Home is Where the Heartless Are Chapter 08: Too Late to Quit, Too Soon to go Home Sora stood next to Riku in the half circle elevator, staring out its clear glass wall at Esthar. Riku watched his friend, amused at Sora's childlike fascination with the city. For the moment, things were peaceful. There were no Heartless attacks, giving them a brief chance to catch their breath and regroup. They would pounce on that chance, because they came rarely. But this time, Riku thought, I'll let the others do the planning. "I can show you the city, if you want," he said quietly. Sora looked at him, his dark eyes lighting up to a clear blue. "Are you sure?" Riku shrugged. "We're still human, we need a rest every once and a while. I doubt anybody would mind." "Cool." Sora pressed his gloved fingers against the glass. "This city is pretty advanced, isn't it?" "Yeah," Riku replied with a nod. "I can see these little hover things," Sora mumbled, squinting to see as the elevator rode higher. "Hover Platforms are a public mode of transportation," Riku said, then added, "kind of like a bus." Sora nodded absently, pouting slightly when the elevator stopped. They walked into the hallway and Riku led Sora through a few hallways before they came to a pair of double doors. Two guards were stationed outside the doors and more were patrolling the hallway. Riku nodded to them as they opened the doors for them, letting the Keybearers slip inside silently. The room they entered was round and in the center sat a round machine, sleek and silver. It reached about weist height with a ring of buttons and controls around a glass surface. The glass was tinted a faint blue and, oddly enough, it reflected nothing. Sora saw everybody else was in the room already, along with a young Asian woman he didn't know. "That's Rinoa," Riku said quietly. Sora nodded and turned his attention to Laguna, who moved towards the glass topped machine. As Laguna typed in a few commands, he spoke. "The purpose of calling you all here was to create a course of action, because we all seem to have been thrown off our feet now that the last Keybearer is on this side of Kingdom Hearts. None of us know if we should just continue our routine of fighting the Heartless when they attack, or attack the Heartless." "I think we should attack the Black Planet," Stella said, folding his arms across his chest. "Or we're just going to be fighting them forever." "But we don't really have the manpower," Laguna countered, the machine now humming to life. The glass circle suddenly lit up, creating a round pillar of light that reached nearly to the ceiling. In the center of the pillar was a planet, a hologram image of a world floating in space. "This is the Black Planet." He typed in a few more commands and the planet spun to face him, before the camera zoomed in on an area he'd highlighted. Laguna held up a thick folder. "We recently sent an unmanned ship to take pictures of this area of the Heartless Homeworld. There's something powerful there, something that's created a hole in the ozone above it. These are the pictures." He handed them to Nobody, who took one before passing the folder along to Stella. Sora grabbed a picture before handing the folder to Riku, squinting as he examined it. "What is it?" The picture showed a barren wasteland, dark brown in the forever night of the universe, but against that was a long stroke of black. A pure black thing, like a chasm that stuck out of the ground instead of in, a huge backwards jagged hole. "A Heartless," Nobody murmured. "A Heartless the size of a freaking mountain!" Stella cried, looking at his picture closer. "What's all this black stuff around it?" Riku asked, tilting his picture around. Sora looked over at it. Riku's showed the same thing, but farther away. A few centimeters away from the monolithic Heartless was a ring of black that slowly became thinner as it neared the monster. "We don't know," Laguna replied. "We, mainly a group of photo experts and a few Heartless experts, only just got the pictures. There hasn't been much time to really look at them, so we're not sure what is it." "We need to attack now," Stella said urgently. "Before more of these things show up." "Attacking the Black Planet is suicide," Rinoa said sadly, arms folded over her petite body. "But we can't just ignore it," Sora replied. "It'll just keep creating Heartless right? Do you want to keep fighting them forever?" "I will not send the Esthar army on a death mission," Laguna said quietly, shaking his head. "I can't just send thousands of people in a war that they probably won't survive. We don't even know what kind of a chance we have, since we don't know exactly how fast the Black Planet can create Heartless. If it's an instantaneous process, we have no chance." Stella opened his mouth to protest, but the Esthar president held up a hand to silence him. "That isn't the only bit of news I wanted to give you. Reeve was approached by a small army of people calling themselves the Nobody." Everybody turned to Nobody, and the hooded man tilted his head slightly. "As far as we know, you and they have nothing in common, except maybe a fetish