That was all. Nostalgia. Which was a very strange feeling to have when there were no memories.
“Familiar, is it?”
“—Vexen!”
The tall sickly man was standing there with the setting sun at his back, narrowing his eyes at the trio. “Sora… I’ve got a question for you. Your memories of Naminé or your feeling about this place—which of the two is more real to you, I wonder?”
“Naminé, of course!” Sora blurted and took a fighting stance with the Keyblade. “Whatever it is that I’m feeling here, I bet it’s just another one of your mean little tricks!”
Vexen made a nasty chuckle. “Memory can be a cruel thing. In its silence, we forget, but in its obsession, it binds our hearts.”
Silence… Forget… Obsession?
My heart is bound? Sora thought furiously. What does he think he’s talking about?!
“I told you,” Vexen rambled on. “This place was created solely from another side of your memory. It’s on the other side of your heart that the memory of this place exists. Your heart remembers.”
The other side of my heart—other memories? He had no idea what Vexen was saying. “You’re wrong! I don’t know this place!”
However familiar it felt, the memory just wasn’t there.
“If you remain bound by the chain of memories and refuse to believe what is truly in your own heart…then you may as well throw it away. You are no Keyblade master—only a puppet controlled by memory. Exactly like my Riku. Your existence is worth nothing!”
“Your Riku? Worth nothing…?” Nothing this guy said made any sense, Sora thought. “That’s enough! You’re the one who changed Riku! I’m not gonna listen to you!”
“Oh? You think I changed Riku?” Vexen cackled.
“What’s so funny?!”
“Hm… Well, perhaps you could say I changed him. Still…the fact is, you feel this place is familiar to you. And so you cannot trust your own feelings—isn’t that right?” Vexen sounded perfectly calm, as if to highlight Sora’s angrily raised voice.
“Every word you’ve said is a lie!”
With the Keyblade ready, Sora leaped at him. But Vexen already had his shield up and deflected him once again.
“You’re no hero. Only a puppet who’s thrown away a hero’s heart.”
“I’d never throw away my heart!” Sora stood up again, pointing the Keyblade at him. “I’m gonna take you down and save Riku and Naminé. That’s what’s in my heart!”
Of course I haven’t thrown away my heart! he thought. That doesn’t even make any sense. Just because I’ve lost some memories doesn’t mean I’m losing my heart!
“You certainly are a foolish puppet. Now die!” Vexen shot clusters of ice from his hand.
“Fira!” From behind Sora, Donald sent his magic to fizzle out the ice and then stepped forward. “Better not forget about us!”
“’Cos we wanna help Riku and Naminé, too! And the king!” said Goofy and gave a healing potion to Sora, who wasn’t totally unscathed.
“The king’s loyal servants… Don’t make me laugh. Are you all talk, or are you actually going to fight?”
“Donald!” cried Sora and threw the Keyblade at Vexen.
“Firaga!” Donald’s magic set the Keyblade aflame.
“Ha! You think that move will work on me again?!” Vexen jumped up high into the air to bring the bladed edge of his shield down on them.
“Whoa!” Goofy tried to block him but went flying.
“Too warm here, don’t you think?” Vexen sent a blast of ice to freeze Goofy on the spot.
“Waaak! Fire!” Donald frantically worked to melt the ice surrounding him.
“Hmph. How about this?!”
Chunks of ice flew one after another at Sora, but he jumped to dodge them and landed behind Vexen, who made a frustrated snarl. Sora swung the Keyblade and Vexen immediately fell to one knee.
“…To think you have such strength, even at the mercy of your memory—your existence is a hazard indeed!”
“None of that matters! Just make Riku go back!” Sora shouted, keeping the Keyblade pointed at him.
“Just make him go back? You really have no idea what you’re saying. The Riku you speak of has but one fate—to sink into the darkness. And you, Sora, will share that fate! If you continue to seek Naminé, the shackles will tighten, you will lose your heart…and become no more than Marluxia’s pawn!”
