Chapter XI; Forgotten Friends

Upon boarding the Gummi ship, the engine started and began to move the ship. X frowned as he looked around at the others. None of them were sitting remotely near the steering wheel. Donald and Goofy had grabbed onto the wall for support as the ship lurched into movement. Sora hadn't been so fortunate and was sitting on the ground rubbing his back.

"Huh?" Goofy said as he released the wall and made his way to his seat. X walked over to Sora and offered his hand. Sora smiled gratefully and took it allowing X to pull him to his feet. After Sora was up X walked away from him, hands going into his pockets as he went to a window.

"Is the ship supposed to be doing that?" X asked as he watched the stars pass by.

"Hey, wait a minute. Is the ship moving all on its own?" Sora asked watching the stars move, then looking to the seat by the steering wheel he usually occupied, though Donald, Goofy, and Jiminey (the cricket that lived in Sora's hood and recorded their journey) had him under heavy supervision. They didn't trust him not to crash the ship.

"Yup! Looks like we're headed toward Hollow Bastion," Goofy said from his seat. Sora nodded as he sat down himself. X remained standing as they made their journey to Hollow Bastion. He always liked watching the stars. They reminded him of Y, though he knew they were other worlds.

Y was always like a star to him. Shining brightly despite the darkness that seemed to suffocate her. In the realm of darkness, he remembered thinking she had glowed. Even as a Heartless her heart was brighter than almost anyone. Shining as bright as the heart of any world, even though she was only one person.

X was broke from his train of thought by the Gummi ship lurching to a stop at Hollow Bastion. The group all exited the ship finding themselves in the Borough. Looking around nothing seemed wrong. There weren't even any Heartless, and the security system that had attacked X last time didn't even activate. Sora led the way through the town towards the house that belonged to Merlin.

"I wonder what's up," Sora said as he looked around. He stopped as he saw Merlin's home. The door was open and Heartless were running out of the building. Before any of them could draw their weapons the Heartless vanished. X frowned as he looked around. He didn't see anyone else who could command them to just leave. The Heartless were acting strangely here.

"C'mon!" Sora said as he ran towards the house. Inside they found Merlin on the floor. Sora rushed over to him and helped the old wizard to his feet. X nervously glanced around the room. There had to be something that had attracted the Heartless here.

"Well, now, took your time, did you?" Merlin asked as he brushed himself off. He straightened his glasses on his nose as he looked at Sora.

"Oh, was it you who summoned us, Merlin?" Goofy asked. Merlin nodded as he continued to brush himself off. X couldn't see a scratch on the man, which was strange considering he had clearly just been in a tussle with a group of Heartless.

"Yes, yes. But it seems I used too much power in doing so, and those infernal Heartless," Merlin said. Sora seemed to sense something coming and quickly cut off Merlin before he could get much farther.

"So what's up?" Sora asked.

"Well, I happened to stumble across this in the Zero District," Merlin replied summoning a book to his hands. X didn't get a very good look at the cover, but he saw at the very least a picture of what could have been a bear on the front. The book was leather bound with a gold clasp. Sora recognized the book immediately.

"Pooh's storybook!" Sora said excitedly taking the book.

"That's right. I know you're a good friend of Winnie the Pooh, Sora--that's why I summoned you. And when I did, I was attacked by the Heartless. Of course, I fought back with some rather powerful magic, but then I began to fear the book would be damaged, so I," Merlin explained. He suddenly changed demeanor as a new thought occurred to him. "Oh! Now, just a moment. Leon and the others will need to hear this too. I-I'd better go find them. Be back in a jiffy." He vanished in a puff of white smoke leaving the four standing in his house with the book that apparently the Heartless were after.

"I wonder how Pooh's doing," Sora said as he looked at the book.

"Wanna find out?" Donald asked. Sora smiled brightly handing the book off to Donald.

"Yeah!" Donald took the book and held it open in front of Sora. Goofy raised one of his hands to his mouth in worry.

"Sora," he said in warning.

"I have a bad feeling about this," X said looking at the book. He realized now that the book was a whole world in itself. He could feel the hearts in the book, filled with all kind of emotion. It was a concentrated source of hearts, and it drew Heartless to it like any world.

"Cover for me, ok?" Sora asked. After he spoke he disappeared into the book. Donald lowered the book and held it, looking at the pages. X frowned glancing over his shoulder to the door. A shocked gasp from Goofy returned his attention to the group.

