Kingdom Hearts: W7FHAX Style

LIST O' CHAPTERS


Chapter 1: Insecurities
Chapter 2: Disco Funk
Chapter 3: The Beginning
Chapter 4: Memory Lane
Chapter 5: It's Hard To Fight Emotions
Chapter 6: An Interlude
Chapter 7: Jabez - Keeper of Sadness
Chapter 8: Enter Admon


Update List

10/15/07 10:30 p.m. - Time to carry out Celosia's plan, I guess. Its quite simple really. Read below to find out what it is. XDDD I'm starting to really stretch the page, aren't I? Well, because of that, here's a tip. Above the Update List, you may have noticed a list of the chapters I've posted so far. Press Ctrl + F, and then copypasta (if you're lazy. If not, just type in Chapter X: <insert subtitle here>, where X is equal to the Chapter's number) into the little box that pops up. Push next, and it should skip on down the page to where you wanna go. =D Hope this helps an eency weency bit.

10/15/07 5 a.m. - Chapter 8 didn't happen. Kelly reminded me of homework, so blame her D:. I'm kidding, dun blame her, she probly just saved my Spanglish II Honors grade... Well, I guess I'll finish the rest after school (I typed up some more stuff I already had written down).


10/14/07 - I'm updating again today! By the end of tonight, Chapter 8 might be done. I sure hope so. It seems as if I've always been stuck here. I just need to get this "major fight scene" right the first time. Kthnxbai: I'm still typing it. . .


10/13/07 - Erm... Wow, I gues its been a while since I've updated. 'Guess I should start now.


9/30/07 - 10:39 p.m., Eastern Time: Lol, the update below never happened. Canada whooped my ***, stole all of my food, and killed my brethren. They captured all of our women and children, and I along with my family, have been exiled. The wife is taking it a little hard, but the rest of us are just fine. We are now going to America. Oh, and I never got to do that hour of non-stop typing either... I got in a fight with mi madre.

9/30/07 - 3:14 p.m., Eastern TIme: I declared my independence from Canada. I also decided to type non-stop for about an hour. Hopefully I'll get some stuff done. Also, I have to apologize to Firefox users. My posts with stories in them stretch the page. Internet Explorer downsizes it, but Firefox doesn't. I just realized it.

9/29/07 - 8:52 p.m., Eastern Time: Here's a little teaser for you'z guyz. Hope you enjoy!


9/29/07 - 8:48 p.m., Eastern Time: Wewt! It looks like I'm officially off punishment. My English II Hon. teacher called our house and left a message while we were out shopping. She said I've pulled up my grade entirely! I've got a B-! Well, now, I get my laptop back! Pretty shweet, yesh? It iz. Well, I was so excited-ed that I decided to immediately begin writing some more of my fic, instead of do my Algebra II Hon. homework... Ah Fauck, here we go again...


9/22/07 - Well, everything is up! I haven't been able to add anything new to the current part of the story, but there are some parts that have been changed. You don't have to read the whole story over again, but it was mainly the first 2 chapters I changed. I just didn't like them. Seemed blurry. Anywho, after today, I won't have enough time to update this. All I will be doing is stuff relating to my real life, and occasionally sneaking on here to check out Foxxie's AIM fic. It kicks ***.

I'd luv for you guys to bump my thread for me while I'm gone, so others might come and take a look-see, but if you don't its 'kay. When I come back, I'll just give it a healthy bump.


9/20/07 - From a state, county, and city I'm not going to include, in a closet, standing on a box, with my neck in a noose: Hullo fellow kh-vids addicts! I got my progress report today (well, one of them. I have block scheduling, meaning - I have 4 classes one day, and then 4 diff classes the next day. We call them A Day, and B Day. Lil' confusing sometimes, but its cool in the long run. More time to do homework that I'm not going to do -.-)! Anyway, it wasn't good, to say the least. So, unfortunately, today will probably be one of the last updates I make in a while. I explained to my mom (she understands things better then my dad, but not by much) about what I do on this site. She said "Fine, you have all of today to sever ties with the place. After your grades go up, then I'll spoon feed you your computer time back." If you dun get what my mom was saying, she means I'll supah-supah-slowly get my pc time back. I'll get an hour a day, then a month later, 2 hours a day. So... Yeah. Well, since I have a whole day to 'sever ties', this will be the second biggest update I've ever made, more than likely. Hell, maybe bigger. I'll be able to hop on for a few seconds when my parents aren't home or something to say hi, but I probably won't get to do much to this thing after today. Anyway, have fun reading! I luvz you guys.


9/20/07 - Before School: Hey! Are you tired of having to look at this thread every day, to see if I updated it? Well, if you'd like, I could make it easier on you. If you request (by pm please) it, I can pm you every time I update. Well, everytime its an update that's worthy of noticing. Meaning, I'm not going to pm you after I realize I misspelled a word, and then corrected it. Only if I, for instance, put up a new chapter. If I do something small (like add, or delete, a whole paragraph of the story), I'll just pm you with a quote of the change, so you won't have to search for it. M'kays, I'm done here.

[/***UPDATE***]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

KINGDOM HEARTS:
W7FHAX Style​

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8/11/07

I was very bored, so I finally got off the internet, and crawled into bed. For some reason, I couldn't fall asleep. As I lay there, staring at the ceiling, an idea came to me. I hopped outta bed, booted up my laptop, and logged on. The story below is what I came up with. I believe this thing has the potential to live through many chapters. I think I'll post one chapter every day (Sorry, this is no longer possible, 'cuz of school. Blame the establishment.), until I can't grind anything else out of this idea. The beginning, no matter how much I regret it, is going to start out slow, and it will probably be pretty boring. I apologize. Please, give me all the criticism you can afford. AND TELL ME THE TRUTH!!! I've written stories before, but I've never posted any of them on the internet, so I need it. Enjoy.

P.S., I'm going to try and keep the whole story somewhere around P.G.-13. At some points, it might go slightly above this rating. Like, a P.G.-15 o' 16. 'Tis the reason why I said somewhere around...

P.P.S, This is a "crack" story. This means, that sometimes (or for Kairi, almost the whole story) a character may act out of, well, character. Meaning, they might say or do something they normally never would. Their whole personality might be different. UPDATE: I have decided to let my imagination go to its fullest. In my fanfic, Sora and Co. will more than likely act much older, and more mature, than they actually are. It gives an entirely different angle, and makes this long story into an interesting read. Here's an example for the word "crack" as used above...

Normal
Naminé loved it. The perfect picture lay right before her. All of her friends, partying and having a good time at the beach. She grabbed her pad of paper, and one of her many pencils. She looked up again to survey the scene, while gnawing on the pencil. After a few moments, she began to draw...
Not-So-Normal
Naminé slipped off of Roxas' bed and walked over to his electric guitar. She flipped the amp's switch to the on position, scooped up the guitar, and checked to make sure the amp was plugged in correctly. Then she began to play Wakening by Cellador...

See what I mean?

P.P.P.S. Well, you must hate these by now, if you've read them all. Anyway, I'm just apologizing in advance. I am mainly apoogizing to those who are like action fanatics, and hate it when a story slows down. The first parts of my fic, are going to be slow. I promise it'll pick up after a while. Just plow through it, and get to the good parts, or ust don't read it. Your decision. A lot of areas in the beginning may be a little too mushy for you. I know, I know. Its just... I feel sorry for Sora. I mean, he sealed loads of Keyholes, saved Kairi and the other Princesses of Heart (and became a Heartless in the process), kicked Xehanort's Heartless' *** several times, Conquered Castle Oblivion (lost all of his memories, which were replaced by false ones, in the process), gets put to sleep for a whole year; wakes up, 'cuz now he's gotta finish off Organization 13... and he does it. He gets to hug/be hugged by Kairi once (unless, you wanna count the time when Kairi brought him back to a "somebody" from a Heartless, etc.). This deserves a huge W7FHAX!?!?!?!?! And, Ariel kisses Eric during the credits of KH2, and all he did was throw a trident... IN THE MIDDLE OF A SONG!!! ZOMG, an even bigger W7FHAX!?!?!? My rant is over with. Thank ye.





(Note: This is here to avoid weird questions later on. This story begins roughly four (4) days after Kairi finds the letter from the King and shows it to Sora and Riku at the end of KH2. This story assumes that about a week passed between the time that Sora and Riku fell from the sky after passing through the Door To Light, and Kairi found the letter. Makes sense? This story is not anything I found on another site or this one. If anything in it is similar to someone else's, it is pure coincidence. Please, point this out to me, and I will talk with the person to try and resolve the problem. This story is also not based on any rumors that I've found, nor is it something I believe will actually happen to Sora and Co. in the video games. I also do not own Square, KH, KH:CoM, KH2, or any of the Mixes. Wish I did though, lol. I'd be one rich mutha. I also am making no profit from writing these stories. I'm just expressing myself, and trying to provide a bit of entertainment for myself. Now, grab a snack, and read *****es!!! Wow, looks like one of those disclaimers you find on Ebay...)



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Part 1​

Chapter 1: Insecurities​

Sora lay on his bunk, asleep. Although his face seemed calm, his swirling thoughts weren't.

Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy, sitting atop Goofy's shoulder, waving at them a few yards away; their gummi ship hovering above them in the twilit sky. A white-blue aura engulfs them, and then they disappear. The gummi ship fires up, and begins to depart, slowly building speed as it flies above the water. Seconds before the ship enters warp drive, a small object plummets from the sky, and *sploosh!* lands in the water. Sora looked up, waved at them, signaling he saw it, and then dived into the water. Riku went after him, hoping to beat his friend by finding it first. Kairi stood on the beach's edge, a hand looped behind her back, grasping her hand; unable to stop the small smile spreading across her face. The adventure was over, they both had triumphed over much, but they were still the same boys she had grown up with. Riku, with his superior breast-stroke, reached the spot where the item sunk first. He submerged himself, Sora following suit. Riku came up with it a few seconds later. He scrutinized the small object in his palms. Sora suddenly leaped out of the water, directly behind him, his arms spread wide. He tackled the older boy, knocking him into the water. Sora came up with the object this time, and held it aloft, pleased with his performance. He looked down, obviously having sensed Riku had regained his senses, and then swam back to shore. Sora ran up to Kairi and showed her what The King had left them. A three by three cube was visible in his hands. A now soggy piece of paper was attached. It was hard to read but Sora thought it read: "For visiting friends, and for possible emergencies. I don't think we're done with the worlds just yet. If you do end up using it, make sure it is away from others."

Riku could then be seen rising from the water nearby. It seemed he had swum underwater to sneak up on Sora and give him a bit of payback. Sora's thoughts suddenly veered off to a week later.

Sora ran across the bridge leading to the islet where Riku was sitting on the Paopu tree. After hopping onto it, and then to the side closest to the water, he put his hands behind his head and leaned back. After a few moments...

"Nothing's changed, huh?"

"Nope. Nothing will."

"What a small world."

"But, part of one that's much bigger."

"Yeah."

Looking up at Riku, "Hey Riku...what do you think it was - the door to the light?"

Chuckling slightly, Riku pushes himself off the paopu tree, and walks over to Sora. He lightly taps his chest, over his heart, and simply replies "This."

Not entirely understanding, Sora held a hand over his heart, and asked "This?"

"Yeah, its always close than you think."

Sora just replied with a grin. Sora and Riku hear Kairi calling their names, and look over to see the red head running towards them. She stopped short of them.

"What's up?" asked Sora.

Kairi was half bent over, she had obviously run fast, or was out of shape. She looked up at him, and held out a bottle.

"Look."

"From the King?" asked Sora excitedly, taking the bottle from her hand. He popped off the cork, and shook the letter into his hands. After unrolling it, his eyes began flying over the page. Riku and Kairi crouded around. After scanning it twice, Sora began to read alou-

Sora lurched out of his troubled sleep. He had heard something. He looked to the opposite end of the cabin, and heard footsteps approaching. He threw the covers back over him, rolled onto his side, facing away from the door, and shut his eyes. The door opened quickly and he heard the footsteps stop. A warm, flowery scent drifted to the brunette's nostrils. Just Kairi... Sora sighed inwardly. He had been on edge ever since they had recieved the letter. He felt like something was wrong with everything, not just what the King told them, but the letter itself. Just what, the boy didn't know. Kairi's steps resumed, and Sora prepared himself for feigning sleepiness.

"Sora..." Kairi said softly, grabbing his shoulder and shaking him lightly. Sora rolled over, facing her, and mumbled something.

"Sora." Kairi said a little louder. His eyes snapped open.

"Mmph?" Sora asked.

"Wake up, ya' lazy bum. Me and Riku have been working, trying to get us there. Just because you're the Keyblade Master doesn't mean you can't do a little work."

Sora decided it was time to quit acting. He sat up, and swung his legs off the bed, so they were dangling over the side. He scratched the back of his head with his right hand, and said,

"Wait a minute... You, working? That's unheard of." Sora couldn't repress the grin that was sowly creeping across his face. The red head punched him in the chest, and then sat down beside him, on his left side. The boy rubbed the sore spot with an open palm for a second and then turned towards Kairi. The cabin of the Gummi ship the King gave them that day was a little small, but this kind of Gummi ship wasn't built for long periods of travel. It was big enough for the three of them though. A red sofa took up the left wall, and a round, metallic colored table sat in the center. Surrounding the table were several foldable chairs. On the table were a few cups, and a paper plate. There were muffin crumbs on the plate. A panel covering the right wall showed a map of the inhabited worlds. Dots the size of lemon drops filled the screen. The wall opposite the duo had a bookshelf, filled with magazines, various manuals on Gummi Ship maintenance, and several other things.

"Well, what's up?" Sora asked.

"We're nearing Hollow Bastion. The King said he remembered passing there, right?"

Sora shook his head, "Nuh-uh. He said he could see it faintly on the horizon when his ship was attacked."

"Tell me what the letter said again?"

Sora sighed. He had read and reread the letter so many times, he'd probably never forget the troublesome words. With Kairi asking him to recount them, it wasn't helping matters. He began rattling off the letter's contents, as if a robot.

"' Dear Sora,

While on my way back to Disney Castle, our ship was surrounded by unknown forces. We can fully assume they are enemies, because I am currently held captive in an unknown location. When we were overtaken, we could see Hollow Bastion in the distance, north of us. A group of men boarded our vessel, and blindfolded us. Goofy managed to overhear one of the men say something about heading south. We didn't go very far, and then we landed. I can't remember much after that, just that I woke up in this odd room. But that's not important. Could you make sure Minnie and my Castle are okay? Thanks. Sora, if you come after me, please, be careful. I'd rather you didn't come at all, of course. These people have no intention of harming me. They keep asking me these weird questions about...'"

"Then, there are a bunch of scratched out words." Sora finished.

"That's what worries me. What if...?" Kairi's voice broke, and her eyes became misty.

"Kairi, the King and the others will be fine. They're tough. They won't give in." Sora said, trying to reassure her.

"But how can we know for sure?" A lone tear trailed down her left cheek.

Sora sighed, and wiped her tear away with a finger. He gave a small smile, even though it was the last thing he felt like doing. "The only way to know is to go take a look-see. We got a hold of Leon, and he's checking in on Minnie. You, Riku and I, will go off and rescue the King, Donald, and Goofy."

Kairi just shook her head slowly, a sad smile sitting on her pretty lips. A loud click came from a small box above the door.

"Guys! Check this out." It was Riku, over the intercom.

Kairi looked at Sora one last time with her unnatural smile, gave him a swift kiss on the cheek, and quickly exited the room. The brunette felt the part where the girl had kissed him. Since the trio had been reunited, Sora and Kairi had become more open with their feeling towards each other. Yeah, they had kissed before, but Sora still couldn't help but feel breathless after just being around her.

