Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories The Novel (light novel) Read online

  Copyright

  KINGDOM HEARTS:

  CHAIN OF MEMORIES: THE NOVEL

  TOMOCO KANEMAKI,

  ILLUSTRATIONS: SHIRO AMANO,

  ORIGINAL CONCEPT: TETSUYA NOMURA, DAISUKE WATANABE

  Translation by Melissa Tanaka

  Cover art by Shiro Amano

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  KINGDOM HEARTS © Disney Enterprises, Inc.

  Characters from FINAL FANTASY video game series © 1990, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002 Square Enix Co., Ltd.

  All rights reserved.

  English translation © 2015 by Disney Enterprises, Inc.

  Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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  First Yen On eBook Edition: April 2017

  Originally published in paperback in September 2015 by Yen On.

  Yen On is an imprint of Yen Press, LLC.

  The Yen On name and logo are trademarks of Yen Press, LLC.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  ISBN: 978-0-316-55962-1

  E3-20170401-JV-PC

  CONTENTS

  COVER

  INSERT

  TITLE PAGE

  COPYRIGHT

  SORA’S STORY PART 1 PROLOGUE FRESH START

  CHAPTER 1 TRAVERSE TOWN

  CHAPTER 2 WONDERLAND

  CHAPTER 3 AGRABAH

  CHAPTER 4 MONSTRO

  CHAPTER 5 NEVERLAND

  SORA’S STORY PART 2 CHAPTER 6 HOLLOW BASTION

  CHAPTER 7 HUNDRED ACRE WOOD

  CHAPTER 8 TWILIGHT TOWN

  CHAPTER 9 DESTINY ISLANDS

  CHAPTER 10 THE CHAOTIC WORLD

  SHORT CHAPTER FRAGMENTS

  CHAPTER 11 CASTLE OBLIVION

  EPILOGUE XIII

  RIKU’S STORY REVERSE/REBIRTH PROLOGUE STARTING IN DARKNESS

  CHAPTER 1 RECOLLECT

  CHAPTER 2 RECALL

  CHAPTER 3 RIKU

  CHAPTER 4 REPLICA

  CHAPTER 5 RIVAL

  CHAPTER 6 RELENT

  CHAPTER 7 REJECTION

  CHAPTER 8 REVIVE

  EPILOGUE DAYBREAK OF START & THE LAST EVENING

  YEN NEWSLETTER

  SORA’S STORY

  PART 1

  I liked to draw pictures.

  Drawing on the bright white sketchbook pages.

  Maybe they were worlds from fairy tales…or friends I had yet to meet…

  Everything in my world.

  I can only draw things from dreams.

  Dreams that will never come true. Or dreams that might come true.

  These are that person’s dreams.

  Or are they mine?

  PROLOGUE

  FRESH START

  A SINGLE PATH STRETCHED ON THROUGH THE GRASSY field as far as they could see.

  “Well, now what do we do?” said Donald, looking back at Sora.

  “We’ve gotta find Riku and King Mickey,” Sora replied.

  Goofy sighed. “But, uh… Where do we start lookin’ for that door to the light?”

  “I dunno, but…”

  The three looked at one another and each heaved a sigh.

  A brown dog crossed the path in front of them, wagging his tail.

  “Pluto?!” Donald exclaimed.

  It was the king’s dog, Pluto, who had been missing for a while—until now.

  “Hey, Pluto, where’ve you been?” Goofy ran up to him.

  Pluto stood there, tail wagging, and they saw there was a letter in his mouth.

  “Is that…?”

  “It’s the king’s seal!” Donald rushed to Pluto, too.

  “Hey, wait!” Sora ran after Pluto. So did Donald and Goofy.

  As they chased Pluto, their laughter rang out over the plains.

  …A dream?

  Sora woke up, relieved to see Donald and Goofy snoring softly beside him. So it was a dream that they were running across this grassy plain chasing Pluto.

  A big round moon was looking down at him.

  I wonder what Kairi and Riku are doing now…? Sora sat up and walked through the dewy grass.

  Will we really be able to find Riku and King Mickey…?

  He stood at the crossroads. They hadn’t been able to decide which way to take, so they had settled down to sleep right there.

  If the paths just kept on going, they wouldn’t want to take the wrong one.

  Which way could lead to Riku and King Mickey?

  And where did these paths come from, and where could they lead?

  Sora stood looking at each of the three other roads in turn.

  “Along the road ahead lies something you need.”

  The voice spoke suddenly. Sora turned—but no one was there. Only the grass rustling in the night breeze.

  “Who’s there?!” Sora looked all around and then saw someone standing behind him. The man wore a black cloak with a hood hiding his face. Sora couldn’t see his expression.

  “However…in order to claim it, you must lose something that is dear to you.”

  Holding the Keyblade, Sora stared hard at the dark figure.

  But the man vanished, as if he simply melted into the night.

  CHAPTER 1

  TRAVERSE TOWN

  Deep within the castle…

  Amid those shining blue-white walls, the plan proceeded, slow and steady.