for hoods," Laguna said, causing Stella to snort. "Anyway, this Nobody army was supposedly created by some unknown force to help the Keybearers." "Are you sure we can trust them?" Nobody asked. "No," Laguna replied simply. "But, we don't have a reason to distrust them either." "Why didn't they show up before?" Stella muttered darkly. "They said they would show up when the Keybearers needed them, so I'm guessing you need them now." Laguna began collecting the pictures. "And before you say anything, yes, maybe they are here to go with you in some insane attempt to attack the Heartless." "It makes sense to finally attack it, because if we don't they'll just keep coming, but we don't know much about it," Riku said, finally breaking his silence. "We can't form any sort of strategy because we don't know about the planet. What kind of terrain are we going to be dealing with? What kind of Heartless?" "Can you send an unmanned ship to the planet's surface?" Nobody asked. Laguna nodded. "General Leonore, who is in charge of the Black Planet exploration project, is on it right now. Give him a couple days to get through the red tape." "But what are we going to do till then?" Stella mumbled, scuffing his shoe on the ground almost childishly. "We can't just sit around and do nothing." "There's nothing else to do," Riku replied quietly. "We've got nothing to do but sit on our hands. If we are going to attack the Heartless, we're going to be prepared. Charging in without any sort of plan or idea what we're up against is just stupid." Stella muttered a reluctant agreement. "I know." "Would the Heartless attack a ship if we sent one?" Sora asked. "I doubt it. If something doesn't have a Heart, they'll probably leave it alone," Laguna replied. "But if something is controlling them, it might have them destroy it," Nobody pointed out. "We'll have to wait and see. It would be wise to send a small vessel first, and if they leave it alone, send the one that will actually do the exploring." Laguna nodded. "I was thinking that too." He leaned back into a chair. "Sending a small one would be cost efficient. We need to figure out what type of planet it is, while the Heartless don't. If they attack the small vessel, we'll try a different way. If we just sent a exploration ship and they attacked it, it would cost much more to build another one to replace it." "But what should we do in the meantime?" Sora asked, frowning a bit. "Well, you four can practice together. Nobody says you instinctively fight together, but you're still not used to each other." Laguna responded. "It would also give Esthar time to decide what to do. I can't just say we're going to war; a vote has to happen first. Esthar can quickly mobilize in time of need, but we'd still need a couple days to cope with everything. Also, if we do attack the Black Planet, we should do it at once with all we've got. But our forces are spread out right now, with you guys here and Tifa and them at Midgar." "Which planet is closest to the Heartless?" Riku asked. The President of Esthar typed in a few commands before bringing up the image of two planets side by side, about a foot away from each other on the display. "Spira. There usually aren't Heartless there, despite the fact that it's so close to the Black Planet, because it's sealed. If we do attack, we could move all our ships there. There is also a small moon orbiting Spira, which we could use to set up a communications post." "This has been planned before, hasn't it?" Riku asked quietly. Laguna nodded. "Yes. Quite a few armies have attacked the Black Planet, however, nobody made it to the ground. Hell, nobody even made it past Spira because of Heartless ships. We'll probably be attacked as well, but I'm confident that our ships can keep up with the Heartless. This whole thing is one big risk." "But there's nothing we can do about it." Stella's voice was quiet and defeated. His golden hair hung into his eyes like a lion mane and his shoulders were hunched. Rinoa reached over and touched his arm gently, trying to reassure her friend. The Keybearer shrugged her off and walked out of the room quickly, almost running. Nobody sighed and watched his friend go; knowing how much pain Stella was in. The younger Keybearer was frustrated and angry, but it seemed like a small part of him dropped away and shattered in a million pieces of coldness every so often. Stella's warmth and kindness, something that somehow weathered his childhood in the ghettos of Midgar, was dying. Slowly, surely, he was being scooped hollow of emotions. "I'm going after him," Nobody murmured quietly, leaving the conference room as well. He heard Sora following him, and Riku following Sora. Rinoa watched the three leave sadly and Laguna squeezed her around the shoulders slightly. "It isn't fair," she said quietly, almost a soft whisper. "I know," Laguna replied. ------ Stella stood on a small balcony over looking the Esthar skyline, the hot green and blue lights tipping into his eyes. A breeze shifted through his hair and clothes, chilling him. He didn't seem to notice as he laid his bare hands across the cold steel railing, leaning over it to look