Kingdom Hearts II Vol 1

by Tomoco Kanemaki

  He had never apologized to anyone before. Or thanked anyone, either.

  Without a heart, there was never any need.

  If he had no heart, did it mean anything to say that he was lonely, or sorry, or grateful?

  The words couldn’t be heartfelt, when there was no heart to feel them.

  That was a painful truth.

  But even that word, painful—what could it possibly mean for someone with no heart?

  “So, what’re you going to do now?” he asked Riku.

  Riku crouched down near him to ask a question in return. “How can I help Kairi?”

  Axel opened his eyes then and slowly propped himself up. “…You’ll have to sneak into the castle.”

  His vision was still unsteady, and he ached all over. But this was no time for a nap on the beach. Naminé watched him with transparent concern.

  “How do I get into the castle?” asked Riku, kneeling in the sand with a similar expression.

  “No, I’ll go.” Axel peered under Riku’s hood to meet his eyes.

  “How’s that going to work? Aren’t you a fugitive?”

  “I’ll figure something out. You just hang back and watch. The castle’s pretty huge, y’know.” The corner of Axel’s mouth curled in a smirk. “In the meantime, I’ll check on what the organization’s up to.”

  He stood up, although his legs were still wobbly.

  “Naminé, we’ll make sure you get to meet Kairi,” he told her. “You wait in the mansion.”

  “Really?” She jumped to her feet, and Axel grinned at her.

  “Riku, come back to town once in a while. I’ll explain to Naminé about the organization.” Axel made a slight gesture with his right arm to create a passage behind him. “You two are gonna help Sora,” he told them, smiling brightly. “Got it memorized?”

  “Didn’t you want to make Sora into a Heartless?” Riku asked, on his feet again.

  Axel shrugged. “Changed my mind.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I don’t feel like telling you.” Still grinning, Axel sank into the dark portal.

  The trio arrived in Hollow Bastion and headed for Merlin’s house. Sora still seemed listless.

  Then, along the way, a mass of Heartless crossed their path.

  “Ack!” As they backpedaled, hoping to find a way around the fight, the Heartless simply ran away.

  “Are there more Heartless than before?” Goofy worried.

  As he spoke, Nobodies appeared in clusters as if in pursuit of the Heartless and wriggled away, too. Donald gave a dispirited sigh.

  “Gawrsh, I wonder if something’s goin’ on?” Goofy said, looking at Sora.

  “Let’s go check in with everyone!” Sora urged. The other two nodded, and they jogged through the market and up the stairs to the residential part of town.

  Halfway up, Donald paused, suddenly remembering something. “I wonder if that ice cream is ready?”

  At the top of the steps was Scrooge, pacing like before with an ice cream bar in his hand.

  “Uncle Scrooge!” Donald waddled up to him.

  “Well, hullo there, lad. Still doing well?”

  “Yep! What about you, Uncle Scrooge?” asked Donald.

  “Ach, I was so close to re-creating that flavor…” Scrooge sighed mournfully at the pale-blue ice pop.

  “Can I try it?” Sora leaned toward the tempting treat, just like before.

  “Well, go right ahead, but…”

  The moment Scrooge replied, Sora leaned just a bit more and took a bite.

  “It doesn’t taste like anything,” he mumbled.

  The pretty color of the ice cream pop had promised a delicious dessert, but there was no flavor at all.

  “I got rid of the bitterness, but…” Scrooge looked disconsolate.

  “Gawrsh, if there’s no taste at all, it’s just ice,” Goofy said dolefully.

  “Did you forget what it was supposed to taste like?” Donald asked.

  “For the life of me I can’t quite remember… What was that town where I’d have the stuff…?” Scrooge sank deep into concentration.

  “I bet you’ll get it right by the next time we stop by!” Sora grinned at him, trying to sound encouraging.

  Even a bite of totally flavorless ice cream seemed to have perked him up a bit.

  “We can’t wait!” Sora added, and Scrooge nodded. He turned to his companions. “C’mon, let’s go find Leon and everyone!”

