“Well, then, we’d better pick them up.” More cabbages came tumbling down the path, and Sora caught them. Soon there was a pile. “You should help, too, Pooh!”
“Oh yes.” Pooh tried to catch one, but it only bounced off his stout belly.
“Hey, hey!” A cream-colored rabbit came bounding after the cabbages. “You two! Have you seen my cabbages?”
“You mean these?” Sora proudly pointed to the pile.
“Oh! Yes, those, yes! So you caught them for me! They were so much trouble to carry, I thought I would roll them, but that didn’t work out very well at all, you see.”
“It certainly was a surprise when they came tumbling down the path out of nowhere,” said Pooh, although he didn’t sound as if it had been much of a surprise for him.
“I nearly got bowled over,” Sora added. “And Pooh did.”
“I’m sorry, I’m terribly sorry!” Then Rabbit flew into a huff. “Actually, I did mean to use the wheelbarrow, but someone’s broken it!”
That wheelbarrow…?
“Unbelievable! Just outrageous! Who would go about breaking wheelbarrows?!”
“Well, I do believe So—” Pooh began.
Sora clamped a hand over Pooh’s mouth. “Hey! P-Pooh! C’mon, we’d better go! Aren’t we in a hurry?!”
“Oh yes, that’s right. Good-bye, Rabbit.” Pooh waved as though nothing at all could be wrong and started walking.
“Well. Thank you for catching my cabbages!” Holding the bundle of cabbages, Rabbit nodded to them.
“Heh… Actually, we ought to apologize…,” Sora mumbled.
“Whatever do you mean?”
“N-nothing at all! Never mind!” Sora scrambled after Pooh.
As they walked along, Sora was thinking, It’s no fun being separated from your friends. Being able to see them and not reach them is even lonelier.
To just keep waiting and do nothing at all…that’s lonely, too.
But Riku and I don’t feel the same way about things. Maybe I made something awful happen without thinking anything of it…
“Whew… We’ve walked such a long way, Sora. I think I need a little rest. If only I had a honeypot for company…”
Only when Pooh spoke to him did Sora notice that he had stopped, lost in thought. “What about your friends?”
“Oh, we did find all of them, after all.” Pooh plopped down on the grass with a smile.
“Hey, Pooh… Do you think I helped you find them?”
“Of course you did. Thank you, Sora.”
Hearing Pooh say that put him in higher spirits. In this world without Donald or Goofy, Sora had been able to help someone else find their friends. He was glad he’d helped Pooh.
“All right,” said Sora. “I’d better be going soon.”
“Where to?”
“…To see my friends.” Sora’s hand tightened on the Keyblade.
“Then, I shall help you look for them, too.”
“That’s okay, Pooh. You should stay here.”
This world was so different from the rest, with all the Heartless and the black-robed figures. This was where Pooh belonged.
“You mean…this is good-bye?” said Pooh.
“No way! I’ll always know where to find you. Well, unless I forget…”
That was a sad thought.
If I forget about my friends, does that mean they aren’t my friends anymore?
Like Riku doesn’t think that I’m his friend anymore.
So if I forget about Pooh, then…
Pooh interrupted his sad thoughts again. “Don’t worry. You can count on me. Even if you forget Winnie the Pooh, I won’t forget Sora.”
“…Thanks, Pooh.” That really did make him feel much better. “Well, I’m off now.”
“Good-bye, Sora.”
Sora walked to the door he could see behind some bushes.
CHAPTER 8
TWILIGHT TOWN
The first time we met was in that town.
And ever since we met, I’ve been here.
Someone who seems the same. Who smells the same.
And you, Sora…
The first time I met you was on the island.
Don’t you remember?
Where was it you made that promise to me—to the real me?
I’m waiting on the island.
Hey, what can I do?
What is it…that I can do?
“SORA!”
As soon as he stepped into the marble hall, Donald and Goofy ran up to him. “We were gettin’ worried,” said Goofy.
