The Promised Message (CoM characters, invite)

[Sora]

It was where it had all began.

The world of Twilight Town was safe, bathed in the Light, not having to fear the immense darkness that lay just beyond the sea on the other side of the Realm of In-Between where this world was. And yet, the keyblade master lingered in this lazy town where it seemed like day and night were only as long as the average sunset, while the twilight of dusk was the opposite and seemed to stretch on all day, bathing the town for hours in it's warm rainbow of oranges, pinks and purples. It was this quiet little world he had been drawn to for the safety of it's citizens, yet Sora had not encountered anyone but the lowly Heartless, who were his only company in his empty town. He reached into his pocket and clutched the lucky charm there, that still felt warm to the touch since he had first received it, to reach out to the connections in his heart to keep him company as he walked away from the Old Mansion that lay beyond the woods and the wall of Twilight Town.

He had checked the place, just as he had when he, Goofy and Donald had woken up from their sleep, but he still found no clue as to why they had been sleeping there in the first place.

Or more importantly, who I'm looking for. If Jiminy's Journal was right...

Ever since Sora had gotten his letter from the King, he had been out on a journey, first sealing the worlds to make sure the keyholes were safe and locked away. Three years later, and the worlds were now under threat again, but Sora still had not accomplished what Mickey had informed him of and he had set out to do. And now when it seemed like just the right time to finally set things right, the new Heartless had shown up and caused him to get sidetracked again, to help out his many friends in the worlds like in his last two journeys. But neither of these two important things seemed as urgent now as Sora's last connection he had made in his heart... Kairi had called out to him, had spoken his name... and Sora had seen her, facing a dark stranger he had never seen before, trapped in the darkness of what must have been her own Awakening merged with the stranger's in the stain glass. Sora had promised her that he would step aside and let her prove herself strong enough on her own to face her own problems, but she had never truly been alone now that they had shared the Paopu fruit, and that seemed now more than ever that she was in danger and connected her heart to his.

He had no choice but to break his promise, if she needed help. Why else would you call out for me, Kairi? I know you want me to be there.

There had to be a way for his heart to connect deeper with hers, so he could find out where she was and help her...

But, the question is... how can I find you?

All he could feel was the connection was there, but that's all he could do, for he didn't know how it happened when he connected his heart to hers in the first place. Maybe he was able to because she was already in touch with her own, but how had the enigmatic figure that looked so much like Riku in his old Darkness form, have entered it with her? From what Sora understood of the Awakening, the place of stain-glass windows and mysterious voices, was that it was a metaphysical location deep in the heart. It had made sense when he had battled his Nobody Roxas there, that they were battling for control of the heart, but Goofy and Donald said at the time he had simply vanished. The only lead he had was trying to try and find her Nobody, Naminé, for having merged and split with her like Roxas did with him, she may be the only one to be able to do the same and sense where Kairi was. It only made him feel worse and worse with each passing minute, second, and day that passed that he was unable to do anything, and he felt helpless at the fact that at any moment, the connection could be severed completely.

And he would not be around to be a safe vessel for Kairi's heart to seek sanctuary in.

Sora looked up as he looked through the hole in the wall, realizing he had already passed through the woods outside the mansion, standing just before the bridge underpass that lead to either the Sandlot or the Marketplace. The Heartless Horsemen could wait, but Kairi was in trouble, and for now Sora could be selfish enough to consider she was part of the journey that King Mickey had set him out on all those years from his letter. He stopped at the junction, and took the lucky charm out of his pocket, looking at it to try and cheer up his own sorrow. But looking at the paopu fruit only reminded him of the owner's parting words as she gave it to him. Why couldn't she be safe, and have good luck, instead of him? He had absolute belief to look after her own problems she wanted to take care of herself, because he knew he had asked the same of her in the past, and he had ended up falling asleep and waking up in this town from a memory he was only barely starting to remember.

But even then, she had always been with him, and given him help when he had needed it the most. He had to do that now in return, and keep his belief in her strong.

The goal of his journey was to find Kairi first, and set out what Mickey had notified him of in the letter second, since it had still been all those years ago with no sign of what he had been looking for. If he could do those two things, while stopping the Heartless at the same time, he was on the right path. Slowly, he recited the words that Jiminy had read from his journal all those years ago, a sign of the only other person that had to have been there when they woke up.

"Thank Naminé..."

And that meant finding her.

Current Theme: Always On My Mind

[lalanam]

So much in so little time. And Naminé was worried.

She wasn't exactly sure what was going on. But she knew that something bad was coming. If it hadn't already arrived, it was on the way. And fast. Coming too fast. Too fast for her to even imagine. And right now, all she wanted to do was stop it. Or prevent it from happening. She felt so nervous for the future. Nervous. Another emotion. Something that wasn't supposed to exist for her. Naminé really was quite an odd Nobody. But for now, the last thing that she was considering was the fact that she was feeling emotion. She was trying to piece together all of that was going on. She was currently in Twilight Town, more specifically in Tram Common. Her small body was leaned up against a building, watching all of the people pass by her. She shut her eyes for the moment, trying to think amongst all of the sound of the people carrying on with their daily lives.

She was trying to think of what had happened so quickly. From what she understood, her Somebody Kairi was in danger. And unfortunately, Naminé was not sure how she was in danger. She just felt something...almost fuzzy in the connection between them. Like something larger was in the way. And deep down within her, she just had a feeling that Kairi was in danger. Like someone was going to harm her, or some had taken her. She was worried. And she wanted to help Kairi. She had managed to rescue Kairi before, when she had been kidnapped. And she would gladly do it again. She was lucky to have such a strong connection with her Somebody. She actually looked out for Kairi, and her well-being. Almost all of the time. Naminé was always looking after the ones that were close to her. The ones that she was connected to. She would never stand back and let one of them get hurt. She wouldn't be able to live with herself. Even if there wasn't much that she could do, she would still try and make a difference.

