Kingdom Hearts: Friendship's Turmoil

by Superdale33


Chapter 8: Repeated Events

Kingdom Hearts: Friendship’s Turmoil
Chapter 8: Repeated Events

Fluttershy found it hard to focus when she finally arrived to her class. The last few hours had been so hectic that she couldn’t stop thinking about everything that had happened. Not only that, but all the new information Sora and Roxas had presented was swimming around in her mind, causing her to go into deep thought. Above all else, however, she hoped the two keybladers didn’t get in too much trouble.

Sitting in her seat, Fluttershy idly slipped a hand into her pocket, fiddling with the item Sora had given her. The memory made Fluttershy smile, and even very faintly blush. She hoped that Principal Celestia went easy on them, even though, curiously, she had left herself and her five friends without any form of punishment.

***

The group of friends had entered the main lobby of the school, getting a true breather after everything happened in the soccer field. The shock of the recent events had toned down considerably, causing everyone to be very lighthearted as they spoke to each other.

“Are you sure you’re alright, Roxas?” Twilight said, fretting over him as they walked beside each other.

Roxas chuckled, “I’m fine, Twilight. You don’t need to worry.”

“You are not fine,” Twilight snapped, jabbing a finger at his side as she gave him an annoyed look. “You got beat around like a…”

“Like a piñata!” Pinkie finished, hopping behind them rather cheerfully.

“Yeah,” Twilight agreed with a smirk, “A piñata.”

“Oh, come on,” Roxas waved off with a roll of his eyes. “You saw how me and Sora took out those Nobodies.”

“Yeah,” Applejack chuckled, covering her mouth in a vain attempt to hide her laughter. “After ya became one of their punchin’ bags.”

Roxas slumped, stopping in his tracks. “You guys are never going to let me live this down,” he said. The girls gave soft laughter at him, and Roxas felt oddly better because of it. He was glad to be around a group of friends again.

Fluttershy, meanwhile, distanced herself from the others. She had gotten captured by the Nobodies so easily, and it just made her feel so useless. A frown was on her lips as she rubbed her arm, wishing she could have done something to not get in the way.

“Hey, Fluttershy,” Sora called, and she looked over to him with a curious expression. As he walked over to her, he was digging inside one of his red pouches, searching for something.

“Um, yes?” she asked, facing away in embarrassment. She may have been captured easily, but it was thanks to Sora that she was freed just as quickly. That, and she might really have a crush on him. Her friends weren’t so far off with that assumption.

Sora found what he was looking as he pulled out his hand from within his pocket. Fluttershy couldn’t see what he had, but she could guess that it was a small object with a silver chain attached to it. With his free hand, Sora lifted Fluttershy’s hand and placed the item in it, still covering it with his own. He gave a kind smile as he said, “I want you to have this.”

When Sora pulled his hands away, Fluttershy was finally able to get a good look at the object. It was an oval shaped pendant with a ukulele in the center. As she held it in her hand, she was sure that the item gave a small sparkle as she examined it.

“Why do you want me to have this?” she asked, realizing that Sora had given her a gift of sorts. Perhaps it wasn’t her place to question it, and it made her cringe from her attitude.

“It’s a summoning charm,” Sora explained, pointing at the pendant. “If you’re in trouble, and I’m not around, just focus your heart into it, and a friend of mine will help you.”

Fluttershy stared at the pendant, the feeling of uselessness building once again as she frowned sadly. “You want to give this to me because I’m weak, right?” she asked timidly, afraid of the answer as she looked away.

Sora jerked his head back in mild surprise, his face turning to confusion. “Weak?” he repeated before shaking his head. “Of course not.”

Fluttershy turned to him, shocked by his words. She played with her hands as she faced the floor, a few strands of her hair falling out of place. “Y-You don’t think I’m weak?”

Sora gave a small chuckle, before putting his hands on his hips. “Nope,” he answered, having a smile of genuine kindness. “That summoning charm only works with people who have a strong heart. And I think you have what it takes to use it.”

Fluttershy blinked at his words, playing with her hands as she gave a shy smile. “Oh, um, thank you, Sora,” she said, honestly glad that Sora had cheered her up.

“You’re welcome,” Sora said with a nod. “It’s what friends do.”

