouble!”
“Mog, calm down.” Sora said, rising from his chair and heading over to the creature. “What’s going on?”
“The Heartless in The Great Maw are moving, kupo! Some have even come into town and started attacking people, kupo! And there’s something terrible going on at the Maw, too. I heard someone say they saw a Keyblade wielder there, kupo!”
Kaoru tensed. The only other known Keyblade wielders were Hiromu and a King Mickey, and Sora assured everyone that King Mickey was still in Disney Castle, guarding that place from attack. That meant the only other Keyblade wielder not accounted for was Hiromu, and if he was at The Great Maw, so was Tae, and so was Ennio.
“So it’s starting,” Kai said, his deep voice echoing through the room like a death toll.
“It’s starting.” agreed Sora, turning to face his fellow Keyblade wielders and the others in the room. “And this is how we’re going to stop it.”
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Kingdom Hearts: Dark Dawn