But right now, things just felt os uncertain and confused between her and Kairi. Usually, she had a strong connection, and could sense exactly where Kairi was. But for some reason, things between them just felt so distant. Which made her even more weary. She'd have to focus more on finding Kairi, and make sure that things were alright. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go at this by herself though. If there was real danger, she wasn't sure if she would be able to get Kairi out of it her own. She was just a memory witch. There wasn't that much she could do outside of messing around with the chains from Sora's memories. But that wouldn't do much good most of the time. But then it came to her. Sora. She should really share her suspicions about all of this with Sora. And maybe the two of them could work together and help Kairi together.

She wondered if Sora was even aware of this. She knew that Kairi and Sora did have a very strong connection. At the same time, she was worried that she might anger Sora by coming up to him with all of this. He might not believe her. And the last that that she wanted to do was anger him.After all that she put him through in Castle Oblivion. Unfortunately, her and Sora didn't have much of a relationship anymore. Due to him not remembering her after she restored his original memory. Though she still felt the same way toward him as she had back in Castle Oblivion. She remembered everything, and he didn't remember a thing. It was a bit sad, but at the same time it was the truth. She knew that he did know who she was, probably just as the Nobody of Kairi. She wasn't sure how he saw her anymore. It was all very confusing. It was a bit sad to think that she'd be the only half of the pair to remember what happened between them at Castle Oblivion. But maybe it was also for the better. It wasn't exactly the best memory to have.

She thought this all over to herself, and she knew that she'd have to find Sora and fast. They'd have to work together and figure out what was going on with Kairi. And get her out of that danger. She made up her mind, and now set out to find Sora. She left the spot she had been standing out before, and started to walk. Not expecting to see him here, she was pleasantly surprised when something caught her eye. She'd recognize him anywhere. A small smile came from her lips as she saw him. Without a second thought, she hurried over to him, approaching him from behind. He had his back to her, so she gently reached out and tapped him. "Sora?" She asked in a very gentle tone of voice.

[Sora]

It was as if Jiminy's words had called her to him.

As he put away the lucky charm safely tucked away into his side pocket, he felt a tap on his shoulder, and a gentle feminine voice call out his name. If it had been the voice of her Somebody, the both of them would have been overjoyed in her safety, but nothing ever came that easily when you least expected it. He turned around to look at her slender, pure-white frame, and an instant smile that came about his lips whenever a girl was around he liked lit up his face when he had needed it the most. But it wasn't just because she was a girl; even though the similarities were striking, just like Roxas to him Naminé was completely different. Sora didn't know why, because even though he had only seen the young woman merge with Kairi, he felt his heart beat a little faster as if he was with Kairi herself. The way he was feeling made him act this way, as he started to reach forward to clutch her hand tenderly in hers, but then stopped in hesitation as to wonder why he was doing so.

She wasn't Kairi; but because of the connection she shared with her Nobody, Sora felt like that was she was.

It was a very peculiar feeling, and very hard to explain, but Sora restrained himself as his brain wrestled with his mind what was the appropriate thing to do. She was a completely different person of her own, but Sora still felt drawn to want to hold her and protect her, and he wondered for a moment if Kairi had ever experienced anything like this if she had meet his Nobody. Finally deciding on an action, his heart won, and he carefully took hold of her hands within his own and sweetly smiled at her again. "Naminé... it's good to see you again." he he said cheerfully, and shook his hands holding hers. The feeling felt somehow natural, and... familiar... had he done this before, somehow? All at once, he closed his eyes and clutched a hand to his head, as another piece in the memory chain returned back from the other side of his heart.

~Flashback~

In Destiny Islands, a younger Sora was shaking the hands of a younger Naminé, but the picture was all wrong as the Papou fruit island they were standing on was covered in darkness.

"Don't worry. I'm here because I promised that I would protect you."

"Sora... Thank you. And I'm sorry. I'm not supposed to be in this
picture."

Strangely enough, another image of Naminé appeared behind her... as if the real one before her wasn't the true memory of her at all as the second one spoke.

"That's true."

"Huh? Naminé?!"

Fading to white, the scene changed to a new location Sora had not seen before... but felt familiar. It was of a large castle hall, covered in purest white. He was climbing into the same sleeping pod he had woken up in Twilight Town, and Naminé was with him.

"A promise... huh... Sora, some of your memories' links are deep in the
shadows of your heart and I won't be able to find them. But don't worry... you
made another promise to someone who you could never replace. She is your light.
The light within the darkness. Remember her, and all the memories lost in the
shadows of your heart, will come into the light."

"Another promise..."

~Fade to white, end of flashback~

Sora closed his eyes as the flash ended, and blinked a few times, before looking back at Naminé in bewilderment. Who exactly was Kairi's Nobody? "Not... supposed to...?" he mumbled in confusion, before he realized what the Naminé in the flashback had reminded him of. "Oh, Naminé! I forgot! Thank you! ... I'm not sure why, but... it feels important to me, so I know it must be for a good reason. So, ...thank you." he smiled, shaking her hands once more, before he lowered them and let go. Naminé had always been a part of Kairi when their Nobodies decided to live peacefully with them on Destiny Islands, but ever since King Mickey's letter, they had left them and gone their separate ways. But since Kairi had always promised to be with Sora so that Naminé and Roxas could be together as well, he had always felt a connection to Naminé too, something which was more than just his connection with Kairi.

The thought they were no longer together every single day only reminded him how sad he was, of how much he missed having Kairi with him every single day, and then suddenly jogged his memory again of the situation he was in.