“Me, too!” Sora exclaimed. “Where were you guys?!”
Donald and Goofy looked at each other.
“What were you doing, Goofy?”
“What about you, Donald?”
Apparently they’d been apart, too.
“Well, where were you, Jiminy?” said Donald.
Sora only noticed that Jiminy Cricket was back in his pocket when he jumped out of it.
Jiminy cocked his head, puzzled. “Actually, I’m not real sure.”
“We just came to and we were here!” Donald looked even more confused.
“What were you up to, Sora?” Goofy asked.
“When I went through the door, I was all alone in this beautiful forest, and there was a toy bear named Pooh…”
Sora meant to keep explaining—but just then, the air wavered.
Sensing it, he turned with the Keyblade ready. “Who’s there?!”
“Hmph… An ill-mannered lot.” A man stood there, another one in a black cloak like Axel and Larxene. His long hair was parted to either side as if he would hate to have it fall in his face. “Well, I’ll introduce myself, anyway. I am Vexen. I have come to collect your debt, Sora.”
He raised a shield at Sora—it wasn’t a usual sort of shield, but on the larger side, with blades spiking from the edge.
“A debt?” said Donald, mystified. “Sora, do you owe something to this guy?”
Sora couldn’t remember ever meeting him before. “Come on. Of course not.”
“Oh, but you do.” Vexen gave him a twisted smile. “You owe me for reuniting you with your former friend.”
“You don’t mean…?” Sora started. His former friend? That could really only mean one person…
Riku.
Sora glared at Vexen. “Then you… You’re the one… You’re the one who’s been controlling Riku?!”
“Indeed. I brought him to you,” Vexen said coldly and shifted his shield.
“What have you done with him?!” Sora stalked closer, gripping the Keyblade.
“I see no need to give you any information about where Riku is. After all… Why should I trouble you in your final hour?” Vexen lunged with the shield as if he meant to knock the Keyblade from Sora’s hands.
The blades nearly caught him. Sparks flew.
“Now freeze!” Vexen flung away the Keyblade, with Sora holding on to it, and from the palm of his hand shot a blast of ice.
“Whoa!” Ice crystals clustered around Sora, freezing his feet in place.
“Wak! Fira!” Donald furiously waved his wand and the ice melted away, but not before the hem of Sora’s pants caught fire.
“Ouch!” He jumped and patted the flames out. “Easy there, Donald!”
“Excuse me, you were about to turn into a snowman!” Donald retorted.
“Well, that’s enough playing in the snow,” said Vexen, not even a little winded, and raised his arm again. “Begone!”
“Look out!” Goofy shoved Sora out of the way. Spikes of ice thrust up from the floor behind Goofy, following him. He yelped and managed to avoid them, dancing in a zigzag.
“Turn Riku back to normal!” Sora shouted and made a huge leap, but Vexen only pushed him aside with the spiked shield.
“Oh, you won’t be able to land any blows on me.”
It was true. Sora couldn’t get around that shield to deal him any damage.
“Sora!”
He’d hit the gr
ound. Donald and Goofy ran to him.
“How can I beat him…?” Sora mumbled, and his friends spoke to him in whispers. “Oh. Okay!”
He got up and pointed the Keyblade straight at Vexen.
“Exactly what do you intend to do?” Vexen blithely looked down his nose at Sora.
“This!” From a good distance, Sora hurled the Keyblade at him.
And Donald shot a spell at it. “Fira!”
Now the Keyblade, wreathed in flames, flew at Vexen.
With an annoyed sound, he flung out more ice, trying to stop it, but—
“Aw, no, you don’t!” Goofy was already there to block the ice with his shield.
“What—?!”
Then the fiery Keyblade struck Vexen in the chest.
“We did it!”
“So, you can fight after all…,” Vexen muttered as he collapsed to his knees. Slowly, he got up again, and his voice was full of overconfidence even while his face was contorted in pain. “I might have expected—you’re not one to die very easily.”
