Kingdom Hearts II Vol 1

by Tomoco Kanemaki

  “Gawrsh, those sure are some bells,” Goofy remarked. “Reminds me of Traverse Town.”

  That town had a huge bell, too…

  “Oh. I guess…,” Sora said absently, concentrating. “Actually, I think I know somewhere we need to go.”

  Somewhere he had to go… Somewhere he usually went. He thought he remembered something like that. He broke into a run.

  “Hey, Sora, where ya goin’?” Goofy called, chasing after him.

  “C’mon! This way!”

  “Wak!” Donald, listening to the people tell him about Twilight Town, jumped to follow them.

  Up this slope and then into this alley… And then…

  “Wait up, Sora!” Goofy was panting and wheezing.

  “Don’t just take off like that!” Donald scolded, bringing up the rear with a scowl.

  “Hmm… It’s here.” Sora zeroed in on the fenced-off corner of the alley.

  “What’s here?” Donald pushed open the fence and stepped in without hesitating, his webbed feet slapping the ground.

  “Hey, what d’you want?!” an angry voice yelled. Sora and Goofy exchanged glances and ran in after Donald.

  Scratching his head, Sora grasped for an excuse. “Uh, nothing… Just thought something might be back here…”

  Past the fence there were two boys and one girl, all about the same age as him.

  “Now you know,” snapped a boy with spiky hair, who occupied the highest space he could sit in. “This is our spot.”

  “Um…,” the heavyset boy began, looking puzzled, and he walked up to Sora to peer into his face.

  “What?”

  “We’ve…never met before, right? I’m Pence.” He grinned brightly.

  The other boy seemed to give in and jumped down from his vantage point. The girl got up from her seat on a wooden crate.

  “I’m Hayner,” said the spiky-haired boy. “It’s good to meet you, but we got stuff to do, so catch ya later.” He headed out to the fence.

  “My name’s Olette,” said the girl, introducing herself warmly. “Hey, did you finish up the summer homework yet? These projects are just the worst, huh?”

  “Homework?” Sora blurted, a bit bewildered.

  “Hey, what’re your names?” Pence asked.

  Sora exchanged glances with his friends.

  Unruffled, Goofy spoke up. “We’re Sora and Donald and Goofy.”

  “Hi,” Sora added, holding out a hand to shake, but Pence and Olette just looked at each other.

  “Sora and Donald and Goofy… We just met someone who’s looking for you,” Olette said.

  Now the trio looked at one another again.

  “Sure looked like he was in a hurry,” Pence said. “He was wearing a black cloak, and I couldn’t see his face, but he had these big round ears.”

  “The king!” Donald exclaimed, jumping up.

  “Where’d you see him?” asked Sora.

  “The station.”

  “The station! Thanks!” Sora nodded at the other two. The king is looking for us!

  “Well, we’d better get back to that assignment!” Olette started for the fence, too.

  “See you.” Pence followed her out.

  “Okay, let’s head to the station!” Sora said, and the other two nodded.

  They dashed outside—or started to—but then Goofy stopped short in his tracks, and Sora and Donald ran right into him.

  “What’dja do that for?” Sora complained.

  Goofy slowly turned to look at him. “Uh…which way’s the station?”

  “Oh—it’s this way!” Sora ran up the hill.

  “Wak! Stop running off!” Donald tried to keep up.

  “Sora? How d’you know?” Goofy said.

  “I just do!” Sora called back over his shoulder.

  It was true. Somehow, he just knew this town. Up atop the hill, they would find the plaza in front of the station.

  “Is that it?” Goofy asked.

  Sora paused and then walked up to the building. “Probably.”

  “Your Majesty?” Donald called.

  “Maybe he’s not here,” Goofy said, perplexed—and then they found themselves surrounded by silver creatures of a sort none of them had ever seen before. “Yipe!”

  “H-Heartless?!” Donald gripped his wand.

  “No—these aren’t Heartless!” Sora rushed at the squirming silver things. In the next second he had the shining Keyblade in his hand, and he brought it down on them as they tried to wriggle away.