"But we'll figure that out later! Right now, Kairi's in danger! There was a mysterious dark stranger wearing a black mask there with her, and her eyes... something's wrong with her, she got swallowed up by the darkness..." he tried to explain, remembering when he had been back on Destiny Islands when it had been taken over by the darkness, and a strange vision overcame his heart. He could sense her apprehension, her fear... her shock. From his intertwining connection with his heart to hers, something had shaken her deep down to her core, something that had made her eyes burn with that auburn color. It was impossible, there couldn't be a darkness in her heart, but he could sense the negative feelings of caution and guilt as if they were his own. "I shouldn't have let her go alone... Kairi... where are you?" he wondered to himself in deep concern, closing his eyes, and suddenly he felt another vision coming through their connection as his face twisted in pain and he fell to his knees.

In the vision, he could only see from her perspective, as a Organization member took her hand, and took her into a Corridor to Darkness.

Then all he could sense was of her thinking of him, as she stood alone, defiant in the face of true darkness.

The second flash of the present came quicker than the memory of the past, and the Keyblade Master opened his eyes as he breathed out heavily, not remembering when he had fallen to the ground while clutching his painful heart. He slowly rose to his feet, feeling a bit dazed, assaulted by the effect of the two flashes of his body. Memories of the present, and... was this what the King had meant in his letter? "I'm okay... I felt her again. She... the Organization's got her. And she's in a dark place. We have to help her!" he exclaimed to Naminé, knowing she must have thought he'd gone crazy, but he had a deep feeling that he was going to find Kairi somewhere in the castle with the white walls. It wasn't the dark grey and white walls of the Castle That Never Was, which was now covered in a immense darkness from the depths of space making it impossible for his gummi ship to enter, so where could the world be?

At least one person knew between them.

He looked to Naminé, his selfish dark urges held deep back in the shadow of his heart as he set aside how he reacted around her now, wondering if she was sensing the same thing he had been experiencing in these past few moments of burning agony he had endured. He was sure her connection to Kairi was just as strong as his was, but wasn't sure how much she was aware of all this. "Naminé... the castle with white walls... you were there with us when we went to sleep, weren't you? I'm sure the Organization has Kairi there, and we have to find her... do you know where it is?" he asked, feeling determined now, even after all the connections which had surged through his heart. The someone that was specially important to him... Kairi... she was in trouble, and whether Sora promised her he wouldn't see her again until she was ready, there was no way she would be if her heart was under threat of the deepest darkness.

Sora closed his eyes again, trying to pick up the connection again to Kairi's heart the flashes had come through, and tried to send a message back to her as he felt the connection come to him faintly in the darkness.

Hang in there.

You can do it.

Theme: Memories in Pieces (because it has Naminé's theme in it too xD)

[goofy]

[ooc: Sorry for the wait. I have been rather busy of the late…this isn’t much, but it is what I could manage.]

Donald peered around the Tram Common of Twilight Town, remembering back to the time that they had emerged from the sleeping chambers oh so long ago. The duck was gripped his wand tightly as a hand came to rest across his shoulder. Goofy allowed a small smile to cross his face as he to thought back to those times. They had been best friends, but as life and destiny played their roles, they had become separated. Time did that; time was the destroyer of all good things, but at the same time it was the healer of all bad things. Although they may of wanted time to stop then, so that they would never be separated, someone else in the universe was hurting, and needed that flow of time to continue. Time was good and bad, the balance between all things.

Despite how much time had passed though, Goofy and Donald would always hold the closest friendships with Sora. Time could separate them all it wanted, but it could not destroy feelings that had been set within them. It could try to make one forget, but even then, deep down, those feelings remember more than any other part of your body. Goofy & Donald were quite aware of this, and as they silently reminisced of olden days, they eventually came upon Sora.

With Sora stood a female; she seemed familiar, but yet at the same time so different. Goofy and Donald had found Sora though, and that was to be the light of their day. The Kings orders had been fulfilled, and now they could go from there. Goofy immediately lunged forth and lifted his hand, his large walloping feet moving forth in a strange, almost classically humorous manner. “SORA! Hyuck!” Through his large teeth, Goofy let out an unmistakable laugh that was unique to him. Donald followed behind Goofy waving happily.

“Sora! We’ve been looking everywhere for you!” The two interrupted Sora and Namine, however unintentionally. Donald already began his scolding nature, as though Sora could help his mischievous nature of avoiding those whom are looking for him.

[Olette]

{ ooc hey! i was invited to the thread, so that's why i'm here~! }

[/size]

Olette headed to the Tram Common, an icy blue treat in hand. She licked it absently, trying in earnest to fill her time. With Olette, if her time wasn't adequately filled, then her mind wandered. Usually it dwelled on the mundane lives of her neighbors or friends--what trouble Hayner got into this time, what pictures Pence managed to capture, if her mother had gotten enough sleep the night before, trying to convince her grandmother her cat was dead... things that happened every day in Olette's ordinary life.

But sometimes, when her friends weren't around (which was rare enough) and she had no homework to finish, she had enough time to think. And Olette hated it.

Because then she would look around in her ordinary life and know, deep down, it wasn't so ordinary. That there was a world out there she knew nothing about. That her intellect was stunted, that her questions couldn't be answered this time by mere textbooks. Perhaps everyone in Twilight Town knew nothing but Sea-Salt Ice Cream and sunsets, but Olette knew there was more to their town than that. Her mind would consider the strange man that had kidnapped Kairi right in front of her face, or the fact that Sora wasn't just Sora to her... and the other Twilight Town she knew existed beyond the Old Mansion's walls.

Her life wasn't so ordinary when you thought about it. Olette thought about it often.

She tugged a strand of wavy brown hair and watched as her fellow neighbors and friends scrambled around town. It was funny--she knew every single one of them. She always had. Twilight Town never got any new citizens, everyone was someone to you. If there was a baby born everyone celebrated it. If someone died, everyone mourned it. The only new person she had ever met was Sora and Kairi. Olette had a feeling Sora wasn't new either. As if... as if she had known him from somewhere before.