The young Keyblade Master stood up, almost hitting his head on the low bunk, and rubbed his face with both hands really hard, trying to pull himself together. He looked around the room one last time, and then walked towards the open door.

Up the steps, down a short hall, past Kairi's room, and through some double doors, and Sora had found himself at the bridge. The room was circular, and kind of cramped. Computer screens lined the walls, with panels and panels of buttons everywhere. Directly in front of Sora, Kairi and Riku were examining a pedestal that had been inlaid with a screen. The screen showed the ship's current position, and everything within a certain radius of the ship. He was sure Riku had told him before, but he wasn't good with all of that computer stuff. The brunette couldn't see it from his position. Beyond his friends was the main control panel. Three chairs: the middle for steering and the basic controls of the ship, the left and right for weaponry, were all that consisted of it. Kairi's aim had gotten pretty good. They hadn't encountered any hostiles, but Riku let her practice in a simulator, and she had almost gotten a perfect score. She had shattered Sora's, something the red head just wouldn't let go.

Sora walked over to his friends, and nudged Riku over a bit, so he could see what had drawn the silvery-haired boy's attention. He looked down at the screen, and saw something he hadn't quite expected.

"Oh boy..."

End of Chapter 1​

8/11/07, soon after the 1st chapter was posted...

ZOHMG!!! RESETED!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH Good thing I copied and pasted my **** into wordpad... Here's Chapter 2.

Oh, yeah. In this chapter I used a line that another person came up with. I should credit him. Here....

Tehmalice's vid. :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz_kVlcEsq8

P.S.: I'll give rep and cookie the first person to make a post stating the line I took from this AMV.

Chapter 2: Disco Funk​

"Whoa... It looks like the king was right."

There was something different about the empty space between Hollow Bastion and the rest of the worlds that were in the South. It was less... empty. A whole world, made up of a chain of islands had seemingly appeared from nowhere.

"Uhm, those weren't there during our last adventure, right?" Sora said aloud. He didn't get an answer. He looked around the room, and then it hit him. Donald and Goofy weren't there. He stopped thinking about it. "Yeah, I know those islands weren't there... So this must be where the King is being held captive."

"He did say they could see Hollow Bastion..." Riku said slowly, nodding towards Hollow Bastion on the screen.

"Well, c'mon!" Sora exclaimed, "let's get going!"

"Hold it," Riku replied. Sora peered up at him, a questioning look on his face. "We have no clue what's down there, and -"

"Yeah, well, we won't know what's down there 'til we check; and since when were you so cautious? Hmm...? HHMMM...!?"

"I just don't feel like ending up like the King..." Riku spoke softly. Sora's face fell.

"Riku..." Kairi began, walking around Sora, and stopping in front of him. She put a hand on Riku's shoulder, and he stiffened. "Sora has a point. I don't feel that we should just go tearing in there to find the King, anyone would see us, and try to stop us. But, hovering above them figuring out our next move, don't you think they would find out what we're doing here as well? You were the first to want to leave when the letter came along. Now, right outside of his possible location, you're going to get cold feet? Right when we need each other the most?" At this point, Kairi glanced at Sora. Their eyes met, and both looked away. Riku seemed to be struggling against something.

"Alright, alright. Let's go."

"O.K. then." Kairi said. She let go of Riku's shoulder, and walked over to her seat, the one to the right of the main control panel.

"I'll land it!" Sora said gleefully. He dashed over to the control panel, and flopped into the chair. To his right, Kairi face-palmed, and gave an exasperated sigh. Sora didn't notice. "Now... Let's see here." Sora then began mashing random buttons.

Suddenly, a red light began flashing, accompanied by an annoyingly loud buzzer. Riku looked around wildly.

"Not again..." Kairi moaned, putting her face in both of her hands.

"What'd I do!!!?" Sora asked himself as an automated voice came over the intercom:

"You have activated the 'SUPER-AWESOME-W7FHAX-PWNZ-ALL-DISCO-DANCING-MODE!!!' Prepare for some EXTREME DANCING!!!"

"He didn't push the self-destruct button this time!?" Kairi thought aloud.

"No, he didn't." said the automated voice again.

"!!??" Kairi looked to the ceiling in utter bewilderment.

"I didn't even know we had this mode..." said Riku, taking a few steps forward.

"SWEET!!!" exclaimed Sora.

The red light began alternating colors. From red to blue, to green, to yellow, and back again. A disco ball descended from a concealed compartment in the ceiling. 'Partyboy Theme' began playing.

Sora stood up, walked over to Kairi, and bowed. She giggled, and held out her hand. Sora took it, and pulled her from her seat. He then began hopping around like a bunny rabbit.

"Uhm...? Kairi asked without really wanting to know.

Suddenly, the music stopped. The disco ball zipped back up into its compartment, and the hatch closed. The flashing lights stopped. Riku was standing by the control panel, pushing a few buttons.

"Aww... c'mon. Let's dance Riku!" Sora whined. Riku turned around in disbelief.

"R-Really? You and me... Dance?"

"You know you wanna..."

"Hell yeah, I wanna!!!"

Riku and Sora then began to...






































































W7FHAX: ROTFLMFAOSMMFP, PINOTFF, OGIRII. OGTS. I couldn't resist. Fine! Fine, back to the original story:



Suddenly, the music stopped. The disco ball zipped back up into its compartment, and the hatch closed. The flashing lights stopped. Riku was standing by the control panel, pushing a few buttons.

"Aww, I was just getting into the music..." Sora said, slumping to the floor. He leaned against the wall, and sat with one leg out, the other pulled closer to his chest. He rested one arm on his upraised knee.

"I'll say..." Kairi said, trying hard not to laugh. She flounced back to her seat.

"Hey, you're the one who said we need to hurry and go after the King, Donald, and Goofy." Riku said.

"You're right," Sora said, standing up. "Let's go."

"Yes master..." Riku retorted. He sat down in the pilot's seat in front of the main console. "Now, which island to first? I think we should just go straight to the big one, right in the middle of the chain."

"Exactly what I was thinking." Sora said, flopping down into the seat on Riku's left. "Onward, Cap'n."

Riku grinned. He pushed a big blue button, and then typed in a few coordinates. The ship shifted directions, and began speeding to its new destination. A few moments later, it had entered the world, and was just above the large island.

"Alright, go over to the raised platform, and I'll beam us down." Riku said.

"Kairi, maybe you should stay here and watch the ship..." Sora began.

"Hell no! Every time something happens, I'm not there to help! I finally have a chance, and you're going to make me wait here? No Wai!" Kairi reached over and punched the button that would transport them down to the island. In her rush to get back up there, she knocked Riku off the platform.

"Oh, nice going Kairi." Sora said in an offhand voice, reaching out to help Riku up onto the platform. Too late, Sora was reaching out towards a sparkling blue sea. He turned around, and dragged Kairi, who had fallen over, surprised at how fast the ship had reacted, out of the way. Riku should be following at any moment. After maybe thirty seconds of no Riku, Sora looked up to the ship... Well, the sky. The Gummi ship was gone.

"Look!" Kairi pointed to his left, across the water. In the distance, he could see a large island, with a gummi ship hovering over it.

"What!?" Sora looked around frantically. "We're on the first island in the chain!" He could now see two other islands to the right of the large one, and another island after the large one. A beam of white blue light shot down from the ship. Riku was now on the middle island...

End of Chapter 2​

8/11/07, somewhere round 11:30 PM:

Alright, I understand about the reset and everything, but come on... I'm getting bored here!!! Someone (other than foxxie, she posted before the reset) please read the stuff? Yeah, it might be a little long for you guys, but its not too bad. Alright, just for you, I'll make a picture book-like part that even has a few print out and color sections for the next chapter...

Note: After I looked over my work, I realized that to a person who isn't living in my head, they won't see what I do. I attempted to increase the descriptions of things, and another thing. The dialogue in some places is purposely wrong (i.e. I started a sentence with and). I tried to make it less "book-y" and made it more like the average person speaks. Anyway, Chapter-o three-o!!!

Chapter 3: The Beginning​

A cool breeze was drifting from the sparkling ocean in front of them. The big yellow ball was directly above them, making the sand comfortably hot, and a white that burned their eyes. Behind them, the beginnings of a large jungle sprawled across the island. Towering palms and trees of an unknown origin were twisted and tangled together, making it unable to see what might be lurking within. Sora tore his gaze from this, with that very thought echoing throughout his mind. His eyes fell upon Kairi. She had slumped over into the sand. Her eyes were brimming with tears again, but this time they were with rage.

"Damn!" She shouted at no one in particular, "why do I always mess things up!? She pounded the hot sand with a fist once, leaving a small imprint.

"I dunno," Sora replied. He closed the gap between them, and threw himself to the ground beside her. He leaned back on the palms of his hands, stretching out his legs. He looked away from her, out towards the sea, waiting for the right moment. As soon as he began to feel her eyes on him, "You're good at it though."

He braced himself, waiting for the usual playful slap or shove she was bound to give him. When he never received punishment for it, he glanced at her. Great, I made her cry again..., he thought. He pulled in his legs, pushed himself up with his arms, and swiveled his body, so he was facing her. He sat Indian style, giving her some space, but he leaned forward enough so he could try to talk quietly, and calmly to her; he didn't want her to see she had actually begun to annoy him.

"Kairi, you realize I was kidding... Don't you?"

"Y-yeah, but. You're r-right. I'm sorry for acting this way, but I'm feeling all of these weird emotions. For you... myself... And, one moment I think 'Everything will be ok, I'm with friends, and we'll make it through', but... I've been having dreams the past two weeks you and Riku have been home. In the dream, I'd wake up, and go to our usual hangout, and find both of you dead. It sounds stupid, I know, but now that this is happening..."

Kairi looked over at Sora as she finished, hoping he'd understand. She found him looking at the water, with a far-away look in his eyes. She waited a moment. When he didn't return, "Sora?"

"Hmm!?" He looked around quickly, saw Kairi, and his face fell. He stared out at the ocean, yet again. Kairi was beginning to feel angry when, "Ever since you found the letter, and showed it to Riku and I... I've been on edge. As if someone would burst into our lives at any moment, and rip them apart. I've been trying to hide it, mainly for your sake, but mine as well. Riku'd have given me hell if he knew what I felt like." He paused, with a grin on his face, "But, when we arrived on this island, it somehow got worse. The feeling is heavier, and it won't go away, no matter what I think about."

"Well then," Kairi said, standing up. She thrust out her hand to Sora. He grabbed it and she helped him up. "We'll just have to hurry up and find Riku, Goofy, Donald, and the King. Shouldn't be too hard, for the Keyblade Master, right?"

"Oh no, not at all..." He slowly began to grin. She threw her arms around his neck, pulling him close. Startled, his grin turned to a look of astonishment, and then he relaxed.

"Stay close to me..." She whispered softly in his ear, "Never leave me..."

"There's no reason for you to worry about it..." he replied softly, embracing her as well. They held each other for a moment, and slowly, regretfully, Sora let go. "C'mon, Riku will be mad. He doesn't know we ended up on a whole separate island. He'll probly' think we started off without him..." Kairi smiled at him, and nodded.

******************************​

Riku easily landed on his feet. He immediately called his Keyblade, ready for trouble. When none came, he dismissed it, and looked around. Sora and Kairi aren't here. Maybe I shouldn't have sent it away... To his left, right, and back, a wall of thick trunked palm trees and green leafy bushes blocked his view of anything. He couldn't even see the sun overhead. Ahead of him, a small path went on for awhile and then curved out of sight. Then, he noticed what appeared to be a fallen sign. He briskly walked to it, and crouched beside it. It was hard to read in this light (if you could call it that), but it said:

MEMORY LANE​

​

Stadium of Memory: 27 miles​

"Memory Lane, huh?" Riku said to the sign, "I don't like the sound of that... But, maybe this is where Sora went. Bet I can catch up!" He tore down the path, hoping to meet up with his friend.

******************************​

Sora and Kairi had begun to walk towards the jungle. Kairi looked at Sora, who was on her right.

"So, why do you think Riku was able to get on the main island, and we were forced to this one?"

"No idea, maybe there's more to this world than meets the eye."

Kairi looked away, and glanced back fearfully, curious as to whether or not he was teasing her again. His face was set, and he was looking dead ahead. He wasn't playing around.

They stopped on the edge of the jungle. The treetops weren't moving, even though the breeze had become quite steady now. There was also an eerie quiet about it. You couldn't hear any of the typical animal sounds.

"Oh, look!" Kairi whispered. He knew why she was whispering. For some reason, he felt that if he broke the silence, something bad would happen. He followed her pointing finger to an object half buried in the sand. He jogged over to it, and bent down to pick it up. He righted it, shoved it back into the ground, and then brushed it off a bit. He read the words aloud:

Island of Despair
To feel despair, is to see the end​

"Well, then." Sora said in a mock-gleeful voice, "we have a reason for your emotional roller-coaster ride."

"...'is to see the end'?" Kairi thought aloud, "I wonder..."

"I believe it means the end of this island, not death."

"Oh, so you understood my train of thought?" Kairi asked.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Sora replied, putting his hands on his hips and peering at her. She just laughed for a moment.

"Let's get this over with," she began, taking a few steps towards the beginning of a path, just beyond the sign. She looked back at him over her shoulder, and said with a small smile "despair isn't my favorite emotion..."

End of Chapter 3​

8/12/07 Wowzorz... I dun really know what to say. I'm pretty sure a few people might hate me for this next one (the Riku fans). If, anyone ever reads it, xD. But, then again, I like it like this. Its quiet. You can hear the waves. They sound the same as the ones back home. If this... is it? I could stay here forever...

Chapter 4: Memory Lane​

Riku had been traveling for awhile now. Roughly fourteen of those twenty-seven miles were behind him. The whole time, he had not seen anything move. Nor, had he heard any noises that were not made by himself. He had given up calling out Sora's name ages ago. I wonder what happened... I guess all I can do is keep moving. There isn't really anywhere else they could've gone.

Riku falls to his knees, and begins to remember....

"But it all ends here, there can't be two Keyblade Masters!" - Riku
"What are you talking about?" - Sora
"Let the Keyblade choose... its true master." - Riku
"Huh?" "What!?" - Donald and Goofy
"Maleficent was right." - Riku

SHUT UP!!! Riku began to run.

******************************​

Ten minutes later, he collapsed in a heap. Panting, he thought, Why'd that happen? The sign! Memory Lane... Heh, no ****.. He wiped beads of sweat from his brow, and looked about. Same dirt path, same massive palm trees... I could be traveling a never ending path... It all looks so similar.

"It is I, Ansem, the seeker of darkness. So, I shall release you now, princess. Complete the Keyhole with your power. Open the door, lead me into everlasting darkness!" - Riku "possessed" by Xehanort's Heartless

"GO AWAY!!!!" Riku screamed, splitting the silence. He got up, and began to run again. He was beginning to hate Memory Lane...

******************************​

Riku knew he needed to stop running. But... I'm scared to. he admitted to himself. Finally, something that scares me. And, this is only one of the islands... Great, this place sucks. Mentally, he regretfully stopped, but physically, he was elated. He put his hands on his knees, leaning on them, for support. His breaths came in heavy, gut-wrenching gasps. After a few moments, They haven't come back yet. I wonder why... But honestly, I'm not going to complain. He stood up straight again, and then stretched. As he stood up on his tip toes to get the full arm and leg stretching experience, he got a head rush.

