“Never you mind.”
After Marluxia’s curt reply, silence filled the strained atmosphere until Larxene broke it. “Are you for real?”
Marluxia didn’t answer, and then Vexen vanished from the room without another word.
“You give a challenge like that to Vexen, and he’ll seriously try to eliminate Sora,” said Axel, not to place any blame, but as a statement of fact.
“That would be an unfortunate denouement.” Marluxia turned away and strode toward the corner, where a girl sat alone—Naminé.
“What will you do?” he asked her. “Before long, your hero will be wiped from existence. But I believe there is a certain promise that he made you. Isn’t that right, Naminé?”
“Yes…,” said Naminé in a thin, tiny voice.
Donald waddled through the hall, up the stairs to the next door. Behind him, Goofy paused for a moment to look back at Sora, and worry came into his face.
Donald turned, too. “What floor are we on now? We must’ve come pretty far up!”
Seeing that they were both worried about him, Sora felt less certain about what he should do.
Riku…and Naminé. I want to help both of them, and they’re both here in this castle.
And it’s possible that they both hate me.
He took a huge breath and sighed.
“Sora!” Jiminy Cricket hopped out of his pocket. “We must’ve lost quite a lot of memories by now. But it’s still not too late. Don’t you think we ought to turn back?”
Instead of meeting Jiminy’s gaze, Sora looked up at the ceiling. Leave Riku? And Naminé? How could he?
“I can’t do that. I’d be breaking a promise I made a long time ago.”
Right. I made a promise to Naminé.
“A promise? What would that be?” Jiminy asked.
Sora knew he’d made that promise—he had. “I promised Naminé when we were little—that I’d keep her safe, no matter what. But I forgot it… I didn’t remember until I started forgetting everything else!”
When was it? he thought. I promised her…standing on the white sand.
But what did I have to keep Naminé safe from?
Was Riku there, too?
It was such a vague memory…hazy, barely there. He was only sure of one part—
“I know you will!”
Their joined hands pulled apart. The worlds crumbling. The rain of light falling. So many, many shooting stars.
I know I made a promise to her. That I’d keep her safe no matter what.
“That’s why I can’t leave,” he said. “Now that I remember the promise, I have to keep it.”
“Of course.” Jiminy gave him a kind smile. “We understand, Sora.”
“You gotta keep your promises!” Goofy agreed.
“So I’ll keep going,” said Sora. “Will you guys come with me?”
Donald jumped at him. “Wak! What kinda question is that?!”
We won’t turn back, Sora told himself. Even if I lose my memories, I’ll still save Naminé.
Feeling gladder, he nodded to them. “Thanks, everyone.”
“Aw, don’t be so stuffy,” Donald scolded, embarrassed, and turned away in a huff.
“Yeah! Ahyuck. All for one and one for all!” Goofy added.
Jiminy Cricket nodded. “Right. Your friends won’t let you go on alone!”
“Well, let’s get going!” said Donald.
Sora ran for the door to the next floor.
“Say, how many cards do you have left, anyway?” Donald asked.
“Just this one.”
Donald and Goofy peered at the card in Sora’s hand.
He stared at it, too, puzzled. “Huh. What’s this picture of?”
The card showed an old, shelf-worn book, one he couldn’t remember ever seeing before.
“Have we been to a world…that has anything to do with that?” Donald wondered.
“Gawrsh, we didn’t remember the world we were just in, too,” said Goofy, shrugging. “So maybe we forgot?”
“Well, let’s go see if we remember!” Sora held up the card.
Bright springtime sunlight warmed his face. Nearby was a forest teeming with flowers.
“Huh? Donald! Goofy!” Sora looked around, but the other two were nowhere to be seen. He lightly patted his pocket—Jiminy Cricket was gone, too.
“Where am I…?” Glancing side to side in search of the others, he spied someone else—a stout little bear, wearing a red sweater over his yellow fur, more like a plush toy than a real animal. But he seemed confused.
“What’s wrong, little fella?” asked Sora.
The little bear looked up, not in much of a hurry. He was rather mellow for a bear. “I’m looking for my friends.”
