“Hmm… Yeah, sweet and cold and…I dunno.” It felt like he was forgetting something. Cold, sweet, and…what else? “Oh well. That’s what makes ice cream great!”
He nodded decisively to himself. Just then…
“Sora!”
The voice came from above. They found the source on the rooftops—a girl with short black hair.
“Yuffie?!”
“Hey there!” She hopped down lightly and sprinted over.
“Looks like you’re doing okay,” Sora said.
“What’d you expect?” Yuffie grinned.
“How are Leon and everyone?” asked Donald, waddling up to meet her.
“Just great! Hey, Sora, did you get a little taller?” Yuffie stood next to Sora, comparing their heights.
“Heh-heh-heh,” Sora laughed boastfully, but then asked her a serious question. “Hey, Yuffie, have you seen Riku or King Mickey?”
“Nope.” She shook her head.
So…they probably hadn’t been here. Sora slumped in disappointment. “Oh.”
Yuffie smiled at him. “I had a feeling I’d see you guys again, though.”
“We may never meet again, but we’ll never forget each other,” Sora said, deepening his voice and affecting a serious manner. “Right?”
That was what Leon had told him when they said good-bye at Hollow Bastion before.
“Is that your Leon impression?”
“Yep! You got it!”
Sora and Yuffie shared a glance and giggled.
“Everybody’s over at Merlin’s house. C’mon!” Yuffie took off, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy tagged along behind her.
In a room made of white marble, a large mirror reflected Demyx as he prepared to leave for the mission. He took particular care with his hairstyle, painstakingly manipulating the brown strands with a comb to make them stand straight up. Saïx observed him from behind with what appeared to be distaste. In stark contrast to Demyx, Saïx left his long blue hair unstyled. The X-shaped scar on his forehead was all the style he needed.
“What d’you want? I’m kinda busy.” Irritated, Demyx turned around.
Instead of responding, the other man simply disappeared.
“Excuse me?!” Demyx shouted at the space where Saïx had been standing.
And then, as if to take Saïx’s place, Xigbar appeared with his hood low over his eyes. “Ready yet?”
“…Yeah, yeah, just about,” Demyx replied apathetically. “Y’know, Xigbar, I don’t really think I’m the best suited for tailing somebody…”
“Orders are orders, and you can’t go against the big man himself. Or did you forget?”
“…Hmph.”
Not the most satisfying answer. Demyx scowled and leaned on the sitar in his hand.
“Anyway, you’re going to be saying hello first,” Xigbar added.
“Huh?”
“The hero and his little entourage are out and about. Saïx heard their voices.”
“Uh-huh…,” Demyx said, more like a sigh than a response, and frowned.
He couldn’t hear the voices.
He may have been assigned a number, but he knew perfectly well that he just wasn’t cut out for fighting. All he could do was control water by playing music. He didn’t think of himself as especially strong. And shadowing the Keyblade wielder—or rather, Roxas—really didn’t sound like much fun.
Still, he couldn’t defy the organization. For that sole reason, he had to follow his orders.
“Time to get going,” Xigbar said.
“Okay, okay…” Demyx shouldered his sitar and vanished.
“He really is a handful.” Xigbar chuckled to himself and likewise disappeared from the room.
Inside the little house, Leon, Aerith, and Cid were all somberly studying a big computer screen.
Aerith let out a tiny sigh, and the next moment, the door banged open.
The three inside started, ready to defend themselves, but it was only Yuffie, standing there with a grin.
“Don’t scare people like that, Yuffie…,” Leon scolded. Then three more people crowded in behind her—Sora, Donald, and Goofy.
“Meet the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee!” the ninja announced to the newcomers.
“Oh! We’ve missed you.” Aerith greeted them with a cheerful smile.
“Well, looks like you’re all in shipshape condition,” Cid announced, getting up from his chair in front of the screen.
“You could say hi, too, Leon,” Yuffie prompted.
