Kingdom Hearts: SfE Part 2 - The Final Keyhole and the Mark of Mastery

After one or two hours, the sun was bright in the sky of blue. The blinding sun woke the pyro up, with an unhappy grunting sound. "Urgh..." she slowly got up, brushing off sand and her slightly crusty eyes, she returned the coat she used as a blanket. "Thank you. And Thank you for not running away." she added, surveying the damage she and Gexln had caused through the night. Ashes were everywhere, fires had settled down on the dying embers of most trees and wood from the shack. She wanted to gape in horror, but didn't. She had on her normal poker-face, not sure something that was her to the core could cause so much damage. She couldn't quite place her feelings to be almost proud she could cause so much damage, or horrified she had gotten so powerful in such little time.

 

Gexln took back the cloak and put it on once more. "You're welcome. You know, i've been thinking, and i came to the realisation i don't actually feel bad for the things i did to the mainland and the people there. Should i be worried by that?" he questioned.

 

"Somewhat." Eden shrugged. "Should the same be said that I'm starting to not care about these people, that the only people that are truly important are the Keybearers and I just want to go home?" She sighed, looking at the damage. "But before we sound like the most hostile things out there to these people, let's fix up this small island a bit. We owe it to them anyway..."

 

Gexln shrugged his shoulders. "I guess so. Gives me something to do, at least" he said carelessly. He stood up and waited for Eden.

 

Eden started by trying to clean up the ashes, noticing a few feathers that hadn't been destroyed. They had a warm light about them, and she pocketed them "Pheonix Downs, or just normal feathers. Who knows, may come in handy."

 

Gexln wasn't paying much attention. He had stumbled across the body of the person he had mercilessly slaughtered earlier. He should have felt regret, but did he? No. He couldn't help but feel proud, powerful, invincible. He chuckled quietly. "There will be another time, someday" he said, very quietly.

 

Eden kept collecting the feathers, looking to the few stiffs littering the island. "Sad. Should be." she pressed a feather to the few, hoping that they did something. Or at least it was passage through Hades' river Stx.

 

Riku sighed when the two finnaly came to the docks. "Glad you guys re feeling better. Valerie was getting impatient."he said. "I was not! I was just saying we could come back when they were ready to leave."Valerie said in her defense. "You were not going to leave Jeffrey behind though, were you?" "Are you still going on about that? We only did that to mess with your head." "Riiiight..."
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Meanwhile the island residents were doing a pretty good job cleaning the place up. People were sweeping up rubble and trash, giving the deceased a proper burial, rebuilding buildings. "C'mon, don't forget about the water!"In the waters residents were picking up trash on the beach and making sure no animals were hurt with the remaines.

Sora huffed, being forbidden to go into the water in his condition. In fact, Sora's parents were making sure he saw a doctor to make sure the child was in good health. Not that Sora minded, but he wanted Riku there too....

 

"You're not leaving me behind!" Jeffrey shouted, running to the dock. He paused once he reached the dock to catch his breath.
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Kairi was helping give first aid to those who were too young, old, or injured to help with the repairs. She tied a knot around the bandage she was wrapping on a young girl's arm. "There you go." She smiled. "All better."

 

"Alright, that should be everyone."Riku chuckled, starting to row once everyone was on the boat. "Woo-Hoo!"Valerie cheered.
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"But mommaaa.... I wanna wait until Riku gets here. Pleeease?"Sora whined. "Alright. But no heavy lifting-" "No overdoing yourself and don't do anything to hurt the baby!" "Yes, Dad..."Sora ran off to the shore to wait for Riku. "Sora, where's the fire?"Selphie was helping a little girl find her parents. "Rikus gonna be coming to shore soon! I can feel it!"Sora smiled. "Sora, don't run! Your parents warned you about that."Irvine was helping to repair a roof.

"How the Ifrit can I run like this?"Sora laughed, a hand on his belly. He headed to the beach, body full of excitement.

 

When Kairi had finished treating everyone, she noticed Sora heading toward the shore. What's the rush? she thought. "Better follow him..."