Fluttershy smiled again, and before she could respond, Twilight called for all of their attentions. As everyone gathered around her, Twilight cleared her throat before speaking.

“Alright,” she said with a nervous glance towards a hallway. “Let’s hurry and get to class. I don’t want any of us to get in trouble.”

“Ah, you worry too much,” Rainbow waved off, crossing her arms indifferently.

“I don’t know about that, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said matter-of-factly. “Sora and Roxas weren’t exactly subtle with their fighting.”

Sora put his hands behind his head, a mirthful smile on his lips, “We just can’t hold back I guess.”

Roxas shrugged with a neutral expression. “Yeah, I mean, why would we want to?”

Sora leaned towards Roxas, cupping his hand near his mouth as he spoke, “It’s a joke, Roxas.”

“It was?” Roxas asked, looking at Sora with a raised brow, wondering if he was lying or not.

Twilight groaned loudly, silencing anybody else from speaking. “Everyone,” she said, glancing at each person in turn. “We need to concentrate here. Let’s just sneak into our classrooms before-”

“Before what, Miss Sparkle?” a voice echoed in the room, making everyone flinch. The group turned towards the origin of the voice slowly, and saw Principal Celestia standing there. Her arms were crossed as she gazed towards the group with an unamused look. For the longest time, no one spoke, unsure whether that was a good thing to do at a time like that.

“Uh, heh, hello,” Twilight muttered with an uneasy smile, giving an awkward wave at the same time. “What brings you here, Principal Celestia?”

Celestia didn’t move a muscle as she spoke. “Just investigating several reports about several teenagers fighting each other with large sword-shaped keys.”

Everyone glanced to each other, wondering how to approach this situation. That is, everyone except Pinkie, who gave a loud gasp as she nearly jumped in recognition. “Oh!” she cried, raising her hand in the air. “That must have been Sora and Roxas! They were-”

Pinkie suddenly stopped herself as she threw her hands over her mouth. Sora and Roxas turned their gazes away from Celestia, trying not to look like a guilty party. Everyone else held their breath as Celestia narrowed her eyes at the two keybladers.

“Sora, Roxas,” she ordered, and the two faced her with looks of apology. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Sora took a moment to think before stepping away from the group. “Principal Celestia, I can explain everything,” he declared with determination. “These six had nothing to do with it.”

“Yeah,” Roxas added with a nod. “It’s our fault, don’t blame them.”

“Don’t say that!” Twilight shouted in despair, causing the two keybladers to turn towards her and the rest of the girls. “We should take some responsibility for it too.”

The other five girls nodded in agreement, even Fluttershy, though more shy than the others. Celestia rubbed her head irritably before sighing deeply. “I’m sorry, but I want to speak with these two boys privately.”

The five girls didn’t try to argue, but they shifted their weight around nervously while glancing between one another. It was clear that they were still uneasy with Sora and Roxas taking the blame. Seeing their distraught expressions, Sora turned to them with a smile. “Hey, don’t worry about us,” he said genuinely, his voice gentle. “We’ll be fine.”

“You sure about that?” Roxas questioned, raising a brow.

Sora rolled his eyes, and nodded at Roxas. “I’m sure.”

The six girls were still hesitant, but they didn’t have a chance to speak before Roxas and Sora walked over to Principal Celestia.

“You six better get to your classes,” she stated sternly, pointing a finger at them. “I’d hate to write you all up.”

And then they walked into the next hallway and out of sight. Their footsteps were still heard, but eventually they faded away, leaving the girls in a perpetual silence. At last, Twilight spoke up. “I guess… we should go now.”

“But what about Sora and Roxas?” Rarity asked, looking slightly frantic as she played with her hands. “We simply must get them out of trouble. It’s the least we could do after what they did for us.”

Twilight shook her head, “There’s nothing we can do right now.”

Everyone sagged their shoulders, their heads dipping low as they felt bad for what might happen to Sora and Roxas. With a final glance to each other, the girls split up, heading through different hallways for their classes. Everyone except Fluttershy, who was still staring at where she had last seen Sora. The charm he had given her was still in her hand, and she couldn’t help but smile at it.