  “Fire!”

  “Here goes!”

  Donald waved his wand as Goofy swatted the things with his shield.

  But no matter how many they defeated, more enemies appeared to surround them again.

  “They just keep comin’!”

  Just as Donald shouted, a shadowy black figure came to scatter the creatures.

  The newcomer was smaller than Sora by a foot—no, by two. He held a Keyblade, and his hood didn’t quite hide a pair of big ears.

  Sora was leaning closer to make sure he was really seeing what he thought he saw, and then, noticing the ears, Donald and Goofy practically climbed atop him. This resulted in the three of them falling flat, with Sora on the bottom, but they hardly noticed as they exclaimed in unison, “Your Majesty?!”

  “Shh!” King Mickey turned to glance at them, a finger to his lips. “You gotta board the train and leave town. The train knows the way. Here, take this.”

  In his hand was a cute little cloth purse. Sora took it and examined it closely. It was much heavier than it looked—probably because it was stuffed full of munny.

  “Your Majesty?” Donald said tentatively, but King Mickey was already dashing away across the plaza.

  “The king…,” Sora mumbled, still staring at the purse. “Was that really him?”

  “It coulda been… Yep, I know it was!” Goofy was facing the direction where King Mickey had disappeared.

  Donald hopped happily in place. “Now we know he’s okay!”

  “The king was locked in the realm of darkness with Riku, wasn’t he?” Sora said. “But we just saw him…”

  “Yep.” Donald nodded.

  Sora brightened. “So if the king is here, that means Riku is around somewhere!”

  “He’s gotta be!” Donald agreed forcefully.

  “I’m gonna look for Riku. Then we can go back to our islands together. Kairi’s there waiting for us! What are you two gonna do?”

  “Gawrsh, Sora…” Goofy sounded disapproving. “Do ya have to ask?”

  Seeing his face, Sora laughed.

  “What’s so funny?!” Donald scolded.

  “Your faces!”

  Donald and Goofy looked at each other. Their faces were pretty funny. The three of them burst out laughing together.

  “What d’ya say, guys?” Sora said, determined, when they recovered. “Let’s stick together for another journey.”

  Donald and Goofy nodded.

  If the train knows where to take us like the king said, Riku has to be there, Sora thought. Sora had to go to Riku…and then home to the islands, where Kairi was.

  “Let’s go!” Sora ran up the steps to the station, and he was heading to the platform, when someone called to them.

  “Wait up!”

  “…Hayner?” Sora looked back to find Hayner and Pence and Olette waiting at the bottom of the stairs to the platform.

  Finally Hayner stepped closer, struggling to say what he wanted to. “Hey, Sora…”

  “What?”

  “It’s nothing, but…” Hayner looked at the floor. Whatever he was having trouble saying, it seemed important.

  Pence picked up the thread. “We came to see you off. It just seemed like something we oughta do.”

  “Oh…really?” Sora said. “Thanks!”

  Just as that word was out of his mouth, the signal bell on the platform rang.

  “You should hurry and get your tickets,” Olette reminded him.

  Sora ran to the ticket w
indow and reached into his pocket for the purse full of munny that King Mickey had given to him.

  “Huh?” Seeing the purse, Olette cocked her head.

  “What is it?” asked Donald.

  In response, Olette took a small purse from her own pocket. It was identical to the one Sora held, embroidery and all.

  “They’re the same,” Goofy remarked.

  “Yeah.” Olette nodded, a little mystified.

  “Three tickets, please,” Sora said at the ticket window. As he took some coins from the purse, a piece of paper and a little blue crystal ball fell to the floor. “Hey… What’s this?”

  “More treasures for us to share.”

  Those words came up from somewhere deep in his heart when he looked at the crystal.

  Who had said that?

  “Sora, hurry up!” Donald called, jumping up the stairs to the platform.

  “Uh-huh…” Sora put the slip of paper back in the purse and pocketed the crystal.

  Goofy was calling to him, too. “What’s the matter, Sora? C’mon!”

