Kingdom Hearts II Vol 2 Page 12

  “Whoa! That’s not very program-like.” Sora laughed, a bit embarrassed.

  “A-hyuck! So Tron has a not-so-serious side, too,” Goofy said cheerfully.

  “I learned it from you three!” Tron let go of Sora. “I do have my limits, though. I’m still a program.”

  “Oh, okay. I’ll tweak your programming when we get back out.” Sora grinned.

  “You…? Er…maybe we’d better not try that,” Tron said with some concern.

  His worried expression wasn’t very like him, either. Sora had to laugh. “Aw, how about it? Singin’ Tron or Dancin’ Tron… Whatcha think?”

  “Sounds like fun to me!” Donald agreed.

  Tron laughed. “Well, before you all crash me… Sora, Donald, Goofy…”

  They looked up at him as his voice turned earnest again.

  “And all the other users out there…” He turned his gaze upward to address the ones on the outside, even though they couldn’t see him. “Thank you. You truly helped me, and you made me so much stronger. You taught me what friendship is. I’ll never forget that. As soon as I met you, I knew we would defeat the MCP and free the system together.”

  Tron held out his hand to Sora, who grasped it, only to be pulled into another hug. Seeing the boy’s bewildered expression, he pulled back and grinned. “Isn’t this what users do when they’re sorry to say good-bye?”

  “Uh… It’s a first for me.” Sora shrugged sheepishly.

  “It’s kinda like a promise that we’ll see each other again, Tron,” Goofy explained.

  “Oh, I see. Well, then…” Tron caught Goofy in a hug, then Donald. “I promise.”

  The trio nodded. Tron gave them a smile, a real one that showed how glad he was for their friendship, and then began to walk away.

  “Where are you going?” Sora called out.

  Tron went to where the MCP had been, to the swirl of white light—and flung himself into it.

  “Tron…”

  He seemed to dissolve into the brilliant glow. As the others stood wondering, a rumble shook the entire building.

  As Aerith closely watched the screen in the computer lab, Yuffie came running in.

  “Things are settling down in town!” she announced. “The only Heartless left anywhere are the local variety. And there aren’t as many as before.”

  “What a relief,” said Aerith. “Now, if we can just get those three back in one piece…”

  She turned back to the computer to find it humming with effort again. Sora and his friends appeared with flashes of light.

  “There you are!” Aerith dashed over to them.

  Yuffie grinned. “Good work, guys!”

  But Sora, Donald, and Goofy didn’t smile back.

  “…How’s the town?” Sora mumbled.

  “A-okay!” Yuffie gave him a thumbs-up.

  “Not a trace of the MCP,” Aerith added brightly. “It’s all back to normal. We did it.”

  “Hey, why the long face?” Yuffie leaned in to peer at Sora. “Did something happen?”

  “Tron just…disappeared.” Donald was downcast, too.

  “And he promised he’d see us again…”

  But the moment Sora said that, an alert beeped from the computer.

  “What now?!” Aerith spun toward the screen.

  “Greetings, friends. System is up and ready for user input.”

  It was Tron’s voice.

  “Tron!” The trio scurried to the computer.

  “Stay in touch,” said Tron. He was definitely talking to them.

  “Hooray!” Donald shoved himself in front of the keyboard and pounded on it for sheer joy.

  “Hey, stop it! That tickles!”

  “Tron is ticklish?” Goofy cocked his head.

  Sora crept up to the keyboard and mischievously started mashing random keys. “How ’bout this?”

  “Please—stop it!” Tron protested.

  “And this!” Donald joined in, poking at the keyboard.

  “G-guys, cut it out! Really!”

  At that, they finally stopped.

  “I want to show you something, to thank everyone,” said Tron. “Something I dug up in the system archives. You can see how the town looked back when it was first built.”

  Bright light shone from the screen, filling the computer lab—as well as the entire town outside, they found when they left the castle.

  “I was wondering when our town got an awful name like Hollow Bastion…” Yuffie squinted against the brilliance.

  “You know, the town had another name once…,” Aerith murmured, gazing at the shimmering scenery.