Leon folded his arms sternly and muttered, “I knew it.”
“Knew what?” asked Sora, clueless.
“Just recently, everyone suddenly remembered you three, all at the same time.”
The three in question shared a puzzled look.
“You…remembered?” Sora said. “Hey, does that mean you forgot about us?”
Donald hopped with anger. “Gee, thanks!”
“We’re sorry.” Aerith bowed her head contritely.
But…how had anyone forgotten them in the first place?
“So where’ve you guys been all this time?” Yuffie asked them.
“We were sleepin’, I guess,” Goofy said, sounding fairly unconcerned.
“Not a care in the world for you guys, huh?” Cid remarked.
“It’s all right now.” Aerith smiled sweetly at them. “We’re all together again, aren’t we?”
“Yeah. We’re glad to see you guys, too!” Sora agreed.
Seeing everyone gathered here lifted his spirits. He’d been afraid they would never see one another again.
“Oh yeah— Um, we’re looking for Riku and King Mickey. Have you seen ’em?”
Aerith and the others silently checked to see if anyone had, then shook their heads.
“Oh, okay…” Sora’s head drooped in disappointment.
“Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help, okay?” Aerith said, stepping toward him.
“Yeah. Thanks.”
I’m glad she wants to help, Sora thought.
“Don’t go thankin’ us just yet…,” Cid cautioned with a pointed glance Leon’s way, plunking down in his chair again.
“This town has a problem. A big problem,” Leon explained for him.
“You mean, like Nobodies? And Heartless?” Sora guessed.
“Right! Exactly!” Yuffie leaned in.
“Sounds like a job for us.”
“Then let’s cut to the chase,” Leon said. “Sora, Donald, Goofy—we were hoping you might give us a hand around here.”
Sora crossed his arms and smirked at how earnestly Leon posed the question. “Like we’re gonna say no?”
“Hmm… I forgot who we’re dealing with.” Leon moved toward the door. “Come with me to the bailey—there’s something you need to see.”
Just as Sora and his friends went to follow him, there was a mysterious poof! and a cloud of white smoke blocked their way.
“Oh-ho, so there you are.”
Standing in front of them was Merlin the magician.
“Merlin!” Donald ran up to him. The wizard was his own teacher and a great magician.
“Sora and the gang said they’re gonna help out!” Yuffie excitedly informed him.
“Oh, splendid. We’re counting on you.”
“Yes, sir!” the trio chorused.
“Ah, Aerith—did you give them those little things?”
“Oh!” At Merlin’s reminder, Aerith reached into her pocket for something.
“Here… They’re presents for you.” She held out three cards. “Leon thought you might like to have them.”
Sora, Donald, and Goofy each took one. Sora’s card had his name on it with a picture of the castle and a few words… “Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee Honorary Member!” he read proudly.
“Membership cards!” Donald crowed, holding his up over his head.
Goofy excitedly clutched his in both hands. “Pretty neat, huh?”
“Thanks, Le… Huh? Did he leave
without us?!” Sora fretted, finding that Leon was no longer in the house. The man hadn’t even waited to see if they were with him. “Uh-oh!”
The trio ran outside—but the street was swarming with Heartless.
“Wak!” Donald jumped at the sheer numbers.
“Gee, why are there still so many Heartless around?” Goofy complained, slumping at the thought of yet another skirmish. It seemed like there were only more of them since they’d closed the gate.
“Well, we’d better find Leon!” Sora said, brandishing his Keyblade. The other two nodded.
From Merlin’s house, the bailey was down a few alleys and up some stairs.
“C’mon! Let’s go!” Heartless fell left and right as they made their way toward it.
He ran up the steps to the top of a massive wall. From there, in the distance, he could see a huge castle—one he recognized.
“That’s where we fought Maleficent, isn’t it?” Sora said, not taking his eyes off it.
Goofy leaned out a bit. “Is this the castle wall?”
“Yeah, ’cos we’re going to the bailey!” Donald told him with an all-knowing air.