  Considerably more cheerful now, he took off up the street.

  When they reached the residential district, it was swarming with Heartless—and not only Heartless, but Nobodies too, milling around like the town was theirs.

  “What is going on around here?” Sora wondered between swings at Nobodies. How could anyone restore Hollow Bastion like this?

  “Sora!”

  Hearing his name, he turned to find Yuffie with her giant shuriken.

  “So you came back!” She ran to him.

  “What happened to this place?” he asked.

  “Um, well…” Yuffie hurled her shuriken, cutting down Heartless. “Maybe we shouldn’t have opened the castle gates.”

  “The castle… That castle?” The place where they’d battled Maleficent loomed in Sora’s mind.

  “Yeah. Oh, but we found the computer Ansem was using!”

  “That’s good news!” Donald said, bludgeoning the enemy with his wand.

  “Leon and the gang are going there now. You should go catch up with them.”

  “Okay!” Sora blasted away a few white creatures as he replied, “I hope we find out about Riku and Kairi…”

  “And the king, too!” Goofy added, shoving back a Nobody with his shield.

  “Heh. Well, it can’t hurt to go see!” Yuffie exclaimed, sounding for all the world like she was enjoying herself. “Leave the town to me, guys!”

  The trio bobbed their heads and threaded their way through the throngs of Nobodies and Heartless toward the castle.

  In Hollow Bastion, the Heartless and Nobodies weren’t just swarming the town—they were crawling all over the path to the castle, too. Finally, the trio reached a small, mercifully empty courtyard.

  “Why are there so many?!” Donald fumed, gesticulating with his wand in his usual temper. The Heartless and Nobodies weren’t particularly strong, but there certainly were a lot of them.

  “This way, Sora,” said a soft voice.

  They turned to find another friend. “Aerith! You guys found Ansem’s computer?”

  “Mm-hmm. And the king is very interested in it.”

  Donald and Goofy both sprang up at that. “The king?!”

  “He’s with Leon.” Aerith smiled as she delivered the good news.

  “Hooray!”

  “We get to see the king!”

  Donald and Goofy hugged and danced in a celebratory circle with their hands joined.

  “Um, Aerith… Is Riku with them?” Sora asked timidly. She shook her head. That took the wind from his sails, but he recovered quickly. “Oh well… Maybe the king will know something about him!”

  “Maybe!” Aerith said. “Come on—let’s go to the study.”

  They nodded and headed into the castle through a small side entrance, and at the end of the labyrinthine hallways, they found an unassuming door.

  “In there.” Aerith showed them the entrance, and the trio filed in.

  The small, round room was stacked with books and littered with broken glass flasks. The detritus on the big desk suggested that someone had been in the middle of a project there, and beside it, a single portrait hung on the wall.

  “Is that…Ansem?” Goofy cocked his head at the painting. The man appeared younger than the Ansem they remembered fighting.

  “This must be Ansem’s study,” Sora murmured.

  “There you are,” said another voice.

  “Leon!” They rushed over to where he leaned against the wall.

  “King Mickey’s here, too, right?!�
�� Sora blurted out, almost too eagerly.

  “You’ll see him soon.”

  Donald stamped his foot. “How soon?”

  “Here, this’ll tide you over.” Leon manipulated something on the wall behind him, and without a sound, it opened. “Ansem’s computer lab is this way.”

  At that information, the trio sprinted down the passageway without wasting a moment.

  King Mickey wandered along the winding hallways. He wanted to see Sora, Donald, and Goofy, too, but something else weighed more heavily on his mind.

  He’d sensed a certain presence here in Hollow Bastion. He was sure of it.

  The king lifted his gaze to the broken wall and murmured the name under his breath. “Riku…”

  After they’d parted ways in Twilight Town, Riku had disappeared into the Corridors of Darkness, vowing to help Sora. And if Riku was tailing Sora, it wouldn’t be strange to run into him here.

  But King Mickey had only felt it for a moment, and now it was gone.