  “What was it?” said Sora.

  “Radiant Garden.”

  The light scattered into tiny glowing motes streaming through the streets as if they had welled up from springs throughout the town.

  And as that radiance filled the world…

  The glory of days gone by took shape before them—as did their hopes for the future.

  CHAPTER 2

  WAITING FOR YOU

  AXEL SAT PATIENTLY WITH HIS BACK AGAINST A WALL. He was waiting for the perfect moment to rescue Kairi.

  If he made his move right now, he wouldn’t have to worry about Xemnas. But what about Saïx? Or Xigbar? Or Luxord?

  He really wasn’t sure he could do this. He may have talked a big game, but he had an awful lot of doubt behind it.

  Maybe he was discovering the emotion known as fear.

  Feeling a sudden presence, he looked up in apprehension.

  “…Oh. It’s you.”

  The big tawny dog was here, wagging his tail at Axel.

  “Pluto?”

  Hearing his name, Pluto jumped on Axel and covered his face in slobbery kisses.

  “Aw, cut it out. Do you still smell the king on me?”

  Pluto barked once, loud and definitive.

  Axel had seen Pluto jump fearlessly into a portal to the Corridors of Darkness. And Kairi had done the same.

  This was no time to hesitate, then.

  He gave Pluto a good hug and pressed his cheek against his fur. “Okay, let’s go.”

  Pluto woofed in reply. Axel got to his feet and headed deeper into the bowels of the castle.

  The sight of the castle soaring up into the sky was clearly visible from the city outskirts.

  The trio perched on the ramparts of Radiant Garden as they ate their sea-salt ice cream.

  “Gawrsh, ya think Hollow Bastion will be okay?” Goofy said between licks.

  “Sure it will,” said Sora, gazing at the distant castle. “Leon and everyone are here.”

  “That castle’s quite a sight.” Goofy narrowed his eyes, recalling a different castle. “I hope Belle and the Beast are doin’ all right…”

  Donald, too, was thinking of another castle—and the sweetheart he’d left behind there. “Daisy…,” he said, letting out a sigh.

  Sora turned to his friends. “I bet they’re all fine.”

  They are. They must be. And Riku and Kairi, too—if they’re okay, that’s all that matters.

  I really hope they are.

  Having finished his ice cream first, Donald cocked his head. “Hmm… Y’know, Sora…”

  Sora was staring distractedly at the citadel. “Huh?”

  “Have we ever had this ice cream?”

  “Uh, we’re having it now.”

  “That’s not what I mean!” Donald jumped up and took the photograph from his pocket.

  “Oh…” Goofy was still working on his ice cream. “So that was sea-salt ice cream in the box with that photo!”

  Beside him, Sora leaned over to peer at it.

  When they’d been assaulted by droves of Heartless here in Hollow Bastion before, the darkness had suddenly sucked them in. But someone must have opened the portal—and in that darkness, someone had left a box containing this photo and an ice cream pop. The picture was of Hayner, Pence, and Olette. And Roxas.

  That familiar name. Roxas. The organization members threw it aro
und a lot.

  What could the image mean?

  And why had Kairi been with Hayner and Pence and Olette in Twilight Town?

  Roxas, Axel…and Kairi. Were those three connected somehow?

  “I wonder how Hayner and his pals are doin’,” Goofy remarked languidly, and Sora raised his head.

  The setting sun seemed to rest atop the castle as it shone on their faces.

  It’s so bright…

  He’d done this before. Sometime. Sitting somewhere high up, gazing out at a town in the sunset, having sea-salt ice cream with…someone.

  Was it…with Hayner and his friends?

  No… Someone else… Maybe? He wasn’t sure.

  “I want to go see them,” said Sora. “Hayner and the others.”

  Donald and Goofy nodded.

  “Maybe they’ll know what that photo’s all about,” Goofy added.

  Taking it as a cue, Sora leaped down from their perch on the ramparts. “Let’s go to Twilight Town!”

  They might be able to clear up some of these mysteries there.

  Unable to wait, Sora broke into a run.