"Ouch," he said, stopping the stretch and slapping a hand to his forehead.

An image of himself calling forth a Dark Form of Sora within Captain Hooks' ship flowed into his mind.

"Stay outta my head..." He whispered, rubbing his now very sore forehead.

******************************​

Riku continued walking, for he had nothing else to do. I hope I can find Kairi and Sora soon, then I'll have someone to talk to. To keep my mind off of...things.

Images of his two friends burst into his mind. Sora, Kairi, and he running across the beach in Destiny Islands. The three of them, chilling by the paopu tree. Kairi giggling after he said something funny, Sora racing him to share a paopu with Kai - His Keyblade descending upon Sora, Kairi laying motionless on the ground, in front of Hollow Bastion's Keyhole; Him, Riku, taking Sora's Keyblade...

"No..." Riku moaned, he fell to his knees, clutching the sides of his head. "Make it... Make it stop, PLEASE!" he begged. An image of Riku preventing Xehanort's Heartless from getting to Kairi entered his mind, and he calmed.

After several seconds, he felt strong enough to stand again. He wiped his face, and began to run, yet again.

******************************​

"Yes!" Riku exclaimed, and skidded to a halt. A clearing lay before him. It was filled, from one end to the next, with small red flowers. He bent low to the ground, and in his happiness for the change of scenery, plucked a flower from the ground.

A hellish screech of pain ripped the silence to pieces.

"YAHH!" Riku dropped the flower, he was so startled. He looked around wildly. No one else was in the area. He looked down at the flower, to examine it more closely. The flower had a normal green stem, but atop it was only one petal. The petal was a blood red color, and the petal was shaped like... a heart. The petal's color was slowly fading away. No, Riku thought running away... The red was draining from the petal, flowing through the stem, and... forming a puddle at his feet. He poked the red liquid with his fingers and rubbed them together. Blood. Well then. I'm officially freaked out. Riku took a few steps back.

A gale of wind rushed towards Riku from behind, whipping the palms all around him into a frenzy. The flowers in the clearing never moved. The gusts of wind seemed to be trying to push him forward. A path materialized in front of him, on the opposite end of the clearing. Farther down that path, he could see what appeared to be a corner of a building.

That must be the Stadium! Riku thought. He looked down at the flowers... Now, they were moving. But, it wasn't from the wind, which seemed to have gotten even stronger. The flowers were pulsing... The hearts were beating.

**** THIS!!! Riku charged at the clearing, determined to get across it as fast as possible. The second his foot touched the flowers, screams erupted all around him; and with them, memories. His childhood life, his friendships, his betrayal, his search for redemption... All laid bare, ripped from his mind, and shoved down his throat. Stumbling, he kept himself moving, using all of his strength and willpower he still had to get across. Four, five, six, seven, steps, and a dozen screams to go with each one. A dozen screams from those he betrayed... Eight steps, and he fell to one knee. He struggled to stand up, and failed.

"Not much... MORE!!!" Riku shouted, to get himself moving. It worked, he got up from his kneeling position and crushed some more flowers in the process. Screaming... Unwanted memories... a downward spiral with seemingly no way out. No, there IS a way out... And its right there. Riku thought, his eyes fixed on the new path.

Nine, ten, eleven... Riku slipped in the now mini-jacuzzi sized blood pool he created, and face-planted. He forced himself to push himself up with one arm. He reached out with his other hand. Hmph. At least I can say 'I made it!', and collapsed into the warm, sticky blood. Before darkness overtook him, he got one more memory from his friend Memory Lane. Sora, bouncing around like a bunny, with 'Partyboy' playing in the background. Lights, flashing over Kairi, making her look even prettier along with the changing colors; looking hilarious with the bewildered look on her face.

Riku couldn't help but grin, even though it got blood in his mouth. He sighed, a blood-bubble forming and then popping. Then, sweet nothingness. As he blacked out, Riku's grasp on the tuft of grass he had managed to reach released. His hand hung over the path to the stadium...

End of Chapter 4​

WOOHOO!!!! Chaptuh Five!!!

*Dances*

Alright, let's get down to business... In this chapter, I will be swapping a lot from an outsider's point of view, to Kairi's or Sora's. And... someone else's. Hopefully it won't get too confusing. Also, closer to the end, for awhile I will pretty much ignore Sora's p.o.v. 'Kay? This is a serious point of time for the two of them, for it will be one of the last times that they will not be pushed to their limits. Wait, never mind.... They are pushed to their limits in this chapter...

Chapter 5: Its Hard To Fight Emotions​

"Let's stop for awhile." Sora said, looking at Kairi. It seemed that she was about to faint.

"Alright," she replied, breathing heavily and trying not to show it, "but not for too long."

For the past hour, Sora had been trying to train Kairi in the arts of combat. From basic footwork, to fighting with obstacles in your way, to different stances. Her strongest points appeared to be defensive fighting and magic. And her Keyblade has the four main elements on it too... Funny. He was shocked at how fast she had picked up things he explained to her. A natural... and she always seemed so soft to me. A Princess of Heart with bite...

He watched her sit down on one of the many fallen trees that crisscrossed the wide path they were now on. Tropical trees, somehow towering at probably a hundred feet tall, lined both sides of the path. The sun shone brightly overhead, making everything look bright and happy. But, that odd feeling of dread had not gone away. He had been talking and explaining as much as he could to her to keep his mind off of it. It was also still quiet. They hadn't seen a single heartless or nobody the whole time they had been on the island. Not even a single bird. This, more than anything freaked out Sora. At least the quiet here doesn't seem to swallow you, like it did on the beach, he thought. Sora walked over to the log, with his hands behind his back, and stopped in front of and to the left of Kairi.

"Ya' know..." Sora began "you've gotten pretty good, Kairi." as he said 'pretty good', he summoned his Keyblade behind him, and when he said her name, he performed a swift 180º turn, turning his back on her, and in the process bringing around his Keyblade, aiming for her face.

Kairi had been looking at her feet, thinking about the sign at the beginning of the forest. 'To feel despair, is to see the end'. From the corner of her eye, she saw Sora's mouth moving. During her training with him, she had been watching his movements closely. She knew these lessons would be more important than anything she had learned thus far. She had studied his face, his stances, for more reasons than one..., and attacks as closely as possible. So, when he summoned his Keyblade, she could just barely tell by the look in his eye. The whistling noise the Keyblade made through the air reassured her of this. She raised her hand to chest level, and called forth her Keyblade.

"CLANG!!!" the metallic sound of two Keyblades clashing rang throughout the jungle. Sora smiled wickedly. I dun goood. He dispersed his Keyblade, and stood upright. He turned around and sat beside her.

"Pretty good?" Kairi asked, sending hers away as well.

"You have passed the first test, grasshoppah." Sora replied.

"There's more!?" she exclaimed, shoving him.

"Whoah!" Sora hadn't expected it. He pinwheeled his arms, trying not to fall off. Kairi grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him forward an inch or so. "What'd I do to deserve that!?"

"Come ON... A princess just blocked an attack from the Keyblade Master... Give me some credit, alright?" Kairi said, half serious, half jokingly.

"Hey, you think I would seriously attack you, if I didn't know I could stop if you didn't block?"

"Oh, so you don't believe in my ability?" Kairi questioned.

"No, I guess I just get overprotective when it comes to the ones I care about..." he said softly.

"Sora..." she said touched, but now worried. He never said anything about their status like that. Depressed, worried, full of despair... she thought. "Don't even start acting like I did earlier. Don't you remember the talk we had on the beach?"

"Yeah, 'course." the boy said glumly. What's happening to me? These mood swings... Why do I feel so weird? He thought. Kairi wrapped both of her arms around his waist, laying her head against his leg. The second she touched him, his head cleared, and he felt like his normal self.

"Its this island, isn't it? Its starting to affect you." Kairi whispered.

"I feel better with you..." Sora said, realizing something. "Kairi, remember I said I'd never leave you, on the beach?"

She had been staring ahead, leaning into him, but as he said this, she looked up. "How could I forget? It was only an hour ago, and it was one of the happiest moments of my life." she said, completely honest. He looked at her, and began pushing her back to a seated position. When there was enough room, he swung his right leg over the log, so he was sitting as if on a horse. He then pulled her close to him, turning her so that she was sitting the same as he, and hugged her tightly around the middle. He rested his chin on her right shoulder, their faces right by each other.

"I need to tell you something, and I don't think you'll like it. But, you must swear you will do it if and when the time comes. This, 'Island of Despair'...its real. I feel it, and I know its not just me freaking out. Every step deeper into this jungle we've taken, has been harder and harder for me to do. Now, this hasn't been affecting you. Its just been your normal woes and fears plaguing you. The desperate situation we're facing has made them reach their peak. You can't be touched by this place, you're a Princess of Heart. You're heart is pure..." Here, she stiffened, realizing he was right, and guessing what would come next. "As we go on, I may become insane, drowning in my own pain. I need you. When we touch, my despair is deadened. I am normal, or close enough. The deeper we go, the less and less you will affect me. The thing is, I'm scared I will turn against you. I need you to know, that if I say anything to hurt you, its not true. I need you to know, that we must go all the way through this place. We mustn't turn back. I need you to know, that you must do whatever you can to make me keep going.

"So..." she whispered, "'To feel despair, is to see the end'..." she began crying, but this time, it was anger, as much as it was sadness. Sadness, at what she now knew would happen, anger, at whoever had put them into this. "I'll do it," she said, "I've got a use now, and I won't fail."

"Glad to hear it." Sora croaked. He hadn't managed to keep his eyes dry either.

*****************************​

A while later, the pair finally made themselves stand. Sora stretched, wiped his face, made sure Kairi was ready, and began walking. At first, he didn't hear Kairi follow. Then, Kairi ran the few steps to close the gap between them. He looked around, scared of what might be wrong. She grabbed his hand, and looked at him with a warm smile. He relaxed, and smiled back. The two of them began walking...

******************************​

Several hours later, with the sun no longer visible above them, they decided they should stop for the night. The twilight was bursting through the trees in areas, casting a golden orange glow across the small clearing they found themselves at. A few stumps and some purple flowers dotted the area. The path they had been following continued on the opposite side of it, directly in front of them. Sora walked to one side of the clearing and up to one of the many tropical trees. He felt one of the lower hanging fronds, and satisfied, called his Keyblade. He began hacking off some of the branches.

Kairi watched him work, curious as to what he was doing. After he had several dozen of the palm fronds, he walked over to a stump, and dumped the fronds onto the ground, on its right side. He grabbed one, and set his Keyblade down. He pushed the spread out, pointed ends together, and held that end in one hand. He set the branch on the stump (still holding the pointed ends of the leafy part), and picked up his Keyblade. He chopped off the branch, leaving only the frond. Then, he cut the fronds' sharp edges off. He threw the de-branched and pointless frond onto the other side of the stump. He did this again and again, as fast as he could, until all of them were to the left of the stump. He then scooped them all up, and walked to the left corner of the clearing, closest to the path that they would be taking the next day, and started laying them out. He put four of them, end to end in a straight line. He then began stacking more on top, making it into a type of bed.

When done, he stood up straight. He put his hands on his hips, and leaned back, cracking his back. A sigh of pleasure escaped him. He looked over at her, holding that position, and smiled slightly.

Straightening up, he said, "You're sleeping quarters await, princess."

At least he's still sort of himself... she thought worriedly. Looking into his eyes, she saw pain. Or at least trying to be. She walked over to him, and asked, "Where are you sleeping?"

"I'm going to be keeping watch."

"But, we haven't run into anything all day..." Kairi replied. Sora stepped closer to her, and gave her a hug.

"I feel as if we're being watched..." he whispered into her ear, "don't say anything, just try and act normal." Kairi hugged him back, and kissed him softly on the lips.

"Good night." Kairi said, a sad look on her face. She walked over to the bed he made for her, and laid down.

"'Night." He said softly, sadly. He shuffled over to a stump that was aways from and in front of Kairi's position, and sat down. He threw himself, hard, into it; making the gnarled stump's ends dig into his back uncomfortably. He needed to stay awake.

******************************​

At sunrise, Sora walk-stumbled over to where Kairi lay. So, ****ing, tired, he thought. I wonder. If I'm too tired to even think, could the Island's effects not bug me too much? He sure hoped so. He looked down at her sleeping form. She was lying on her stomach, her head resting on her arms. The sun was hitting her hair at the perfect angle, making it seem on fire. Beautiful..., Sora thought.

"Kairi..." he said, as he grabbed her shoulder and lightly shook her. Her eyes flicked open. He stepped back, giving her room. She rolled onto her side, and propped her head up on her elbow. "Want some water?" he asked, digging into his left red pocket.

"Yeah, my mouth is pretty dry." Kairi replied. Sora retrieved a canteen from his pocket, and handed it to her. She took a sip, paused, and took another. She gave it back to him. "You didn't sleep at all..." the redhead said more than asked. Sora shook his head, prompting a worried, almost motherly look from Kairi. "You make me the best possible bed I could ask for in this situation, and you didn't get to sleep at all!? You couldn't have woken me up to let me watch, not even for a couple hours?" She was now sitting up completely.

Sora put his finger over the canteen's opening. He turned over the bottle and righted it again, making a dab of water appear on his finger. He put it against one eye, and rubbed it in hard. He repeated the maneuver.

"See? all bett-aaauuuughh..." he broke off the word with a yawn. Kairi threw her hands up in the air, realizing he wasn't going to let her win. "Ho-kay, let's get moving." Sora said, half-stiffling another yawn.

He helped her up, and they crossed the clearing. Kairi started walking down the path.

"Wait, I need to get something." Sora said, running off. Kairi turned around, confused. Sora came back with two of the branches he had cut from the palm tree the night before. "Walking sticks, in case the paths stop being so wide and flat."

"I don't need one, but thanks." Kairi said, wanting to just get moving.

"Sure?" he asked. She nodded. "'Kay..." he threw hers among the trees, and they began moving deeper into the jungle.

******************************​

Why the hell didn't I take the stick!? she asked herself again, as she hit the dirt for the third time. Sora turned around, and reached down, to help her up. She grabbed his hand, and he pulled her up. After she had steadied herself, she looked around.

The path had changed, just like Sora anticipated. It was much more narrow, making them have to walk single file. It had taken an uphill direction, too. This was alright for Sora, who had kept his 'walking stick'. He could easily use it to boost himself up over roots that had grown out of the ground during this incline, so his feet wouldn't slide. She, would have to take a big step over them, and then somehow get the other one that high up without slipping. Let's say it wasn't working so well. Her eyes fell on Sora again. He was higher up than she was, for he had made it successfully over the troublesome hole. He was holding out his walking stick to her. The sun was now coming up to the point where it could almost be seen through the tops of the trees. It was shining brightly down, and the light coming from behind him made him look almost Saint-like. This brought a smile to her face.

"No, you need it more than I do, you're like a zombie without any sleep."

"You take it, and walk in front of me, so if I fall, I won't trip you up. Now, if you fall again, I'll be able to catch you. Don't want the princess to scratch up her pretty knees..." He trailed off.

"Fine." she said, only leaving what could become an argument at that because of the look in his eyes. They were the sad, far-away look of someone who's lived for a long time, and has felt nothing but pain from the start of his existence. He wasn't even looking at her, but past her. She took the stick from him, which brought him to his senses.

"Alright, you in front of me." he guided her over the root she had slipped on, and moved off to the side so she could go past him. They resumed their trek through the Island of Despair's jungle.

