On the other side of the door, Yen Sid stood menacingly in the middle of the room. It made them all, (Sora, Riku, Karen and Emi) stop in their tracks for a moment. The door shut behind them with a small thump and click. Riku cleared his throat in Sora's direction, and Sora bowed deeply.
"Sorry to rush you, sir, but..." he tried to say but he was interrupted in mid-sentence by Yen Sid.
"Your vessel awaits outside," he said calmly. There was a sigh of relief from the four teenagers. Yen Sid continued. "Mickey has already visited this place, and left a vessel for you. He also left instructions. You are to go to Hollow Bastion and get help from the people living there. Squall and his friends. Mickey said he would meet you there."
Sora was so relieved. He was so happy that Mickey was one step ahead, it gave him a sense of security. Yen Sid motioned towards the door. Sora began to walk towards the door, followed by Riku and the two girls. Sora stopped at the door and turned around. Riku turned around in mid-stride, and the two girls were already facing him. Yen Sid turned around to face the young brunette.
"Thank you, sir," he said, simply. He had nothing else to say. He opened the door and walked out. Riku nodded at Yen Sid. Karen curtsied and laughed and skipped out. Emi was last. She raised an eyebrow at Yen Sid, nodded and walked out.
There, right outside... the Gummi ship. Sora almost squealed like a little girl when he saw it, jumped up, and ran towards it. The others were close behind. Sora boarded the ship first and ran his hands over all the instruments.
"Hello, beautiful," he sighed, sitting in the pilot's seat and resting his cheek against the on-board keyboard. Riku smacked the back of his head and said "Let's get a move on, lover boy. The darkness is waiting for you to get reaqauinted with a machine."
He noticed a piece of paper lying off to the side.
"The gate has already been open" it said
Sora sat up and started pushing buttons. The door whirred closed behind Emi, who grimaced lightly. Karen sprinted up to Sora and stood behind him. Sora looked up as Riku sat down in the co-pilot's seat with the note and passed it to Sora. Sora read it and smiled. Emi was still standing by herself, watching the entire soon with raised eyebrows.
Sora looked up at Karen playfully. "Are you girls ready to go to a whole new world?" he asked. Karen nodded rapidly.
"Cool," Sora said. "We're off!"
~~
Sora knew Hollow Bastion when he saw it. Karen peered out of the window and gasped. "That's where we're going, isn't it?" she squeaked.
Emi was sitting off to the side. She rolled her eyes and blew her bangs out of her eyes before standing up to join her friend. She, Riku and Karen all crowded around the window as Sora brought them down. They landed and the vessel shook a little under their feet. Sora spun around in the pilot's chair, pushing a button on his way around and the door flew open.
"Let's go," he said happily. "I haven't seen Squall and Yuffie and Aerith and Cid and Merlin and those little fairy people and the shop attendents and the moogles and all those ducks...in a really long time." He took a deep breath and jumped out. Riku went out, and Karen looked at Emi with a bright smile. Even Emi had to smile, a small smirk, but a smile none-the-less.
They found themselves in the market of Hollow Bastion. Sora didn't see anybody he recognized at that moment, so he motioned for the others to follow him. "Come on," he said. "They're probably at Merlin's house."
They all walked to Merlin's house. Karen and Emi were trying to absorb things as quickly as possible, not knowing how long they were going to be here. Everything was happening so fast! They reached the strange-looking cottage and were greeted with a loud thump. Karen and Emi looked at Sora and Riku expectantly. Maybe it was normal....?
Sora knocked and Yuffie flung the door open, looking slightly out of breath. Cid was lying on the floor in the fetal position, moaning. Yuffie smiled brightly. "Sora, it's been so-o-o-o long! How have you been!? Come in, come in!"
They stepped over Cid and into the cottage. Yuffie noticed the two girls. Karen was attempting to hide behind Sora and Emi was... being Emi. Her arms were crossed and she looked around the room disdainfully. But she didn't look TOO dissapointed.