“Marluxia?! What’s Naminé got to do with—” Sora didn’t get to finish the question. A dazzling light blinded them.
He heard Vexen grunt, and then in the next moment, he saw him sprawled on the ground. “Vexen?!”
“Yo, Sora. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
That was Axel’s voice…
“Ngh… Axel, why…?” Vexen choked out, digging his nails into the dirt as he tried to get up.
“I came to stop you from talking too much…by eliminating your existence, that is.” Axel smirked and took a step closer to him.
“No… Don’t do it…”
“We’re Nobodies. We have no one to be—we just are. But now you don’t have to be at all. No more existence, no more memories. You’re off the hook.”
Axel didn’t seem to be paying attention to Sora and the others. He only looked at Vexen.
“No one to be?” What could that even mean…?
“Don’t… No, please don’t…! I don’t want to—”
“Bye, now.” Axel shot a bright light from his hand again.
Vexen’s scream echoed through the strange landscape—and then he was gone, not a trace remaining.
“What are you— What are you people?!” Sora demanded.
“Hm. Not sure. I wonder about that myself.” With that, Axel stepped into thin air and vanished.
“Axel?!”
The only reply was the distant rumble of a train.
This familiar feeling… These lost memories.
And those times with Naminé coming back to him.
How much was right, and how much was wrong? How much had he forgotten…?
Sora stood dazed in the twilight.
Axel walked through the long corridors of the castle. Normally, he wouldn’t bother walking places like this. But he needed time to himself.
I don’t have a single friend in this place. All these people on my side—and his and the organization’s… But I don’t know if I can say that we’re really on the same side.
I’m alone here.
He’s nobody—no one at all—and yet he is somebody.
Shards of emotion, fragments of memory. So alike…but they’re completely different things.
Even if we can hold on to a few fragments of memory, we can’t have the smallest shard of emotion.
Nostalgia… And memory.
We are the ones who lost their hearts—the ones who are no one. Nobodies.
Not light nor darkness—we live in the twilight.
Axel stopped outside the crystal ball room and took a deep breath.
Why are we here? What are we doing?
No—why am I here?
Still asking himself that question, he opened the door.
“Nice work, Axel. I say good riddance to that blabbermouth!” Larxene grinned at him.
He ignored her and went to the other man in the room. “Marluxia… You sent Vexen to test Sora’s strength, didn’t you?”
Marluxia didn’t answer.
“Not just Sora’s,” said Larxene. “Yours, too.”
Axel raised one eyebrow.
“We weren’t sure if you actually had it in you to take out a fellow member,” she went on, sounding as though she found it hilarious. “Well, I guess you did! It’s time to join up. With the three of us, taking over the organization will be a cinch!”
“Oh, so that’s where Sora comes in,” Axel grumbled.
“Of course! He wants to see Naminé, so why don’t we just let him have what he wants?”
At that, a cruel smile came to Marluxia�
�s face. He strode to the corner of the room, where a girl sat in a small chair, holding tightly to a sketchbook.
“Rejoice, Naminé. Soon you’ll meet the hero you’ve been longing for.”
Naminé’s shoulders tensed when he said her name. She didn’t look up when she spoke, her voice tiny and faint. “I’m…glad.”
“But we’re warning you,” Larxene said brightly from behind Marluxia. “You’d better not do anything to betray Sora’s feelings. Understand, little one?”
“…I understand.”
“All you need to do is merge the layers of Sora’s memories and bring his heart closer to you,” Marluxia told her.
Then he glanced sidelong at Larxene, and the two of them vanished.
“Naminé…,” he said softly, but she didn’t stir.
Sora…
Even if you come for me, what then…?
What should I do?
CHAPTER 9
DESTINY ISLANDS
Will I really get to meet you? Is the one you’ll meet really me?
The girl you knew from the islands—it was me but another me.