***

“Did you really have to reveal yourself?” a figure in a black coat asked with exasperation, crossing his arms as he gazed across the library. Xigbar chuckled, shaking his head with a wicked smile.

“What can I say?” he said with a shrug, “I felt like they were at a disadvantage.”

“That’s because they were at a disadvantage,” the figure snapped, turning his head towards Xigbar. “And now we have lost it.”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Xigbar grinned, waving a finger in front of himself. “Did you forget about the little present that was so graciously given to us?”

The figure grunted disdainfully, “Yes, I did. And he would probably be as useful as Riku was.”

He gestured to Riku, who was laying on the ground nearby, unconscious. Xigbar, for the first time, looked deep in thought, his eyes glued to Riku. With another sigh, the figure continued. “You and I both know how difficult it is to take out the keyblade wielder.”

“Right,” Xigbar said, snapping back to his sneering self. He walked over to a nearby bookshelf and extracted a random book as he spoke. “So why don’t we just separate him from those six girls, and then take them out?”

The figure shook his head, a hand rising towards his hidden chin. “It won’t be that easy. The keyblade wielder is not as distracted as he once was.”

Xigbar chuckled at the memory of those times, flipping open the book as he looked inside of it, turning the page occasionally. A short silence filled the air, before the figure turned towards Xigbar with his head tilted to the side.

“What are you looking at?” he inquired, stepping closer to him.

“Just a yearbook,” he said, promptly shutting the book and tossing it over his shoulder, which landed onto the floor.

“Stay focused,” the figure snapped. “Let us report to our master and figure out our next move.”

“Whatever you say.” Xigbar grinned as the figure conjured up a Portal of Darkness. “This place was too colorful, anyway.”

***

The hallways seemed much longer to Sora than he remembered, as he and Roxas followed Principal Celestia. It just went on and on, and Sora wondered if it would ever end. Though it was rare, getting into this kind of trouble made Sora nervous. He just wanted to help, and it felt like he was being punished for it, even though that was not really the case. Eventually, the three of them arrived at Celestia’s office, and she opened it, quickly stepping to the side as she faced the two keybladers.

“Inside,” she said sternly, pointing a finger towards the interior of her office. Sora and Roxas winced from her tone and movement, and entered in single file, feeling worse for ware. However, as they entered, they were surprised with who was waiting for them in the room. King Mickey stood inside, facing them with a neutral expression as his hands were behind his back. Sora and Roxas were frozen in place, unsure what to say or do. As Celestia entered the room herself with a small smile, she shut the door closed, knocking Sora out of his shock.

“K-King Mickey!?” Sora balked, leaning forward while tilting his head left and right, seeing if it was some sort of trick.

“Hello Sora, Roxas,” King Mickey said, nodding to both in turn.

“You know who I am?” Roxas asked, leaning forward beside Sora, staring at the shorter Mickey with confusion.

“Riku has mentioned you before,” Mickey explained, a smile emerging briefly, “This is the first time I’ve met you.”

“Uh, it’s a pleasure, I guess,” Roxas said, standing back up as he rubbed the back of his head.

Sora shook his head, his face slightly desperate. “Your majesty!”

King Mickey whipped his head to Sora, his face turning from mild shock to a frown. “What are you doing here?” Sora asked without a hint of malice, “I thought you were with Lea and…”

Sora’s jaw dropped as his breathing stopped, jumping back as if he was struck. “Did something happen to Kairi?” he asked desperately, “Is she okay?”

“She’s fine, Sora,” King Mickey answered, holding his hands out to calm Sora down. “I left her with Master Yen Sid.”

Sora breathed a sigh of relief, taking a step back as he placed his hands over his heart. Celestia walked around them and sat in her office chair behind her desk, speaking up and catching everyone’s attention. “The reason I called you here is because King Mickey requested your presence.”

Sora wondered how Celestia knew Mickey, or even about everything else. Although, some leaders of worlds knew about the worlds outside their own, so it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise.

“Sora, Roxas,” Mickey said, his face growing serious as his brow furrowed. “Lea has been taken by the Organization.”

“Lea!?” Sora shouted, right before he glanced towards Roxas, who had a puzzled expression.

“Who’s Lea?” Roxas asked, looking between the Sora and King Mickey.