******************************​

A little while later, Sora's knee slipped off of the root he had been crawling over on all fours. His knee dropped the few inches it had been raised, and smacked into the ground, with a sickening crunch. His chin got to say hello to a patch of ground above the ditch like area formed by the many roots ripping across the path. He reached out for the root again, grabbed, and pulled himself up again. This time, he successfully got over the troublesome hole. He looked further up the slope, to see Kairi walking normally. Guess there's less of these damn things up there... he thought glumly. He had fallen twice, the first time when walking, almost twisting an ankle. Since then, he had been crawling along, slowing them both down. Now, he stood up, and looked up at Kairi again. She was coming up to a curve in the path, but it was still ascending slightly.

Sudden panic hit him, for some reason, he felt something awful would happen the second she went around the line of trees screening the rest of the path from his view.

"Kairi!" he shouted, taking off at a sprint, stumbling a bit. She stopped, and turned around, fear evident in her eyes. "Wait up." Sora said. The second she had looked at him, he realized he was being foolish. Now, he tried to play it off. "Can't have us getting separated, I haven't taught you everything yet."

"Oh, ok." Kairi said, a knowing look in her eye. Its starting to happen. Better stay close to him... Or should I distance myself from him? One thing was for sure, she didn't want to do that. She studied him. Clothes ripped in a few places, his knee freely bleeding, his chin with a blue-ish scrape on it... Then she saw his eyes. They were glazed over. She ran over to him and hugged him. "I'm so sorry!"

"Whazuh matta'?" He asked.

She looked into his eyes. Now, they at least looked human. They were still filled with sadness, but the glazed look was gone. "I haven't been paying attention to how far we've gone in. If we're going up, we must be nearing the middle of the island... How are you feeling?" She asked, knowing he would lie for her. He continued to look ahead, not at her.

"I'd rather not talk about it," he said, startling her, "If I even think about what's going on inside my head, it seems real, like I should be feeling this way. If I put it into words..."

"That's okay, who wants to talk about stuff like that anyway?" she said, releasing her hold on him. She threw her right arm around his neck, and he wrapped his arm around her waist. They began walking again. Let's kill some time, and distance. She began walking faster, and Sora adjusted his pace to keep up. Kairi then began talking to him about their past, when they were kids. She described every little detail she could, trying to keep him focused on what she was saying. She stuck with the happier times, stretching them out as much as possible. He had a small smile of gratitude on his face. He knew what she was trying to do. She didn't care, she wasn't going to stop talking. Not until it stopped working...

*****************************​

A few hours later, Kairi was beginning to run out of things to say. She had gone through almost there whole lives, and had thought all the way back to when she still lived in Radiant Garden. She didn't remember much, but this was where Sora seemed to listen the most.

The path was still narrow, but now they were going downhill. They hadn't been able to find a nice clearing like Sora had the day before. Kairi looked to the little bit of sky they could see. The sky looked as if someone had taken buckets of pink, blue, and purple paint, and thrown them across the heavens.

"Sora, look!" Kairi said. Sora, who always used to watch the sunset with her, glanced at it, and nodded. "Maybe we should stop for the rest of the night..." the girl said. She was becoming unnerved at how right Sora had been. He nodded again, and abruptly broke away from her. He fast-walked the few steps to the tree line on the right side of the path, and half leaned, half fell against the tree. He slid down its trunk, panting slightly.

Kairi walked over to him, and dug into his pocket, grabbing the canteen. He stared at her, a questioning look in his eyes, almost as if he didn't know who she was. She tried her hardest to ignore it, but couldn't. Her eyes were growing misty as she took a gulp of the water from the canteen. She held it out to him. He took it slowly, and then drank a tiny bit, and handed it back. Maybe I should carry it the rest of the time... she thought, and unzipped one of the pockets on her jacket. After stuffing it in, she looked up, unsure as to whether or not the noise she heard was Sora, or... something else.

"Sorry...?" Kairi asked. Sora was now sitting in his usual position. One leg out, the other pulled in some so he could rest his arm upon it. He was staring fixedly at his hand, which was hanging limply over his other leg.

"I said," Sora answered tiredly, "wasn't that 'thing' mine?" he slowly raised his head, and looked straight into her eyes. Kairi took a step back. They seemed like the eyes of a puppet, lifeless.

"Y-yes," Kairi began, quickly closing the distance between them and sitting on the ground beside him. He brought his head around as she was moving, seemingly unable to move his eyes, giving her the lifeless impression again. She grabbed his hand, looking for some reaction, some change to those eyes. None. "I'm just holding it for you, okay?"

"...Alright." He slowly turned his head away from her, and began staring straight ahead. She stood up, thinking We aren't even that close to the end yet... Just over the halfway mark. and began to look around. The trees in the area were not as weather-beaten as the ones on the other side of the island. So, they wouldn't be so easy to shape. I'm too tired to do all of that anyway. I guess I'll make do with what I have. Sora won't care, anyway. She thought, looking down at him. He hadn't moved.

Farther down the path, a bush rustled. Kairi happened to have glanced to her right at that exact moment. She slowly turned towards that end of the path, staring hard at the bush, waiting to see if it would move again. Suddenly, the wind picked up. She sighed, and took a step forward. Just the wind then...

"Are...are you leaving me?" A voice called from behind her. Kairi spun around, to find Sora's unblinking gaze upon her again. No, not Sora's... This is someone totally different. This is the Island, not him. Not the guy I love. She walked back over to him, and sat down again beside him.

"Of course not," she said in a falsely cheery voice. She was surprised at how convincing she had sounded, for she was anything but cheery. He had still not moved his eyes, he had had to turn his body to watch her again. She put a hand behind his head, and the other on his left shoulder, and pulled him down, so his head rested in her lap. "You've nothing to worry about, Sora." She had to fight with herself. She hadn't wanted to call it Sora. The second she thought about this, she noticed her skirt was wet. She checked her jacket, thinking she had forgotten to close the canteen. No. She looked at him, and sighed with relief, and sadness. She began crieing along with him. How long can we take this?

******************************​

An hour later, Kairi had fallen asleep, her head still leaning against the tree. Sora sat up, and crawled to a bigger tree farther up the path. He laid his head against it, hoping to get a tiny bit of sleep. The second he did, it all came back. King Mickey, gone. Goofy and Donald? Oh, they're gone too... And where would good ole' Riku be? Oh yeah... He's gone as well. They could be dead, all of them, for all I know. Somewhere inside of him, Sora knew he needed to stop this, but he couldn't find the strength. Well, what can you do, Sora? What if they aren't dead? Its not like you can play the hero, and run off to go save them. Its impossible. You're in some weird world, on some stupid island, and you're having problems summoning the Keyblade now...

Sora had never mentioned this to Kairi, but earlier that morning, he had tried to call the Keyblade, and couldn't. After several more tries, it worked, but he could not help but think what would happen if something big showed up.

I can't even be called the Keyblade Master anymore... he thought. He stuck out his arm, and tried to make it come to him. Nothing. He tried again. Still, nothing. He let his arm flop down beside him again. See? a voice that wasn't his own, filled with poison said in his head, you can't even call the legendary Keyblade to you anymore. Its abandoned you. That's a first... You must be the worst Master its ever had.

Hot tears began spilling down his face. Your right, he told the voice I'm useless. I can't do anything... I wonder... the venomous voice came back, What if she found out? it asked him. He looked over at Kairi. The moonlight fell upon her face, making it seem angelic. The slight rise and fall of her chest letting him know she was actually alive. For she was having the deep, untroubled sleep of one without the torments of the mind affecting the heart.

She'd be surprised, he thought, a little curious as to why, but I don't think she'd change her feelings toward... Oh really? It was Venom. She only liked you because you were the powerful Keyblade Master. Once she realizes you aren't toting it around anymore, she'll leave you. Hey, maybe she already has. Don't you remember how sad she was when Riku was gone? How much she missed him? How badly she felt when he was sent to the other island? She's using you now, for her own benefits...

Sora could no longer control it. He was openly weeping. Kairi was the only reason he had made himself move from his post that morning. The stump digging into his back, breaking the skin slightly. The trickle of blood. The lack of sleep. He could have sat there forever. Kairi's sleeping form behind him had been the only thing that had made him stand, and walk all day.

Kairi stirred slightly, as if she had heard a noise. Sora shoved a fist into his mouth and bit down, in an attempt to quiet himself. Even after Kairi had stopped moving, and continued her sleep; after he had been able to get control over his sobs, he still bit down on his hand. The blood flowing into his mouth, washing over his teeth, was somewhat comforting. The pain felt refreshing. It was physical. He was able to ignore Venom for a time. As his pain increased, he was able to remember that Kairi's heart kept his head clear.

Venom came rushing back Yes, but she's the one who made your group of friends lose another number. Remember? She "accidentally" knocked Riku off of the platform. Sora looked away from Kairi. Yes, you know I'm right. But, I think she did it on purpose. What's one of your friends to her? She's using you. Sora took his hand out of his mouth, and held it in front if his face. It was bleeding freely. He could easily need stitches for it, some of his teeth had cut so deep. Sora had somehow forgotten that moments ago he had convinced himself that Kairi had loved Riku. He set his hand in his lap.

Riku's gone, the King, Donald, and Goofy... and I can't do anyth- Oh, but you can... Venom broke in. I have a plan. You should kill the girl. Then, you could travel freely, go wherever you want. Hey, maybe you can go and find Riku's body... He looked over at Kairi's sleeping form again, tears no longer flowing. His eyes were back to the state that had terrified her so much.

Yeah... he thought. It would make everything so much easier... It stood up. Sora was gone. It walked over to her, and stopped in front of her. She slept so peacefully... With no worries. She had control over everything. She was the source of all of his problems. Of his pain, his misery, his despair... But, it was going to finish those problems.

Suddenly, all of his despair, became anger. It welled up inside of him, consuming him. Nothing could stop him now. He stopped, just as this thought exited him. Something else was happening. An unknown something seemed to be attacking him internally. He looked around stupidly, thinking someone was attacking him with magic. His image flickered for a second, as if he were a T.V. with a bad signal. It happened again. On the third time, Roxas fell out of him.

Roxas spun around, Oathkeeper and Oblivion in his hands. He faced Sora, holding out his arms, blocking him from Kairi.

"Sora!!! What's wrong with you!?" Roxas screamed at him. "The Sora I know would never give in. I would never give in. You love her, dammit!"

It stared at him. The puppet look was gone. Now, it was just anger, and pain. He summoned the Kingdom Key. He was so trapped within himself, his ability over the Keyblade coming back didn't faze him. It only made what he wanted - no, needed to do seem better. I have the intent to kill her, and it comes back... I was right.

******************************​

Roxas seemed to know that whatever he said wasn't going to help. Instead, he circled slowly from Kairi, hoping Sora would follow. He did. He kept moving until there was some distance between them and Kairi. He held his blades at the ready. Sora just kinda held his by his side, aloof, not caring. But his eyes told a different story. They followed Roxas' every move, seeming to bore into him, into his very thoughts. Sora slowly grinned, and then charged. He raised his Keyblade over his head, the grin still plastered to his face.

Roxas stood waiting for him. At the last possible second, Roxas fell backwards, crossing his Keyblades in front of him. Sora's 'Blade came down, clashing against his. Roxas shoved upwards, knocking Sora off balance, and causing both of them to fall to the ground. By the time Roxas was up again, Sora was already waiting. He swung low and fast, aiming for Roxas' knees. Roxas was barely able to block with Oathkeeper. Then he tried to counter attack with Oblivion, going for Sora's already wounded hand. He hit air. Sora was already coming at him from his right. He brought Oathkeeper around, parrying Sora's attack.

******************************​

Kairi's eyes fluttered open, the clashes of Keyblade upon Keyblade awaking her. She looked to her right, her eyes unfocused. Two blurry forms were doing a deadly dance across her vision. She rubbed her eyes hurriedly, and looked again. Sora and Roxas were locked together in combat.

"Snap out of it!" Roxas shouted at Sora, blocking another swing that had been aimed for his neck.

Kairi stood up, How could I let myself fall asleep like that, knowing his condition!!? She ran over to them, intent on trying to stop it somehow.

"Kairi!" Roxas shouted. His blades were crossed, and Sora was leaning into them with his. Roxas seemed to be trying his hardest, and he was losing. "Stay back, he was after you when I intervened!" he gasped, finally shoving Sora off of him. Roxas charged at Sora, trying to keep him busy. Sora stood there, sneering at him. Roxas brought both blades with all of his might at Sora's face. Sora nonchalantly parried, leaving Roxas wide open. Sora swung his Keyblade at Roxas' now unprotected leg.

CLUNK!!!!

Sora's eye twitched once, and his Keyblade fell to the ground. He toppled over next, face first. Kairi stood behind him, with her Keyblade in her hand. She held it by the blade, having hit him in the back of the head with it's handle.

"Whew...!" Roxas said, sending away his own Keyblades. He walked over to Kairi, patted her on the shoulder and leaned against a tree. He stared at Sora. "He'd better be knocked out for a long time..."

Kairi leaned against a tree next to his. "What can we do for him?"

"I don't know if we even can do anything. The best thing I can think of, is drag him outta here while he's off in la-la land."

Kairi shrugged, and walked over to Sora. "You get his feet?" Roxas nodded, and shuffled over to him. He grabbed them, none too gently, and lifted easily. He waited while Kairi grabbed Sora from under his arms, and then they both moved off.

******************************​

"Woohoo!" Kairi exclaimed.

"What!?" Roxas asked.

"Look at the trees... They're thinning out. We must be close to the end of this place."

"Thank god, Sora's pretty heavy." Roxas replied.

Kairi giggled, glad for the change of scenery. They trudged along, Roxas repeatedly looking over his shoulder to make sure he didn't trip over anything. Probably looking to see if he can see the beach too... Kairi thought, not blaming him. Neither could feel the true effects of the island, but it seemed as if everything was closing in on them just the same.

After another ten minutes, they went around a bend in the path. "There!" Kairi shouted. The shoreline was visible. Sora began to come around. "No! Not yet! Roxas, hurry!" They began walking faster, hoping to get him out of there before he was completely up.

"Kai..ri." Sora mumbled. She looked down at him, fear for herself, and concern for him on her face. Sora's eyes completely opened. He looked at her, and began struggling against their hold on him.

"Hold still!" shouted Roxas. Sora fought harder. He said something else, but Kairi couldn't hear it over Roxas' grunt of exertion.

"What?" she asked. Just then, Sora broke free from Roxas. The second he hit the ground, Sora writhed on the ground, making her release him. She fell over. He crawled quickly over to her.

"Kairi.. I-I'm s-so, sorry..." he said, his eyes welling with tears. Roxas had called Oblivion, but now he lowered it slightly. "I... I can't believe I would ever try to do that to you."

"Don't... Don't worry about it." She hated to see him this way, on his knees. He had his hands clasped together and had a sorrowful look in his eyes. But... she noticed something else too. Death. "You aren't yourself. C'mon, let's get out of here."

"No!" he shouted, grabbing her hand. She gasped, startled at how quick he changed. "I need to be punished, you can't let me do that to you. You were my friend. I betrayed you..." His voice trailed off. Sora stood up.

"There's no reason to live now... With you out of my life." He summoned his Keyblade. He looked at it, examining it.

"But I'm not, I'm not out of your life!" Kairi screamed. "I'm in it, where I belong, and you're in mine! Its not going to end like this." She got up, and took hold of The Key's handle. She yanked it from his grasp, and then held it by her side.

"Kairi! You're going to do it for me!?" Sora sounded as if Kairi had handed him a hunred million munny. "You're too kind, there's no reason for that. After what I almost did..."

He's completely broken... she let herself think for a moment. She shook it away.