“Are they around here?” Sora didn’t see anyone—not his friends or anyone who might be the bear’s friends, either. “It looks like nobody’s here.”
“Oh. Then, perhaps I’m looking for nobody.”
“You’re looking for nobody…?” What could that mean?
“I suppose I must be. But they don’t seem to be anywhere.” The bear sat down on the spot and stared absently up at the sky. “And all this searching is making my tummy rumble. I wonder if there’s any honey about… Oh, but if I stop to eat, I shall first have to stop searching…” He tapped his head.
“Why don’t we look for your friends together?” said Sora.
“For nobody, you mean?” The bear deliberately got to his feet again.
“No, no. For your friends. They might be around here. Let’s find them together.”
And we might find Donald and Goofy, too, Sora thought. Anyway, I can’t just ignore someone else saying he’s looking for his friends.
“Are you looking for my friends too?” said the bear.
Sora smiled at him. “No, but I’m looking for some friends of my own.”
“Oh… Are they also friends of Pooh? Even though I am Pooh, and you are not.”
“You’re Pooh, and I’m Sora. I don’t think our friends are the same friends. But I do know what it’s like to miss them. So why don’t we look together?”
“I’d like that, Sora.” Pooh smiled brightly with his wide mouth and started walking.
The forest was full of twittering birds, completely peaceful. There didn’t seem to be any Heartless in this world at all.
“What are your friends like, Pooh?” asked Sora.
“My friends? Hmm, now, there’s Piglet, yes, and Owl. Then there are Roo and Tigger… Eeyore… Rabbit… And…”
“Wow, you have a lot of friends.”
A butterfly fluttered by in front of them.
“What about you, Sora?”
“Me?” Sora stopped in thought and folded his arms.
“What are your friends like?” said Pooh.
“Well, there’s Donald and Goofy and Jiminy… And Naminé…and Riku!”
“Not quite as many as Pooh’s friends.”
“…That’s not quite true. I do have a lot of friends.” He just couldn’t remember them.
I know I have a lot more friends, but… I can’t remember.
Some of them were back on the Destiny Islands. And some of them were on other worlds…but he’d forgotten so many of them.
“It’s nice to have a lot of friends,” said Pooh.
“Yeah. It is.”
The carefree little bear walked very slowly, and Sora had to wait for him, which meant they weren’t getting very far.
“Oh! There we go!” Seeing a wheelbarrow beside the path, Sora ran over to it. “Pooh, why don’t you get in this?”
If Pooh rode in the wheelbarrow, Sora could push him and go faster, and they were bound to find their friends sooner.
“Oh, all right…”
When Pooh trundled over, Sora picked him up and put him into the wheelbarrow, but— “Whoa!”
The wheel fell off.
“We broke it,” Pooh said, not particularly dismayed.
“Oh well…” Sora took him out of the w
heelbarrow bed, and they started walking again.
“This is rather fun, isn’t it?”
“Really?” With his hands clasped behind his head, Sora looked up at the sky. It wasn’t a piercing bright blue, but a soft, gentle sort of blue.
“Walking with a friend is always fun,” said Pooh.
“Yeah, you’re right… Hey, look!” Sora pointed, and Pooh stood on tiptoe to see. There was a tiny pig darting in and out of the bushes. “Is that one of your friends, Pooh?”
Sora broke into a run, and Pooh toddled after him. “C’mon, hurry!”
“Oh, do slow down… I’m rather rumbly in my tumbly…”
“Okay, okay.” Sora got there first and turned to wait for Pooh. Dashing in and back out of the bush, the tiny pig ran into the back of his legs.
“Oooh! Oh no! Oh, dear! D-don’t mind me!” Trembling, the pig looked timidly up at Sora.
“You’re not Pooh’s friend?”
“Well, I, no, I’m not! Er, that is—I’m not not Pooh’s friend!” the little pig blurted in a rush as Pooh caught up to them.
“Why, hello there, Piglet.”
“Oh! It’s you, Pooh! I finally found someone!” Piglet sighed in relief and smiled at Pooh. “I lost the others, and I was so worried, I didn’t know what to do.”