Sora crossed his arms, worry dominating his features. “Lea is… Axel.”

“Axel!?” Roxas exclaimed, his eyes wide as he looked to Mickey with a frantic expression. “Why is he called Lea? And what happened to him?”

“I know you two have a lotta questions,” Mickey said, his voice calm as began to pace in front of the two, “But we need to take this one step at a time.”

“Okay,” Sora drawled, nodding a little bit. “Let’s start at the beginning. How was Lea captured?”

King Mickey cleared his throat before answering, “Master Yen Sid contacted us, having discovered the Organization’s new hideout. I still can’t believe I hadn’t checked there sooner, but they were at the Keyblade Graveyard.”

“Keyblade Graveyard?” Sora questioned looking slightly baffled. The place sounded familiar to him for some reason. He was instantly shushed by Roxas, who was listening to every word to see what had happened to his best friend.

“We were told to scout it out, and see if his information held truth,” King Mickey continued, ignoring their brief exchange as he went deep into the story.

***

“I’m telling ya,” Mickey said, walking in front of Lea and Kairi, “They gotta be here. Master Yen Sid is rarely wrong.”

“And I’m telling you,” Lea yawned from the back of the group, his hands behind his head, looking quite bored, “There’s nothing here. So he got some misinformation, big deal. We still have time to take ‘em down, don’t we?”

“I don’t know, Lea,” Kairi responded with a shake of her head, her eyes furrowed as she strode along. “The sooner we find them, the sooner we can all go home.”

“Home…” Lea repeated idly to himself, glancing around the wide, arid canyon they were walking through. The closest place that Lea had come to calling home was the old castle in The World That Never Was. Even then, it was still hollow, and rather unwelcoming. Without Roxas there to lighten things up a bit, Lea probably would have become more of a Nobody than before.

“What’s the matter, Lea?” Kairi asked with a look of concern, slowing her pace to walk alongside him.

Lea lowered his arms, shrugging as he did. “Eh, just thinking about what it’s like to have a real home.”

The smile on Kairi’s face brought a smile to his own. “You can call Destiny Islands your home if you want,” she said, giving a small hop for emphasis.

Lea thought over that proposition, looking up at the sky in thought, before facing Kairi again. “Thanks. That sounds nice.”

Kairi giggled, nodding in agreement before focusing on the situation at hand. Lea, on the other hand, wondered if any place could be considered home without Roxas. He really missed that guy.

At that moment, King Mickey halted, his eyes wide for a brief moment before throwing a hand to the side. “Wait,” he ordered, and the other two did so immediately, searching for what had caught Mickey’s attention. Silence was all they were greeted with, everyone holding their breaths for whatever could come.

Suddenly, Neoshadow Heartless emerged from the ground, instantly surrounding the group of three. They all summoned their weapons, though Lea retrieved his Chakrams, as he was more proficient with them. There was an innumerable amount of Neoshadows, more than they could count. And one thing was for sure; they were waiting for them.

“Well,” Lea smirked, glancing around, “I guess this mission got a lot more exciting.”

“Something’s still off,” Mickey said, his head looking around the top of the canyon.

“There’s more?” Kairi asked, gripping her keyblade tightly. Since they were surrounded from all sides, they were cut off from Mickey’s Gummi Ship. They would have to fight their way through, and it was already bad enough with the Heartless.

“So much more, keyblader,” a grave, low voice echoed in the canyon. Everyone flinched when they heard it, knowing exactly who it was. King Mickey focused on a spot near the ledge of the left side of the canyon, where a figure in a black coat stood.

“Xemnas!” he exclaimed, but the figure did not react. Instead, he brought his hands up to his hood, pulling it off fluidly to reveal that it truly was Xehanort’s Nobody: Xemnas.

“Indeed,” Xemnas said monotonically with a nod. He gestured to the group. “How quaint it was to have you fall so easily into an ambush. And here I thought you were much more cautious than this.”

“Time’s ticking,” Lea shouted at him, twirling his chakrams in his hands. “We were on a tight schedule.”

“As am I,” Xemnas agreed, nodding again. “We have no use for any of you, just like the other keybladers.”