at the ground. He heard to the glass doors to the balcony make a 'swooshing' sound as they opened and knew it was Nobody by his graceful, light steps. "Stella, are you alright?" Sora and Riku walked out onto the balcony quietly, moving to stand on either side of Stella. "No," Stella replied simply. "I hate this. I never asked for this. I never wanted to do this. And I hate myself, because I can't just step away from it. I won't let myself just give up. I'm such a freaking idiot." The Keybearer's voice became a vicious whisper as he spoke a bitter and brittle cloth that wove around Stella. "None of us really asked for it," Sora said softly, moving to grab Stella's arm. "But we're here, and we have to deal with it." "I know we have to deal with it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it," Stella muttered, folding his arms across his chest. Riku smiled distantly, thinking that Stella reminded him of a younger Sora at the moment. Stella looked at Nobody, and Nobody felt his friend's stare intensify like a laser. "Does the Nobody Army have anything to do with you?" Nobody shook his head. He knew, eventually, his mysterious and aloof nature would cause questions. "Nothing. My real name isn't Nobody, it's Vemme." "Why don't you use it?" Sora asked, tilting his head to the side. His eyes were turned a strange color in the Esthar glow, making them seem surreal, as if he was glowing on the inside. "Because I grew up being called Nobody," Nobody replied, shrugging. Stella smirked, slowly shrugging out of his dark mood. Though he knew ignoring his emotions would eventually catch up to him, he didn't care. The feeling of despair was slowly falling away, like feathers slipping off wings. "Old habits die hard?" Nobody laughed, though it was a cynical sound, and nodded. "I guess you could say that." Sora was somewhat started by the sudden change in the older Keybearers. He suddenly realized what a difference there was between himself and them. They had grown up in the battlefield and obviously faced harsh conditions in the past. Buried deep inside both of them was a cold, pitiless monster curled up around memories that struck out like knives. Even one slight touch to them and you got cut. Stella faced the past by ignoring it with his childlike nature, learning to laugh while choking on thorns. Nobody focused with frightening clarity on the current situation and seemed to leave cool splotches in his wake. A walking iceberg that was continually chipping and regrowing pieces. "I'm going to call you Vemme, sounds better and leads to less confusion," Stella said, holding his index finger in the air. "What is this?" Sora asked, mimicking the motion. "I dunno, I figured it was inventor-y," Stella replied, shrugging. "But you didn't invent Vemme." Sora trailed off, a look of mock confusion on his face. ".Yeah.well.You have big feet!" Stella pointed at Sora's huge feet. The youngest Keybearer grinned. "Know what big feet mean?" "Big shoes?" Riku asked with a blink, as if he didn't get the question. Vemme smiled to himself as he watched them joke quietly. The joking had, at first, bothered him. Made him believe that they might not really know what they were doing, that they didn't grasp the fact that the next fight with the Heartless may end in death. But the three knew what they were doing, and Vemme guessed the joking was another way to handle it. It relieved stress and kept them calm. An overly tense fighter can be just as bad as an overly loose fighter in a life or death situation. Riku nudged Sora gently as they calmed down, drawing themselves into silence. "Do you still want a tour of the city?" "Of course," Sora replied, nodding. It caused his hair to wave around like a ginger porcupine. "We can go tomorrow then," Riku said, nodding his head. "I can't even tell it's night," Sora said softly. ------ He felt.lost. He was sprawled out across his bed, staring up at the ceiling, and he felt lost. He felt a presence in the back of his mind, something burning with anger, lash out with a snarl. His body jerked for a second before the being settled down, pacing mental bars like a caged lion. Amber had poured in his sea green eyes for a few moments, his pale skin turning caramel colored, but the being didn't have the power to take him over. Not yet, not now. But it would soon. He tumbled and turned in the abyss of his mind, reeling from the struggle of powers he wasn't really aware of. He landed on sandy ground and his body felt smaller, weaker. He rolled over, the water skimming up the beach to wash over his shoes. The clear blue sky was a curved cerulean top for the world and the sunlight shone into the crystal water. A speak of black caught his attention and he looked towards it, tilting his head as he watched a ginger haired boy fall from the sky. Riku shook the sleep from his eyes, blinking as he yawned awake. He stretched across the dark blue sheets of the bed before getting up. He stood and padded naked across the room, grabbing a pair of dark jeans and a faded gray T-shirt that had "Navy SEAL: Secret Extra Agent Liaison" across the chest in blue. He was in the shower when he heard somebody