  If he could, he’d like to see Riku, too… But maybe that was too much to ask right now.

  Maybe it was his own fault his friend had taken that form.

  King Mickey decided to search the area once more.

  Riku moved silently through the castle of Hollow Bastion. He’d spent a good amount of time here before, and although parts of the place were crumbling, it was without a doubt the castle he remembered.

  Where every kind word from Maleficent had been an invitation pulling him into the darkness.

  Beneath his hood, he lowered his eyes.

  Those memories were painful, but it made sense for him to use them now. Since he was going to atone for what he’d done in the past, the ache was ironically comforting.

  Besides, Sora and those other two weren’t the only ones he’d sensed somewhere in the sprawling town. King Mickey was here, too.

  Maybe I’ve betrayed the king, Riku thought.

  Even if I did, my mind’s made up. But…back when I decided to leave the island, I knew I’d do whatever it took. And now, I’m doing whatever it takes to help Sora.

  Am I just making the same mistakes over and over?

  He breathed a tiny sigh and looked up. And then he called the name of the witch who had first tempted him into the darkness.

  “Maleficent.”

  Nothing around him changed. He called out again, louder. “Maleficent!”

  As his voice faded, the empty space before him warped, and the witch appeared in a dark swirl.

  “Who are you?” Maleficent said icily.

  Riku pushed back his hood. “I’ve come here to meet with you.”

  The thin arches of her eyebrows tightened. “Ansem… No—is that Riku?”

  He told her the truth with one quiet nod.

  At the end of the passageway, there was another room with a big computer and its screen, and opposite the setup was a mysterious red device.

  “This is it?” Sora ran to the computer and started tapping at the keyboard. It clicked and whirred softly. “Where’s Kairi? And Riku?”

  He jabbed harder and waited for the screen to respond, but he couldn’t get it to do anything.

  “C’mon! Tell us something!” He slammed his hands down on the keyboard in frustration.

  Leon walked up behind him and stopped him. “Easy there… You trying to break it?”

  “Sorry… I guess I got carried away.” Sora turned to Leon, his shoulders slumped.

  It was aggravating to be so close to potential information about Kairi and Riku with no idea how to use the enormous machine to access it.

  “Sheesh! Just stand back, Sora!” Donald shoved him out of the way and took a crack at it himself.

  “You know how to use it, Donald?”

  He glanced at Sora sheepishly. “Not really, but…”

  “Then what’s the point…?” Sora complained.

  A moment later, there was an important-sounding beep coming from the computer.

  “We did it!” Sora checked the screen—but it still showed nothing. Instead, an ominous voice boomed through the chamber.

  “Attention, current user. This is a warning. Further misuse of this terminal will result in immediate defensive action.”

  “Who’s there?” Sora said.

  “I am the Master Control Program. I oversee this system.”

  What was that supposed to mean? Confused, Sora tried asking more questions. “Do you know about Riku or Kairi?”

  “Commencing defensive action,” the voice announced. “You are now under arrest.”

  “Arrest?!”

  A beam of light shot out from the device behind them.

  “Run!” Leon shouted, but too late— As the beam struck Sora, Donald, and Goofy, they disappeared.

  CHAPTER 6

  SPACE PARANOIDS

  “SORA!”

  The boy woke at the sound of his name. “Donald…?”

  “Oh, good!”

  Goofy anxiously leaned over him, too.

  “Where are we…?” Sora found himself in a strange place bathed in bluish light from a web of glowing lines that appeared to connect somewhere. Sora squinted at it. “What kinda world is this, anyway?”

  “You are inside a mainframe system,” said an unfamiliar voice.

  “A what system?!” the trio echoed, noticing a man perched in front of a screen. He wore a suit covered in radiant blue lines, not unlike the room, and a kind smile.

  “For processing data. This is a copy of a large-scale system created by a corporation called ENCOM,” he explained freely, and stood up to approach them. “This copy was acquired by another user. The new user updated and customized it, renaming the system Hollow Bastion OS. He used this computer for town administration and private research.”