Kairi gasped, her expression one of pure shock. “Sora… Riku…”

Lea looked at her sympathetically. Having made friends with the two, he was worried as well for them, and hoped nothing happened to them. “Get ready you two,” Mickey said. “We’re gonna have to fight our way out.”

Lea and Kairi looked at each other and nodded in determination, turning back to back to face the hoard of Heartless. “How futile,” Xemnas grunted before leaping off the edge and landing in front of the Heartless a few yards away from Mickey. “Allow me to destroy you, and erase your existence.”

Without a word, Mickey charged towards Xemnas, Kingdom Key D in his hand. The Neoshadows tried to intercept, but Mickey swung his keyblade while hopping around, taking them out before they could get an attack in. Then, when they were out of the way, Mickey jumped towards Xemnas, ready to swing down on him. All this time, Xemnas remained still with a confident smile, but right before he could be struck, he called upon his Ethereal Blades, knocking the keyblade aside. Mickey was able to recover from the deflection and hop back a bit to give himself space.

Meanwhile, the other Neoshadows had begun their attack on Lea and Kairi. Kairi was able to bat them away with her keyblade, and since Lea had months of experience with his chakrams, he had no problem in taking out the Heartless. He threw his chakrams when the Neoshadows attempted to pounce on him, and when he was without his weapons, Lea would jump out of the way.

“These guys are way easier than Nobodies.” He smiled, lacing his chakrams with fire before throwing them out. They arced in a circle, wiping out any nearby Neoshadows before returning to Lea.

Kairi raised her keyblade into the air and summoned a storm of lightning to shower on the Neoshadows, taking out a good chunk of them. Though Kairi wouldn’t brag about it, she knew she was almost an expert in magic, more so than Riku or even Sora. She wasn’t sure why that was, but she didn’t question it, and just rolled with it.

Striking another Neoshadow down, Kairi turned to Lea. “We need to get back to the Gummi Ship!” she yelled, her tone desperate. Lea could tell she was growing nervous at the predicament they had gotten into, and he was no different. He was growing tired, and he didn’t want to have to sacrifice himself again.

After retrieving his chakrams again, Lea forced a lot of energy into them, and they glowed orange with power, fire surrounding the weapons. When they were ready, he threw his arms back and hurled his chakrams down the way the group had come through, taking out any Heartless in its path and carving an opening for everyone.

“Get to the Gummi Ship!” Lea shouted, his face serious as he pointed a finger at the lane he had created through the Heartless. “I’ll keep ‘em busy!”

Kairi made to argue, mainly because she hardly knew how to handle a Gummi Ship, but stopped herself, knowing there was no time for a rebuttal. She gave a curt nod and bolted down the path, striking at any Heartless that tried to swipe at her. For his part, Lea shouted at all the Heartless, gaining their attention.

“Hey! Over here, you dark freaks!” he shouted with a smirk, and his plan had worked, as a large number of the Neoshadows ignored Kairi and headed for him instead. Unfortunately, that meant that he had to fight twice as many Heartless. Lea sighed, “I really need to think over my plans.”

As Lea battled with more Heartless, Mickey was fighting Xemnas, but neither of them had much ground over the other. Ethereal Blades clashed with keyblade as the two never got a chance to land a hit. When they locked blades with each other again, Xemnas took a glance at the other two and gave a confident smirk.

“It seems one of your friends has abandoned you,” he said, and when Mickey pushed away from him, he took the chance to look over as well, seeing Kairi disappearing from around the canyon walls while Lea fought alone.

Xemnas took advantage of the distraction, rushing forward and hitting Mickey’s back. Mickey tumbled forward and then stopped in front of Lea, who was starting to become overwhelmed. Glancing down, Lea saw who had landed near him, and grew even more worried about the situation they got themselves into.

“Your majesty!” he yelled, kneeling down next to him while keeping a watchful eye for any Heartless hoping to get him unaware. “Are you alright?”

Mickey pushed himself to his feet, shaking off the little amount of pain that had remained. “I’m fine, Lea,” he said with a nod, as if confirming to himself as well. Mickey faced Xemnas, furrowing his brow as he saw him smirk triumphantly. “Where did Kairi go?”