come into his room. "Riku!" Sora called. "In the shower!" Riku called back, getting out to towel himself dry. "You're still up for the tour, right?" Sora asked, flopping down across the bed. "And don't come out naked, I'm sitting on your bed." "It's not like you've never seen a guy naked before, unless Zell was right and you really are female," Riku replied, pulling on his boxers and pants. He began to blow-dry his hair. "They give you blowdryers here? Does it have a cute little Esthar symbol on it?" Sora wondered, kicking his feet. "No, but it'd be funny if it did. I wonder what it would be?" Riku replied, flinging his hair forward to finish drying it quickly. "A duck wearing really bright clothing," Sora answered, thinking of the Esthar citizens' extremely colorful clothes. Riku came out as he pulled the shirt down. It was tight against his chest and tummy. "I understand the clothes, but where did the duck come from?" "I'm not sure," Sora replied, thinking for a second as Riku put on socks and a pair of converse. The younger Keybearer watched his friend, tilting his head to the side as Riku went about a very normal routine. Riku looked up when he noticed Sora watching him and raised a brow. "What's up?" Sora shrugged. "It's been a while since I've seen you do something ordinary. Lately it's just been attacking harmless planters and saving towns from destruction." "I'm never going to live that down, am I?" Riku asked, standing up. "Nope, just when you least expect it, somebody is going to bring it up years from now. Maybe we'll all send you a potted plant for Christmas or your birthday," Sora responded as they walked out into the hallway. Riku grabbed a jean jacket as they left and shoved his wallet into his back pocket. They slipped into the elevator as he shrugged into the jacket. Sora touched the glass, sadness drenching his eyes. "I can't even tell if it's day or night." "You'll get used to it after a while," Riku replied. "It makes you sad at first." They quickly reached the ground level and walked outside. "About a year ago a company brought up the idea of setting up a huge dome around the city and having it show an artificial sky. The citizens rejected it strongly." "I can understand that. I think it'd be worse to look up at the sky and now it was fake than look up and see nothing but black," Sora said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants. "Where are we going first?" "We could get breakfast, if you're hungry," Riku suggested. "Food always sounds good," Sora answered with a grin. "Are we going to take one of the hover platforms?" "We don't have to, but I can tell you want to." Riku smirked when he said it, and Sora rolled his eyes. "It doesn't cost anything, but the food will." "Uh, I hope munny is the currency here." Sora said as Riku led him to one of the hover platforms. It sat stationary, waiting to be of use, with a sign that read 'D-03' next to it. "Nope, gil, but I'll pay," Riku said, sitting down on the platform. "You won't fall - they don't go fast enough - but don't go suicidal and jump off because of lack of sunlight or something." Sora plopped down next to him. "Har har, smart ass." "But it's such a pretty ass. And it smells of rose petals." "I'm just not going to ask." ------ Reeve watched Laguna pace in his office, flipping through information on the WEAPONs. The President of Esthar had called Reeve on a videoconference and the two had been trading information. "Not only are they back, but Sapphire weapon is about 25% bigger than it was last time. Its skin was also replaced with scales and it's more aerodynamic this time. It's cruising the ocean near Goblin Island right now. Emerald is about the same size, but its grown another pair of legs. It's built like a centaur now. Ruby is still just a tentacle poking out of an island, and Diamond is yet to be seen." "So you're assuming Diamond is back too?" Laguna asked. "I think it's safe to think so. I'm more concerned about the reason they've appeared. Something is threatening the Planet, but I don't know what it is." Reeve massaged his forehead. "Do you think the Planet is sensing the Heartless build up on the Black Planet?" Laguna murmured, reaching to rub the dark circles under his eyes. "Maybe it thinks the Heartless are going to launch an attack soon." "But can the Planet actually 'think' like that? Maybe it's just sensing a building of power and is readying its defenses." "A building of power usually means the thing powering itself up is going to attack," Laguna pointed out. Reeve nodded. "Maybe the Heartless are getting more powerful, evolving. Do you think they're getting smarter?" "I hope not," Laguna replied, raking a callused hand through his salt and pepper hair. "Has the Nobody army done anything?" "Not really. Knight, their leader, and a couple others helped us plan out a new defense strategy for Heartless attacks. We can't do anything until your craft reaches the Heartless." "It should be landing in a few days-" Laguna was cut off by a shrill beep followed by a blinking warning light on his computer screen. He typed in a few commands to bring up the emergency and swore under his breath. "What