There were soldier Heartless in the house now surrounding Donald and the book. X quickly summoned his daggers and shot at a Heartless before it could hit Donald. He turned and threw his dagger at another Heartless before turning and stabbing down on one beside him. Goofy had drawn his shield and had joined X in defending Donald and the book.

"What is with this book?" X asked as he called his dagger back to his hand. He spun the blade before stabbing behind him into the Heartless. No matter the world it shouldn't attract Heartless like this. There was something else fascinating about the book, though he had no clue what it was.

X glanced around at the growing number of Heartless. Soon there would be no room to fight in the house. X whistled softly, carefully watching Donald and Goofy as to ensure they didn't hear him. The Heartless all turned to face him, following the sound. X continued to whistle a soft song as he led the Heartless out of the house into the open square outside of it. Outside X ceased his whistling and restarted the fight. Goofy joined him seconds later swinging his shield and destroying the Heartless. Even so, they were outnumbered as the Heartless seemed to just keep multiplying.

"Donald put the book down and come on!" X yelled throwing his dagger again before calling it back to his hand. Donald joined them in a few moments after finding a suitable place to put his book down. Donald wasn't outside long when they heard a loud thump from inside.

"Sora! Hurry up!" Donald yelled. Sora ran out of the house, keyblade in hand. He joined the fray quickly cutting down the numbers. It seemed they stopped multiplying now that a keyblade was present.

"Did you bring the book, Sora?" Goofy asked as they cleared out the last of the Heartless outside. Before Sora could answer a group of Soldier Heartless ran out of the house, in the hands of one of them was the book Sora had just been visiting.

"That's a no," X said. He took aim with one of his daggers and threw it at the group of Heartless.

"Hey!" Sora yelled running at the group.

"Give that back!" Donald said running with Sora.

It didn't take long to finish off the Heartless in the area. X picked up the book and dusted off the cover. It didn't look too badly damaged on the outside, a few claw marks here and there but nothing too serious.

"They seemed really interested in this book," X said as he handed it off to Sora. Sora frowned taking the book from X and looking at it himself.

"I wonder why," he said before looking up. "Think it's ok?" he asked looking to the others for their opinions. X shrugged as he glanced to the other two.

"Gawrsh, maybe ya better go back and make sure Pooh's alright," Goofy suggested.

"But what about Merlin?" Donald asked. X held back a remark about Donald encouraging Sora to enter the book first time despite Goofy and X both being wary of the idea. This time it seemed more important to return to the book.

"Well, I guess we could explain," Goofy said.

"Don't worry, we got this," X said walking back towards the house. He wanted a more covered area to be in, in case they had to protect the book again.

"Great!" Sora said following X into the house. They set the book on a stand and Sora reentered the book. X frowned leaning against a wall while they waited for Sora or Merlins return. Merlin was the first to arrive, appearing just as he had disappeared in the center of the room. He looked around and quickly realized Sora was missing.

"Where did Sora go?" Merlin asked.

"He's in the book," X explained with a nod towards the book. "Heartless got a hold of it and he wanted to be sure this Pooh was alright." Merlin sighed heavily and took a few steps towards the book to inspect it.

"Such an impatient boy," Merlin said. X chuckled and nodded looking back to the book.

"So it seems," he agreed. He glanced to Merlin with a thoughtful expression. Such an interesting book had to have an interesting tale to go along with it. "Where did you get this book? I've never seen anything quite like it." X asked.

"A fellow found it years ago. Thought I had dropped it," Merlin answered without missing a beat. "I offered to hold onto it for him. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen him since. I wonder whatever happened to those three." he wondered. X frowned looking at the book. Years ago. A strange fellow in a group of three that hadn't been seen in years. It wasn't quite the same story but it was enough to make his stomach clench tightly. Had Ventus found this book before? Or had it been Terra? X shook his head. He was over thinking it, he was sure. Surely Terra would have mentioned the book to him if he had found it.

X felt his chest tighten at the thought. That assumption would only be true if they had been friends. Which he and Terra had been far from. X took a deep breath to clear his thoughts. He didn't need to think of the past now.

Sora returned from his adventure in the book moments later. He looked a little dazed as he came out of the book, a frown on his face as he looked around.

"Couldn't be bothered to wait up for an old wizard, eh?" Merlin asked as he took a step towards Sora. Sora turned his attention on to Merlin, still frowning.

"Sorry about that," Sora said, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"How are things in there?" Merlin asked.