"No, I wanna do it. But, come over here. We'll do it on the beach, ok?" She said. Roxas moved behind Sora, in case he thought differently of this new idea. Sora seemed to think about it for a moment, and then he bobbed his head up and down stupidly. "O.K. then, let's go." she said loudly. She grabbed him by the arm, and led him down the path. Roxas would've laughed until he cried had this been a movie, if he could feel emotion while outside of Sora. Instead, he just brought up the rear.

******************************​

They had reached the edge of the jungle. The sea was sparkling the same as it had been two days ago, but this time by moonlight. Only two days ago... Feels like an eternity. thought Kairi. White sand stretched to their left and right, curving off when it reached the water. The thought hit her: We probably could've walked around the jungle. Would have taken three times as long, but at least Sora wouldn't have had to have gone through all of this... She wanted to face-palm...

The second Sora's foot hit the sand, he stopped willingly following Kairi. She hadn't expected this, so she kept walking. Thus, she was swung around like a dog on a leash that's too short after a few seconds.

"Sora? What's the matter?" She asked, studying his face for something of his old self.

"We're at the beach..." He said, kicking with a foot at the sand. "You said you'd help me here."

"Yes, but I meant further away from here." she said, very patiently.

For the second time that night/early morning, a sickening 'clunk' shot throughout the Island of Despair.

"You carry him by his legs this time..." Roxas mumbled.

End of Chapter 5​

8/14/07 10:47 PM, Eastern Time.

Wow, I have never been hit by an idea while brainstorming this hard before. Its more like it beat the crap out of me then it hit me... It just came to me so strongly, I could see it in my mind as if I were remembering a part of the video game... But it was definitely a totally new character I saw. I wrote down notes to keep this person from floating away. Now, I'm going to put up the beginning of Ch. 6, just to keep the steady amount of updates I've done strong.

P.S., unfortunately, I haven't thought up a title to the chapter that pleases me. This is temporary, and will only not be changed if it actually carries through the whole installment. Also, as the current title implies, this is an interlude between islands. So, there isn't going to be too much going on at first. Sorry for how slow it is...

Chapter 6: An Interlude​

Roxas was leaning against a pile of drift wood he had stacked, watching the waves go in and out. While Kairi had been tending to Sora's cuts, bumps, and bruises, he had gone up and down the beach gathering wood that wasn't too wet, and strong enough to hold a decent amount of weight. He looked over at Sora. He was still out cold, Looks like I hit myself too hard... but Kairi had patched him up quite nicely. His hand, now having turned a sickly yellowish-purple, had yet to be touched. But, his chin, knee, arm, and head had been looked at, and tightly bandaged. Well, except for the chin, Roxas thought, that would look funny, and Sora'd probably just rip it off anyway. I know I would. Sora had been dropped onto the sand, and there he still lay. Kairi was bent over him, moving around a lot, making sure she hadn't missed anything.

He stood up, and walked over to Kairi. "How's he?" he said softly, hoping not to make her jump. She was in the process of ripping a piece from his undershirt he'd given her for bandages, and he didn't want her to take more than she needed. So far, both sleeves were gone, and most of the right bottom corner of his shirt. Hell, she'll probably need it all by the time we're done with this world, and then some.

"He hasn't moved, or said anything. I'm about to treat his hand with salt water, and that will make him come around, I bet." she replied.

"Heh, yeah it will... There's no way that's not infected. How did it happen?"

"Well, I must have been asleep when it happened, because I didn't notice it until I saw you repeatedly aim for his hand during the fight..." her voice trailed off, causing him to look away from Sora, to her. She was glaring at him.

"Hey!" he said, defensively, "He was coming after me like a madman! If I need to hurt me for the greater good, I'll do it."

"I know, but still. And, anyway, where have you and Naminé been? We got used to you guys occasionally showing up and saying hi. Got tired of your other halves?"

"No, ever since you, Sora, and Riku entered this world, we've been unable to have any contact with you guys. Then I tried leaving Sora, and couldn't. For the past two days, I've been regularly trying to get through to Sora, and Naminé to you. I've also been able to feel Sora's emotions..." Here, Kairi gave him a searching look. Realizing he was serious, she motioned for him to continue. "Well, I normally can, while I'm with him. But, they are never that strong. They come in bits and pieces. These... I could tell they were caused by more than the normal stuff he has to go through. Each one pierced me, and hard. Suddenly, everything inside him turned to anger. That was when I REALLY tried to get out. It was like someone had flipped a switch. Instantly, I could see through his eyes, and knew about everything that had happened, up until just after you were talking to him about his past. That was a good idea by the way. Anyway, he was standing over you... I broke free, and confronted him. He fought with me, and he didn't seem to know who I was. You know the rest."

Kairi stared out at the waves, taking it all in. We owe him a lot... she thought. Well, since he's half of Sora, maybe not too much.

"I've never had problems doing that before. There's something about this pla-" Roxas began again.

Sora had begun to stir. He rolled onto his right side, and mumbled something. Kairi and Roxas looked down at him. His eyes fluttered open for a moment, and then fell closed, as if he were to weak to keep them open.

"Well, he's coming around, so I'll be going. Naminé will be freaking out by now. Better go fill her in. See ya'." Roxas gave a small wave, and disappeared in a flash of blue light.

"Sora?" she asked. The boy shook his head once, mumbling again. Then, he shot up into a seated position, his eyes wide with fright. He was breathing hard, as if he had just run several miles. He looked to his right, and saw Kairi. Quick as a flash, Sora had leaped from the sand and tackled Kairi. He was hugging her tightly, kissing every inch of her face.

"Thank you, Kairi. Thank you, Roxas." He kept whispering over and over again.

Kairi pushed him away a bit, and looked into his now astonishingly bright blue eyes. Filled with sadness, at knowing what he had done, filled with happiness and gratitude now he was back. She brought him close to her again, kissing him on the lips, her hands roving across his chest, letting him know she was okay. That he was okay. That her feelings for him had not disappeared, but grown bigger, more full, through their trials together; that they had conquered. He answered back with his own lips, and ran his fingers through her hair. After about thirty seconds, but what seemed like several sunny days to Sora, they broke apart.

Sora swiped at his eyes several times, and chuckled softly. The chuckle was cut short, for he had set his injured hand into the sand. He looked down at it. "Oh yeah..."

"What happened? It looks like... those are teeth marks." Kairi asked, holding the hand in both of hers.

"They are." Sora said simply.

"Did you...?"

"Yes, I did. I was trying to keep myself quiet while you were asleep, when I was..."

She reached out to him and touched his shoulder. "There's no reason to dwell on that. No one but you got hurt. So, let's start your treatment."

Kairi grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. She led him to the water. She pulled the piece of shirt she had ripped off out of a pocket and plunged it into the water. She shook it around, and then pulled it out. The shining water fell from it, creating ripples across the incoming tide as she wrung it out. Kairi laid it over his cuts, forcing a hiss from Sora. She gave him an apologetic look, and then wrapped it around his hand once. She tied the ends together in a very tight knot.

"Don't cut off my circulation, that's my sword arm..." Sora said.

"I think its infected, so it has to be cleaned. Its the best I can do... And what would you rather have, low circulation, or your hand falling off??"

Sora's face fell, and he looked at the ground. "Yes ma'am..." he said slowly, solemnly. Kairi shoved him, and he fell back a few steps.

"C'mon, let's go for a walk." Kairi said to him.

******************************​

Sora and Kairi walked down the beach, hand in hand. His bandaged hand (his right) was dangling by his side. He occasionally flexed it. He didn't want to act like it, but he was worried about it getting infected. If he couldn't use it to fight...

Sora shoved the thought from his mind, and looked up into the sky. The moon was low and full. It must be about 3 a.m. he thought. He was tired, but the breeze coming off of the sea was refreshing. The stars splayed across the sky were the brightest he'd ever seen. He brought his focus back to where they were currently stuck. This place would be so beautiful if didn't have such crazy effects on people Sora thought. How and why did this Island have such effects on normal people? Why did Roxas have problems contacting them? Speaking of Roxas.

Roxas... Sora called out to his other half. No answer. He tried again. Still, nothing. "What's wrong with this place!?" Sora said aloud. Kairi looked over at him questioningly. He looked back at her, and said "I just tried to talk with Roxas. Nothing."

"Great..." Kairi muttered. "He should have stayed with us."

"Well, he didn't. Hopefully, he'll try to break through again, and succeed." Sora said.

"Wait... Do you remember the jungle ending there?" Kairi pointed ahead of them. About 50 yards away, the forest came to an end. The beach stretched onwards maybe another 30 yards, and then met with the water.

"No, at least, I don't think so. I thought the jungle took up the whole Island lengthwise..." Sora trailed off. A few minutes later, they had reached the end of it.

They looked down the length of the beach now visible in front of them. It appeared the beach wrapped around the whole jungle. This particular stretch seemed to be about five miles. It would've taken longer had they walked all the way around, but maybe they wouldn't have had to have gone through so much pain and misery.

Kairi face-palmed. "You mean we could've walked around that place!?"

"No, I don't think so... I think this is a trick the Island has pulled." Sora replied.

"Sora, you're talking about this place as if its a living thing." Kairi said slowly.

"Hey, maybe I'm crazy. But I honestly believe that." He took a few steps forward as he said this.

Suddenly, 15 sharply pointed rods shot up from the ground thirty yards from their position. They were about four feet tall, and they were about two yards apart. While he warily studied the very deadly points, another row shot up 30 yards behind the first line. Sora took several steps back at this point, and grabbed Kairi's arm. Lines and lines of these stakes shot up from the ground, scattering sand in all directions, until from one end to the next, there were stakes. A glint of light shone on a few of them. It was the moonlight. They were made of metal.

Sora stopped thinking of them as "stakes" when they began to writhe back and forth like snakes.

******************************​

A loud cracking noise filled the air. Five yards from where they stood, A crevasse shot from the water's edge to the jungle. Sora back-pedaled, dragging Kairi along, a ways; trying not to get too close, but not wanting to tear his eyes from the awesome sight. Kairi was as transfixed as he.

The crack was only a few inches wide, but even one that small didn't appear on a beach as sudden as that. Sand poured in from both sides, and then, a bright white light burned their eyes. Sora and Kairi brought their hands to their faces, shielding themselves. It was gone as sudden as it had come. Sora slowly brought his hands down, and looked back. His jaw dropped.

A large ravine had appeared. It was very deep, too deep for this island. It should have met the water, but it was dry as anything at the bottom. That was when he saw them. Large, metal encased creatures, wiggling around, trying to get out of the hole. Trying to get at them. Those stakes he'd seen? They were attached to the animal's backsides. No, they were their tails. They never seemed to stop moving.

Kairi made a gagging noise somewhere behind him. He rubbed his eyes, making sure he was awake, not in some odd dream. A leg similar to a spider's slowly reached over the lip of the ravine, and shoved itself into the ground. Another came up, and burrowed into the ground. They flexed, and then a large form shot up into the sky. It landed heavily onto the beach, but safely on its 12 legs, six on each side. What looked like an overly large shell served as its body, but this "shell" was encrusted with bits and pieces of metal. The body must've been about seven feet long. The lips of the shell threw its face in darkness, but its large red eyes were easy enough to see. The thing didn't have any arms. That odd tail flicked back and forth, swaying to and fro, like a cat's. Now Sora could see that the tail was similar to a lightning rod, just four feet long, and the tip didn't conform to a nice, safe, ball; it was a deadly point that could easily be used to impale something... Or someone.

Several pairs of metal encased legs and red eyes appeared over the edge of the hole. If these things could grin (if they even had mouths), this would be their time. Sora grabbed Kairi's hand again and said "Time to go." before sprinting down the beach, back the way they had come.

******************************​

Sora and Kairi didn't stop running until they had made it back to where Roxas had dropped off his load of gathered driftwood. Sora skidded to a halt, and then collapsed on all fours, panting heavily. Kairi put her hands on her knees, leaning on them for support.

In between gasps for air, "Are they following us?" Sora asked for the dozenth time.

Kairi looked behind them for the hundredth time, and said "No, for some reason they aren't." The things had never even chased after them. Maybe they were guarding that area of the beach.

"Well," Sora said, rolling over, and putting his hands behind his head, "I'm glad we walked through Despair Jungle then..."

They both burst out laughing, neither entirely sure why. Relieved to be away from those strange creatures, maybe.

******************************​

Later that day, around noon to be exact, Sora awoke. He lay there for awhile, glad to feel the warm sun on his face. He turned slightly, to see Kairi still asleep nearby. He got up quietly, not wanting to wake her. They had been so tired after their run, they had fallen asleep where they had fallen. Sora brushed himself off, and looked around. The beach was deserted in both directions. He dragged the wood down the beach (in the opposite direction from those "things" from earlier), several pieces at a time. He didn't want to wake Kairi when he had to start building a raft to get over to the next island. After he was done, he looked down the beach again, making sure nothing was around, and noting Kairi's location. He pulled off his jacket, shirt, and undershirt, and threw them to the ground. He then removed his shoes and socks, and waded into the water. He was looking for a heavy object. A flat rock, or even a large shell that wouldn't break too easy. He would need to beat and chip away some of the rougher edges of those boards. The Keyblade would just be too big, and would probably break the boards in half.

After a 30 minute search, Sora was ready to give up. He scanned the area once more, and began wading back to shore. Halfway there, he found his rock. He stepped right on it, and slipped. His buttocks hit the shallow bottom, causing a nice painful sensation to spread all the way down to his feet. He fumed, kicking at the rock. Now he had the pleasure of hopping around for a few moments, holding his big toe, before splashing into the water again. Luckily, he landed on his stomach this time. A shell dug into the area just below his chest. Sora stood up, and swung his hand like an axe across the water, making a tiny slash of water shoot into the air a few feet. He poked the cut now below his right nipple, and grimaced. He swiped the rock, and stomped the rest of the way back to the shore.

******************************​

An hour later, Sora, now fully clothed, lay on the beach. He was thinking of the many things that happened over the past few days. His love for Kairi growing, the evils of the world he was now in, and those strange metal creatures he had seen early this morning. After awhile, his thoughts got fuzzy; and soon, Sora entered a dreamlike state. He seemed to float along the corridors of his thoughts, fully aware of what was going on around him, but absorbed, relaxed, within. So, when he heard a portal of darkness open behind him, Sora didn't worry too much. He craned his neck, so his view of the portal behind him could be seen, but upside down. Someone was coming out of the portal...

End of Chapter 6 ​

8/17/07 10:16 AM Eastern Time.

Whew, Ch. 6 is done, and I now have my ideas gathered for Chapter 7. Exciting, really. I have come up with a lot of ideas for this fanfic, and have rejected many more, trying to make it as good as I can. I think I've done alright. I hope I can take this thing to the end, though it may take quite sometime. Well, here we go. Have you had many questions as you've read along? This chapter will solve some, and bring along many more.

P.S. Here's a fun fact. The name Jabez, is pronounced with an H sound, like in the word haven. Jabez, means "borne in pain", and is the closest to a meaning for sadness I could find. A name site said that Trystan meant sad. I double checked with another site and it said it meant tumult. Confused, I checked other sites. Some said pain, but most went with tumult. Most of them said it was Celtic origin, so it wasn't me misunderstanding their meanings... I gave up, and went with this name instead.

Chapter 7: Jabez - Keeper of Sadness​

"Sora," a voice called from the portal. A man in a black overcoat stepped out of it. The overcoat had a yellow-gold hood, and there were three yellow stripes going down the sleeve of his right arm. Here, Sora sat up, and turned around halfway, facing the man. The man threw back the hood, revealing jet black, shoulder length hair, and watery, tawny eyes. Sadness seemed to emanate from the man, as he walked towards Sora. "I am glad I was able to meet you."