She bit into the soft creamy ice cream. She hated thinking about Sora--it wasn't that she didn't like him, because she did. She liked him more than she cared to. She almost considered him a best friend, a title reserved for people like Hayner and Pence. Not a boy who came upon them asking where he was, bewildered and confused. Not a boy she had never met before, but felt connected to instantly. Not a boy with spiky brown hair and blue eyes, who left her more puzzled and lost than she ever felt before.

She knew Sora wasn't her best friend, but he felt like it. He should be a simple acquaintance, or even a nice friend. Yet, Olette's heart ached and tugged when she thought about him. She fretted over him constantly and her mind--as sharp and intuitive as it was--begged for her to see something she couldn't.

She hurried to the Tram Common, hoping the sunset would calm her. Hayner and Pence would usually tag along, Hayner ranting about his latest encounter with Seifer and Pence mulling over something he found interesting (usually photography). But today she had no one. Hayner was grounded (yet again) and Pence was on a trip with his family. So Olette trekked up toward the Tram Common with her gradually melting ice cream, jade eyes already consuming the bright sun ahead.

Not many knew it, but the Tram Common was the best place to see the sunset, especially if you dared to climb to the top of the clock tower. Many assumed Sunset Hill was the best place to see the sunset, but it wasn't. Olette had always known better than to fall for the name. Sometimes you had to overlook the name of a place and figure it out for yourself--the same with people.

The moment she got to the Tram Common her eyes snapped to a joyous trio in the middle. Her eyes watched as Goofy and Donald reunited with the spiky haired boy before them. That was strange, she thought, sense they all left together the last time she saw them. Maybe a lot had changed since then…

A sudden wash of worry fell over her heart. She hoped everything was okay…

Then she saw Sora. He looked exactly the same almost—bright blue eyes, brown hair in a messy array, that easy smile over his face. But somehow he looked different too. It wasn’t his clothes or face, but rather his eyes. They seemed heavy with worry or sadness. Olette didn’t waste another moment. She dropped her ice cream in her sudden excitement and clomped over to Sora happily, her heart soaring surprisingly. She tried to reason she was so excited to see Sora sense he had been gone so long, but the way she was suddenly so happy seemed to be for another reason. A reason she didn’t know.

”Sora!” She cried and quickly made her way toward him. ”Goofy! Donald! Long time no see.” She smiled brightly at them, a hand on her hip and a light in her eyes.

It was then she looked over to the other girl whom was standing calmly beside Sora. It was then it dawned on Olette that she might have interrupted something, and from the expression on Sora’s and the girl’s face seemed to say just that. Olette flushed and smiled nervously. Perhaps her excitement got the best of her. She looked at the girl curiously—she was beautiful, but colorless, except for her bright blue eyes.

”Sorry if I interrupted anything,” Olette said quickly, giving an apologetic smile.

[lalanam]

{Sorry for the delayed reply. I was planning on waiting for Riku Replica to join in, but I better post now ^^}

This encounter. It couldn't have occured just by a coincidence. She felt like this was faith. Like their paths had to cross on this day. Maybe it had to do with the situation that was going on with her Somebody, Kairi. Sora was very close to Kairi as well. They cared deeply for eachother. And Naminé cared for Kairi as well. They had to come up with some sort of plan to help Kairi. She felt her eagerness rise as she tapped Sora, waiting for him to turn and face her. These thoughts of eagerness probably had to come from Kairi. And how Kairi thought and felt about Sora. Maybe it also had to do with the memories that Naminé had with Sora. And how he had been so kind to her, even though it had all been a lie. And for a brief moment, she actually let herself believe that lie. She let herself believe that she was the one he cared about. That they did have all that history together. Though she did snap out of this very quickly.

She watched as Sora turned around and he smiled at her. Naminé smiled back at him, staring into his eyes for a moment. She turned away shyly, looking down. But the smile was still present on her face. She watched as one of his hands started to extend toward her. She stared at this hand, feeling a bit confused. She didn't sop him, or pull back. But for some reason, he just sort of...stopped. She stared at him for a moment, and then looked down to her own hands. And then after a pause, he reached out and took both of her hands. She watched as he shook her hands. Just like he had...the first time. She gasped quietly at this. How would he know? He couldn't. Those memories were gone...weren't they? Yes, the memory restoration had been a success. Perhaps this was just a coincidence. Perhaps this was just the way Sora greeted people. She was probably overthinking things.

"Yeah...its good to see you, Sora." She said, and wore a smile on her face. Just then, something very odd happened. The witch watched as Sora clutched his head like that, and gasped. Something...something was happening. And she wasn't completely sure what was happening. But something odd was happening. Why did she feel like something was...changing? Like Sora knew something, that he wasn't supposed to know. Perhaps with...those false memories. How could they even come back? All he had done was hold onto her hand. Did that really create that much of a connection? She thought that those memories she altered in Castle Oblivion were long gone. That the only one who would need to remember them, was her. She listened as Sora started to say something, but then stopped. Something was definitely there, that didn't belong. But then Sora...thanked her. She was so surprised, and a bit taken back by all of this. She figured that it was best that he didn't know what happened in Castle Oblivion. Even though it seemed like some of it was coming back. Now was far from an appropriate time, on top of that.


"Oh well, you're welcome. And don't worry about it at all. Everything's okay between us, right?" Naminé said with a small smile, trying to cover everything up. He had too much to worry about. He didn't need to worry about something meaningless in the past. When those memories were supposed to be long gone, anyway. The topic switched back to Kairi, the most important thing at the moment. She listened to Sora speak and she nodded her head. "I know. I was worried about her. The last time I saw her, Destiny Island was dark. And she was so...distraught by everything." She said, her voice trailing off a bit. Naminé thought back to the last time that she was on Destiny Islands, comforting Kairi. She watched Sora, noticing pain on his face, and she could sense it also. She frowned and she reached out to touch his shoulder.