I don’t exist anywhere. I’m nobody.
Or maybe I’m just a thing.
If I can meet you on that island…something might change.
But the me that you’ll meet there is a different me.
A false me.
If I can meet you, Sora, will something change?
WHEN THEY STEPPED AGAIN INTO THE MARBLE HALL, it felt terribly cold.
There was so much Sora had to think about.
What was Vexen trying to tell me? Why did Axel eliminate him?
Why can’t Riku go back to normal?
What’s it mean that his fate is to sink into the darkness?
“Sora…,” said Donald, worried, but he didn’t reply.
Goofy patted Donald’s shoulder and shook his head. The three of them walked to the next door.
“Hey!” Suddenly realizing something, Sora stopped in his tracks and turned back.
“What is it?” said Goofy.
Sora stuck a hand into his pocket and started rummaging. “I thought so… We’re out of cards.”
The door in front of them looked the same as all the others, so it probably wouldn’t open without a card. Vexen had given him the card for the last world…and before that, who had been giving him the cards…?
“Does that mean we’re at a dead end?” said Donald.
Just then, another voice spoke at Sora’s back.
“If you go any farther, you’ll hurt Naminé.”
Sora turned—but of course, he’d already recognized the voice. Riku.
“You still want to fight?” Sora held the Keyblade ready. “But Vexen’s gone! You’re free now!”
At least, he thought Vexen had been controlling Riku. So with Vexen gone, Riku should be free…
With his sword raised, Riku spoke slowly. “I’m protecting Naminé from you. That’s what’s in my heart.”
“We can protect her together!” cried Sora.
But Riku didn’t move, only kept glaring at him. “I’m the one who’s keeping her safe! I made a promise to her!”
“You did…?”
No—I promised her, Sora thought. He lowered the Keyblade.
“There was a meteor shower one night when we were little…,” Riku began. “Naminé got scared and said, ‘What if a falling star hits the islands?’ So I told her, ‘If any falling stars come this way, I’ll protect you!’”
Goofy spoke up first. “But that story’s the same as Sora’s!”
“What are you talking about?” Riku raised his eyebrows.
“You…made a promise? With a toy sword?” Sora asked, all uncertainty.
“What…? How do you know about that?!” Riku shot back.
That’s what I’d like to say, thought Sora, and then his voice rose. “Because…that was the promise I made to her that night! I said I’d protect her!”
That night…with those shooting stars, falling all around the islands. I promised Naminé.
“Promise?”
“I promise!”
He could remember their voices saying those words so clearly.
I’m the one who made that promise to Naminé.
“Stop lying! You weren’t the one there that night!” Riku said fiercely, swinging his sword in empty space.
“You’re the one who wasn’t there! And she gave her good luck charm to me!”
“Her what…?”
“This!” Sora reached into his shirt and showed him the paopu fruit pendant. That yellow star-shaped fruit made into the good luck charm that Naminé had treasured.
“How did you get that?! Why do you— Oh. Good try, Sora.” Riku took a step closer to him.
“…Huh?”
“That must be a fake. I’ve got the real one right here!” Riku took out a pendant—a charm made from a paopu fruit, exactly the same as the one Sora held.
“Wha…? Two of them?!”
“Fakes should be destroyed!” Without any more warning, Riku jumped, lunging for Sora.
“Whoa!” He barely managed to block Riku’s sword with the Keyblade, pushing it back. “It’s not a fake! Naminé gave this to me!”
“Sora!” Gripping his wand, Donald ran closer, and Goofy followed.
“This is my fight! Stay out of the way!” Sora told them.
They exchanged glances and hung back.
“Gee, that’s not a very nice way of puttin’ it…,” said Goofy.
“Shut up!” Riku snapped. “I’m the one who’s real!”
He knocked Sora back.
They both had the same thought. But it was me… I made that promise…
This time Sora struck at Riku. “My pendant’s the real one!”