“So that’s why you were so fidgety?” said Sora, a little surprised.
“Come with us, Piglet, and we’ll find the rest of our friends,” said Pooh.
“What?” Piglet looked down, abashed. “Oh, my, I don’t know… What should I do…?”
“What do you want to do?” asked Sora.
“Ohh… I don’t know… Oh! Wait!” All of a sudden, Piglet ran into the bushes again. “I promised to give you this.”
They could see a blue balloon tied to a branch as if to keep it well hidden.
“Oh, thank you, Piglet! Now I’ll be able to get some honey.” Pooh ambled into the bushes and took the balloon.
“But how are you going to get honey with a balloon?” said Sora.
“Very easily, of course, Sora! All I have to do is hold on to the balloon, and I’ll float up to where the honey is.”
“Will that really work…?” Sora tilted his head, but Pooh was already in the air, floating away. “Pooh!”
The wind caught the balloon, and Pooh rose steadily higher.
“G-golly…,” Piglet murmured, watching him.
“Pooh! Where are you going?!” Sora jumped up, trying to grab Pooh’s foot, but he couldn’t quite reach.
Just then, he heard wings flapping, and a great big bird caught Pooh by the shoulders. “Hoo-hoo! Are you all right, Pooh?”
The bird—he was an owl—brought Pooh back down to the ground and flew up again to perch on a nearby tree, looking down at them.
“Oh yes, Owl. I’m quite all right,” Pooh replied, quite untroubled, and got to his feet.
“Really, Pooh, you must be more careful.”
“I was having fun. Although I would have liked to fly some more…” Pooh looked up at Sora.
“Well, from up in the air, it might be easier for Pooh to find his friends,” said Sora.
“Hoo-hoo! Why, that might be so, young man—but once he finds them, what then?”
“Huh?”
“If you spot your friends from up in the air, how do you get down to them? You see, a balloon goes only where the wind blows. Which is usually up!” Owl explained. “You could find your friends only to have the wind keep them just out of reach. Why, I’d rather have to keep looking for my friends than find them and not be able to reach them.”
Finding a friend and not being able to reach him… Like Sora had found Riku.
“If you want to find someone, you’d best do it on foot,” Owl went on. “It can be quite exciting, after all, to stumble across a friend where you least expect them!”
“Well, that is how I feel…when I stumble across some honey,” said Pooh.
“Hoo! That’s the spirit, Pooh. Keep moving and keep looking.” With that, Owl spread his wings and flew away.
“That’s what I’ll do,” Pooh agreed. “My tummy is anxious for me to find that honey.”
“Aren’t we looking for your friends and not honey?” Sora reminded him.
“Oh yes… That’s right.”
Pooh and Sora looked at each other and laughed.
“And yet, I am rather hungry…” As Pooh said that a bee went bumbling by.
“A honeybee,” said Sora. “That must mean there’s a hive nearby.”
“Do you think so?” Pooh went clambering after the bee.
Sora walked beside him. It looked like the beehive was under a tree not far away. There were quite a lot of bees buzzing around.
“Is this really a good idea?” Sora worried, hanging back.
Pooh kept going closer. “Of course it is!”
But the moment he stuck a paw into the hive, the bees came after him.
“Oh, dear!” Pooh ran with a burst of speed that Sora wouldn’t have imagined he had in him.
“Pooh!” Sora had instinctively covered his face, and peeked between his fingers to see Pooh run right into a big, heavy tree trunk. A piece of gray rope with a little pink ribbon attached fell out of the tree.
“Oh, ouch…” Pooh rubbed his head as Sora dashed over to him.
“Pooh, are you all right?”
“Oh, my…”
Amid the commotion, a gray donkey slowly came toward them and picked up the piece of rope.
“Much obliged, Pooh,” the donkey said in a low, lazy voice and turned to attach the rope to his own rear.
“Hm? Oh, it’s you, Eeyore,” said Pooh. “I’m sure I’m obliged to you, too. But…er…for what?”
“For running into that tree and getting my tail back for me.”
So the piece of gray rope was really the donkey’s tail.
“Oh, but I was only trying to get away from those bees.”