"Well, Pooh seems to have forgotten all about me. And not just me- all his other friends, too," Sora said. The reason for his frown was apparent then. He didn't want to be forgotten by his friends in the book.

"I was afraid of that," Merlin muttered as he stepped forward to look at the book. Looking inside X could see the scratch marks from the Heartless. He could only imagine what kind of damage that would do to the world inside the book. It was a shame, books were such precious things in the first place. Any damage to any book was sad. But it was even worse on such a special book. "I suspect it has something to do with those pages the Heartless stole. You'll have to collect the torn pages and repair the book to put things right. This book is one of the worlds most cerished elements. I'd been meaning to tell Leon I'd found it, but perhaps we should keep it between us for now."

"We will!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy all agreed with a salute. X only nodded.

"Good, good," Merlin said turning away.

Before Sora could lead the way back to the Gummi ship, or wherever it was he planned on taking them next the brown-haired man known as Leon burst into the house. His face was set in a stern expression as he looked around the room. He locked eyes on Sora and seemed to let out a relieved breath.

"Sora, good. We've got Heartless, it's a massive one too," Leon said quickly. Sora straightened up, clearly ready to run to wherever the problem was.

"What? Where?" he asked.

"Around Ansem's castle. Yuffie is there now but I don't know how long she can hold out," Leon answered.

"Wasn't the young one there as well?" Merlin asked. X frowned looking at the wizard. Who was this young one? Had they missed an introduction the last time they had been in Hollow Bastion. Were there more members of the committee?

"Yeah, she's doing the best she can, but she's not great with large ones yet apparently," Leon answered. X turned his narrowed gaze to Leon now. What were they talking about? Large what?

"Well let's go!" Sora said before taking off running, pushing past Leon. X, Donald, and Goofy were left with little choice but to follow him, running to keep up with him.

They crossed the town in no time at all finding themselves in an open space around Ansem's castle. There was nothing as far as X could see. The ground shook causing the group to stumble. In front of them, a girl slid across the ground jumping down from a higher ledge. She held two keyblades, one behind her and one crossing the front of her body. The ground shook again as a large Heartless jumped down as well. It was on four legs with rippling muscles that looked too large for its body. It was dark in color with a mane of red hair down its neck. Two hours protruded from its head. Its face was a long muzzle that looked almost like a dog. A Heartless emblem was clear on its chest, pink and purple. The colors of Rimyei.

"Yuki! Are you alright?" Leon yelled. X had to do a double take to look at the girl again. He had been so distracted by the Heartless he had hardly realized fighting the Heartless was one of his best friends. She wasn't wearing the white cloak he was used to, instead wearing red, white, and black. Colors that he found appropriate.

"Define alright," Yuki called back not looking away from the King Behemoth. The Heartless lowered its head and charged at her. She raised her keyblades to defend herself, but there was little need for it. Sora jumped towards her and managed to redirect the charge.

"Look out!" Sora yelled landing beside Yuki.

"Thanks," Yuki said not looking at Sora.

"No problem," Sora replied.

Without a further word, the two keyblade wielders attacked the Behemoth. The others tried to join the fight, but a barrier had appeared, separating the groups. X pounded on the barrier in annoyance.

Yuki did her best not to pay attention to Sora who fought beside her. She swung herself up onto the Behemoths back from its horns using Heartless Keeper. She landed with Twilight Keeper stabbed down in its head. The Behemoths bellowed in pain and shook. Yuki gripped tightly to her key to avoid being thrown. From the side she watched Sora throw his keyblade to distract it.

She pulled Twilight Keeper from its head as it turned towards Sora. It lowered its head, magic forming between its horns that were lowered to aim at Sora. Yuki jumped towards its forehead slashing her keys forward. As the magic shot, she was pushed back and off the side of its head. She watched Sora roll to the other side avoiding the magic attack, though it did seem to graze him.

The Behemoth stomped its front feet claws digging into the ground. The ground shook knocking Yuki to the ground. She groaned pushing herself to her feet. On the other side, Sora did the same, using his key for support. Their eyes met and Sora nodded.

Together they ran at the Behemoth. Yuki launched herself onto its neck running across it, dragging her keyblades behind her. Sora did the same, only running underneath the Behemoth. The Behemoth roared in pain and collapsed to the ground. It was weakened, but not down yet. Yuki took a deep breath and raised Heartless Keeper. Darkness and light coated the blade, swirling together like twilight. She stabbed down into the Behemoths head and willed the magic to spread outward. The Behemoth gave one last groan as it faded back into the darkness.