When she did, she saw flashed of memories that were on Sora's mind. Oddly enough, it didn't feel like a memory of Sora's...but one of Kairi's. How odd. She listened as Sora urged how they had to save Kairi. She nodded her head in agreement. "I know. I was hoping to find you Sora. So we can both go and save Kairi. She needs us now...more than ever." Naminé said in a quiet tone of voice. This wasn't easy to speak of, that was certain. After another pause, Sora spoke again. And he was bringing up the topic that she didn't want to talk about at all. She bit her lip and she looked down. He knew some how, and she wasn't even sure. She wondered if she should just remove the memories of Castle Oblivion. No she couldn't. She was done altering his memories. She would just have to tell the truth.

"Castle Oblivion. And yes, I do know where it is. At one point...you did also." She admitted quietly. She didn't really want to go back to Castle Oblivion, due to all of the bad that had happened in it. But if Kairi was being held in the castle, she would go. She would help her Somebody. She stared at Sora for a moment, something breaking the moment of silence. She heard a happy, familiar voice, yelp Sora's name out. Turning her head, she saw Donald and Goofy. She remembered them, naturally. But she had her doubts that they remembered her. She couldn't help but smile as they made their way over to Sora and greeted him. She remembered how she laughed when Donald and Goofy pointed out Sora's blushing. That had been one of the few times she smiled during Castle Oblivion. She really couldn't help but smile around them. They were quite the trio. She stayed quiet though, just watching the three of them. She didn't want to spoil anything. Especially since she was hardly remembered by them.

Turning her head, she heard yet another voice yell out Sora's name. Naminé recognized this girl. She recalled her to be one of the friends of Roxas when he was in the simulation version of Twilight Town. She watched as Olette looked to her, and then apologized for possible interruption. Naminé shook her head. "No of course not. No need to apologize." She said and put on a small reassuring smile.

[Sora]

(OOC: That's okay everyone! Thanks for posting when you can in my subplot thread! It wouldn't be as awesome as it is without you.)

He felt a connection... and suddenly he was in a different place unlike any other he had been before.

He didn't know where he was, and couldn't see anything at all, all he could feel was the light of his heart surrounded by an immense darkness. He felt lightweight and weightless, and even though the immense abyss of the deepest darkness surrounded him, his light shone through barely. And while his consciousness floated in this endless void of starless space, he could sense someone close by... who had a light far more brighter than his own. But that light that was reaching out to him was a thin beam, a faint connection however fragile was still there, threatening to break at any moment by the doubts and fears he could... feel in their heart. He could feel them, not hear or see them, but the voice that called out to him in his dream-like state spoke out to him.

'Would I disappear, too?'

The words formed in his mind, so he couldn't recognize the voice or it's tone, but felt it in his mind and read it from his memories more than anything else. It was very hard to explain, but the voice was heard, and it filled him with a reassuring warmth unlike any other. The message it carried did not, however, and Sora stopped basking in the small amount of warm light he was recieving to think about an answer he could give back to the mysterious voice. Was it Kairi, or someone else? He couldn't be sure because the strength of the light of the connection had become so faint it threatened not to exist, but he had to answer, feeling sorry and sad for it's owner. As he thought hard for a moment, after a pause in silence, he answered carefully back with what he felt from the voice's heart.

"Even if you disappear, your heart won't. Your heart is tied to another heart, having become one. Through the Darkness, your heart will find it's way back to your Light. But only you can strengthen that connection, on your own. If it makes you happy... will you do it?"

"SORA!"

Sora fluttered his eyes open, coming out of his trance-like state for a moment in time as he heard a voice call his heart back to himself. "Huh...? Goofy! Donald!" he gasped in sheer thrill when he saw his two friends approach and greet him, and before anyone could do anything he had scooped up Donald in a hug with one arm and embraced Goofy with the other in pure elation. It didn't matter if Donald was scolding him, they had been together through so many ups, downs and laughter to know that a quick hug would mollify the Court Magician and the Captain of the Royal Knights. "I can't believe you guys are here!" he laughed, and then let them go, putting Donald down as he grasped their hands and jumped up and down with them. He hadn't seen them in so long, but the sight of seeing them again had almost made him forget about everything else, until another voice called out to them.

He stopped his jumping around with two of his closest friends when the lone voice of the female reached his ears, and let go of Donald and Goofy's hands in their circle, breaking off from them to consider the girl wearing orange. A smile still lit up his face though, not missing a beat, because apart from remembering having met this girl he also liked her as one of his many friends he had met along his journey. "Oh hello. Olette... right?" he grinned, and although he hadn't spent a few years having seen her, he suddenly felt... a deep sense of fondness seeing her again too that he could not explain. "No way! You're welcome here with us." he answered her as well, and in hindsight of replying in unison with Naminé, he remembered her words to him through his brief period of flashes before the others arrived.

For a brief moment, a small person jumped out of Sora's hood onto his shoulder, and stopped writing his his journal to his hat. "Well, my lucky stars! It really is good to see you all again. Sora and I were counting down the days! And yes, thank you Naminé. I think Sora meant to thank you, because I had it written in my journal to, but none of us can remember why. I'm sure we'll remember someday, though, if Sora is remembering things that didn't happen before." the royal scribe greeted them all, in addition to informing Naminé, and smiled contently as he listened in on the conversation while writing down notes of it for prosperity.

Sora turned to Naminé, happy to see the others, but she had reminded them of their grave situation. However, Donald, Goofy and Olette showing up had been a huge boost in morale, and he felt more positive in acknowledging her concerns. "Of course things are okay between us... why wouldn't they be...?" he wondered, curious as to what really happened when she had been there to put them back to sleep, but left the question hanging in the air as his thoughtful stare drifted off to look at Olette. "Oh, Olette, the little guy is Jiminy. And this is Naminé. She's... a friend of mine." he politely introduced the girl next to him to the other in realization, having paused as he had considered how to do so, thinking it would both be rude and complicated if he introduced her as a Nobody. He didn't want to draw Olette into something that too confusing or dangerous... sometimes not even he could wrap his head around the fact he had a Nobody wandering around as well, and felt too modest about telling the long story about how he and Naminé were created.