  On the sloped streets of Twilight Town, Hayner and Pence stood in front of the bulletin board, arguing about where Kairi could have gone. A few feet away, Olette was kicking at pebbles on the ground.

  “I hope Kairi’s okay…” She sighed. She looked up at the sky and took the little purse out of her pocket.

  She’d worked hard on the embroidery, with her mother teaching her as she went. She didn’t have any good friends who were girls and wanted to hear about things like that—Hayner and Pence certainly didn’t get it—but she felt like Kairi could have been one. She would make a good friend. They could talk about embroidery and all the other things you couldn’t really talk about with boys…

  “Standing around wasting space like always, huh?” someone taunted suddenly.

  Olette turned to see Seifer with his minions assembled behind him.

  “What do you want?” Hayner said sourly.

  Seifer smirked. “Nothing from you.”

  “Seifer’s busy, y’know,” Rai piped up.

  “Yeah, well, we’re busy ourselves.” Hayner glared at them. “So get lost.”

  Seifer spun around self-importantly and started sauntering away.

  “Are you literally lost? That’s not the way back to your turf,” said Hayner.

  “What, you didn’t hear?” Seifer slowly turned back again. “There’s a rumor that some weird guys are hanging around over at the haunted mansion.”

  The first one to react was Olette.

  “Huh…?” She ran up to him. “Hey, what weird guys? Tell us more!”

  “You remember that kid, Sora?”

  “’Course we do!” Hayner snapped.

  “Well, those silver things Sora got rid of and some guy all in black have been showing up over there, they say.”

  With that, Seifer walked away, leaving Olette deep in thought.

  “Weird guys over at the haunted mansion… Sounds like another wonder of Twilight Town,” Pence remarked with his hands linked behind his head.

  “Yeah, the one about the girl in the window was a masterpiece among urban legends.” Hayner wasn’t too concerned with it, either. “And it was just curtains fluttering.”

  “C’mon… Seifer said those silver things that Sora fought are there,” Olette insisted, her back still to the other two.

  “Sure he did—but so what, Olette?” Hayner asked, baffled that she would believe Seifer.

  Pence folded his arms as something occurred to him. “That guy who came after Kairi… He was wearing all black, right?”

  “Yeah, so? What’s with you two?” asked Hayner.

  Olette turned and met Pence’s eyes.

  “The haunted mansion!” they both burst out at once.

  They nodded to each other and took off.

  “Wha—? Hey, wait! Guys!” Hayner scrambled after them. “What’re you talking about?” he asked Pence when he caught up.

  “You know, the other world—the copy of Twilight Town!” Pence replied without slowing down. “The way to cross over is in the haunted mansion!”

  “What? Uh…” Hayner was still confused, but he gave in anyway. “Okay, well, let’s check it out!”

  “C’mon! Let’s go!” Olette shouted to them. Hayner and Pence sped up.

  In the white room of the haunted mansion, Riku stood unmoving, with Soul Eater in hand and a cold glare trained on DiZ.

  “Riku…don’t,” said Naminé.

  He lowered his weapon and pulled his hood up over his head, casting his face in shadow. With a tiny sound of frustration, he turned his back on DiZ and Naminé.

  Silence fell until a brief sigh from DiZ broke it.

  At that, Riku looked at him again. “Still after revenge, aren’t you…Ansem the Wise?”

  “Not exactly…,” DiZ, or rather the real Ansem, equivocated.

  “Well, isn’t that nice for you? You had us do the dirty work, and now you can play dumb.” Riku’s voice was low, brimming with rancor.

  “No,” said Ansem. “I’m not the one who left, Riku. That was you two. Although that comes as no surprise…”

  At that, Riku pulled out a chair and sat down, staring up at him. “Are you here for a reason?”

  Ansem shrugged and took out three ice cream pops. “Here, have some ice cream first.”

  “…Are you making fun of me?”

  Riku was clearly offended, but Naminé simply took two of the bars from Ansem and held one out to him.

  “Riku?” she prompted, but he made no move to accept it.

  Ansem took a bite of ice cream before he spoke. “I…must apologize to you two.”

  Riku said nothing and glared at him.