“As if we’d ever lose to you!” Donald shouted from behind Sora.
“I wouldn’t be so sure. Did you even notice? As we fought, I was delving deep into your memories. And here… Look what I found! A card crafted from all the memories locked in the other side of your heart. If you really want to fight me, step into the world that you create with that card!” And Vexen tossed a single card in Sora’s direction.
“Hey, wait!”
Ignoring Sora’s cry of protest, he smirked and vanished.
“Memories…in the other side…?” Sora walked closer to the card that he’d let fall to the floor. The picture showed a clock tower with bells on either side and the setting sun behind it. He’d never seen a place like that…
“That’s what the feller said, huh?” Goofy picked up the card. “I wonder what’ll happen if you use it?”
“Only one way to find out!” Donald stood on tiptoe to get a closer look at it.
“…Well, I don’t have any other cards now,” said Sora. “So I’ll have to use it if we keep going.”
“But still… Gee, I don’t have a good feeling about this one.” Goofy looked at him nervously as he took the card.
“Let’s go. We have to beat that guy to get Riku back to normal.”
“Oh. Yeah.”
Donald and Goofy nodded as Sora faced the door, card in hand.
“Here we go!” He lifted it high.
“Oh, dear—doesn’t it look like Vexen’s gone and lost his cool?” Larxene giggled, staring into the crystal ball. She and two more of the organization’s members stood around it, watching the image of Sora and his friends versus Vexen. “So what now, Axel? I thought Sora wasn’t supposed to find out about the other side.”
Hearing that phrase, Axel finally looked at her.
The other side—the world of Sora’s other memories.
Twilight Town.
The place where we met…
“Well, as long as no one confronts him, we should be able to get away with it.” Axel’s brows drew together. “But…”
Marluxia didn’t wait for him to finish. “Let’s have Naminé deal with it. And you go, too, Axel. I trust you know what needs to be done.”
Axel’s frown twisted into a cocky grin. “Haven’t a clue, really. Maybe you could spell it out for me.”
“Vexen has clearly committed an act of treason against the organization,” said Marluxia with a small smile, as if they were speaking of trifles. “You must eliminate the traitor.”
“No taking that back later.” Without wasting any more time, Axel turned and left.
Larxene was laughing quietly. “Too clever by half, Marluxia.”
“So what happens now, I wonder?”
Marluxia and Larxene returned their gaze to the crystal ball.
The sky over their heads was stained red with sunset—a beautiful twilight sky that brought a dreamy feeling of déjà vu. In the center of the town a clock tower stood tall, with bells hanging on either side, seeming to glow in the vermilion light.
A few steps ahead, Donald looked back at the other two. “So… Where are we, Sora?”
The streets they stood in felt cozy somehow. Some of the roads were wider, looking spacious enough for large vehicles to pass. But they didn’t see any people.
“I don’t remember being here before, either.” Sora squinted at the buildings on the other side of the street. He didn’t remember it. But somehow he knew this place.
“Maybe you forgot this town, too, just like the other stuff,” said Goofy.
Then Jiminy jumped out of Sora’s pocket, looking concerned. “Our memories are practically gone…”
Silence stretched between the four of them.
“We’ll be okay,” Sora said brightly and took out the paopu fruit charm. “See, look at this…”
“Naminé’s good luck charm!” Goofy leaned over to look at the star-shaped pendant.
“There’s a special memory that goes with this… One night, when Naminé and I were little, there was this meteor shower.”
So many falling stars—all those lights pouring down like rain.
That’s when I promised Naminé. Now I remember.
“Naminé was really scared. She started crying. She said, ‘What if a falling star hits the islands?’ So I told her, ‘If any stars come this way, I’ll just hit ’em back into outer space!’” Sora grinned, telling the story, and swung the Keyblade at the sky. “I was swinging my toy sword around the whole time. And Naminé just smiled and said, ‘Thanks.’ Then she gave me this.”