Their fight against Maleficent seemed so long ago.
As Sora gazed pensively at the castle, Goofy called from behind, “Leon must be waitin’ for us. Let’s go.”
“Right!”
They continued until they could see part of the stronghold in front of them.
“Is that the bailey?” Donald asked without slowing down.
“It’s gotta be,” Goofy replied.
“That took you long enough.”
They found Leon staring at the castle from the stronghold, just like they’d been doing.
“Look at that.” Leon pointed to a writhing mass filling the grounds around the castle. “We want to restore Hollow Bastion to what it used to be. Or who knows—maybe something even better. There’s still a lot to do, but we can handle everything…except for that.”
He shook his head at the horde of silver creatures below.
“Are those all…Nobodies?” Sora murmured.
Leon nodded.
Those creatures they’d fought in Twilight Town—not Heartless, but Nobodies, as Yen Sid had called them.
“Wak! But it’s full of Heartless, too!” Donald had spied the swarm and sprang up.
So for some reason Hollow Bastion was teeming with both Nobodies and Heartless.
“Sora, do you know what’s going on?” asked Leon.
“This guy called Pete is up to something with the Heartless as part of his plan. But he’s pretty dumb. I think we can deal with him. What we need to worry about is…” Sora folded his arms and inclined his head.
Goofy finished the sentence for him. “Those Nobodies and the Organization XIII fellas in charge of ’em…” He sighed, and then—
“You rang?” An unfamiliar voice addressed them in a deep, intimidating baritone.
“You’re doing well.” The next greeting belonged to a different man.
“Who’s there?!” Sora shouted.
“It’s a reunion. We should celebrate.” The deep voice gave a quiet, sinister chuckle.
“Sora!” Leon called.
He turned to find a cluster of Nobodies.
“Wa-waaak!” Donald jumped in alarm, clutching his wand tightly.
“I’ll take care of this side!” Gunblade in hand, Leon rushed at the Nobodies.
Sora charged in the other direction. “Okay—I’ve got this side!”
“Fire!”
The Nobody slid right under Donald’s spell. Their movements were so strange they were almost impossible to hit.
“Quit wriggling around!” Sora yelled as he caught one with the Keyblade.
“The Keyblade—a marvelous weapon…,” said that voice.
“Show yourselves!” Sora demanded, still relentlessly bashing Nobodies.
“Heh-heh…”
The mocking laughter seemed to echo from inside his own skull. The boy shook his head.
That voice…that laugh. It was horribly unsettling.
And not just unsettling—something else…
“Sora!”
Leon called him back to the present. When Sora turned, he saw…a pack of men in black cloaks.
They were standing on the opposite wall, looking down at Sora and his friends.
“Organization XIII!” cried Goofy.
There were six of them, hoods obscuring their faces.
“Oh, good—I can take you all out at once!” Sora shouted, losing himself in his frustration.
He couldn’t stand the sound of their laughter.
“What a shame… And here I thought we could be friends,” the man in the center said, chuckling again as a dark space yawned behind them. The figures disappeared into it.
“Hey, wait!” Donald shouted, dashing ahead to pursue them.
“Careful, there.” One of the organization materialized again right in front of Donald’s bill.
“Donald!” Behind him, Sora stood with the Keyblade ready. “You—move!”
“That’s not very nice, shutting me down like that,” the man teased.
“I mean it! Get out of the way!”
“You can talk all you want, but you can’t actually do anything about it, so…” The man shrugged as if Sora’s threat was of no concern whatsoever.
“Then we’ll make you move!” snapped Donald. “Fire!”
He waved his wand, but the spurt of magic fizzled out just before reaching the man’s cloak.
“Sure, that would work…if I were just any old guy. ’Cept I’m not. I’m with Organization XIII. Nothing ‘any old’ about me.”
“Ha!” Sora barked, disgusted. “That’s real tough talk from someone who stood on the sidelines watching his Nobody flunkies do all the fighting!”