“Well, anyhow, you helped me. Thanks, Pooh. And…whoever.”
“I’m Sora!”
“Thanks, Sora.”
“You’re welcome, Eeyore!” Pooh and Sora both nodded.
They hadn’t really come here to help Eeyore—it had only happened by accident. But still, they ended up helping.
Just like I never thought Naminé would be in Castle Oblivion when I came here…, Sora thought. But she is here, and she’s in trouble. So I want to help her.
“What’s the matter, Sora?” asked Pooh.
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
Sora and Pooh went on through the wood.
Even with all the to-do, it was such a peaceful place. Sora hadn’t been able to go anywhere without running into Heartless. It felt like a while since he’d been able to take a nice, lazy stroll like this.
“We haven’t found any of your friends, Sora,” Pooh remarked, as if it weren’t much to be concerned about.
“Yeah… Huh. Maybe they’re not here after all.”
“Oh…” Pooh did sound a little disappointed at that.
“But I know I’ll find them sometime,” said Sora. “So let’s keep looking together!”
“Perhaps you’re right… Oh. There are Roo and Tigger!” Pooh began to amble faster, and up ahead Sora could see a little kangaroo joey hopping on tree stumps. Beside him, a tiger stood with folded arms, looking very serious.
“You don’t understand the true meaning of bouncing!” Tigger told little Roo. “You can’t just copy ol’ Tigger now. You’ve got to find your own way of bouncing if you want to bounce like me! Hoo-hoo-hoo!”
Using his tail like a spring against a tree stump, Tigger launched into the air.
“What wonderful bouncing!” Pooh clapped his paws.
Roo turned to greet him. “Hello, Pooh!”
“Hello there, Roo.” Pooh waved. “What are you doing?”
“Tigger’s teaching me to bounce.” Roo jumped down, smiling. “I was waiting for him in the windy hollow, but I got a little lonely and tired o
f waiting.”
“Hullo, Pooh!”
“Hello, Tigger.” Pooh waved politely to the tiger, too.
“Say, how would you like to bounce with us?”
Pooh didn’t seem terribly interested in the invitation. “Hmm…”
“Aw, let’s try it, Pooh!” Sora gave him a boost up onto a stump. “Just follow me!”
And Sora did a flip in the air as he leaped to another stump.
“Oh, dear, I can’t do that.”
“Sure, you can!”
Tigger and Roo were also watching Pooh.
“Here goes!” Pooh jumped up and got both feet in the air.
“Not bad at all!” said Tigger, bouncing on his tail. “But neither of you really understand the true meaning of bouncing!”
“The true meaning?” said Sora.
“Yep! You don’t have to do it like me, even though bouncing’s what Tiggers do best,” Tigger replied, demonstrating. “Bouncing is best, you see, when you do it your own way! ’Cos I’m Tigger, and you’re Sora. Hoo-hoo-hoo!”
Even in such a bright, peaceful place, Sora’s thoughts kept turning gloomy.
I’m me. And you’re you.
We both want the same thing, but we’re doing it differently… So why do we have to fight…?
How do I get Riku to go back to the Riku I know?
And where is Naminé?
“All right, Tigger and Roo. I’ll see you sometime or another.” Pooh waved to them and started to leave. “Let’s go, Sora. We’ve got to find your friends.”
Sora snapped out of it, returning to the present. “Oh. Yeah!”
He followed Pooh.
Why is such a nice place making me think all these sad thoughts? This isn’t even like me…
A butterfly flew between them, flapping its bright little wings. And just then, something big and round and green came tumbling at them.
“Whoa!” Sora jumped out of the way, but Pooh got bowled over and went tumbling right along with it. “Pooh!”
He was still clinging to the green thing when Sora helped him up. “Oh, ouch…”
“What is that?”
The green thing turned out to be a cabbage. “Why, it must be one of Rabbit’s…” Holding on to it, Pooh made a puzzled face.
“Rabbit? That’s one of your friends, right?”
“That’s right. He’s always tending his vegetable garden. He must be in some trouble, I think, if his cabbages are rolling away like this…”
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories The Novel (light novel) Page 12