Seek the Stars

V

Roxas wasn’t the only one afflicted by the strange illness that had put him into a coma. Not a week later, Naminé fell under, then Demyx, Saïx, Zexion, and Xigbar. Marluxia was the last and he remained asleep for a good few weeks. It was over as quickly as it had begun and Kairi knew she wasn’t the only one who was confused. And since Axel was the only one of the old Organization that had escaped this epidemic, he was the one Kairi went to for answers. Those emerald eyes had stared at her for a long, long time before he finally led her – and Bastion – out of the Palace for a long walk around Sunrise Town.

“Long story short is that I’ve had a heart from the get-go.” Axel replied in answer to Kairi’s question. “I sort of played spy for everyone and needed to keep my ass alive.”

“So all those fake deaths Sora told me about, they were just illusions?”

“Pretty much.”

Kairi blinked. “Okay. Doesn’t explain everything else.”

“It does. They didn’t have hearts. Now they do.”

“How can you be sure?”

Axel blushed and coughed to hide it. “Call it investigation.”

“I read yaoi Axel.” Kairi said with a grin.

“You spy on Sora and Riku.” Axel corrected. “That’s watching.”

“Potatoes, potahtoes.” Kairi took a sip of the lemonade Axel handed her. “What else is going on?”

Axel chewed on his lower lip for a few minutes. “First you have to understand there are puppet-masters in this world. They pull the strings and watch us dance. But some of these puppet-masters only watch; they never interfere. There are only three of them and I can’t tell you their names. We simply call them the Watchers. You could say it was them who created Kingdom Hearts. Below them are the Seekers – three Knights who look for and obtain new Keyblades and worlds. Then there are the Keyblade Masters, Sora, Roxas, Tenkuu and Kaoru.”

“Why not Riku?” Kairi asked.

“Riku’s in a category all his own.” Axel replied. “He was a Keyblade Master for a short time, but his soul rejected it. After Ansem, Xemnas’ Heartless, took hold of him, his light and darkness fused into Way to Dawn. It’s the only sword of its kind.”

“Which means?”

“Riku is a Creator. There’s only one other Creator in existence.” Axel sighed. “A Creator can make their own weapon, open up portals to the Dark Corridors from anywhere, not just at an anchor point. Riku could probably make his own world if he wanted to.”

Kairi blinked and let out a breath. “He doesn’t know, does he?”

“And probably never will.”

Kairi pondered all she had been told while they walked, enjoying her lemonade. “Okay, so it goes like this: The Watchers watch us but don’t interfere, the Seekers look for stuff, then the Masters, so where does that put the rest of us?”

“It goes Watchers, Seekers, Creators, Princesses, Masters, world Leaders, and then the rest of us.” Axel gave a grin. “The Order is mixed in there somewhere, but it’s so vast nobody really knows who’s in it except those who are in it.”

“Well, that kind of sucks,” Kairi said. “Okay, now I sort of get it. Everyone has hearts who didn’t have them before, everyone’s in some sort of caste in some sort of hierarchy, but those two things really don’t count in the end.”

“Pretty much.”

Kairi finished her drink and pitched it into a nearby trashcan. “And despite this Heart-giving sickness, nothing bad has happened.”

“You mean you haven’t seen why you’ve been kidnapped.”

“I knew you were smart.”

Axel stuck his tongue out at Kairi. “We don’t know why there hasn’t been an Enigma attack. Maybe they just got bored.”

“Enigma? How can they get bored?”

Axel shrugged and began leading Kairi back toward the Palace. “It’s difficult to explain Enigma. They’re, as far as we can tell, a cross between Heartless and Nobodies. They don’t just devour hearts – they devour everything. As for how they get bored.” Axel shrugged again.

The pair walked in silence then, Kairi dwelling on the new information she had learned. The Palace was alive with activity when they returned inside and Axel just smiled, patted Kairi on the back, and disappeared. Bastion gave a whine when the Princess snarled a nasty and pithy remark about redheads.

“That’s not a safe place to stand, Princess.”

Kairi turned to stare into the midnight-blue eyes of Tenkuu and the gold eyes of Kaoru. If she didn’t know any better, she could have sworn she was staring at Sora and Riku. Tenkuu smiled gently. “It is strange, isn’t it?” he asked. “When you look at us, you see your friends. When we look at you, we see Naminé.”

“I’m not scared or anything.” Kairi quickly replied.

Tenkuu laughed. “I didn’t say you were. We were asked to find you. It seems you’re going to go with us.”

“With you where?”

“Off world.” Kaoru folded his arms over his chest. “The President was against it, but he was overruled.”

“By who?”

“The Leader of the Order.”

Since Kairi had yet to meet the Leader of the Order, the statement didn’t have quite as much an impact on her as it probably should have. Kaoru gestured and Kairi fell into step beside Tenkuu. Since coming to Sunrise Town, Kairi had spent most of her time in the company of Axel, Demyx, Roxas, and Naminé, or any combination of the aforementioned. She hadn’t felt comfortable around Kaoru and it certainly showed in his detached attitude toward her. She hadn’t quite gotten to know Tenkuu.