Sora followed the man with his eyes, as he sat down upon the sand next to him. The man sat with his legs stretched out, and was leaning upon the palms of his hands, which he thrust out behind him. His shoes were the same yellow-gold color, Sora now noticed, and his whole face seemed to be on the verge of bursting into tears. he stared out at the waves crashing to the shore.

"Wh...Who are you?" Sora finally asked.

"I am called Jabez: the Keeper of Sadness. Of pain, sorrow, grief, anguish... They all mean the same to some, but to me, they are all different. For these are all I can feel.

"Huh? All you can feel?" Sora was confused. How could someone only feel one type of emotion?

"I am here to educate you about this world, why you are here, and the situation your friends are in." Jabez said in his quiet, sad voice.

"You know where my friends are!?" Sora exclaimed, now fully alert. If he knew about the King and the others... Was he one of their captors?

"Of course. It was our leader's wish that you were brought here."

******************************​

Sora stared at the guy for a moment, mouth agape. Then, he leaped to his feet, his Keyblade already in his hand.

"Now now, there's no need to be rude." Jabez began in his slow, sad voice.

"Where are they!?" Sora asked him.

"Sit down, and there's no reason to raise your voice. At this very moment, King Mickey is sitting in his dining chamber, eating lunch." Sora lowered his weapon, shocked. "Donald and Goofy, along with the Queen and Daisy, are all present there. Goofy knocked over a plate not too long ago, it broke. He was quite embarrassed, I recall. Everyone was laughing at him, telling him to calm down, and that no harm was done. I believe it was shortly after your King cracked a joke that I stopped watching..."

"So, they were never in any danger...?" Sora said slumping to the sand. His Keyblade vanished in a flash of light. Jabez watched it fade.

"Yes, the Keyblade. A wondrous weapon, that can be controlled by those of strong heart, as long as the 'Blade is willing. Its a wonder that you even have the thing, for Riku was originally the chosen wielder. Yet he chose the path of darkness... and so you were put first in line. Well then, Keyblade Master, since then you have triumphed over darkness, and those that don't exist. You won with love, friends, and a heart."

"Right." Sora cut in. "But, you didn't answer me. Are you saying my friends were never in danger? That the note we received, was a fake?"

"Correct. An acquaintance of mine wrote it himself. The one who is normally watching over Hollow Bastion, the King's castle, and a select few other places. He almost laughed when Leon got your message. He immediately contacted the King, and got through to him straight away. Luckily for us, Leon asked to speak with the King without revealing his intentions. When the King contacted him through Ansem's computer, Leon freaked. Oh, Leon installed a really nice super computer over at their castle, with Cid's help. They've gotten pretty good with that kinda stuff. I don't need to use it, so I don't know how. Maybe I should try and learn, just for 'fun'..." Jabez trailed off, looking out at the water again.

"But you said you can only feel sadness, and all that other stuff." Sora said, trying to get him to talk more. "And, what about Riku?"

"Ah, Rikuu..." Jabez pronounced the u hard, and made it drawn out. "He, has unfortunately fallen. He's not dead," Jabez said, seeing the look on Sora's face. "but he has failed in his attempt to reach Memory Stadium."

"What's that? Where is he now!?" Sora asked loudly, wanting this guy to speed it up a bit.

"We have him now." Jabez said simply. "We are studying him. We want to know what he feels, where he gets his strength; for the darkness cannot give you that much alone. You have to give something back, and he seems to not have done that yet. He can wield the darkness completely. Its intriguing. But, our simulators affected him greatly. Maybe there is something buried in his memories... Or, maybe his memories are what drive him. Much like that Cloud fellow."

"You know Cloud!?"

"We know much more than anyone may think, or that anyone will ever come to know. I don't feel like calling our group an Organization, since you ripped one apart not too long ago. Don't want you to think this will be something easy. You see, our members have gotten bored of late. We decided to play a little game with the Keyblade Master. While most of us cannot feel happiness or pleasure, it is still something grand to do."

"Are you saying you're another group of Nobodies? Great, I was looking forward to a break..." Sora said. He was beginning to realize this guy was toying with him. Measuring him.

"I'm glad you have realized what I'm doing Sora, you picked up on it faster than I would've thought possible for you. You have... Matured."

"How long... have you been watching us? How long have you existed, or not existed?"

"Not long, really. It is longer than a lifetime though. Not much more. We have not been watching strictly you. We have dug in wherever possible, trying to get as much information as possible. We are learners, scientists, and our minds are those of a child's compared to everything worlds, and their hearts, have to offer. We don't like being children. We want to be all grown up. Along this path we have chosen, we knew we'd come across you in the end. You would have to try and stop us. We decided just to bring you here, and end it."

"You said earlier all you can feel is sadness..." Sora was still confused about this.

"My Master found out a way to isolate emotions within the heart. He removed them, and bottled them. Anger is fire, Sadness is a storm cloud, I was told, with lightning flashing through it. He thinks the lightning symbolizes the fact that sadness can turn to anger quickly, for lightning can be a cause of fire. Happiness is a slight mist, with a sun overhead. A tiny bird rests on a tree, making his little chirping noises... Cute. There are others that he removed, but I was not able to see them. Some others were brought into the group before I was."

"He removed his emotions?" Sora said, making sure he heard right.

"Yes, and when he removed the final one, his heart became weak. It collapsed within, making him become a Heartless, and also creating a Nobody. Both of them, like Xehanort, kept their human form. He did this even before Ansem had found Xehanort, its just he hasn't been so open with his studies... or his pursuits."

"What's he after?" Sora asked.

"Ultimate knowledge, immortality, and now, Kingdom Hearts." Sora's eyes widened. What the hell is wrong with everybody... Just leave the damn thing alone. Makes my job easier. "I'd apologize for him, Sora, but I think I'll pass. My heart just wouldn't be in it, ya' know?" Jabez chuckled humorously. Sora looked away. Did he just read my mind? "I'm not telling." Jabez taunted him again.

"I guess I should get back to you, it appears the Princess has awoken..." Jabez said, looking down the beach. Kairi was indeed stirring. She sat up, and looked around. Spotting Sora, she began to wave. She stopped after noticing the strange man, and got up, running towards them. "Well then, Sora. Our group is going to study you as you go through our "little game". In the end, we will sadly have to destroy you though. It was nice talking to you. In a bit, I'll come back and continue our chat. I don't feel like repeating myself to Kairi. You fill her in. Don't worry about the raft either, you wont need it. This place is not what it seems..." With his words hanging in the air, Jabez stood up, created another portal, and disappeared through it.

I'd come after you, *******, if it weren't for Kairi. Sora thought. A mirthless chuckle filled his head for a few moments, and then died. It was a few moments later that Sora realized Jabez had said the exact same thing as Axel had...

******************************​

Just as the portal closed, Kairi ran up. She stopped next to Sora, and leaned on her knees for support. In between gasps for air, "Sora! Who was he?"

"Jabez..." Sora said slowly.

"That answers my question entirely." Kairi retorted, still sleepy, and irritated he didn't seem as worried about the stranger as she was. "So, what did he want?"

"He wanted to check up on us, in person for once..." Sora trailed off, yet again.

"What...? Could you clear this up for me!?!? I hate being left here in the dark!"

"I know that, very much so." Sora said. He sat upon the sand, his movements as slow as his voice. Kairi quickly went from angry, to concerned. He seemed weird. Sora patted the sand beside him lightly, and without waiting for her to sit, began to talk. He told her what he'd been doing before Jabez showed (minus the parts where he made a fool of himself in the water), his grand appearance, their converation, his mentioning of Riku, everything.

"So he's supposed to come back?" Kairi asked, making sure she heard right.

"Yup," Sora said, nonchalantly, "and he said there's no need to build a raft. I'm thinking that he has a different idea in mind then ours."

"Huh?"

"Well, I was thinking that we should build a raft, and try to get over to the fourth island right away. Why go through the other two islands? But, Jabez kept mentioning a game. We are the players, whether we like it or not. So, there must be a reason he wants us to go over to the next island, and not skip any. I'm thinking the next island makes this one look easy, and it will keep getting harder and harder to get through. Im also betting, once we get Riku, there will be something to block us from getting to the gummi ship. Remember? Its on the fourth island with Riku." Sora paused here, and looked over at Kairi. Her eyes were boring into his, and they told him that she had thought the exact same thing. "I'm beginning to think, that if we have any chance to get out of here, we're going to see a lot of fighting..."

"Great..." Kairi sighed, "more work for us."

"Us?" Sora questioned.

"Yeah, us. You've been lounging on the beach every single day since we got back to our islands. You've gotten rusty, ya' lazy bum."

"Oh really!?" Sora asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"Yeah, really!" and with this said, Kairi shoved him. He waved his hands wildly in the air, and made a squawking noise, falling over sideways. She hopped up from her seated position, and backed up several steps. With a small smile on her face, she waited for him to get up.

Sora got a mouthful of sand as he hit the ground. He spit it out quickly, and waited for her to get up. He heard her move behind him. He put his palms flat on the ground by his chest, as if preparing for a series of pushups. He looked over his shoulder, looking back at Kairi. She was grinning. I think I should take it easy on her. But, that wasn't very nice of her to shove me like that... I'm going to atleast get her back for that. "Kairi... Why'd you do that?" Sora asked slowly.

Sora pushed off from the ground, sending him into the air. He twisted, so that he completely faced Kairi. He brought his right arm over his head, summoning the Keyblade as he went. Kairi held her arms aloft, straight out, as if wanting him to stop. Her smile was still there though. Sora swung his weapon down, and Kairi's Keyblade materialized in her hands. His attack nullified, Sora flipped in the air, and swung his 'Blade out behind him. Kairi's gotten fast...Sora thought, as he fell to the sand: she had deflected his weapon and then kicked him in the back.

"Come on Sora, quit going easy on me..." Kairi whined.

"Fine." Sora said, standing up. "I'll try a little harder, 'kay?" Kairi dashed in as he finished his sentence, thrusting her Keyblade towards his stomach. He brought his 'Blade in from the side, connecting with hers, and whipped it around in a circular motion, which made the weapon fly out of her hand. He walked forward, and put his Keyblade to her neck. "Suhrendah!" Sora exclaimed.

Kairi, dejectedly, reached up for his Keyblade, and grabbed it by the Key's shaft. "Never..." she said so softly Sora had to think for a second to realize what she said. By then, the Keyblade had gotten white-hot. He yelped, dropping his Keyblade. He stared at it for a moment, and then, guessing the source, looked up at Kairi.

She was grinning madly, a ball of fire in her hands. "Kairi?" Sora asked slowly, backing up a few steps.

******************************​

They were standing in an almost unlit, circular room. Five hooded figures stood around a pedestal. Set upon the pedestal was a white orb, and from this orb was the only source of light. One of the figures stepped forward, and threw out his arms to it, his full form now visible. His hands were covered by white gloves, and the hood hiding his face was a shimmery white as well. His robes were all black, except for the sleeves. Three white stripes ran down his right arm. His boots were white as well. This was the uniform they were suposed to wear, so they could easily be recognized by the rest of the group. Each member had different colored boots, stripes, gloves, and hood. A yellow-gold set was visible, along with a red, blue, and green.

A few seconds later, a brighter light shot straight up from the orb. A few had to hold their hands in front of their concealed faces. The light reached the ceiling, and then spread outwards, until it formed a rectangle. The figure let his hands fall, and then the "screen's" light diminished a bit. The others unshielded their eyes, and viewed the screen intently. Suddenly, Sora and Kairi appeared on it. They were sitting on the beach, and Sora was talking.

The figures were entirely visible now, with the light projected from the screen. One of the figures, dressed in blue and black, stepped forward. He clapped softly, and from under his hood "Nice job. This should be entertaining."

"Just because you know what its like to feel that damned emotion..." muttered the one in red, anger evident in her speech. The blue figure turned his head in the speaker's direction.

"Now now, no need to be so angry." chuckled the figure. The one in red, moved, as if ready to remove her hood and come over to the man.

"Hush..." said the figure in the shimmery white. The pair quieted, and everyone's attention returned to the screen. Mr. White appeared to be their leader. Kairi had just shoved over Sora.

"How cute." began blue dude.

"Hold on, I think they may be about to fight." a deep voice, the green figure, said.

"Kairi has been looking for exuses to practice her fighting skills for ages. She is upset she's always the one in trouble, and wants to change it." Jabez said, from across the green-clad figure.

Mirthless laughter, except from the man in blue, filled the room. "Its a shame she won't be able to change her problems here." he said.

Kairi had just made Sora drop his weapon. "Amazing... She has gotten much smarter in such a short amount of time. Her preference for magic is what makes me like her so..." The blue one continued.

"Its so unfair, why do you get three emotions!?" Jabez asked. As he said this, he glanced toward their leader, the source of all the broken emotions.

"Because... My first two emotions made me unstable, and I needed to be destroyed, or balanced. You must ask Him as to why I wasn't destroyed, Jabez, Keeper of Sadness, Envy, and so on and so forth."

"Yeah Jabez, what's the complaining for? You have more than all of us!" said Red.

"They are all in the same category..." Jabez trailed off, in his sad voice.

"Hey, let's make this more intresting..." said Red. She stepped forward, and threw back her hood. Flaming red hair, red eyes, and a small, pretty face were revealed. The pretty face vanished, and was replaced by her given emotion, anger, as she channeled her power into Kairi. Celosia, Keeper of Rage, went to work on the Princess of Heart.

******************************​

He stared at it for a moment, and then, guessing the source, looked up at Kairi. She was grinning madly, a little ball of fire in her hand.

"Kairi?" Sora asked slowly, taking a step back. "Kairi, I'm sorry...? Sora said weakly. He looked from the fireball, to her eyes. What the fu- but his thought was broken as Kairi threw it at him. He quickstepped to his right, and looked back at her again, making sure. Yes, her eyes were red now. Am I going crazy??? Sora thought, as he ducked away from another pair of tiny fireballs. Kairi still stood there, but now the grin was gone. She had a scowl on her face.

"Stop moving!" She shouted, launching a medium sized ball of flame his way. Sora formed a wall of ice in front of him, and then ducked. The fireball crashed into it, dissolving both the wall, and itself. I'm not sure how long I can keep this up... Where is she getting this power? Wait, Jabez! What'd he say about his "friends"? His thought was broken, again, as he had to dodge yet another, but larger, ball of fire. Sora backstepped a few more feet. At least thrity yards now seperated him from Kairi.

"Kairi! Stop it! What are you doing this for!?" Sora shouted at the female. Kairi stared at her hand, a few inches from her face, for a moment. The air seemed to shimmer around it.

"Its just...SO MUCH FUN!!!" Kairi roared, unleashing the energy she had been building. A wall of fire raced towards him. Sora brought both arms together, and put every bit of effort he had into encasing himself in ice. The firewall passed over him, and left behind a wet, and slightly singed Sora. He slumped to the sand. He was worn out. Sora looked over at Kairi. He felt like crying in frustration. Axel's gone, right...? Anyway, he didn't exactly seem against me in our last encounter. This is someone else, but who? How may people could there be that have such a mastery of fire?

"There are only a few." Kairi said, walking over to him. It wasn't Kairi's voice coming out of her. The voice was older, and higher pitched. It reminded him of Celosia. Wait... Who the hell is that!? "Ahh, how confused you must be, little boy." the voice was very deep. She was standing in front of him now. Sora looked up at her. He swiped at his eyes, and then checked hers. They were now a bright green.