Lea took the hint that Mickey didn’t want to be troubled over, and put his back to him, tightening his hold on his chakrams. “I told her to get the Gummi Ship,” he explained, seeing a Neoshadow leapt towards him. A quick throw of his weapon dispatched it quickly enough.

Mickey swiped at two other Neoshadows before turning towards Lea, his eyes wide. “Lea, Kairi doesn’t know how to pilot a Gummi Ship!” he nearly shouted, but Lea simply shrugged his shoulders as he looked over them.

“I don’t really think things through, okay?” he admitted, a small smile on his lips, “And besides, she’s a fast learner, isn’t she?”

Just when Lea finished that question, the Gummi Ship came around the corner of the canyon. Though it was swaying slightly, the vessel remained on course until it hovered over Lea and Mickey, who were mildly surprised that Kairi was able to fly over so quickly. Even Xemnas was slightly astonished by the ship’s appearance, though only showed it with a raised brow. The ramp underneath the ship opened, and Lea and Mickey knew it was their chance to escape.

When the Gummi Ship was low enough, King Mickey jumped up to the canyon wall, pushed off of it, and landed on the extended ramp. All the while, Lea was fighting tooth and nail, elegantly jumping to and fro while tossing his chakrams. Eventually, the Gummi Ship was low enough for Lea to jump on, but he was too busy to really notice.

“Lea!” Mickey called from the ramp, waving an arm around while the other held on to the supports that extended the ramp. “Come on!”

Lea grunted in understanding, and with another quick toss of his chakrams, he jumped up to the ramp with mickey, clinging to the other support. With a flick of his wrist, Lea summoned his own Keyblade. The Heartless, seeing their prey attempting to escape, jumped towards the Gummi Ship. Most latched onto the sides of the vessel, while others were killed quickly from the two keybladers on the ramp.

The ship rose away from the ground, and Mickey concluded that Kairi knew they had jumped on. However, just before the Gummi Ship cleared the canyon, more Neoshadows leapt onto the ship, putting more weight on it than it could support. The ship lurched downward as a result, catching Lea and Mickey off guard as they held on tighter to the only things that were keeping them from falling back down.

“I’m going to help Kairi,” Mickey announced, disappearing into the ship and leaving Lea to fight off the Heartless.

Lea glanced around, seeing more Neoshadows waiting to jump on and pull them down. He knew that there was no way they would be able to escape without someone jumping onto the canyon ledge and taking them off.

Lea sighed, “That person is going to have to be me, isn’t it?”

He grunted in amusement, a smile emerging, “Well, I guess it was destiny. And I shouldn’t argue with that.”

Then without another thought, he pushed off of the ramp, leaping the distance towards the canyon wall and landing on top, quickly taking out the heartless with his keyblade. When he had a bit of room, he dropped his keyblade and summoned his chakrams, throwing them at the Neoshadows clinging onto the Gummi Ship. The weapons did their work efficiently, taking out loads of them in one throw, and with a couple more tosses, Lea had cleared the Gummi Ship of Heartless.

In the cockpit, Mickey and Kairi stared at him in shock, not sure what to do. If they tried to go back and save him, the Gummi Ship would get swarmed again, but they couldn’t leave a friend behind.

Lea saw their distraught expressions, and his smile wavered for a second before he put both chakrams in one hand, and with the other hand, gave them a two-finger salute. With his small farewell, he turned to focus on the Neoshadows that were jumping amongst themselves, as if waiting for something to happen.

“What’s the matter?” he shouted, twirling his chakrams, “Afraid?”

“Heartless do not have fear,” Xemnas said, stepping out of the dark horde nonchalantly. “But you do, Axel.”

Xemnas was right. Lea was experiencing a bit of fear, but anger was growing, shoving the previous emotion away. “It’s Lea!” he shouted. “I’m not your lackey any more!”

Xemnas grunted, “We’ll see.”

With a battle cry, Lea surged forward as Xemnas summoned his Ethereal Blades. Though Mickey was confident in Lea’s abilities, he believed that Lea wasn’t capable of fighting off Xemnas, the Superior of the In-Between.

***

“Then, well… I think ya know what happened next,” Mickey finished up, bowing his head slightly. Roxas was speechless from the tale he had heard, unsure exactly what to think as he took a few steps back. His best friend was gone, and it made him feel distant as the conversation continued without him.