Naminé told her he was Sora’s shadow, like Kaoru was Riku’s. In fact, Riku had created him about four years ago, when the whole adventure had first begun. Tenkuu had grown as Sora had grown, standing almost a full head taller than Kaoru. His skin was a rich brown, his hair a dark chestnut, and his eyes an exquisite midnight blue. But he was quiet, unlike Sora, and was easy enough to talk to. Kaoru, on the other hand, seemed to calm up when Kairi got too close to him. She tried being nice, but that only seemed to upset him more, so Kairi had simply become bitingly polite.

He kind of warmed up to her then. Kind of.

Kaoru was a clone, Axel had said one day as Kairi made the comment that Kaoru was a stuck-up little prick. He held Riku’s memories from four years ago, maybe longer. He was supposed to be Riku’s replacement, but there was one problem – Kaoru didn’t age. He was Riku at fifteen, and he would always be Riku at fifteen.

And that, Kairi surmised, hurt the most.

When all of his friends, when everyone he knew, was old and grey, he would still be the picture of youth.

“Where are we going?” Kairi asked to break the silence, not liking the depressing thoughts that were bubbling up. “What world?”

Tenkuu shrugged. “We don’t know. It may be Atlantica, or the Coliseum, or even the Pride Lands. We usually don’t know until we get there.”

“That’s a little silly, don’t you think?”

Kaoru glanced back at Kairi. “Maybe.”

Sighing, and hoping she could get more out of Naminé, Kairi followed the boys down to the hangar bay where several Gummi ships waited. A cloaked man waited beside Roxas and Naminé and suddenly Kaoru slowed his pace, swallowing.

“What is it?” Kairi asked, grabbing onto Kaoru’s shoulders before she slammed into his back.

“It’s the Leader,” Tenkuu replied in a whisper, for Kaoru seemed tongue-tied.

“The Order Leader?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.” Tenkuu looked back at the Princess. “He’s never seen anyone off before. He rarely comes out, too, so this must be really important.”

Kairi swallowed and followed the two Keyblade Masters toward their waiting friends and the Order’s Leader. He didn’t speak to anyone, just nodded and Naminé led the group on the ship. Kairi turned to find Kaoru hugging the man, eyes closed tight as if he couldn’t bear to leave him. A number of ideas flashed through the brunette girl’s mind, but she bit her tongue to keep her mouth from running away with itself.

She hurried to her seat before Kaoru saw her watching, but she knew she’d been caught. She shivered at the sight of that one glowing green-brown eye staring at her from beneath that black hood. When Kaoru boarded, no one said a word. Kairi knew then that this was something special; something she had just witnessed held great meaning for everyone. Kairi wished she knew what. Maybe then she wouldn’t feel like such an outsider.


“You really think it’s safe to let the children go off like that?” Rufus asked, watching the Gummi ship become a twinkle in the dawn sky.

“I don’t know,” replied the Order Leader.

“Leave him alone Rufus,” Tifa said with folded arms. “You’d do the same in his place.”

“That’s what I’m worried about.” Rufus turned to face the two Order members. “Reno and Elena never checked in.”

The Order Leader twitched. “…They went home?”

Rufus nodded. He slammed his fist on his desk. “I should have sent all four.”

“No.”

Rufus’ burning blue eyes snapped onto the Order Leader. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”

“I remember them.” The man said slowly. “Reno from Before, Elena from His memories. They are strong. They are safe.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I’m not. But I trust them.”

Rufus deflated a little bit and sighed. “I suppose I should trust you. You seem to know everything.”

“Not everything.” The Leader replied in an amused tone. “They’ll come back. Turks are harder to kill than cockroaches. Especially Reno.”

Tifa snickered. “That’s true.” She paused, listening. “Diablo’s calling. Seems there’s a slight Nobody infestation in the Theatre District.” She waggled her fingers in a farewell and left the men alone.

Rufus steepled his fingers. “They completed their task then?”

“The bait has been set,” the Leader said softly. “They will take it.”

“How is your… son doing?”

“Which one?” The Order Leader laughed softly. “Malchus is pining for Kaoru, but he knows Kaoru won’t disappear. Riku… Riku is about to discover darkness sings in his blood.”

“Zack…”

“No one has used that name with me in a long time.”

“Everyone’s too afraid.”

Gloved hands rose to pull back the hood of the tattered black jacket, revealing glowing woodland eyes and spiked black hair that fell gently about thin shoulders. “They are afraid of what that name will induce.”

Rufus stared at those eyes, seeing timelessness in them, coupled by years of madness, sadness, anger. He watched those eyes shiver and shake and still to reveal horrible, twisted nightmares of a time long forgotten. Zack raised his hood again, shielding his eyes from sight.

“Just remember,” Rufus said softly as Zack turned to leave, “you gave up Riku to protect him. You have your heart to save his father. Malchus remembers you. He will too.”

Zack left without a word.

Rufus sat down in his chair and rubbed his eyes. Lies within lies; a tangled web of lives and agendas. He looked out the window and hoped the kids would be okay.

Wherever they were going.