"Now who are you?" Sora asked. The eyes went to the watery gold color trademarked by Jabez.

"I've come back to tell you the rest you need to know." he said, in his slow, sad voice.

End of Chapter 7​

Chapter 8: Enter Admon​

From his position on the ground, Sora glared at Jabez/Kairi. He tried to calm himself, he was breathing hard. He felt like leaping up and attacking Jabez. But if I hurt Jabez, I will harm Kairi as well. Sora kept reminding himself. Slowly, Sora was as close to normal as he possibly could be in this situation.

"C'mon then, let's get this over with." Sora waved a hand at the ground, motioning for him to sit.

"I won't be here long, Sora. But neither will you. We should continue over to the next island."

"How will we do that?" Sora asked him.

"We'll walk." and Jabez, in Kairi's body, lifted his right arm, pointing towards the second island with a closed fist.

"But I don't see any place to get -" Sora was cut off by Jabez. His hand opened, fingers spread wide. A green beam of energy shot into the water, about halfway in between the two islands. Sora looked at Kairi's face, and saw green eyes fade back to gold. A rumbling noise greeted their ears, making Sora face the water again. Slowly, a strip of land began to rise out of the water.

"Whoaa..." Sora said softly.

"Admon knows many things. This is quite simple for him." Jabez/Kairi said softly.

"Admon?" Sora said, puzzled.

"You'll meet him later, if you last long enough. He truly hopes you do." Jabez said. Not exactly the answer the brunette was looking for. "I'm sorry, Sora." he chuckled.

"Stay outta my head..." Sora said, getting up, "I'm messed up enough without you people in it."

"Fine, let us begin, shall we?" The pair stepped onto the now fully visible land bridge, one bemused; and one not so sure of what he'd have to face next.

******************************​

An hour later, they were three-fourths of the way across. The island hadn't seemed that far-off, but distance seemed to be funny around here...

"Well, I think this should do it." Jabez/Kairi said suddenly, almost happy.

"Uh... What should do it?" Sora was immediately on gaurd. He hadn't liked the way Jabez grinned when he said it. That was whe he noticed it was no longer Jabez he was traveling with. The eyes were green again.

Kairi pointed her hand at the ground, fingers spread out again. This time, Sora noticed energy building in her hand. It was green. Sora guessed what was happening, but couldn't leave Kairi. Enough energy had been built up for the task, and so, Admon released it. The beam hit the ground, and then spread, fully encompassing the land bridge. Admon/Kairi smirked, and then green changed to blue.

"Kairi!" Sora dashed forward, catching the girl before she could fall to the ground. He checked her face, her eyes had closed. Frantically, he then checked her pulse. Just unconcious. The green energy from Admon faded, and then a rumbling noise could be heard. Sora looked back, and saw that the beginning of the land-bridge, back at the first island, had begun to roil. A small chunk broke off, and sunk.

"****." Sora huffed. He looked in front of him again, and saw that nothing was going on there. The brunette got up from his kneeling position, carrying Kairi, and began to run.

******************************​

Sora looked back every few seconds, seeing how much longer he had. For some reason, he just knew they wouldn't let him make it. So far, up to the middle of the bridge had fallen back into the water. Sora was one hundred yards from the second island now. Ninety, another large chunk broke off. Seventy five, and there goes an eigth of what was left of the bridge. Thirty, and only fourty yards were behind Sora. Twenty, and a large crack formed just steps behind him. Sora glanced behind him, to see the land vanish, not sink, into thin air. Admon must be getting impatient

A thin rod shot out of the ground, ten yards away from the second island, and from Sora...

******************************​

Figures...[/] Sora looked behind him. The constant rumbling that had hammered his senses was no longer evident. The ground seemed stable too. Well, I can't fight it with her in my hands. He moved closer to the stake, and set Kairi down lightly behind him, so that he was between the odd creature waiting to come up from the ground and her. Instead, the rod shot back into the ground.

Umm... A torrent of sand shot into the sky, a few feet in front of Sora. Through the haze, the brunette could see one of 'those things' moving around. He called out to his Keyblade, and charged at it, trying to find an opening before it was ready for him. The brunette brought his Keyblade in from the side, connecting with the metallic beast's leg. It bounced off, and then it struck him with its leg. Sora flew back and hit the dirt, hard, beside Kairi. He got up quickly, as the thing scuttled towards him. Sora flung his Keyblade at the creature's face, feet away from it. The Kingdom Key passed between the two metal lips that were casting its face in shadow, and... kept going. A few seconds later, he heard a clunk deep within the creature. The thing stopped for a moment, and then keeled over, its legs flailing like a cockroach who's been knocked onto it's back.

Sora called his Keyblade back to him. and then walked cautiously over to it. He brought it over his head, and stabbed down into its fleshy underside. The creature's legs stiffened and then curled inward, as it gave an odd screech, like a dieing bird. A dark mist began to rise off of it's corpse, causing Sora to back up. The red eyes faded away, leaving behind a hollow, 7 foot long, metallic shell with legs.

"Whew!" Sora sat down in front of the fallen beast. He could see all the way through, to the end, of the 'shell'. Inside he could see what looked like a conglomeration of bones and strips of various types of metal. Why did it fade away like that though? The legs are still here...

Sora rose from the ground, and climbed on top of the lifeless pile of scrap. He crawled across where its 'head' had been covered up by metal plates, and reached the front right leg. He felt it. Definitely some type of metal. Maybe iron? He rapped it smartly with his knuckles. A hollow noise greeted his ears. He leaped off, easily landing on his feet three feet below, and power-walked over to the metal cave's mouth. He ducked inside, and looked up. There were holes in the bottom of the beast (the ceiling, because the thing was flipped over), that went past the belly, and then were capped off in a sharp point. So the legs were hollow. But what possesed this shell?

******************************​

A few minutes later, Sora had scooped up Kairi and begun to continue on his un-merry way. He stepped onto the second island. He had made it. He looked around, Kairi still draped across his arms. It looked quite a bit different from the other island. He hadn't even managed to notice this as he came across the bridge. It should have been the first thing: there wasn't a single tree. Sand, sand dunes, ditches, sand, some more sand, and Oh! Sand! Sora thought, setting Kairi on the ground. He began to shake her lightly.

"Kairi..." Sora said loudly. Giving up, he walked over to the water's edge, and scooped up some water. He dumped it on her face. Nothing. He did it again, this time making sure some went into her mouth. If this wakes her up, she'll be pissed. As soon as he thought this, she began coughing. She quickly sat up, and brought her hand to her mouth, coughing salt-water into it.

"What the hell!?" Kairi spluttered, looking up at Sora.

"You okay?"

"No! You just woke me up!!! Don't you realise salt water tastes gross? I'm tired; this morning sucked!"

"Kairi... Look around." Sora put his hands on his hips. Her eyes scanned the area, taking in the endless amounts of sand, the broken up land bridge, and then the Thing. She scooted back several inches.

"Oh god, Sora, its one of those things!"

"Its dead, Kairi. See?" Sora sauntered over to the lifeless shell, and leaned against it.

A loud rumbling engulfed the pair, making Kairi cover her ears. Sora sprinted back towards the island, and as he saw the flash of white light, performed a forward dive. He hit the ground, going into a somersault. He sat up, and then looked over his shoulder, to see the bridge gone, and the creature as well.

******************************​

"I'm so sorry." Kairi moaned, her face buried into Sora's shoulder, arms draped across his shoulders. He had jut finished telling her about Jabez, and the others. They were seated on the sand, leaning against one of the many dunes close to the water's edge.

"It wasn't your fault..." Sora sighed softly. He was tired, and normally wouldn't have wanted to put up with her crying. But, this time, he couldn't blame her. He felt like standing up, and screaming at the sky. Crying didn't sound too bad, either. So, the brunette just rested his head on top of hers, and closed his eyes; trying to enjoy the moment with her alone as much as possible. Jabez or someone would be coming to bother them soon, more than likely.

******************************​

Jabez exited the circular room, allowing a black and green clothed figure to enter the hall before he closed the door. The hall they entered was narrow, only wide enough for two people across, and the ceiling was low. Dim wall lamps lined the walls on either side. The walls were painted a pale green color. Jabez began to stroll don the hallway, his hands clasped together behind his back. The figure followed.

"Sora seemed very interested in your creation, Admon." Jabez called back to the man.

"Yes...?" Admon prompted, from under his green hood.

"Should we educate him more on the..." Jabez turned around to face him, "subject?"

"Sounds like a decent idea. But, I think I might go and see him, first." the man said slowly, as if thinking it through carefully.

Admon was definitely the oddest of the group. He had been the first experiment done by their leader. He had been captured, and then killed, by him. Mr. White had somehow managed to capture the Heartless formed next. It took him a year, but he also found the Nobody, who had kept more or less the same form as his human counterpart had. He performed tests on both, to learn as much as he could about them.

Then, he removed and bottled one of his emotions: Anger. He took some of the bottled form and injected it into the Nobody. It was still a Nobody - it had no heart. But, the emotion coursed through the 'body' as if blood. Through this, the Nobody could feel the emotion. But, the emotion wasn't spontaneous, like when a person has a heart. Anger was all that Admon could feel, and it was a constant. So, Mr. White removed another emotion; Fear. He put all but a few drops of the emotion into Admon. Something unexpected happened. Admon broke. Now, Admon always approachd things cautiously, weighing everything - leaving out nothing. Both are things a fearful or angry person wouldn't do. Another thing odd about him, is that sometimes, he can pick up other people's emotions. Almost as if he can absorb them, for a short amount of time.

Jabez broke free from his thoughts when he reached the end of the dingy hallway. He glanced back at Admon, and then pushed open the door. Jabez blinked rapidly, his eyes smarting from the abrupt change in lighting.

His eyes finally adjusted to the light, to reveal that they were in a huge stadium. He stepped out onto the floor, waited for Admon to enter, and then shut it. The loud noise echoed throughout the large court. Stands lined the walls, reaching the ceiling, high above them. In front of them, was a raised platform, obviously for whoever would be fighting there. It was roughly 30 x 30 feet, and in the center of the room. High above them, huge lights beamed down at them, lighting the stadium easily.

Jabez looked to his right, spotted a door, and fast-walked to it. Admon followed along, but at a slower pace. The dark haired man laid a hand upon the knob. He leaned against the door, his ear pressed to it. After a few moments of silence, Jabez wrenched open the door, and stared into the darkness. No movement. He flicked on the switch to his right, illuminating the room. Steps led down to another door, that had a rectangular window to its left.

"So... You're worried about him too?" Admon said in his loud, deep voice behind him.

"Hmmph." was all Jabez could say. He took the stairs, slowly, waiting for the door to burst open at any moment. It never happened, as always. He then walked up to the window, and looked in. Riku was still strapped to the table, the only object currently in the room. Jabez inwardly sighed... Riku for some reason made him uneasy.

Jabez rested a palm on the door, and closed his eyes briefly. A flash of white light, and the green door suddenly became transparent. Jabez and Admon stepped over the threshold.

Riku raised his head a half an inch off the table, all the room he had. "Oh... You guys again." He returned to his original position, staring straight at the ceiling, his eyes half closed.

Jabez put his hands behind his back, trying to act as if he had everything under control. Admon just leaned against the door jamb, and snapped his fingers once. The door became solid again.

"Well, Riku, Sora... has reached the second island." Jabez began.

"Magical." Riku said loftily, seemingly uncaring.

"But, I'm afraid, its as far as he and Kairi will make it physically unharmed."

"Oh really?" Riku said, this time opening his eyes, and raising his head at Jabez, who was circling the table. He stopped at Riku's side. Riku never looked away from Jabez's sad face.

"Yes. Admon shall go pay a visit. Just for some more fun. I decided to let you watch."

Riku cocked a brow. This visit is a lot more pleasant then the last. Riku suddenly thought of the odd 'robot' coming in with Jabez last time. The robot had had many arms, and one of them had a very long, sharp needle for a hand. It had a clear tube attached, which led to a plastic box, that could probably hold a few cups of some sort of liquid. As the needle inched towards the top of his head, Riku began to squirm and shout... - the present Riku shook the memory away. He looked over at Jabez again, anticipating what he'd ask next.

"Something wrong?" Jabez asked.

"Nah, just thinking about how funny it'll be to watch Sora kick Admon's -"

"Hmmph!" An earthen stake burst through the cemented ground below the table, and tore through the table, an inch from Riku's nose. He didn't blink. Admon portaled off.

"He has a bad temper..." Riku added. He turned his head back to the ceiling, ignoring the earthen stalagmite. He closed his eyes, satisfied. If they were going to do this to him, he wouldn't let them do it quietly.

******************************​

Sora's eyes fluttered open. He released Kairi, and looked around. A few hours had passed, and the sun had set, casting them in darkness. The moon revealed that it was probably around nine o' clock, and it cast a little light for them. He decided it'd be a good idea to get moving, since the wind had died, and wouldn't be blowing in their faces as they sloughed through the sand.

"Kairi!" Sora said loudly. The redhead stirred, and then opened an eye to look at the boy sitting beside her. She sleepily sat up.

"Ye-aaah?" she yawned.

"We'd better get moving."

The redhead just nodded, and then pushed herself off the ground with her hands, standing up. She rubbed at her eyes, and then looked at Sora, as if to let him know she was ready. He began walking...

******************************​

Hours later, and after several breaks where they had to empty their shoes of sand, Sora got another strange feeling of being watched. He slowed his pace, and Kairi, not noticing, bumped right into him.

"What!?" Kairi asked, obviously worried. Does she feel the same thing?

"Just, hold on a minute." Sora held a hand out behind him. The moon was now almost directly overhead, and the "desert" was bathed in its glow. He couldn't see anything, but there could always be something behind those dunes...

Sora inched forward, his hand still held out to Kairi, asking her to wait. He suddenly darted over to the dune, and flattened himself against it, his back to the dune, and his arms outspread. He crept along it, until he was at its edge. He leaped from his spot, and dashed into the unknown, Keyblade appearing in hand.

Nothing.

"Sora, you disappoint me. You should've seen me right away."

The brunette looked up sharply, to see a figure garbed in black and green. The green hood shrouded the man's face, but the bright green eyes could be seen.

"Admon?"

The man answered by pointing a finger somewhere behind Sora. He spun around, Kairi!!! to watch as walls of earth shot out of the ground, and hid Kairi from view. The tops of the walls moved inward, forming a dome. She was completely trapped.

"SORA!!!" Kairi screamed.

"Kairi!" The boy charged at the tomb, Keyblade raised in anger. Before he could get there, Admon appeared, blocking him. "*******!" He brought his Keyblade around as he neared his new target. He would kill him.

*******************************​

If things had gone well for Sora, his legendary weapon would have decapitated his new enemy. But, Admon had different plans. Suddenly, Sora was swinging at a leg the size of a tree trunk. It clanged off of it, and left no mark.

"Whoa..." Sora fell back a step or three, and craned his neck to view the giant. Admon had transformed into a cross of an Earth Golem and a Hill Giant. The ugly, misshapen face fit both brutes, but the long fingers with long nails filed to points (as were the teeth) reminded him more of a golem. The eyes were distant green orbs above him. He couldn't see anything else of the face, just the glistening teeth as white as the full moon above them, and glow-in-the-dark green eyes. He couldn't get over how creepy they were. A dirty loincloth was all he wore. Admon the Golem raised a large foot.

Sora turned and ran, knowing he needed to keep moving in order to avoid getting crushed. He'd have to create some sort of plan...

******************************​

"So, exactly how long will you be standing there staring at me?" Riku asked Jabez.