  The trio tried to take this in, still totally bewildered. Finally noticing how lost they were, the man scratched his head.

  “My name is Tron. I’m a security program,” he told them, smiling brightly. “But now I’m in custody, the same as you.”

  That didn’t do much to clear things up.

  “Did any of that make sense to you?” Sora whispered to Goofy.

  “Uh, maybe we should just introduce ourselves,” Goofy said, not too worried about it. Sora and Donald agreed.

  “I’m Sora.”

  “I’m Donald.”

  “Nice to meetcha, Tron. I’m Goofy.”

  Tron folded his arms. “With that configuration, I’m guessing you’re users?”

  “Users?” Sora cocked his head.

  Instead of explaining, Tron expressed his concern about something else. “You’d better get out of here quickly. There’s no telling what the MCP will do to you.”

  Sora couldn’t follow a thing Tron said. “M-C-P?”

  “The Master Control Program. It controls the whole system. If you stay here too long, you’ll be de-rezzed.”

  “De-rezzed?!” Donald jumped.

  “How do we get outta here?” Sora asked desperately. De-rezzing sounded pretty bad.

  “This terminal should be able to get you back to the user world.” Tron pointed to the screen behind him.

  “Hooray!” Goofy ran to it.

  “But the MCP cut the power about fifty microcycles ago. If we could bring the energy core in the canyon back online, we could power it up again. The problem is…we’re stuck in here.” Tron indicated the door on one side of the room.

  “The door won’t open?”

  “That’s right…”

  Sora strode over and held up the Keyblade. The Keyblade shone—and the door opened. “So? How do we get to this energy core thing?” He grinned back at their new friend.

  “Remarkable! You seem to have some unique functions,” Tron marveled. “I’ll go with you to the canyon. You’ll need someone who can interface with the energy core, right?”

  “Yeah—thanks, Tron!” Sora said.

  He replied with a friendly nod.

  Outside the cell was a narrow hallway, and Heartless
of a kind they’d never seen before seemed to be lying in ambush for them.

  “Shucks, they’re in here, too?!” Goofy lifted his shield.

  “The MCP probably released them to deal with your infiltration,” Tron said, completely unruffled.

  “Seriously? What a pain!” Weapon raised, Sora charged into the fray and laid the Heartless to waste.

  “You three really are something else!” Tron exclaimed, impressed, after the battle had finished.

  “Eh, you know.”

  “But how did the MCP get a hold of you in the first place?” Tron asked as they forged ahead.

  “I don’t really know… Oh yeah! Tron, do you know anything about Kairi and Riku?” Sora inquired hopefully.

  “Kairi and Riku?”

  “They’re his friends!” Goofy explained.

  “No…I don’t know,” Tron replied. “But maybe you’ll find out something if you can access the DTD.”

  “D-T-D?” Sora echoed again.

  “It’s a restricted dataspace. I don’t know the current password, so I’m locked out. But the keywords that led to the MCP arresting you might be in there, with the sensitive data,” Tron explained as they headed down the hallway.

  “What’s that mean?”

  “It means the MCP might have been programmed to automatically arrest someone when they ask about Kairi or Riku.”

  Sora looked at Donald and Goofy.

  “Anyway, we’ve got to get out of here first,” Tron said. “Let’s go.”

  They nodded and continued down the passage.

  The gang arrived in a spacious hall with a huge device in the center.

  “Is that the energy core?” Sora wondered.

  “That’s right.” Tron began tapping at the keyboard in front of it. The terminal buzzed with a low hum, and the luminous blue of the circuitry brightened into white.

  “So, mission accomplished?” Sora said.

  “Yes.” Tron shyly lowered his head. “Actually… Will you do something for me?”

  “Sure!” Sora replied immediately.

  “Don’t you want to hear what it is first?”

  “You helped us, so now it’s our turn,” Donald said brightly, as if stating the obvious.

  “You guys really are users. Your actions are totally illogical.”

  Again, Sora echoed him. “Illogical?”