“Lea,” Sora muttered, remembering when he had used up all of his power to help Sora get to The World That Never Was. Lea was just the kind of guy to do something like that again.

“Me and Kairi took off after Lea was defeated,” Mickey continued. “We couldn’t go help him without all of us being taken down. We didn’t want to waste the opportunity Lea had given us.”

“What about the guns on the Gummi Ship?” Sora asked desperately, crouching down to Mickey’s level. “Why couldn’t you use them?”

Mickey shook his head. “There were too many Heartless, Sora. They just kept coming. I’m sure there were way more than there were at Radiant Garden.”

At the mention of that world, Sora’s eyes lit up in remembrance and he sighed. He had to fight off a thousand of them by himself, and if there was more than that at the Keyblade Graveyard, then Sora couldn’t fault Mickey or Kairi for being unable to help Lea.

A thought struck Sora as he stood back up, crossing his arms. “Why couldn’t Kairi come, your majesty?” he asked, “I wouldn’t mind seeing her again.”

“Master Yen Sid is training her until I get back,” Mickey explained, walking past Sora. “We all need to be at our peak as soon as possible. Speaking of which, I need to return to her, since I told you fellas what happened.”

Mickey glanced sympathetically at Roxas, who was leaning against the wall, his eyes trained to the floor. When he arrived at the doorway, Mickey turned around and faced Sora. “Keep doing what you’re doing,” he said with a curt nod. “I’m having Principal Celestia watch over both of ya, so don’t mess up.”

Sora stood to attention. “You got it, your Majesty.”

With a final nod, Mickey opened the door and left the room, leaving a perpetual silence in his wake. After a moment of thought, Sora eyed Roxas, who was still in a sort of trance. “Hey,” Sora called, causing Roxas to jerk awake, facing up towards him. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” Roxas answered, stepping closer to Sora. “It’s just… a lot to take in.”

“I know how you feel,” Sora said with a reassuring smile. “Kairi was taken by the Organization one time. I’m sure Lea is just fine.”

Roxas took a deep breath, forcing a smile of his own. “I guess. Still can’t believe Axel is Lea now.”

Sora chuckled at the remark, but was quickly silenced when a soft cough turned their attention to Principal Celestia. “I’m sorry to break up your little talk,” she said with a look in her eyes, “but I’m still responsible for you both.”

“Right,” Sora nodded, lifting his hand to his chin while his other hand supported his elbow. “By the way, how do you know about the other worlds out there?”

Celestia smiled, as if a fond memory had passed by. “It’s… fairly complicated. All I can say is that it took a princess to set things straight for me.”

Sora looked to Roxas, seeing if he understood her subtle explanation. However, Roxas just shrugged, not knowing either. “Now then,” Celestia spoke again, sitting up in her chair as her voice took on a tone of authority, “I still have to discipline you for using your keyblades in public.”

“What were we supposed to do?” Roxas asked rather harshly, “Let them hurt those girls?”

“Of course not,” Celestia replied, her voice never wavering. Sora knew she must have been a refined leader to be able to do that. “But I believe that a little detention wouldn’t be so bad. Especially for boys such as yourselves.”

Sora looked up in thought, an embarrassed smile emerging. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Excellent,” Celestia said, “Now, Roxas, I would like you to watch Twilight Sparkle.”

Both Sora and Roxas were taken aback by that, confusion laced in their expressions. Roxas shook his head to regain his composure before he spoke. “Pardon me for asking,” he said with a hint of sarcasm, “But why do you want me to watch her?”

“For a few reasons,” Celestia explained, standing from her chair as she walked around the desk. When she arrived at the front, she leaned back and sat on it comfortably before continuing. “The one reason I’m allowed to tell you is because she’s working far too hard on the project miss Cheerilee has assigned. Her friends are awfully worried about her, and I have a feeling you’ll be able to assist her.”

Roxas sighed; he didn’t like babysitting, but maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, especially since he was just watching a friend. It might even get his mind to forget about Axel, or Lea.

“And Sora-” Celestia began.

“Excuse me, miss,” Sora interrupted politely. “Is it alright if I make a request?”