  “It’s just…I can’t help feeling like we won’t see this town again.” A sense of separation was coming over him for some reason.

  “Aw, you’re thinkin’ too much,” Goofy told him, easygoing as ever.

  “Yeah… You’re right.” Sora plodded up the steps to the platform. Somehow, he felt…incredibly sad.

  “Sora! Move it!” Donald was waiting by the train doors.

  Hayner and his friends were climbing the steps behind Sora. And…they looked sad, too.

  Sora had just begun to shake it off, his mind made up. “Okay, let’s go!”

  Donald and Goofy nodded and jumped into the train car.

  “Bye!” Sora turned back to Hayner and his friends and forced himself to smile for them.

  “Hey, Sora… You sure we haven’t met before?” Hayner said, with Pence and Olette staring at him, a little surprised.

  “Pretty sure…,” Sora replied, but his head was cocked uncertainly. “Why?”

  He couldn’t have met Hayner and the others before.

  But then…why am I so sad to leave them now?

  “Heh… I dunno.” Hayner smiled awkwardly.

  Tears welled up in Sora’s eyes and a drop spilled down his cheek. “Huh…?”

  He had no idea why he would be crying. He rushed to wipe it away.

  He was sad but happy. Happy and yet sad…

  “You okay?” Worried, Olette peered at him closely.

  “Y-yeah. Don’t know where that came from.” The tears had already stopped.

  “Pull it together,” Hayner said, covering with mock exasperation.

  “Right… See you.”

  Hayner, Pence, and Olette followed Sora as far as the train door. He didn’t know what to say to them, and he just waved, then climbed aboard. As they watched, the doors closed with a thunk.

  The train smoothly began to pull out. Sora could see the trio on the platform, staring at the train—watching him quietly, not even waving to him.

  The purse from King Mickey was in his pocket along with that little crystal.

  “You know…,” Sora murmured. Donald and Goofy stopped looking out the windows and turned to him. “This…hurts.”

  He clutched the crystal in his pocket. Something in his chest ached. He didn’t know why he felt like this.

  “We’ll come back,” Donald told him with a shrug.

  “Yeah,” Goofy added. “We can visit Hayner and those guys again.”

  “You’re right.”

  As Sora nodded to them, the train rolled out into the light, taking them onward to a new journey.

  WILL THE DAY COME WHEN THIS BATTLE, BORN OF confusion, shall end?

  It is different things to different people.

  Can the reality be that which is hidden?

  The reason is simply existence itself.

  Still, memories can be trusted.

  Be not afraid. Give yourself over to the sound of the waves.

  By and by, your fleeting rest will come to an end…

  And everything will begin.

  THE DESTRUCTION OF HOLLOW BASTION

  PROLOGUE

  AND ALONE…

  SENSING THAT SORA AND HIS FRIENDS HAD SET OUT on their journey, Naminé opened her eyes. Her hands, clasped as if in prayer, fell to her sides, and she lifted her gaze to the man in the black cloak beside her.

  “So we’re leaving, too?” said Ansem—who was actually Riku.

  They were on a quiet beach not too far from Twilight Town.

  “Do you two even have anywhere to go?” Axel wondered from his perch on one of the boulders that dotted the shore.

  “Do you?” Riku replied, staring out at the horizon.

  “I never had anywhere to go in the first place. We Nobodies don’t belong, period. Nowhere to go and nowhere to come home to. Right, Naminé?”

  She didn’t answer, but only looked down at the sand.

  He’s right. We Nobodies don’t know why we were born or where we should go.

  “The bargain’s over now,” Riku said to Naminé’s back. “We don’t have to listen to that guy anymore, do we?” He sounded as if he wanted to confirm it with her.

  “Well…,” Naminé faltered, unable to raise her eyes.

  What was she supposed to do now?

  Should she go with Riku? Should she part ways with Axel?

  Riku and I are different, she thought. But Axel and I are…the same.

  As if he had picked up on her hesitation, Axel stood and stretched. “I’m gonna have to go a different direction. You and me, we don’t want the same thing. Just like you and DiZ didn’t. I don’t know about Naminé, though.”