He felt the impact through the Keyblade. Riku was bowled over.
“…Ngh!” Riku winced, his shoulders heaving with huge breaths, as he got to his feet again.
Sora yelled his name, but Riku only turned his back and ran. Something tumbled out of his pocket and fell to the floor.
“Wait…! Riku!” Sora began to chase after him but stopped short.
There, beside his feet, was Riku’s pendant.
“Isn’t that Naminé’s good luck charm?” Donald picked it up.
“It’s just like mine… How’d he get this?”
Donald handed it to Sora, and the moment he touched it, the pendant began to shine and sparkle. It changed—and then he was holding a single card.
“It turned into a card!” Donald peered at it.
The picture showed a small island surrounded by a wide blue sea.
“Gawrsh… I don’t get what’s goin’ on here at all,” said Goofy, his head tilted.
“All we can do is keep moving.” Sora began walking to the door again, his fingers clutching the card tightly.
“Wait. C’mon, Sora!” Donald shouted after him. “Something’s fishy about this!”
He paused and turned to look back slowly.
“How can the two of you have the same memory?” Goofy’s brow was furrowed in confusion. “Ya can’t both be right. Doesn’t that mean someone’s rememberin’ it wrong?”
“I’m wrong? Fine! Then don’t believe me!” Sora snapped.
There’s no way I’m wrong. If anybody is, it’s Riku.
I can’t be wrong!
“Aw, that’s not what I meant,” said Goofy. “We’re just kinda worried.”
Sora barely heard him. What if…? What if I am remembering it wrong?
That’s what Vexen was saying. I’m just a puppet who’s thrown away a hero’s heart… A puppet controlled by memory.
Just like Riku.
What was that supposed to mean?
“Then, let me ask Naminé. That should clear it up!” Sora told them. “Look, we don’t have time to stand around in here. Let’s go!”
He turned away from them again and kept walking, stamping his feet on the marble.
A brief silence fell.
Goofy broke it, asking sadly, “Sora… What happened to ya?”
Sora didn’t even look back to shout, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, you’re gettin’ real touchy when it comes to stuff about Naminé… Isn’t it kinda weird?”
Is he saying I’m crazy? Finally Sora turned.
“After all, before we came to this castle, you didn’t even remember what her name was… And now she’s the only thing you talk about,” said Goofy, looking terribly worried.
“It doesn’t make sense. You gotta slow down and think about this stuff!” Donald added.
“Think about what? What’s the matter with you guys? You want me to abandon her?!”
“No, that’s not it…” Stuck, Donald looked at Goofy.
“Then, do whatever you want! You guys can lay back and take a nap for all I care!” Sora turned away from them once again. “I’m going to find Naminé!”
He ran ahead to the door. I have to find her soon. I have to prove I’m right.
And not Riku.
I’m not wrong, I just know I’m not…
“Sora!” Donald and Goofy both rushed to follow him.
Jiminy Cricket poked his head out. “Sora, that was no way to—”
“Keep it to yourself!” Sora cut him off and held the card up to the door.
“Hold on, Sora!” Donald caught up to him. The door opened—but the moment Sora ran through, it closed again, right in front of Donald’s beak. “Sora!”
But he was in another world, and he couldn’t hear them anymore.
In the corner of the crystal ball room, Naminé still sat, staring at her lap. Or rather, at the sketchbook in it.
The sketchbook was open to a drawing of a little island in a blue sea.
“Naminé.” In no hurry, Axel crossed the room to stand beside her. No one else was in the room.
“You’re all that he’s got left,” he told her gently.
The crystal ball showed Sora alone on the island.
But…there’s nothing I can do. Not now. Naminé hugged the sketchbook to her chest.
“If you don’t stop this, no one will,” said Axel.
At that she finally looked up. Now?
“How many times do I need to say it? You’re the only one who can help him.”
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories The Novel (light novel) Page 14