“Oh no…I think you got the wrong impression,” the man said, completely unruffled, and tilted his head thoughtfully. “Why don’t I remind you how tough this crowd really is?”
“Remind me?” Sora echoed.
What’s he mean by that? What did we forget? What have I forgotten?
“Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!” the man burst out laughing. “That’s right—he used to give me the exact same look.”
Sora glared at him. “So, you think you can psych me out by saying really random stuff?”
“Well…who knows?” he said smugly, as if to provoke Sora further, and raised one arm. Inky darkness seeped up from under his feet. “Be a good boy, now!”
The man vanished, seeming to melt away into the blackness.
“Wait!” Sora dashed to where the man had been standing, and Donald skidded after him, but the man was gone without a trace.
“That was weird… Who gave him the same look?” Sora lowered the Keyblade. Who was he talking about?
“I think maybe he was just tryin’ to confuse ya,” Goofy assured him, cocking his head.
“Yeah, you’re right. There’s only one me!” Sora nodded to himself and helped Donald up from where he’d fallen.
As he did, the committee membership card slipped out of his pocket.
“Oops. Don’t wanna lose that…” Sora picked it up—and it began to glow. “Huh?”
Surprised, he let go of it, and the card floated into the air. At the same time, a shine enveloped the Keyblade, too.
“What’s going on?” Leon ran up to them.
“I think, maybe…” Sora held the key aloft, and a beam of light shot from it. Ahead, the glow from the membership card took the shape of a keyhole. Light struck light with the click of a lock opening. “Yeah, I get it,” he murmured as he lowered his hand.
“So this is one o’ those gates that Master Yen Sid was talking about?” Goofy said, watching the luminous keyhole dissipate.
Sora nodded. “It’s gotta be.”
“Oh, boy! We did it!” Donald struck a victorious pose.
“Sorry to run, Leon… But it looks like the other worlds are calling.” Sora waved to him.
“Yeah, looks that way.”
“We’ll be back!” Donald gestured with his wand rather than his hand.
“Organization XIII… They sound like serious trouble,” Leon said. “Be careful out there.”
“We will.” Sora nodded forcefully. “See you soon.” He looked up at the space where the keyhole had been. Maybe the king was there through the gate…and Riku, too. The thought made his heart pound.
But… Who was it?
Who had that man been talking about?
CHAPTER 3
OLYMPUS COLISEUM
THE PAIR WALKED IN SILENCE.
The stagnant air made it a little hard to breathe. There was nothing to be seen in any direction—only a thick, gloomy mist obscuring their vision.
It felt like they’d been walking in circles for ages. Naminé tried to look around. Maybe they really had, she thought.
“Axel?”
“…Yeah?” His steps never paused.
“Where are you going?”
“…Our base of operations,” Axel replied, over his shoulder this time. “What are you going to do?”
She gazed straight at him. “What do you mean?”
“If I return with you in tow, I get to live without being branded as a traitor,” he said with a wry grin.
“Maybe. Axel, what do you want to do?”
“Avoid being eliminated ideally.”
“So you’re offering me up to the organization?”
“…Well, you see any other options?” His expression was frozen in a forced smile.
He had no ideas. He didn’t know what to do.
And he had no heart and thus no emotions to guide him, either.
“I have a request,” Naminé said, determined. “I want…to meet Kairi.”
Axel frowned. Naminé was a Nobody. If she met Kairi, her true self…Naminé would disappear. “Are you serious?”
“Well…” She looked at the ground. “Isn’t that only natural?”
“Then what did you wanna come with me for?” Axel flung his arms out angrily.
“Because… Because you seemed lonely.”
“What?” The irritated furrow between his brows deepened.
“You seemed lonely,” Naminé repeated, raising her eyes.
“Lonely? Me, a Nobody, lonely? That doesn’t even make sense!”
“You know, Axel… I wonder if we really do have hearts after all.”
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