"Who are they?" asked a deep voice. Definetly NOT Yuffie. Sora recognized it as Squall Leonheart, aka Leon, coming in through the door they had just walked in, followed by the lovely Aerith. They all looked at Leon, who was staring piercingly at the two girls. Emi looked at Leon for a few seconds, up and down, and studied his face. Didn't get any sort of evil-bad guy-vibes so she got bored. He scared Karen almost as much as Yuffie had.
"This is Karen and Emi..." Sora said, pointing to each girl. Karen waved sheepishly and Emi nodded his way. Aerith perked up a little, and so did Leon. "King Mickey has us on another journey, can you believe it?"
"Yes, I can," said Yuffie, slapping Sora's shoulder. She looked at Riku and gasped. "You found him?!" she screamed. Everyone jumped back a little and Sora laughed nervously. "Oh, yeah. I did. Everyone, this is Riku. You remember, then one I was looking for last time?"
There was an affirmative murmur. "So, what are you here for?" asked Cid, weakly, picking himself up off the floor and slumping into the desk chair. Sora wondered what he had done to deserve a beating from Yuffie.
"King Mickey sent us a letter in a bottle. He told us to go find Karen, which we did. Because..." started Sora.
"...because the Door to Light was never locked. And the darkness from the other side is bleeding though, slowly but surely, infecting all the worlds yet again..." continued Riku.
"And apparently, I'm needed. For my parents' research, I suppose but.... why?" asked Karen.
The four teenagers thought for a moment. Sora gripped his head in his hands and screamed. "CRAP! Why does it always get so confusing? Why the heck do we need your parents research again?!"
Emi looked up. "Well, obviously, you don't. You said Karen's parents researched the links between worlds, right? That information isn't exactly relevant."
"Sure it is," argued Riku. "If we are looking for the Door to Light, information on links between world might come in handy."
"That still doesn't explain why I'm so important," Karen added, raising her hand a little. "I don't know anything about my parents, let alone their research."
There was an awkard silence.
"King Mickey needs to get his head on straight before he gives me a stroke," moaned Sora.
"Okay, now that STILL doesn't explain why you're here," said Cid.
Sora, Riku, Karen and Emi all looked at him strangely and Sora said "We're here to look for information. He need to go poke around in Ansem's computer I guess. See what we can find about the Kano's research."
"Or better yet, what the heck His Royal Highness King Confusion is trying to tell us," said Riku.
"And we aren't going to be able to do anything if we don't get a proper game plan," added Emi.
A nod of agreement and Leon said "I'll bring you guys up there. You said the darkness was coming through.. who knows when it will begin to affect this world or how fast it's spreading. Keep on your toes."
So they all followed Leon out of the tiny house. Going up the steps in the Borugh, towards the Bailey, Karen felt content. Like she was getting something done. They were finally getting somewhere in this search. The search for her parents. Her parents research would help in the search for the Door to Light. And if they could close that, then the darkness would stop contaminating the light in the world.
Karen stopped right before they walked into the Bailey. She got it now. She understood what was going on!
She wondered if Sora and Riku even really understood.
She repeated it to herself as Emi brushed past her.The darkness out side the Door to Light, the darkness that would never cease so long as there was life and hearts on any world, was leaking into the Door to Light, and thus contaminating all of the light in the worlds. That was BAD.
Karen blinked. She hoped all of the light could get clean again.
Karen decided she would ask Sora about it later. He seemed to be very well learned in that area.
She ran to keep up with the others. They walked through the restoration site and down the stepsinto the Postern. Emi slowed down a little so that Karen could catch up with her. Emi turned to watch her friend round the corner and bounce down the steps.
"This place is so BIG compared to Twilight Town," she huffed. She straightened up and looked at the others walking down the stairs. Emi looked, too. A small breeze blew and Emi shut her eyes and breathed in.