  Riku winced momentarily at his words.

  “I…I want to help Sora and his friends,” Naminé said, eyes still downcast, but determination audible in her voice.

  “Well then, that guy right there behind you is gonna get rid of you,” Axel remarked. “Just like he did to Roxas.”

  Naminé whirled toward Riku. “DiZ…told you to eliminate me?”

  Riku didn’t move.

  “He did, didn’t he…?” she demanded again, and finally Riku gave her a tiny nod. “So, I really shouldn’t go with you.”

  “…That’s not true.”

  Naminé shook her head.

  “Let’s go, Naminé,” Axel called to her.

  Without a word, she nodded to Axel, and behind them, a dark portal opened up.

  “Where are you going?” Riku clenched his fists to keep from reaching out for her.

  “I don’t know… But we’ll meet again, Riku.” She smiled at him.

  “…Is that a promise?” Riku asked hesitantly.

  She dipped her head once. “Yes. A promise. We might go separate ways for now, but we’ll see each other again. Won’t we?”

  “Okay. I promise.” Riku nodded more forcefully.

  And then Naminé and Axel vanished into the dark portal.

  “I’m sorry, Riku,” she told him softly, but the whisper never reached him.

  Alone on the beach, all Riku could hear was the sound of the waves, sending his memory back to the island.

  CHAPTER 1

  MYSTERIOUS TOWER

  THE TRAIN QUIETLY CAME TO A HALT.

  “…Is this the last stop?” Donald cocked his head at the view from the window.

  “Kind of a funny-lookin’ place,” Goofy noted with an anxious glance toward Sora.

  A light fog obscured the scene outside the train, making it hard to tell what sort of place they’d found themselves in. They only knew there was land.

  “Let’s go,” Sora said. The other two nodded.

  When they approached the door, it slid open for them as if it knew, and they stepped tentatively off the train.

  “Have ya ever seen this place before?” Goofy’s head swiveled from side to side.

  Donald was doing the same. “Nope.”

  The “land” seemed to be an island float
ing in the air.

  “This has to be where King Mickey told us to go. C’mon!” Sora dashed ahead.

  “Sora, wait up!” Donald tried to chase after him but fell flat on his bill.

  “Did you forget how to run after sleeping so long?” Sora teased over his shoulder.

  Donald hopped up with an indignant “Quack!” and stomped furiously toward Sora. “That’s enough outta you!”

  But Sora was focused on the train behind him, perplexed.

  “Sora!” Donald huffed.

  The boy didn’t move.

  “Hello? Sora?” Goofy finally joined them.

  Sora quietly pointed to the train—or rather, where the train had been. “It’s gone…”

  “Wak?!” Donald started. There was nothing but empty air. Even the railroad was gone.

  “Guess we just have to keep going,” Sora said.

  “Yup, guess so,” Goofy agreed, sounding unconcerned, apparently more interested in the middle of the island. “Look, there’s a building.”

  Sora and Donald followed his line of sight to a tall tower stretching up toward the night sky.

  “You think anyone’s there?” Goofy asked.

  “Only one way to find out!” Sora dashed ahead yet again.

  The high-pitched rip of fabric soon followed.

  “Huh?” The boy searched his clothes for the tear.

  “You got a rip here,” Goofy said, peering at his side, under his arm.

  Sora wouldn’t have noticed on his own, but apparently he had grown quite a bit during the year he’d been asleep. The Keyblade wielder’s pants barely reached his knees now, so that they served more as shorts.

  “Gawrsh, Sora, you’re sure growin’ fast.” Goofy nodded, impressed.

  Donald agreed, but added, “Still pretty short, though.”

  “Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Sora scowled.

  Another noise interrupted them—this time something strange from the tower.

  “Didja hear that?” Goofy cupped his hand to his perked ear, his head tilted.

  “Sure did!” Sora ran toward the source of the noise.

  A bulky armored shape was peeking inside the tower through the gap between the double doors. At first glance, there didn’t seem to be much cause for suspicion.