Speaking of the special girl in white, he turned to her once the introductions had finished, continuing where he had left off. "I restored the islands a while ago... so that must have been before then. I found Kairi after that, and I tried to get her to talk to me about why she had been hiding away from me, but... she wouldn't tell me anything." he considered, thinking deeply back to that tender reunion between them, about how heavy her heart had sounded when he tried to get her to feel better by listening about it. He knew it was just Kairi being stubborn as she was, and that in hindsight of the Paopu fruit they had shared he felt she just wanted something to still remind her she was still herself, not just Sora's most special person and his light... even though if she wasn't, that she still meant the world to him. But... maybe it hadn't been about that at all, and from the new information given to him by her Nobody who was half of her and still hadn't gotten it out of her, came to a reasonable conclusion. "She just said it was something she had to do on her own... I think maybe she was there when the islands had been under attack." he told her, the smile threatening to fade from his lips, and from the euphoria that was settling over him made him think positively about what this could mean. "She probably couldn't tell anyone because she felt it was her fault she couldn't stop the islands from being covered in darkness, so she went after them to stop them. She wanted to do this alone... but even with her strength, even friends need help sometimes, so I agree. We have to help out Kairi!"

He turned to look at Donald and Goofy, bringing them into the conversation, and by extension Olette as well. "Guys, Kairi is in trouble. We're going to go and save her again... you guys up for another adventure?" he asked them vibrantly, and considered Olette, who he had never come back directly to this world to tell her and the boys how their mission went to save her last time. "Oh, that's right. You weren't with us when we left here to save her last time, were you? Well, it was pretty dangerous, but we saved her from the Organization that you guys saw her get taken by, but we think they might have taken her again." he informed the fellow brunette. So much had happened since then... Sora had gone around to the rest of the worlds that they hadn't found keyholes in and sealed them, and then coming back to the islands, Kairi had found a letter that was sent from the King, which sent him on another adventure he wasn't exactly sure of the meaning and if he could ever complete it. But now Kairi could have been taken by the Organization it was more important, and it only reminded him of what Naminé had said, and hitched his breath suddenly as he turned to her.

"Castle Oblivion... wait... I do know where it is." he considered, and the memory came back to him, turning to Donald and Goofy. "Remembered when we defeated Ans... I mean, Xehanort's Heartless, and the worlds were restored, and we ended up on that world with green grass and the crossroads?" he reminded them, knowing that his two friends of the King would remember the first time they had found him on their adventures. He had appeared as a deus ex machina... a miracle, when all hope seemed lost that thousands and even millions of Heartless would have poured out of the Door to Darkness...and helped them and Riku close the door and seal it shut. After Sora found Kairi being brought back to their fragment of island she would return to as their world was restored, they had given chase to Pluto with a letter in his mouth they had never recieved, and camped for the night at a crossroads when they lost him. "There this man in a black cloak appeared. And he disappeared down a path in the crossroads, and we all took that road that lead us to that strange castle with green roofs and towers pointing out everywhere... that must have been Castle Oblivion... right, Naminé?" he wondered as he looked at her, rubbing the side of his head in vague recollection, as his memory after that became a complete blank. They got there from the End Of The World, the world of the Heartless that was created from fragments of hearts of other worlds taken by the Heartless, but they had stayed on a fragment of land that had been part of the world of Castle Oblivion. But... they had woken up here in Twilight Town, so whatever had happened between then and when they went to Castle Oblivion, Naminé would know. Sora had also seen her opening a Corridor to Darkness, as all Nobodies could do, so surely she knew how to get there, if Sora didn't know how by Gummi Ship.

"Naminé... do you think when we're ready, you can take us there in one of those Corridors to Darkness? We don't have any time to lose if Kairi's in danger again." he asked her politely, hoping she was equally concerned with Kairi enough to provide a quick method of getting there once more. Sora was actually exuberated... not only had he reunited with friends again, and he had never traveled through a Corridor to Darkness before... but he was going to come to Kairi's rescue and make sure she was okay, even if she wanted to fight on her own. A heavy sigh exhaled from his lips at the very thought she didn't want them anymore, but his spirits were soon restored at the thought of his friends all finding him here in this moment, and if they did it was only in his doubts in his mind that Kairi of all people would think differently. The keyblade master inhaled a breath of fresh air from the warm afternoon breeze of the town, and held it there, hoping that despite the fact Kairi could be in serious risk of losing her heart in the darkness that they had their bonds of friendship there that cared about her to reach out and catch her.

He remembered his connection he had made to the mysterious voice in his mind, and wondered why she wouldn't want help from her friends to give her power, placing his hand on his chest to feel the connection once more he had made with his heart.

Theme: Sora's Theme

[goofy]

Goofy and Donald rushed forth, joining hands with their long lost companion. After a few moments of overwhelming joy, they broke apart and were greeted by Olette. She was quite an admirable young girl, always so friendly and what not. Goofy waved along with Donald. "Hyuck! The gangs back together and now Olette's here!" Goofy belched out with his obnoxious, joyous manner which always exceeded him.

Donald smiled slightly, holding his hands on his hips. "Who is this Sora? Your girlfriend?" Donald snorted slightly, pointing to Namine. The two had no idea what had been going on here. The Cricket leaped out, and gave his odd little introduction speech. "Nice to see you again, Jiminey!" Goofy and Donald slowly settled down their own excitement.

Slowly, the air settled and the two continued on what they were talking about. Goofy and Donald did not think to introduce themselves, but the situation soon grew to that of a more serious matter. Goofy and Donald both found that Namine looked extremely similar. Neither said anything however, not yet. They figured that she was just someone who looked like someone they already knew.

[ooc: Sorry, I'm at school and this is a little difficult to type and all while avoiding teachers. Anyways. if you need me to add on or change anything lemme know and I will]

[Olette]

It was a daze. One moment she was doling out her normal every day activities and the next she was in the midsts of Sora and something much more intricate than watching sunsets. Of course, once the excitement died down, Olette was completely lost.