Yuki lowered her keys and watched the crystalline heart fly up into the sky towards the moon she knew was waiting for it.

"Go in peace, and find a new life," Yuki whispered softly before looking down. Her limbs felt heavy now like they always did after any kind of magic. Especially something like that. But it seemed the most humane way to kill the Heartless. She didn't want it to suffer.

Yuki looked up, her eyes meeting with familiar bright blue eyes. She held in a gasp as she had to remind herself who those eyes belonged to. It wasn't who she wanted it to be.

"Yuki, it's really you," Sora said excitedly. He took a few steps forward a smile spreading across his face.

"Sora," Yuki said. She frowned and looked off to the side. The name felt so unnatural to say. It almost tasted bitter on her tongue. That wasn't the name she wanted to say. This wasn't the friend she wanted to see.

"Are you ok? Is something wrong?" Sora asked taking another step towards Yuki. His keyblade was gone. If Yuki wanted to attack him now she could. He wouldn't be able to stop her. Roxas would be free, all she had to do was take his heart.

"No, no everything's fine," Yuki said as she looked up at Sora. Meeting his blue eyes Yuki banished her keys, a heavy feeling clawing in her chest.

"It's great to see you. So much has happened since you left. And it looks like a lot has happened with you too," Sora said stepping even closer. Yuki chuckled bitterly looking away.

"Yeah, that's one way to put it," she said. A lot hardly touched the subject. A lot didn't convey her entire world had been flipped upside down twice over. It didn't cover her best friends had died or were going to die. It didn't cover not having a heart you always thought you did.

"I missed you," Sora said.

"Missed you too," Yuki echoed. The words left her mouth before she could really process them. She wasn't sure if they were true or not.

Yuki couldn't amend herself, suddenly Sora was on his knees, his head between his hands. He groaned in pain, making Yuki step back from him. She didn't think she had done anything to cause this, but would the others believe her.

Yuki swallowed turning her eyes yellow. She could see Sora's heart, it was bright like the early morning over a body of water that clearly reflected it back. When shadows were still long to hide creatures in the darkness. Another heart seemed to be clashing with his. One that looked like the twilight sky before night fully fell, the last rays of light still fighting off the darkness of the night.

Yuki's breath caught, she could hear the cries of the twilight heart. Look at me, please look at me.

Yuki reached out to Sora her hand shaking, her eyes focused on his heart. She glanced up to his face still contorted in pain. She looked back to his heart and let out a shaky breath. Her hand drew slowly closer and closer, shaking like a shell caught in ocean waves in a storm.

Her hand fell to rest on his shoulder.

"Roxas, please. That's enough," Yuki said softly.

Sora felt the pain leave his head and chest. The pounding voice died out, no longer crying out for Yuki to look at him. To see him. But he felt a strange feeling in his chest a tightness that was close to anger but weighed with sadness.

"Wha-" Sora looked up to ask. But Yuki no longer stood in front of him. He frowned as he pushed himself to his feet. He glanced around but saw no sign of the black-haired girl that had been with him seconds before.

"Sora!" Sora turned to X. The blonde boy ran up to him with the others that had been trapped behind the barrier that had fallen.

"Was that the friend you were looking for?" Goofy asked. Sora nodded looking back to the empty space Yuki had just been standing in.

"Yeah, but she seems upset," Sora said frowning. The feeling was still lingering, reminding him of the hurt he felt when Riku had turned on him.

"Hm, strange," Leon said tapping his chin as he looked down.

"When we asked Yuki said she didn't know you," Yuffie said crossing her arms.

"I wonder why she lied," Leon said, lost in his own thoughts. X bit his bottom lip looking at Sora, worry filling his purple eyes.

"What did she say to you?" X asked.

"That was the weirdest part. She called me Roxas, and said that was enough," Sora said. He didn't even know anyone named Roxas, though the name did sound strangely familiar. And Yuki had been his friend since they were kids. She couldn't have forgotten his name. Not when she had said it earlier in the conversation.

"Who's Roxas?" Donald asked. Sora shrugged.

"I dunno," he admitted.

"Hm, I wonder," X said softly looking up from where he stood. He glanced around hoping to see Yuki. But there was no such luck. She was long gone.

Not far from the group, hidden away from sight by a pile of rocks Yuki stood shaking and hand pulled tightly to her chest. She gripped so tightly to the seashell in her hand, it seemed it might cut her. Her body shook with each new intake of air. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"I'm sorry Roxas, I'm so, so sorry."

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