"Hmm... I'll stop now." Jabez snapped his fingers, and a white bar of light appeared in front of him, at about chest height. The light stretched, until it formed a 5'x7' rectangle in front of him. Jabez walked around it, and stood beside Riku's table. "You like?"

A large golem stomped across the screen, and a small form was seen darting among its feet. "Sora?" Riku said aloud, worried for the first time.

'He's lasted longer than I expected." Jabez pointed at the large dome Riku had just been about to ask about. "Kairi's in there."

"You motherfuc -"

"Watch your mouth. This fic is rated P.G. - 15!"

"!!??" Riku looked at him, not understanding, "kids these days at age 11 are swearing like sailors..."

"Well, you have a point there... Aww, so close!" Jabez said, disappointment evident in his voice. The golem - Admon - had narrowly missed Sora. The brunette had fallen to the ground, and wasn't moving.

******************************​

Admon the Golem smashed one of his large feet into the ground again, just barely missing Sora. The shockwave lifted the boy was lifted from the ground, maybe a foot, and gravity brought him back down a few yards away. He hit the ground, air wooshing from his lungs in an instant. He tried to push himself up, knowing Admon was coming, but couldn't He tried again, trying to get air back into his lungs. He put the palm of his right hand into the ground, and tried to push himself up with his feet again. His hand slid through the sand, and he face planted. The ground roiled again, as the golem got closer.

"Sora. . ." Admon's voice was amplified greatly, and was as gravelly as the earth and rock he was made of. "You disappoint me greatly. I wa hoping you'd put up some sort of fight." Admon raised a foot. "Well, its better this way. You won't see Kairi die -" Sora's rage gave him enough strength to push himself halfway up, and look over his shoulder at Admon, "- and you will die fairly quickly, with little to no pain." Admon began to bring his foot down.

Sora leaped to his feet, and looked at the foot racing to meet his face. "REFLEGA!!" Sora shouted, almost praying that it would be strong enough. It was. Admon's foot bounced off so hard, that he lost his balance. The golem began to fall. "Oh ****..." the brunette moaned, as he slide dashed out of the way. He began running towards the dome trapping Kairi, and then the golem's large form smashed into the ground. Sora's momentum, and the even larger shockwave created by the huge crash, propelled the brunette through the air, straight at the "cage". Just before he hit the ground, he exhaled, letting all the air leave his body. He landed in a heap, right in front of it. He stood up slowly, a bruise forming on his right cheek, and breathed in deeply, glad to not have been winded.

"Kairi!" Sora exclaimed, suddenly realizing what Admon had meant by Kairi dieing. How would the girl's air supply hold out in the tomb he had created? When he didn't get a response, the boy began beating on the wall with both fists. "Kairi!?! Can you hear me? Answer, please! Don't waste your air, hit the wall once if you hear me!" A few seconds passed, and when nothing happened, Sora lost it.

******************************​

Riku's eyes were glued to the screen. He wanted to scream "SORA!!! You idiot! He's going to get back up!!!, but it would be pointless. How could he hear him?

"It must suck, feeling worthless. . ." an unknown voice, sneering at him, reverberated off of the walls of the empty room. Riku strained against his bonds, trying to find the source of the voice. Suddenly, Riku blacked out.

******************************​

A rumble behind him let Sora know that Admon's large form was stirring. He flattened himself to the earthen dome, and shouted onr last time, "Kairi, you need to stay in the center of the dome!"

Sora charged at the golem, now halfway to its feet. "BLIZZAGA!", Sora pointed his Keyblade at Admon's large foot. The large ball of ice hit square, and encased it completely. Admon slipped, and hit the ground again, making Sora lose his balance a bit. Recovering quickly, the boy kept moving towards his target. Admon had stopped moving. This worried the brunette, but he decided to keep to his original plan. two yards away, Sora leaped, He spun around, launched three Blizzagas at the dome in the distance, and without checking to see if they hit, turned around to face Admon the Golem, and brought his Keyblade over his head. . .

To find a lot of empty space before him. He looked down, to find Admon, back in human form. He was grinning up at Sora. He noticed his hood was off, and that he had a shaved head, was probably in his thirties, had a kind of long nose, and dark skin, before Admon sent a flurry of small rocks up at him. He glided away from them going higher and higher, drawing a scowl from the man.

"I can't believe I forgot you could do that."

"Well, I didn't want to make the fight with you as a Golem too easy." Sora called down.

To reply, Admon shook his head slowly, almost sadly, and then flew up to meet him. Sora stopped short, caught by surprise. The green-eyed man flung his arms out in front of him, and sent an earthen spire at the boy. Sora dodged, and then flew out to Admon, getting tired of not having hurt him yet.

"Well then, if you really insist. . ." Admon said, suddenly with cold anger in his voice, as his arms became the equivalent of swords, just, ya' know, made of earth.

This guy is becoming a real pain in the ***... thought Sora, as Admon began to rotate in the air, holding out his blades. The man began picking up speed, until he finally was fast enough to begin moving towards Sora. Like a spinning top, Admon spun at the boy, who non-chalantly said "reflega". Admon's sword bounced off, and then Sora dived straight for the ground. Theboy heard Admon growl, and then give chase. He waited a few seconds, and then when he felt as if Admon had caught up enough, spun around, and hurled his Keyblade at him.

The man didn't notice the trick fast enough. He brough up an arm - sword - and tried to roll out of the way. He was moving too fast. He was only able to get most of his body out of the way. The Keyblade collided with it, and snapped off the sword - Admon's arm. It then became embedded in his shoulder. It took Admon a few seconds, call it shock, but as Sora turned around and raced to see what his Blizzard magic had done to the dome, Admon's screams began.

******************************​

She stood atop a dune, not too far away from the fight, but far enough so that she couldn't be seen easily. She didn't want to incur Sora's rath so early. She had just watched Admon fall, and was angry. Whether or not that's because she was ashamed a fellow member could fail do easily, or because anger is all she can feel, who knows?

"That idiot! We're supposed to be elite! How am I supposed to explain this to Him!?"

Celosia's face suddenly looked less stormy. She flicked her red hair over her shoulder. She grinned, showing her pearly whites, and portaled off. She reappeared next to Admon.

"Oh my god. . ." She wanted to throw up. Admon's arm had been not-so-neatly cut off just below the elbow, and there was an ugly rent in his shoulder. Both were spilling blood, and a lot of it. Admon was soaked, and it was still pooling around him. To the average Nobody, this would have come as a shock. Celosia knew the circumstances of Admon's birth, however, so was just worried as to what she coul do to save him. If she told Him that she had stood by and watched a follower of His perish, He would kill her Himself.

Wait, I got it! Celosia came as close to happiness as one could get. She bent over Admon. "Look, Admon, there's nothing I can really do. I'm sorry. We need to go back to our Leader. He can do this kind of stuff."

"No, only after I've killed Sora." Admon replied, as angry sounding as Celosia had been earlier. She took a step back, but then realized he was just feeding off of her emotion. That gave her a better plan - well, a plan that would work better for her. . .

"Well then, I guess I have an idea for you." Celosia said, her voice sickly sweet, anger concealed, but barely.

"What would that be?" Admon asked slowly. If Celosia couldn't see the wounds, she would have thought Admon was perectly fine, the way he was talking.

"Take my anger, it'll give you strength. Change into The Golem. What is a possibly fatal wound to a human is but a mere scratch to it." Celosia replied, a grin splitting her pretty face.

Admon smirked back, and then closed his eyes, slowly bringing himself back to a fully laid out position. His left hand, the one he had kept, suddenly clenched tightly. His eyes reopened, with a look of utter contempt in them. Celosia back-pedaled a few feet, knowing the transformation would come next.

Admon's torso suddenly stretched up to the sky, his hair falling out, his head growing larger, feet and legs erupting to ungainly proportions. Admon flexed his new arm and fingers, holding them in front of his face. He smashed one of his car sized fists into an open palm.

"Soooooraaa...."

*********************************​

Sora had made it back to the dome, to find that his Blizzaga magic had crashed into it head on, and had even embedded itself into the dome by a few inches. This gave him some hope.

"Kairi! If you can hear me at all, stay in the middle of this thing!" The brunette took a few steps back, and leveled his Keyblade at the ice. "This had better work... FIRAGA!" The conrolled fireball smashed into the ice, immediately evaporating it. A hole, halfway through the earthen shell, was all that was left.

"Kairi! I'm coming!" Sora hopped up onto the lip of the hole, and began hacking away at it. He had made some headway, when he heard Admon's call. Sora slowly turned around, and saw the golem moving towards him in the distance.

*******************************​

W7FHAX: Sorry, my dad's making me go to bed now. . . Night.

 

I deeply apologize for double posting.. Its just that I've seen in other threads that people's stories were all spread out from others posting. I wanted to save this for some updates I may put here later. If any mods are reading this, and don't like what I did, pm me, and I'll delete this. De-rep me while your at it.

 

ZOHMG, I just triple-posted... Ban me...

(Saved for later installments)

 

I really enjoyed reading your story! I hope you continue with it because I can't wait to read what happens next! I really like your style of writing, the way you descibe the scenery, your choice of words, and how you put emotions into the characters. Overall, your style of writing makes the story all the more better.

Keep on writing!^^

 

Woosha!

Thanx a mil! It means a lot to me. Right now, I'm stuck on what I should reveal next, 'cuz while they are going through all of this, there are...."other" things going on, that will effect them greatly. I'm just scared to reveal too much. I've got something forming as I'm typing this. It should be up by tomorrow morning. I've developed the bad habit of staying up all night since I started this thing, so keep an eye out for Ch. 6!

Thanks again for all of the positive feedback.

 

I just read that part you posted for chapter six. It ws a little slow, but it seemed there needed to be a part like that. Also, it revealed some information about the island. I wonder why Roxas and Namine couldn't get out......

 

Wow. This is long. can tell you put a lot of work into this.

It's really good, although not kingdom heartsish at all, you're right. I like it though. It's different. Keep going!'
​

 

Cool, two people like what I've done! Put much work into this? No, not really. I'm a slight perfectionist when it comes to stories, and I'm my biggest/hardest critic. So, I've been constantly reviewing it, adding more where its needed, and changing grammar/spelling mistakes. Also, I pressed enter a lot, to space out everything, so its easier to read. Basically, it looks a S**tload bigger than it really is.


EDIT: Oh yeah, and to the part where you said its not Kingdom Hearts-ish at all. I understand that you saw the part where it said "crack", you made it clear. But this is for anyone else who might later read this and think along the same lines as you. When I first convinced myself to write something and post it on this site, I realized I wanted to write something with the KH crew in it. But, wouldn't it be boring if it had their same personalities, or the enemies were the same as the ones in the video games? I asked myself. I thought the answer would be yes, so... This be what happeneded. I created something close enough to the game so people could recognize the old characters, but I made them my own at the same time.

*Yawnz* Think I'd better go to bed soon... I'm beat.

 

I just read some more of what your posted up. I wonder what those creatures are? Though, I think when you said "whole" you meant "hole" right?

 

x_X. Yeah... ****. Thanx. Didn't notice I did that. I'm trying to type too fast. Keep this up please, I can't find all of my mistakes by myself. I'm getting tired too, so I'm prone to make more. I'm skimming through my story now to see if I can find anymore.

 

Blarg - sorry for putting off checking out this story for so long... :sweatdrop:

This is great stuff - I'm amazed that you can write so fast, well, and long at the same time! XD In case you haven't noticed, I am SUPREMELY slow when it comes to writing... well... anything. :sweatdrop:

Yeeeeeah.... Brain's fried, so I can't realy give you any good imput. XD

Gottadomyhomeworkgottadomyhomeworkgottadomyhomework... ;~;

 

this story is really good! keep writing :D

 

Skoolz already started for you, eh? Moozezhazezha!! Mine won't start until Monday *shudders* I'ma gunna be a Sophomore too... I don't think it could be much worse than being a Freshman though, lol.

Dun know if its just me, but I seem to be able to type/think easier/better whenever I listen to anything by 3 Days Grace and/or Cellador... Not sure why, either.

Glad ya' liked it Kairidoscuatrocinco!

 

I just read another little section you put up. It is great, as always.

Who is coming? Or...who made the portal of darkness?

I have to keep reading!

 

Alright, today has officially sucked. I've had a stomach ache and headache all day long. I was dragged through several stores with my mom (and believe me, this is like a taste of hell... She can't go into a store and be there for less than two hours), with all of these ailments. I get home, boot up my laptop and
get on so I can begin to think of what I should do for Ch. 7. Well, I realized that I should end Ch. 6 where I was at (at the time) and cut out the three chapters following it. This, took out a lot of boring fillerz I had been planning on putting in. I want this story to be slightly entertaining, and believe me, the way it was going would've destroyed this thing. So, I shortened Ch. 6, and decided to introduce a new character... I clicked edit on the post that had my story, and then, my mom called me to dinner. Stupidly, I left the edit open. While I was at the table, my sister came into my room and got onto my laptop. She doesn't really know how computers work (she's only 10), and had no idea what I was doing on it. To shorten this sad tale, she somehow managed to remove about 3/4s of my story from this post... And, the last time I saved my story in WordPad? halfway through Ch. 6... It could've been worse, but this is going to set me back a bit. I apologize for my lack of caution, and my sister's ignorance... Because I have to retype this from pure memory, it may be a little different then it was at first. But, it shouldn't be too off. Just... Re-read it from the part where Kairi suggests to Sora they should take a walk in Ch. 6, if you've actually read past that part, that is.


BIG EDIT: I've revised Ch. 6, because of the "incident" that occurred today, and anyway, I didn't really like it. I guess this problem was sort of a blessing in disguise. I like this much, much better. I promise I'll try to put up some of Chapter 7 tomorrow, if not all of it, after I get back from the hospital. They need to do some blood tests for some reason... Wutev. See yaz' tuhmorrow.

 

oooh...that kinda sucks, but at least you got it back....

I also like the new stuff you posted up.....so many questions...argh.

I really love the story, though.

 

that was really i hope you continue with it i didn't read all of it though cuz it was a bit 2 long but i didnt have to finish it to tell that it was awesome :)

 

I honestly don't blame you for not reading all of it. It IS sort of long, but for my usual standards, I've just begun. So, if you're actually gonna try and keep up, you may wanna read a few bits and pieces a day, ya' know, pace yourself. 'Cuz lyke... I've got quite a few chapters to go...

 

Cuz'n!!!

Hey 'cuz! I've been looking for you on this site... Wow, when did you become such a good writer!? I remember your mom telling mine that you got a D in English last year... Wutev. Anyway, omg. I frikin' LOVED your rant at the beginning. Its SO true, I totally agree. I loved the whole thing. Well, except for Ch. 7. That Jabez guy is weird. Could you pm me what happens next? C'mon, I'm family. I swear I won't tell anyone. Now, I gotta question for you. 2, actually.

1.

WTH does all of that mean? I don't think I'm the only one who wants to know, either.

2. How many chapters is this thing going to be!? God... Halfway through Ch. 7 and there's finally a purpose to their adventure.

 

Oh well, uhm. About that D... It was just because I don't like homework. She seems to grade it heavier than tests... The ***** was weird anyway.

1. Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Mother ****ing *** Off ****ting My Mother ****ing Pants, Piss Is Now On The ****ing Floor. Oh God! I'm Rolling In It, Oh God! This Sucks.

Note: Excuse the foul language, but I was asked a question and I answered. A friend of mine txt messaged me with that one day after I told him something I did.

2. How many chapters? Well, I dunno as many as it takes to tell the story...