She had no idea what Sora or the girl in white were talking about. She stood there idly, folding her hands, watching them curiously. She felt more like the girl looking from the outside in than ever--and the feeling didn't settle well with her. Wasn't it always Olette with all the answers? Wasn't she the one who knew what was going on, who always had a constant grasp on the situation? Now she felt like she didn't know anything at all.

But when Sora introduced Jiminy--whom she waved at cheerily enough--and then Namine... she noticed how oddly familiar she looked. It took Olette a moment of considering Namine's slight frame and blue, blue eyes until it came to her. Namine looked exactly like Kairi. Not in the way that most people did to others--as if it was mere coincidence, that they just happened to have the same kind eyes or same shaped-face. No, Namine looked like a carbon copy of Kairi. The only difference was her pearly white dress and bleached hair. Otherwise, Olette wouldn't be surprised if Namine stunned them all by stepping forth and throwing her hands to the air, crying, "HAHA! Tricked you all! I'M Kairi!"

But Namine stood composed and serene, perhaps unaware of Olette's mind whizzing away. It seemed to Olette that no one else noticed this phenomena. She remained silent, noting abruptly that she was staring, and blushing as she looked back to Sora. Maybe Namine was the secret twin sister of Kairi... but that didn't mean Olette had to be rude about it.

Still... there's something weird about her...

[/color] Olette bit her tongue as she listened on.

Sora seemed to be trying to explain something to her that she... just didn't understand. Destiny Islands... and Kairi being saved from the Organization... and taken again... and and... something. Olette stared at Sora with wide confused eyes, simply nodding mutely, hoping that was enough to suffice him. Whatever was going on was beyond her. All Olette was good enough for was pointing out that she had the same Munny bag Sora did, she wasn't sure if she should be here talking about rescuing Kairi. Kairi must be really important to be taken so much.

Talk about awkward.

If you've ever been the last kid picked for team sports, then you could relate to how Olette felt. Everyone else seemed to understand Sora perfectly, but to Olette it sounded like complete gibberish. Her contact with other worlds began and ended with Sora. And frankly, it wasn't as if she'd seen him often.

Yet, she smiled politely and nodded, as if this was a perfectly normal conversation.

Then it dawned on her once Sora asked Namine to open a Corridor: Are they talking about going to another world?[/color] She felt slow to pick up on it so late, but that didn't suppress her excitement. If Sora was going to another world... maybe she could come this time. Last time she was too scared to go and that was probably a smart choice. And ever since she would stare at the Old Mansion dismally, knowing that all she had to do was go inside to get to another world... that her answers were so close... but she was too scared to find them. Too scared to change her life so completely. Because what if she couldn't go back to how things were?

As if things had ever been normal since Sora left.

She looked at the four of them in turn--Sora, her somewhat best friend; Goofy and Donald, the loyal companions; and Namine... the mysterious girl she had just met--and thought that, perhaps, this was her chance. Her chance to find her own answers.

"Are you, um, talking about going to another world?" Olette asked suddenly, blushing slightly at the direct question.[/blockquote]

[lalanam]

A small, almost sad smile came to the witch's lips as she watched the trio interract. It wasn't that she didn't want the three of them to be togeher. That wasn't the case at all. She was glad to see the three of them. But maybe it had to do with the fact that she remembered everything from Castle Oblivion. She remembered how the three of them helped her. She remembered every moment that she spent with them. And they probably didn't recall any of it. Though somehow, Sora seemed to know some information about it. Which Naminé didn't really undestand. It was so confusing how it was even happening. Goofy and Donald probably didn't recognize her though. She had seen Sora after Castle Oblivion when her and Roxas met with him and Kairi in the World That Never Was. So for now, she just stood back and watched the three catch up, not exactly minding all that much.

She watched as the others then moved in to greet Olette. At Donald's words, Naminé laughed and shook her head. "Oh no, I'm just a friend of Sora's." She said. As she had anticipated, they did not remember her. She watched as the cricket hopped out of Sora's pocket, and on to his shoulder. She recalled him, naturally. Jiminy had been the one who wrote down the memo to thank her. He thanked her again, and mentioned how they couldn't seem to remember. That was to be expected. But she didn't want to explain why, so she just pushed that away and she nodded her head. "Oh no problem." Naminé reassured. She turned her attention back to the girl in the orange shirt, after Sora introduced them. Naminé remembered Olette as one of Roxas' friends from when he had been placed in Twilight Town. But this was the first time that they would be meeting. So she smiled politely to Olette.

"Its nice to meet you, Olette." She said. She couldn't help but notice that Olette was staring at her in an interesting way. Naminé couldn't exactly tell why she was doing this, but she was getting the idea that Olette was noticing something about her. Or recalling something. What could she recall though, if this was the first time they were meeting. Believing that she was just thinking too much into it, Naminé shrugged this off for now. She turned her attention back to Sora, who spoke more of Kairi. She listened to him carefully. She got more and more worried with each word that he spoke. Kairi was her Somebody. And she had to look out for her. She was at a loss of words after hearing Sora speak. So much was happening in so little time. But when he made the final decision that they needed to help her, Naminé nodded, agreeing completely.

She listened as Sora turned his attention to Donald and Goofy again, urging them to come along as well. And then he spoke to Olette about the situation. She stood quietly, thinking some things over. She was listening to every word, though her eyes were focused on the ground. She only looked up when she heard Sora speak about Castle Oblivion. And then. He seemed to remember how to get to the castle. This may have made sense. Since the memory was before going into Castle Oblivion. But Naminé was still surprised that he did remember that at all. When Sora turned his attention to her, he spoke of how he ended up in Castle Oblivion and then described it. She couldn't hide any more information from him. He was somehow remembering things. And she'd have to slowly bring back the truth of what had happened in the castle. Naminé never thought she would have to do this. She thought she'd just be the only one who had to deal with this memory. That option seemed to be fading. Unable to look him in the eye, she looked down. But she did nod her head.