is it?" Reeve asked, leaning forward. "Heartless are attacking on the fringes of the city," Laguna picked up his phone and dialed quickly. "Vemme, Heartless are attacking on the outskirts of the D-04 section. I'll see you there." He hung up and stood up, walking across the room to open up a secret panel. He pulled out a machine gun and two clips of extra ammo. "See you later," he said as he shoved the clips into his jacket pockets. "Good luck," Reeve replied before the screen flicked off. ----- Riku laughed and Sora frowned. "What?" The younger Keybearer asked. "You have whipped cream all over your nose," Riku replied with a smirk. A half-eaten bagel smeared with cream cheese sat in front of him, next to a mostly empty cup of coffee. "Blah blah blah," Sora mumbled as he wiped the whipped cream off his face. Riku raised a slender eyebrow. "How was that insulting?" "It wasn't meant to be," Sora replied simply before he took another bite of his strawberry pancakes. "Oh." Riku looked out the window, resting his chin on his elbow. He was about to ask Sora where he wanted to go first when he spotted people running through the street. Distantly, he heard a cry of 'Heartless' and Sora swore across from him. "We need Stella and Nobody," Sora said quickly as they ran out of the café, pushing their way through the crowd of retreating people. "They can sense us, remember? They'll be here. Call your Keyblade." Riku paused and turned to Sora, his hand outstretched. A purple glow in the shape of his Keyblade curled around his hand and outward, taking form as small flecks of energy tumbled to the ground. Sora's brow wrinkled as he concentrated, pulling the Keyblade towards him with his power. The blade appeared in his hands the same way Riku's did, only the glow was golden. They took off simultaneously and ran through the street, jumping and dodging through the crowd. The rush of people quickly grew thin and the sounds of guns firing replaced the trampling feet and screams. They rounded a corner and found a small group of Esthar police officers and a few border guards ducked behind cars and buildings, firing on an approaching group of Heartless. The pack was made up of Neo Shadows, Big Bodies and Wizards, along with a few vagrant Shadows. Sora dove behind a parked patrol car and added his magic to the fight. Unable to physically fight the Heartless due to the flying bullets, Riku did the same. Lead and fire and ice shot towards the Heartless, slowing their progress but not stopping it. "How long till reinforcements get here?" Riku asked loudly over the fight. The Wizards were launching spells now, which Sora was counteracting with a powerful Aero guard. "Soon," the man next to him replied as he fired at a Shadow that had been creeping up along the wall of a building. The Shadow wriggled in vain before seeping away in a black inkblot across the air and disappearing to rejoin the Black Planet. "Riku!" Sora called and Riku turned towards him. Sora motioned with his head, beckoning his friend to him. The younger Keybearer slapped an Aero spell on Riku as he rolled under the Wizards' spells, the heat of fire pressing up against his skin. "What is it?" Riku asked, flinging an ice spell across the street. It smacked into a Big Body, causing it to tumble backwards and squash a Neo Shadow. Riku smirked. "Why is it such a weak force?" Sora asked. "Does this happen often, random groups attacking?" Riku frowned. "No, not really. For a city like Esthar, this doesn't happen often unless the Heartless are desperate to feed on Hearts. It might be they need Hearts to stay alive and entered the city as a last desperate resort." "Probably," Sora said, nodding. He turned to fire off a Thunder spell when the ground shook suddenly, knocking him onto his ass. He sat up and peered over the car, searing eyes going wide when he saw a monstrous shadow across a small toy shop's window. A huge four legged Heartless, with the body of a large cat and the tusks of a wild boar. "Holy shit, is that a Behemoth?" Riku asked quietly. "No, Behemoth are bigger, built like bulls," Sora answered. The monster slowly rounded the corner, gazing down the street with butter yellow eyes that seemed to gleam dangerously in the bright green and blue lighting. Its body was like a panther's, sleek and muscular, but instead of fur, greenish and purplish reptilian scales broke out over its body. A long, curling dragon tail whipped out behind it, while huge black claws ripped up the ground under it. Its head was slender with a long snout packed full of razor sharp teeth and two huge spikes of white breaking out from its massive lower jaw. "Fall back!" One of the police officers yelled, and they ran down the street. "We have to keep this thing here," Riku hissed as it walked towards them at a leisurely pace. The other Heartless stood to the side, waiting to pick up whatever the monster left behind. "There are still people in this area. It could go after defenseless people if we just run." The two Keybearers were stepping backwards now, keeping their distance from the animal. "How are we supposed to fight it? It looks reptilian, so I'm guessing ice