Celestia tilted her head a bit, an eyebrow raised before she nodded. “I’d like to help Fluttershy with her detention,” Sora said, scratching the back of his head. “If that’s alright.”

Celestia thought about it a moment before something dawned in her head, and she broke out into a grin. “Very well, Sora. I will tell Vice Principal Luna that you are in detention with her.”

Sora was slightly put off with her smile. Maybe he was a bit obvious with his request. After all, he just felt like he should protect Fluttershy even more than the others… even though he had given her the means of protecting herself not thirty minutes ago. A small blush appeared on his cheeks, despite the fact that no one had said a word that would provoke such a thing as his gaze fell to the floor,

“I’ll sort out the details,” Celestia said, either ignoring Sora’s blush or not noticing it. “For now, I want Roxas to head to the chancellor's office for orientation. Do you think you can do that for me, Sora?”

“No problem,” Sora answered with a determined nod. “I think I can navigate around this school much better than I used to.”

“Then you both are free to go,” Celestia finished, gesturing to the door behind him. Sora and Roxas said their goodbyes before walking out the door with Sora leading. As they walked down the hall, Sora didn’t hear Roxas’ footsteps and stopped as he turned his head with a hint of puzzlement.

He saw Roxas with a forlorn look, his shoulders sagging. Seeing him in such a state, Sora frowned and faced him fully. “Roxas?” Sora called, but it didn’t snap Roxas out of it.

“Sorry,” Roxas apologized with a small grunt as he faced Sora. “I guess I’m-”

He stopped himself, his eyes widening as his jaw dropped. The girl from his dream, the girl with the Organization coat and black hair, was standing right behind Sora at the end of the hallway. She just stood there with a neutral expression, not doing anything at all as she stared right at Roxas.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Sora asked, crossing his arms, and making Roxas look to Sora in his stunned behavior.

“It’s the girl!” Roxas shouted, pointing a finger at the girl as she turned and walked up a staircase out of sight, just as Sora turned to see the empty hallway.

“What girl?” Sora asked, but didn’t receive an answer. Instead, Roxas ran right past him, and Sora jumped a bit in surprise.

“Come on!” he yelled back at him before quickly heading up the stairs. “She went this way!”

Sora didn’t waste another second, bounding off after Roxas, curious as to what Roxas had seen. The two ran through a few hallways, with Roxas saying she went a certain way, though Sora had no clue how he knew, since Sora didn’t see her at all.

With one last turn, the two of them ended up in the library, looking every which way for the girl Roxas had spotted. But no matter where they looked, there was no sign that anyone had been there, except for the book on the floor.

“Where… where did she go?” Roxas asked, before a bit of anger flared up inside of him. “Hey! Where are you!?”

“Roxas, calm down,” Sora said, gesturing with his hands for emphasis. “There’s no one here.”

“But I saw her,” Roxas said with a stomp of his foot. “She ran in here, and…”

Sora sighed, wondering what Roxas had really seen. It could have been a trick from the Organization, or Vexen and Zexion, but there was no trap or ambush waiting for them. What could it have been?

While in thought, Sora walked up to the open book on the ground, seeing that it was a year book of some sort. He crouched down, picked it up, and brought up to look at it. He saw multiple pictures of the students, and when he turned a few pages, his face lit up in recognition.

“Oh,” he said, causing Roxas to stop in his search for a moment, “This must have been those girls.”

Curious, Roxas briskly walked over to Sora, looking over his shoulder. He saw a picture of the girls they had befriended in this world, though without Twilight. They all sat together happily, and it was somewhat obvious that they were a few years younger than they were. If Sora had to figure out how old exactly, he’d say that they were about as old as when he was first whisked away from his island.

“Heh,” Roxas said, a real smile emerging for the first time in a while. “They sure do look happy.”

“And we need to keep it that way,” Sora declared, his face hardening as he closed the book. He walked over to a nearby cart and placed it on it before facing Roxas again. “We have to protect them, and save the magic of friendship.”

Roxas was about to remark how weird that sounded when it was said aloud, but kept his mouth shut, nodding instead. With another nod from Sora, he waved for Roxas to follow him, and the two walked out of the library, not seeing the black haired girl that stood behind them. She had very faint smile on her lips as she watched the boys leave.