"Yes...that is Castle Oblivion." She stated simply, her voice very quiet. This wasn't very easy for her to take about. So thats why she just appeaed so weak and shy about this topic. After another moment of silence, Sora was asking the question that she had been dreading him to. Though it was destined to come. And once again, the memory witch nodded her head. "Yes. I can take you to Castle Oblivion when you are ready. But be warned. It is not going to be easy to get through the castle." Naminé told Sora. She heard another voice again, almost forgetting about Olette in the midst of all this. She must feel pretty confused and left out with all of this conversation. So to be polite, Naminé offered Olette a small smile.

"Oh yes we were. Sorry about all of this. It must be pretty confusing" She said to the brunette girl.

[Sora]

(OOC: Sorry about the late reply guys, just took a bit to get back into Sora muse again. I'm going to try to wrap this up so we can get started on Castle Oblivion soon; you can come if you like Olette, but that's up to you.)

The sudden voice in his heart made it skip a beat in horror.

'Even if I disappear, I'll come back. I'll be fine. I promise.'

His breath hitching at the familiarity and warmth of the voice, he answered back.

"Kairi, no wait, don't...!"

And then the connection ended.

---

He should have been happy to be back with his friends... but why did he feel so... sad?

Sora opened his eyes, and found himself back among his friends, and uncertainty hung on his facial features. He reached into his side pocket, and looked at the lucky charm made of thalassa shells in his outstretched hand, thinking of the young woman that had given him the charm once more. She had given him good luck, and her support, just as he had given his, but the Keyblade Master wondered why he still felt something was wrong in her words. And it was more than just the idea she mentioned she was going to disappear... that worried him just as equally... but the young man felt she had said it like she didn't want anything to do with him at all. And the way she had disconnected herself so suddenly from him in his heart worried him even more, and all Sora could do was look at the charm, and wonder why she was so willing to disconnect herself from him.

Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness. Don't forget that, okay? You'll be fine... I know you will.

He lowered the trinklet to put back in his pocket upon hearing Goofy and Donald talk, noticing Donald was asking him a question. He blinked and paused, glancing back at Namine with a knowing smile curling at his lips, then back to Donald. "Of course not, you know that Ka -" he paused, realizing he had almost been tricked into admitting his feeling for a certain red-haired girl out loud. He laughed sheepishly, and put his hands behind his head, blushing slightly as he looked off to the side. The Nobody of that one important person answered for him, and he nodded. "That's right. Naminé is just a friend." he smiled, catching himself that it was the reason why he had given that knowing smile to her before, and realizing that it wasn't his place to tell everyone she was a Nobody while Olette was there.

It didn't matter to him that she wasn't meant to exist at all; she was the Nobody of someone special to him, but he felt their friendship already blossoming within his heart at her words.

Speaking of Olette and friendship, he looked to the other young woman, who was looking rather... strangely at Naminé. And was she... blushing? He looked between the two for a moment, wondering what was going on, before Naminé spoke, answering for him again. He glanced at Olette first, and nodded his head simply once, and his azure colored eyes considered her expression carefully before answering. "Yeah, we are... Olette, are you okay?" he wondered, and considered why she had been staring so long and blushing, and if it had anything to do with her question.

When he had first left Twilight Town, it had been on a train which transported them to the Mysterious Tower, but every time after that including the last time he had seen Olette, was through the dark portal in the strange digital Twiight Town. She must have know that his group always travelled to other worlds, didn't she? And every time, she had always stayed behind with her friends, and waved them off with a smile and best wishes. So what was so different this time, was it Naminé, or something else he was missing? The young man sighed, and wasn't sure himself, deciding to leave it for now until the fellow brunette decided to speak her mind.

What if... what if she was one of the people mentioned in King Mickey's letter...?

Right now, it was more important to make sure Kairi was okay, and Sora turned back to the conversation at hand. The Somebody of the Nobody standing next to him was the extreme opposite of her, very stubborn to admit when she was wrong, and also strong-willed to face incredible odds on her own without asking anyone for help. But whether she was right or was in outright denial, everyone needed help once in a while, and like she was he would not stand around and simply wait for her to come back. She had come to his aid when he needed her, and now he would do the same, and he was not going to standby while she was getting hurt. He knew he was right when he considered that everyone needed a hand from their friends to give them the emotional and companionable strength needed to go on and endure whatever pain was inflicted at them; Sora had learned that a long time ago when the darkness was the greatest in his heart, when his keyblade and his friends had been stripped from him. He felt weak and lonely, so angry that he had been replaced, with only his drive to get all of his friends back to keep him going. And that is what he had discovered had been true strength; not testing his physical abilities in battle, but by having an personal evolution of self-discovery that his friends gave him his overwhelming powers to wield the true potential of the keyblade.

Without his friends, without the people who cared for him... he would be an as strong or have survived to this day.

And it was not a weakness to rely on them, as he had thought when he had been abandoned; if anything, it was because they had all been taken away that his heart had shown it's true strength to assist them all. Regarding all his friends, he smiled at them, and the keyblade master felt fortunate to have such friends around him now. Finally, his smiling blue orbs fell upon Naminé as he considered her answer. "Okay. No problem, we'll handle it! As long as you're with us to guide the way. When you're ready, let's go." he confirmed the mysterious Nobody with consideration, feeling excited he was going to see Kairi again after another adventure, and his heart beat furiously against his chest, and not just because of how much Naminé reminded him of the Princess of Heart. As he waited to see if Naminé would open a Dark Corridor, he turned to look at Olette, who more than likely now would see them off on another long journey from this sleepy town.

"Well, see you later!"

And then while completely unaware a single, lone tear trickled down his cheek.

Sora and company have left the thread, and the thread has ended.