"Smells the same..." she murmured. "Hmm?" asked Karen, looking up at her friend. Emi shook her head and started to walk across the Postern to join the others. Karen smirked and jogged after her.
Emi stopped at the door, for a moment. Riku looked back at her as he stepped through. The footsteps of Sora and Leon echoed off the walls, and Karen's foot steps were getting closer. "You okay?" asked Riku.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just spaced out a little. Sorry," replied Emi as Karen came up next to her. Riku shrugged and held the door open for the two girls. Karen giggled as she followed Emi past him. "Such a gentleman," she said. Riku rolled his eyes, shook his head and chuckled.
Sora and Leon were waiting for them just around the corner. "Good, now that we're all together," said Leon. "Karen, Emi... stay close. These corridors are confusing and they might be crawling with Heartless or Nobodies."
Karen and Emi nodded. "Okay, we're looking for a big white door... it should be this way," said Sora. They all took off in the direction Sora pointed out.
They wandered through the corridors, turning this way and that until they found the door. Leon pointed to it as they walked up. "There it is. Remember, Sora. Don't touch the computer, please. Not until I tell you. You don't know how..."
"TRON," yelled Sora happily as he burst into Ansem's study. Everyone sort of blinked as Sora ran for the door to the computer room. Leon sighed and put his hand to his head. "Is he always this hyper?" he asked.
"Yep," said Riku, walking into the study.
"What's a Tron?" asked Karen, gazing around the room.
"Leon, you cleaned this place up," called Sora from the computer room.
Leon was standing next to the desk now, but Emi was taking her sweet time entering the room. She squinted around warily. Again, Riku asked "Is there something wrong?"
Emi shook her head. "No, nothing," she said. Leon looked over his shoulder. "I should go check on Sora. You guys be careful in here, please," he said. He moseyed on into the computer room. Karen squatted in front of one of the low bookcases, running her long fingers across the binds of the books. "These are nice," she said.
"Don't touch them," said Emi, adruptly. Her voice wavered a little. Riku and Karen both looked at her. She was staring straight ahead, her pale green eyes slightly glazed over and her thin lips parted slightly. "He doesn't like... it... when you touch.. the books,” she continued, murmuring quietly.
“Emi,” said Karen, standing up. She took a few steps toward her friend, and Emi snapped out of it. “What was I saying?” she asked, confused. “Something about the books,” said Riku.
“Oh, those. They look dusty. Don’t touch them, Karen. They’ll upset your allergies,” said Emi, as if the strange trance had never come over her. Karen and Riku stared at her for a few more seconds until she said “I want to see this computer thing.”
“This way,” called Leon from the computer room. Emi brushed past her two friends and into the computer room. She peered over the ledge, into the huge cravass where so many machine type things were bolted to the wall. And then she walked over to be with Leon and Sora.
Sora was pouting while Leon brought up the right program. “OKay, Sora. Type in whatever you want to look for and the computer will give you a list of all the related topics,” he explained. Sora nodded.
Emi watched over his shoulder as Sora typed, using only two fingers, “Kano”.
Several files came up, but they were all locked. “It needs a password,” Sora told Leon.
Leon shrugged. Sora sighed and type “Sea Salt Ice Cream” into the field.
Nothing happened. “Crap,” he moaned, slapping the keyboard. “What could the password be?”
Leon, Sora and Emi were all silent for a moment as they thought.
“Karen, Riku, get in here,” called Emi. Karen and Riku came running. “What’s wrong?” asked Riku, skidding to a stop next to Emi. “All the files are locked and we don’t know what the password is,” explained Sora. “Riku, you spent so much time with him... do you know what it could be?”
“No... I don’t. Just start typing stuff in,” offered Riku.
Sora typed in “heart”. Nothing.
Sora typed in “darkness”. Nothing
Sora tried “light”. Nothing.
Sora tried “door”. Nothing.
Emi pushed him out of the way. “You are such a slow typer, let me. Give me words to type.”
