Kingdom Hearts-Number XV: Ch.9

Kingdom Hearts-
Number Fifteen
Chapter Nine – "Blank Point"


     A strange feeling of warmth…
     "Sor—"
     A dark place…
      "-ake—"
     I —
     "Sora, wake up!"

     Sora awoke slowly, as he usually did after he had taken a nap. "Was it all a dream?" Sora thought, still not having opened his eyes.  Slowly and lazily, Sora opened his eyes and glanced around, not moving his head; a combination of wooden planks and rock walls had replaced the large, dark buildings in the world of the Nobodies, and the stark, starless sky had been replaced with a roof assembled with woven-together bundles of tropical tree leaves. A makeshift table was placed on the opposite side of the room, upturned chairs resting on top of it.

     Sora shifted slightly to his left, his head now facing one of the shack's walls. The surface underneath him was soft; he was lying on what seemed to be an air mattress, a blanket placed over him to keep him warm. The relaxing smell of seawater permeated the air. Sora started to think that he was back on the islands, but his thoughts were not quite coherent, as he also saw various figures of animals running along the walls.

     "Hey, everyone-!" a distant voice called out. Sora recognized this voice; it belonged someone from the Islands… but whose was it? The warmth of sleep began to beckon to Sora; his eyes slowly closed. The sound of the waves lapping against the shore could be heard…

     "Sora, does it hurt when I do this?" a male voice chimed in. The next thing Sora felt was a painful sensation in his ribs, making him cry out and snap fully awake.

     A boy with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes was standing over Sora. The boy wore a small, white, short-sleeved shirt with light-blue sleeves. The pants the boy was wearing were black with uneven legs; the right reaching just below the boy's knee, while the other reached just above his opposite knee.

     "What was that for, Tidus?" Sora whined as he held his ribs gingerly. "Wait… Tidus? Why are you…?"

     "I just thought I'd pop in and say hi. Maybe shoot the breeze a bit, y'know…" Tidus's voice seemed to fade away, although his mouth kept moving.

     "So it wasn't a dream…" Sora thought to himself as he sat up in the makeshift bed. The clothing for the upper part of his body had been removed; Sora looked down to find a large bruise on his lower left side. Tidus still continued to speak, but Sora didn't pay any attention; his thoughts still focused upon how he was back on the Islands.

     "So you're finally awake," Riku's voice cut in. Sora looked to find Riku leaning against the doorway of the shack, at the foot of the bed. "Why don't you let me bring Sora up to speed first, Tidus?" Riku asked, entering the room.

     "Suit yourself. He seems fine for the most part anyway, aren't ya, Sora?" Tidus said, making a playful jab at Sora's ribs. "Oh! Sorry! I didn't mean— here, let me just—"

     "Hasn't the guy had enough trouble already without you poking and prodding his injuries?" a deeper male voice asked.

     A taller boy with orange hair stepped into Sora's peripheral vision, his tall coif waving slightly as he moved. The boy wore a white tank top and light-blue baggy pants whose legs closed up halfway down his lower legs.

     "Well yes, I know, but— aah! Hey, easy!"

Tidus cried out as the tall boy grabbed him by the ear and proceeded to pull him towards the doorway. "Wait! Wakka… you're here, too?"

     "Well sure, why wouldn't I be? I've got to take care of my brudda!" Wakka's attention shifted back to Tidus. "We'll let Riku finish talking to Sora, then you can chat with him." Wakka proceeded to pull the protesting Tidus outside.

     "You all right?" Riku asked as the noisy duo left.

     "I was feeling all right up until Tidus decided to mess with my ribs."

     "I said I was sorry!" Tidus's voice echoed from outside.

     Sora's pain slowly subsided. "Hey Riku," Sora asked, "What happened? How did we get back here?"

     Riku moved one of the chairs from the table over to the side of the bed and sat down. "Well, when I went to check on you, you seemed all right, but then you started falling forward. I almost didn't make it over to you in time. I didn't know how bad your injuries were, so after I caught you I used the Star Fragment to take us back."

     "But what about that thing? I didn't see it fade away like the other—"

     Suddenly a sharp pain shot through Sora's skull. Sora looked around, noticing he was no longer in the shack; it was night, and he now stood on a large stone bridge facing an iron-wrought gate. Various statues sat along the sides of the bridge, and on the other side of the large gate was a forest, with a small path leading further in. "I… know this place," Sora thought to himself. He turned around to see a large castle standing before him. A realization rushed into Sora's mind; "This is the Beast's Castle!"

     A strange sound came from behind. Sora quickly spun around and saw a large, silver and blue lance sticking out of the ground. Upon examination of the lance, Sora remembered whom it belonged to; Xaldin!