  Light and darkness.

  Two heroes.

  Above and below.

  The “organization” and the “plan.”

  Things lost and things gained.

  The future in drawings on white sketchbook pages…

  “I wonder if I’ll get to meet them…?” murmured a flaxen-haired girl in a white dress. She sat in a birdcage.

  “ARE YOU SURE IT WASN’T A DREAM?” SAID DONALD, rubbing his eyes, after Sora poked him awake with the sunrise.

  “No, it wasn’t! And he said there’s something on the road ahead!”

  “Who did?”

  “…The man did…,” Sora replied, losing his confidence a bit.

  Maybe it had been a dream after all.

  Goofy looked at Donald, then asked Sora, “What sort of fella was he?”

  “A man in a black cloak with a hood. He looked a lot like that guy we saw in Hollow Bastion, but…I don’t know if it was the same person.”

  Sora hadn’t realized it at the time, but whomever he had met last night really did have a lot in common with that man who had said such strange things to them in Hollow Bastion.

  He dashed toward the crossroads—or meant to.

  Last night there had definitely been an intersection. But now there was only one long path.

  Goofy followed him. “Gawrsh…weren’t there two paths
meeting here?” he said, staring down the path.

  Donald frowned. “Is it some kinda trap?”

  “Well, what do you think we should do about it?” said Sora.

  Donald folded his arms. “Well, if your dream wasn’t a dream after all…”

  “It wasn’t!”

  Sora was only getting more uncertain whether he’d really seen that man or dreamed it…but the man had said that something he needed was ahead.

  “Okay, then let’s go!” Donald started moving.

  “That’s what I think, too!”

  Donald broke into a run, as if to give Sora a chase.

  “H-hey! Wait up, Donald!”

  The three each had the same feeling—a premonition that something was about to begin.

  Far, far through the green grass, the path came to an end at a towering castle. The sky had been clear and blue all this time, but here, it surrounded the castle with an unbelievably ominous color.

  “Gawrsh!” Goofy stared up at the castle.

  “That’s a pretty big castle…,” said Donald.

  “It’s even bigger than Hollow Bastion!” said Sora, naming the other towering castle they’d been to not very long ago.

  “Hollow Bastion was big, but…it looks like we’d get lost in here,” Goofy remarked.

  Beside him, Sora took a step closer, looking up.

  It really was an enormous castle. Its green spires stuck out horizontally as well as vertically.

  And it gave him such a strange feeling. What could it mean…?

  “Sora, is something wrong?” asked Donald, after Sora had been staring a while.

  “Nothing! C’mon, let’s go check it out!”

  They opened the huge gate and walked inside.

  “Wow!” Goofy exclaimed. “This place sure is something!”

  They were in a room like a spacious hall with walls of white marble gleaming so bright it was dazzling. Flowers carved of the same white marble were set here and there.

  “There’s nobody here,” said Donald, glancing all around. There was no sign of anyone in the hall. Not a trace of life anywhere—the place was so empty it felt cold, inorganic. At the end of the hall there was a flight of stairs and a door.

  “D’ya think it’s okay to barge in?” Goofy worried.

  “But we gotta,” Donald murmured, “if we’re gonna find the king…”

  “The king… King Mickey’s here?”

  Sora turned.

  “Well, I don’t know for sure,” said Donald. “Something just told me he’d be here, okay?”

  “Aw, shucks…” Goofy’s shoulders drooped. “But now that ya mention it, I was kinda thinkin’ the same thing!”

  “You too, Goofy?” said Sora. “So was I!”

  The strange feeling he’d had before they walked into the castle…it was a hunch that he might meet someone here.

  “One look at this castle and I just knew. Our very best friends…they’re here.” Sora stared up at the door atop the stairs.

  Maybe—no, definitely. They’d find their friends. He was sure of it.

  “A-hyuck! Great minds think alike, huh?” Goofy said cheerfully.

  Jiminy Cricket jumped out of Sora’s pocket. “Wait—hold on! It can’t just be a coincidence!”

  “Oh no, Jiminy…” Donald waddled closer. “You don’t mean…”

  “Yep! I had the exact same feeling.”

  Sora and Donald both looked at Jiminy.

  “Gawrsh, maybe it’s contagious,” said Goofy.

  “Wak!” Donald jumped and folded his arms, looking serious. “Something’s screwy! We gotta go take a look.”

  “I think you’re right.” Jiminy returned to Sora’s pocket.

  All four of them having the same feeling… Even if it was just a hunch, what could it mean that they all felt the same hunch?

  “Okay, let’s go,” Sora decided and started walking toward the door.

  “Huh?!” Donald ran after him as if he might stop him. “Where are you going?!”

  “That way. To the door. Are you scared?”

  “Aw, don’t be ridiculous!” Donald retorted and dashed ahead of him, then stood in front of the door, looking back at the other two. “C’mon, Goofy!”

  Goofy looked at Donald standing at the top of the stairs, eagerly waving his wand, and then headed back toward the castle entrance. “Well, we ought to shut the door behind us…”

  And just then—

  “Sora?!” Goofy yelped, and Sora turned.