 

"Alright, final stop, mainland!"when they arrived to the shore Valerie didn't even wait until they hit sand, jumping into the shallow water and running. Riku sighed, tying the boat to one of the docks so it didn't drift away by the tide. "Waaaaah! Its so prettyyyy!"Valerie smiled at the sight of the town. "You should've seen it before the attack."Riku said. "Riku!"A voice caught all of their attention.

Sora had reached the shore, seeing Riku and the others. "Sora!"Valerie smiled. Riku saw the wide grin on Sora's voice. Uh-oh... "RikuRikuRikuRikuRikuRiku, Rikuuuuu~"Sora tackled the brunette, the pregnancy weight adding to power and sending both of them to the ground. Valerie saw the tackle, giggling.

 

Eden hadn't paid attention to the boats, the docks, or much else, picking up little parts of her old self and trying to send off the dead in a nordic fashion, as the feathers weren't Phoenix Downs as she had hoped. She went off, making what little branches of the palm trees there were into brooms, sweeping the ashes into the ocean. She sighed, looking at the mainland with some guilt. She looked back at Gexln, thinking about her past, and how her home would change in the future. Her mind then pondered many other things, amongst the layers of other thoughts within her mind that decided to rack her brain with some annoyance.

 

Jeffrey laughed at Sora's tackle. "That's one way to greet someone..." Kairi was giggling as well, but she was a bit worried, too. I hope the baby's okay.

 

"Sora, get up...."Riku groaned. Sora rolled off so Riku could get up, trying to sit up himself. "uh-oh..."with the pregnancy weight Sora couldn't even get in a sitting position. Riku sighed, picking Sora up to help the brunette to his feet. "Sora, what were you thinking? You could've hurt the baby!"Riku said. "I missed you though!"Sora smiled, wrapping his arms around Riku.

Riku wanted to protest, but then he saw those pure blue eyes and sighed. "Just...don't do it again..."he said, blushing. Sora smiled, glad to get his time with Riku. Then he remembered what he wanted Riku for. "oh! Oh! Riku! Riku! you gotta come with me!"he started tugging at Rikus arm. "uh...why?"Riku asked.

"Just come on!" "B-But Sora!"Riku sighed, going with Sora. "Where are they going...?"Valerie was confused.

 

The bearer of Earth watched the mainland, slight bit of guilt in her dark-tainted eyes. "Gex.... These people, they really aren't doing much for the sake of the worlds... No one's fighting for the dying worlds, no one even cares really." She weighed the words coming from her tongue, trying to think steadily. "I think we should leave. Get to our destinations while we still can, combat the bad darkness like we found in your home."

 

Valerie looked over to the play island, biting her lip. "Oh....! We'll come back for Eden and Gex later. Ugh, we gotta get Sora and Riku first. Then we can all head to the gummi and let them take their Mark of Mastery exam! So! Who's up for the investigation?"she looked to Kairi and Jeffrey.

 

"I'm up for it," Kairi replied. She walked up to Valerie. "Well..." Jeffrey began, "if I say no, I'll end up going anyway, so I guess I'll come, too."

 

"Woo-hoo! Great! So once we find Sora and Riku the 5 of us will head back to the gummi!"Valerie smiled.
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Sora was actually hiding from having to take his doctor appointments, lying to Riku that his parents said he could help clean the town. "Sora, I don't think this is the safest thing you should be doing so far along..."Riku said. "Rikuuu, I'll be fine! The baby doesn't mind at all."Sora smiled. "You shouldn't be on your feat so much..."Riku said. "yeesh, what are you, a doctor?" "I wish...perhaps then you'd listen to me..."

Selphie and Irvine were watching the duo. "Think we should tell Sora's parents?"Irvine asked. "Nah, Sora shouldn't be ratted out like that..."Selphie said.

 

Eden sighed, staring at the stars once more as Gexln had not answered. "I wonder when they'll get their act together. I mean, in this time of us waiting, we could have gone off and landed on another world." she looked at the lingering smoke from the mainlands, stomach growling of hunger. "I don't want to eat... not with these people at least."