     Several more spears fell from the sky and became embedded in the bridge's walkway, encircling a small, empty area of the bridge. Sora's mind began to burn as it did when that thing—Xiao— had mentioned Axel before. Xaldin's form began to fade in from nothingness, standing in the center of the encirclement of spears and clutching at his chest. Xaldin's lances seemed to disintegrate as Xaldin himself began screaming into the night sky, his arms stretched outwards. Shortly after the lances faded, Xaldin himself started to fade into nothingness. A strong gust of wind blew from behind Xaldin, carrying a large amount leaves and dust toward Sora, forcing him to close his eyes.

     "Sora!" Riku's voice pierced the sound of wind in Sora's ears. Sora opened his eyes to find he was back on the Islands in the makeshift bed. "Are you okay? You spaced out on me for a bit there." Riku stated.

     "Yeah, I'm fine." Sora replied, with the pain in his head subsiding. "Are you going to tell me what happened after I passed out now?"

     "I looked over to where the explosion took place, but I didn't see anything," Riku explained.

     A concerned look overtook Sora's face. "I don't think I defeated it, though. Xiao didn't start fading away when—"

     "Xiao?" Riku interrupted. "That thing told you its name, too?"

     "You ran into it, too? What did it say? Are you— agh!" Sora cried out in pain as his injury started to act up.

     "Relax, all it did was try to stall me. I managed to get away."

     "Are you okay?"

     "You're one to be asking." Riku chuckled. "I'll be fine. I barely have a scratch on me."

     "That's strange. If Riku isn't hurt like me, then what happened—" Sora's thoughts were interrupted as the room began to spin.

     "Whoa! Take it easy," Riku caught Sora before he managed to fall out of the bed. "I'll let you rest for a bit, then we'll finish our conversation, alright? We'll decide what to do once you get some more rest." Sora continued to protest, but after a few minutes he eventually gave in, mainly due to the fact that his light-headedness wouldn't go away.

---

     Once he was convinced Sora was resting, Riku exited the small shack and felt the cool sea breeze and the warmth of the afternoon sun wash over him. It was a much more welcoming atmosphere, compared to that of the cold emptiness one felt in The World that Never Was.

     "Hey, Riku!" Riku turned his head and saw Tidus and Wakka running over to him. "How's Sora doing?" Tidus asked breathlessly.

     "He'll be fine, Tidus." Riku assured. "He just needs some more rest before we take him home. I'd rather we didn't worry his mother; seeing Sora like that is the last thing she needs right now."

     "Well, we can't keep him away for too long," Wakka asserted. "I'd heard she had just gotten over the last time Sora 'ran off', if you catch my drift."

     It was true; Sora's mother had been, needless to say, worried about her son's yearlong absence. Coupled with the fact that she could have sworn she had forgotten about him at some point, she became somewhat of a nervous wreck.  Kairi, shortly prior to embarking on a journey of her own (one that would take her to the world of the Nobodies), spent time with Sora's mother, often assisting with chores and the like; all the while assuring her Sora would return safely. Eventually the concerned mother resigned herself to hopefully awaiting her son's return. Upon Sora's return to the Islands, she finally breathed a much-needed sigh of relief. Although, for some time after, she sometimes went into hysterics about Sora disappearing again whenever he was late to dinner, although she knew he had just been playing on the Islands with his friends.

     "Oh, right! Can you guys go find Sora's mom and tell her we'll be eating lunch out here today?" Riku asked Tidus and Wakka. "Sora should be fine in a few more hours."

     "Sure," Tidus responded. "Why don't we make it a contest, Wakka? Last one to find her has to make lunch for everyone!" With that, Tidus ran off, gaining a significant lead over Wakka.

     "Hey, I never agreed to— Wait, I am NOT making lunch for everybody like last time! Wait up!" Wakka dashed madly to catch up.

     With nothing left to do but wait, Riku thought it would be a good idea to collect his thoughts. He walked across the bridge to the crooked palm tree, and sat down on the bend in the trunk. Gazing out at the sea, Riku thought to himself, "Why didn't Xiao attack me? It had no problem going after Sora." Riku sighed restlessly as he racked his brain for answers he knew he wouldn't get.  After finally giving up on those thoughts, Riku realized something. "After all this time, I still can't be straightforward with him… Why didn't I tell Sora how I got away?"

"Save your friend."

     "Something happened when Xiao called itself the 14th member of the Organization. Now that I think about it… it sounds wrong when I say that. I wonder why… Agh, I need answers!"

     Footsteps could be heard on the bridge. "Hey," Riku called out, "You guys find her already? Who's making lunch today? Actually, I thought I'd—" Riku stopped short as he turned to greet the source of the footsteps; a cloaked figure.