spells would be best." Sora's voice was calm, as if he was telling Riku the date. "Stella and Vemme are almost here, but it'll take a few minutes. The transport system shuts down automatically when a Heartless alert is issued. Other reinforcements could show up before them." Riku's voice had the same tone, though it was borderline careless. "You distract it with ice spells, and I'll go behind it and try to get its head." "One, two, three, GO!" Riku launched the most powerful ice spell he could muster as Sora tore off to the left. The ice spell hit the creature's head, however it didn't seem to faze it. It reared its head and caught Sora dead on, throwing the Keybearer into a car. Sora slid to the ground bonelessly, the wind knocked out of him. He rolled quickly to the side, head spinning with dizziness, barely managing to avoid the monster's stomping feet. He jumped onto the car and ran up it, jumping off the hood as Riku jumped in to strike the Heartless' neck. Riku swore under his breath as he jumped back. His Keyblade had all but bounced off the creature's heavy hide, almost smacking him on the forehead. He saw a flash of dark green movement in the corner of his eye before the creature's tail slammed into him, sending him skidding along the old gravel road. The small bits of rock tore into his skin, scraping the left side of his cheek raw. His shoulder hit the curb and he groaned. His arm went numb and he tried to pull himself up with his other, trying to get out of the monster's reach. The tail, thick as a telephone pole, came back to send him flying across the street. He flew through the huge window of a clothing store, rolling to a stop under a rack of long dresses. The Heartless peered through the window with its eyes and couldn't seem to spot the Keybearer. It turned its attention towards Sora, who had been firing ice spells into its hide with no effect. It lunged forward, trying to catch the Keybearer in its huge mouth. Sora jumped up and landed on the monster's head, not pausing before ramming the sharp tip of his Keyblade down into the creature's unprotected neck. He pushed it down at an angle, shoving it between huge dragon scales, causing the monster to let out a horrible screech. It bucked its head and Sora grunted as he hopped off, running behind the Heartless to dive into the store Riku had been thrown into. He squatted under the window, outside of the Heartless' line of sight, and scanned the floor for Riku. His friend was rolled onto his side, limbs thrown carelessly around him like a doll, but he saw the steady raise and fall of Riku's chest. Keybearers could take a lot more damage than normal people could. The monster moved around outside, though it was obviously not built for hunting. The thing was designed for fighting: nothing else. Eyesight and a sense of smell were given up for a huge, quick body. It sniffed the air, but couldn't seem to find Sora or Riku. Sora closed his eyes and tried to summon the energy for a cure spell, but his body was spent after pouring so much energy into the attack magic. Sora froze, trying to calm his labored breathing, hearing the sounds of quickly approaching footsteps. "What the fuck is that!?" Stella's familiar voice yelled, followed by rapid machine gun fire. "Where are Sora and Riku?" Vemme's voice, calm as ever asked. Sora peeked out from the shop's door and yelled, "Get it between the scales: it isn't vulnerable anywhere else and magic doesn't work!" "You heard him!" Stella called, kneeling down behind a barricade that the reinforcements had set up. He fired a small, but powerful, handgun expertly. "Sora, look out, the other Heartless are attacking now," Vemme yelled over the firing. The creature wavered now as it took a hit to the head, but the other Heartless were running towards them. Sora swore and moved towards Riku, willing his Keyblade away before picking Riku's long body up delicately. He stumbled behind the counter, weakened body straining under his friend's weight, gasping as he collapsed. Riku stirred, eyelids fluttering wildly, lips parting as he groaned in pain. Sora pressed a hand against Riku's shoulder and pushed his magic into his friend, sending healing power into Riku's tattered body. Sora sighed softly, closing his eyes to rest for a few moments, before falling backwards into unconsciousness. ~~~~ @_@;; Yes, I know. This took forever to get out. I'm sorry! And for Shinji Ikari! I actually realized that while I was playing through the game again. I totally forgot about it. I can't really fix anything now (I could rewrite it, but I don't like this fic enough to salvage it). Yeah, that's cheap of me, but I'm not a professional author and don't expect myself to be. And as for Riku's Keyblade, I already said the Keyblades were created by Kingdom Hearts in this story. I think Riku had a Keyblade all along, he just didn't realize it because as far as he knew there was only one. In Traverse Town, when you meet up with him the first time, the Kingdom Key he holds has a silver Mickey Mouse head at the end, while Sora's doesn't for some reason. Anyway, I've gone on for too long. Thanks for pointing that out to me ^_^.