  “I won’t ask you to forgive me for my foolish obsession with revenge. But at the very least, allow me to express my regret. I was wrong.”

  Riku stood and turned away again. Naminé nervously watched his tensed shoulders.

  “The darkness took advantage of the weakness in you—in your heart. But your indomitable hope kept it at bay,” said Ansem. “You made the darkness your strength, and—”

  “Is that all you came here for? To tell me this?” Riku interrupted.

  Ansem quietly shook his head. “Naminé, Roxas, and Xemnas… The Nobodies of those with strong hearts are peculiar beings. My—that is, our theories proved fruitless. Coming into contact with a strong heart transforms a world. And not just worlds, but people themselves—and even Nobodies.”

  Naminé, head lowered and hand extended with the ice cream for Riku, perked up upon hearing those words.

  That’s it… Yes. The mystery of the heart.

  When we encounter someone special…the world changes. Our hearts change. Everything changes.

  “Riku… Your strength is something special as well,” Ansem went on. “I must ask you to save the worlds. Just a request from an old fool—but I will do anything in my power to aid you.”

  Riku only stood there, silent and motionless, his back to Ansem.

  Deep in the castle, there was a cage, suspended from the ceiling. Axel peered up at it and called to the girl who had to be inside. Beside him, Pluto wagged his tail wildly.

  “Kairi?” he called, and at the same time, Pluto barked.

  Her face appeared from behind the bars. “You…?”

  He smiled up at her with a hint of a smirk. “Axel. Didn’t you have it memorized?”

  Kairi nodded.

  “Um, well… I’m sorry about before. It’s my fault you’re locked up in here. Just wait. I’m gonna get you out.” Axel opened a dark rift, and Pluto jumped into it a step ahead of him.

  Then someone else spoke behind him. “I’ve been waiting for you, Axel.”

  “Yeah, I figured you’d show up.” His smirk turned nastier as he turned to see Saïx. He didn’t take his eyes off the other man as he spoke to the girl in the cage. “Listen, Kairi! Trust me. I’m going to get you out!�
�

  Behind him, the portal closed.

  “What are you saying…? Vile traitor!” The great Claymore took shape at Saïx’s back.

  Axel didn’t waste a second grabbing his chakrams. But his body was reluctant somehow.

  I don’t want to disappear… But still, it wouldn’t be so bad if I did. Not here.

  Axel let out a deep breath and leaped into the air as flames erupted around them.

  “…Pathetic!” The Claymore moved to block Axel’s strike, while Saïx himself didn’t even twitch.

  This is a pretty overwhelming disadvantage, Axel thought. Well, I knew that before we started fighting. I can’t win against Saïx with my own strength.

  Still, he refused to hesitate. He had to force this path open.

  He wanted…to find hope—the hope that Sora and Riku had.

  Saïx gave him a cruel grin. “You will lose everything!”

  And then the Claymore pierced Axel’s chest.

  I don’t want to disappear.

  I can’t disappear now.

  I shouldn’t have to disappear at all.

  Why am I doing all this? Who is it for?

  For Roxas… For Riku, for Naminé… And for myself.

  There are still things I should do. Things I have to do.

  Saïx flung Axel back, and he slammed into the floor.

  “Maybe so, but I can run faster than any of you.” Axel climbed unsteadily to his feet with a smirk.

  A dark rift yawned open behind him once again, and he vanished into the blackness.

  “Axel!” cried Kairi.

  “There’s no escape for you!” Saïx followed Axel—or tried to. The portal closed in front of his face.

  They’d been away for a while, but Twilight Town was as serene as ever. Sora sighed in relief as they took it all in.

  “Gawrsh, so nothin’s changed at all, huh?” Goofy sounded reassured, too.

  “Let’s go find Hayner and the others!” Sora took off in the direction of the trio’s hangout.

  “Sora! Over there!” Donald shouted.

  “What now, Don— Ack!” When Sora turned around, he saw the hole in the town wall leading to the haunted mansion—and the Nobodies that were currently pouring out of it.

  The Nobodies that were also heading straight for them.

  “What’s going on?” Sora raised the Keyblade to knock aside their attacks.