The night of the meteor shower—Naminé crying and Naminé smiling. He could remember it so clearly.
“I heard, she arrived on the night of the meteor shower…”
The phrase came into his head, forming out of nowhere like a dewdrop.
She came…the meteor shower…
Whose words were they?
Right, he must have been telling someone else about what happened that night.
But who?
Riku.
That’s it. I remember I was talking to Riku about the meteor shower.
Who was she?
What happened that night?
She came to the islands on the night of the meteor shower.
That girl—Naminé.
But I made a promise to Naminé that night…
Something’s off… Am I remembering it wrong?
“That night, I observed a great meteor shower in the sky.”
He’d heard those words somewhere, too. No—he’d read them.
But where?
The memories spun round and round in Sora’s head. But they wouldn’t match up.
At the center of all these unconnected memories was Naminé. Her white dress, her long flaxen hair.
“I’m so sorry, Sora. All this, because of me…”
Naminé floated up in his mind, then, pale and luminescent. She was apologizing… And with just that, the frustrations and doubts in his heart were clearing away.
“Hey, Sora? What’s wrong?” said Donald.
“…I was just remembering Naminé. She said she had her good luck charm ever since she was a baby.” Sora tucked it back into his shirt.
“And she gave it to you? Aww…”
“Yeah. So I promised her… From now on, I’ll bring you good luck and keep you safe…”
I made a promise. But then I forgot all about Naminé.
I have to help her. I have to find her. I have to tell her…I’m sorry.
“Well, then, now’s your chance! You gotta keep your promise!” said Goofy, and Sora nodded emphatically.
The setting sun spread its color over the whole town.
“Kind of a strange town, huh…?” Donald waddled through the streets, unhurried.
“But it’s got Heartless…!” Having spotted some ahead, Sora raised his Keyblade. When they noticed the trio, they slowly crept closer, almost reluctantly. Their attacks were slow, too.
“Take this!” Sora lunged, and a Heartless disappeared with just a single blow from the Keyblade.
“Gawrsh, aren’t they awful weak?” said Goofy, cocking his head.
“It just means we got stronger!” Donald replied with a furious wave of his wand.
The Heartless were clustered here and there, but they all moved sluggishly and didn’t come for them with much force.
“Do we really need to get rid of ’em?” Goofy wondered, though he had his shield up just in case.
“Why wouldn’t we? Heartless are Heartless, right?” said Donald.
“But they’re pretty harmless. See, they don’t even try to attack us unless we get really close…” Goofy frowned. “Wait… Didn’t we come across some Heartless like this before? Heartless that don’t attack?”
“We did?” Donald couldn’t remember that at all.
Neither could Sora. Heartless that didn’t attack?
“Well, I’m not real sure… But I get the feeling we shouldn’t hurt ’em, if they’re not hurtin’ us.”
Sora didn’t understand any more of what Goofy was saying. Was it because he couldn’t remember? Or…
The sun never actually seemed to sink below the horizon in this town.
Feeling like he’d seen its colors somewhere before, Sora turned. The setting sun still illuminated the clock tower—unmoving. Its warm red light fell on them.
As if something had led them there, the trio found themselves standing in front of a big gate. Beyond it, they could see a mansion. Images floated half-formed in Sora’s head.
“Something…feels really strange,” he murmured.
Goofy turned to him anxiously. “What’s the matter?”
“I’m sure I don’t know this place, but…it’s starting to feel familiar to me.” Sora looked up at the gate.
He’d never seen it before—but he had. It was that sort of feeling.
Donald was walking ahead. He came back closer, staring at Sora. “You must’ve come here sometime before.”
“Like with Naminé,” Goofy added. “You forgot lots of other stuff, and that’s why you remember this place now.”
“No… It’s different,” said Sora. “With Naminé, my memories…sort of came drifting back to me, in little pieces. But not now. It’s not memories—just this feeling like it’s familiar somehow.”
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories The Novel (light novel) Page 13