“Try ‘heartless’,” said Riku.
“Try ‘nobody’,” said Leon.
“Try... um.. try ‘portal’,” said Karen.
Emi tried all three. Nothing.
“There has a to be a clue somewhere,” said Sora, heaving a sigh.
“Emi, Riku, you stay in here and keep trying. Sora, Karen, come with me. We can look around the study for clues,” said Leon. They all nodded, and Sora, Karen and Leon all walked out.
“Ansem. So paranoid. So many passwords,” moaned Riku.
Emi was typing away, trying everything that popped into her mind.
Back in the study, Karen was going through book after book. Sora was raiding the desk and Leon was... supervising.
Karen came across a book a little different than the others, hidden behind one of the thick red tomes. It was small, black, made of leather and it had a lock on it. “Weird,” she said, reaching far back to grab the book. She pulled it out and said “Hey guys, I think I found something.”
Leon and Sora ran over. Karen handed the journal over to Leon, who turned it over in his hands, shrugged and handed it to Sora. “It looks like some kind of diary to me,” he said. “Yeah,” added Sora. “I wonder where the key is. Was there one hidden with it?”
“Nope,” said Karen. “Not that I could see. Just the journal.”
Sora glanced around the room and handed the journal back to Karen. “You keep a hold on that. Maybe the key is in the desk,” he said, dashing back over. He stared tearing drawers out. Leon shook his head. “I’ll go look too. Karen, you keep looking in those bookcases and tell us if you find anything else.”
“Okay,” she said, as Leon was walking away. She looked down at the dark book in her hand. Who’s diary was this? What kind of secrets were scribbled on its pages? She shook it a little and a photo fell out. It fluttered to the floor and with a small “Oh!”, Karen knelt to pick it up. At the same time, Sora yelled in pain.
“What happened?” asked Leon. “This box thing fell on my foot. Ouch! That hurt!,” whined Sora. Leon stooped to pick up the metal box. It was also locked. Leon and Sora moaned as Karen ran over.
“You guys, look! This fell out of the journal!” she cried, waving the photo in the air.
Sora and Leon leaned over and looked into Karen’s hands. The photo was of a pretty woman, holding a baby wrapped in a pink blanket. The woman had thick black hair cascading over thin shoulders, and the prettiest green eyes. Such long lashes. The baby was sleeping, similarly thick lashes resting on round baby cheeks.
“Oh, what a cute baby! I wonder who this woman is,” asked Karen. “Maybe she wrote the journal.”
Leon’s eyes went wide. “Oh my... that’s Lady Saila.”
“Who?” asked Sora and Karen, simultaneously.
“Lady Saila,” repeated Leon, slowly. “OH MY GOD. EMI! GET IN HERE!” he screamed.
Emi ran in. “What’s wrong? What did I do?”
Riku was right behind her.
Leon strode up to her and grabbed her sharp chin his hands. He stared at her for a moment and said “Oh my god... its you. It really is. I thought you were dead.”
Emi’s eyes went wide and wild. “What the heck are you talking about, you psycho!?” she yelled, pushing Leon away.
“I’ll explain later. Karen, grab that journal. Sora, grab the box. We need to get back to Merlin’s house, now,” he said, taking long hard strides to the door.
Emi was shaking, enraged. “WHO AM I?!” she screamed at him.
Everything went silent. Leon turned and stared at Emi.
“You don’t know, do you?” he asked, slowly.
“No, of course not! What are you saying!?” asked Emi, harshly.
“Heh. You look just like her,” said Leon, shaking his head. “Act like her too. She was so stubborn and forward.”
“Who!?” asked Emi, almost pleading.
“Lady Saila. Emi... do you know who your parents are?”
“No. I’m a ward of the state. I was abandoned at birth at the school and...”
“Oh. That makes plenty of sense.”
More silence. Emi stomped up to Leon and said “Tell me. Now.”