  There at the entrance was the man in a black cloak.

  “Who are you?!” Sora raised the Keyblade.

  But the man disappeared, as if to tease them.

  “Where are you?!” Sora’s shout echoed in the hall.

  And then, in reply to his shouting, the same figure reappeared in front of the stairs.

  “Hey! Who are you?!”

  The man only stood there with his arms folded, unmoving.

  “He’s gotta be a Heartless! Let’s see how he likes my magic!” Donald waved his wand. “Firaga!”

  But the wand was silent.

  “Quack?”

  Sora turned to see Donald with his head cocked, staring hard at his wand. “What’s the matter, Donald?”

  “Firaga! Blizzaga! Thundaga!” Donald waved his wand furiously as if he might shake something out of it. Nothing came forth. “What’s going on?! My magic isn’t working!”

  He kept on waving the wand around.

  “I should think it’s obvious,” said the cloaked man. “The moment you set foot in this castle, you forgot every spell and every ability you ever knew.”

  “What’s that mean?!” shouted Sora.

  Beneath his hood, the man smiled a little. “In this place, to find is to lose and to lose is to find. That is the way in Castle Oblivion.”

  “Castle Oblivion…?”

  “Yes…” The man’s voice turned mysteriously kind. “Here, you will meet people you have known in the past. And you will meet people you miss.”

  “Riku? You mean Riku’s here?!” Sora demanded.

  “And the king?!” added Donald.

  “Do you want to find them?”

  “’Course we do!” yelled Goofy.

  “If that is what you want…” With those words, the man walked through them—straight through their bodies.

  It was a strange sensation, being passed through. Sora grabbed his chest. And yet…it was something he’d felt before, somewhere…

  “I just touched your memories. And I made this. To reunite with those you hold dear…this is what you will use.”

  The man tossed something to Sora.

  It was a single card illustrated with a picture of a place he knew. “This is—”

  “It’s Traverse Town!” cried Donald and Goofy, both peering at the card in Sora’s hand. It showed the familiar view of Traverse Town they had seen from the Gummi Ship in the Other Sky.

  “That is a promise for the reunion you seek. Hold the card aloft and the door will open… Let the cards be your guide.”

  “Guide…?”

  “Proceed, Sora. To lose and to claim anew or to claim anew only to lose…” And then, with that foreboding statement, the man disappeared again.

  “C’mon—let’s go.” Sora climbed the stairs and stood before the door.

  “I wonder if we’ll really find them…” Donald looked anxiously up at the door, tightly gripping his wand, which was currently no better than a stick.

  “I guess we don’t have much else to go on, besides what that feller told us,” said Goofy.

  “Right!” Sora nodded. “Let’s go!”

  He held up the card, and the door shone as if responding to it. They walked through.

  “This is…”

  “Traverse Town!”

  Through the door, the First District of Traverse Town spread out before them.

  Goofy cocked his head. “Maybe it was a card that transports you to the place in the picture?”

  The
cobblestone roads…the buildings made of wood and stone. The streetlamps shone down warmly.

  But there was no one in the square.

  “I wonder where Aerith and Leon went…?” Donald looked all around.

  “Didn’t they all go back to Hollow Bastion?” said Sora.

  “Oh…right.” Donald’s shoulders fell.

  “Anyway, this isn’t really Traverse Town, right? We’re still inside Castle Oblivion.”

  A low voice spoke from behind Sora. “Precisely. The town you see is not real. It is an illusion created by your memories embedded in that card.”

  When they turned, it was the man in a hooded black cloak.

  “You again…!” Goofy held his shield ready.

  “What do you mean, it’s made out of my memories?!” Sora demanded.

  “I’ll leave that to your imagination. In this castle, you can only move forward by using cards to open the doors. And you may stumble upon memories that were hidden or people who are dear to you…”

  The man vanished again.

  “…Hey, wait!” Sora ran to where he had been standing, but not a trace remained.

  “Memories that were hidden, huh…?” said Goofy, tilting his head.

  Screwing up his face, Sora rejected the idea. “I haven’t lost any memories!”

  “Well, maybe not…,” Goofy agreed.

  What had that man been talking about…?

  “I guess we’d better keep going or we won’t find out anything.”

  “Uh-huh…”

  They’d met a man in a black hooded cloak once before, in Hollow Bastion. But they couldn’t tell if that man and the one who was appearing and vanishing before their eyes here in Castle Oblivion were one and the same.

  There was one thing they were sure of—men in black cloaks kept telling them confusing things.

  Lost memories. A place where to lose is to find…and to find is to lose.

  What was going to happen here in this castle?

  “Wak!”

  “Heartless!”

  The creatures that rose up from the ground were the Heartless like creeping pitch-black shadows, the same as the ones they’d defeated in Traverse Town before.

  “Whoa!” The Heartless were rushing at them with their claws raised.

  “But I can’t fight if I can’t use my magic!” shouted Donald.