Like a bolt out of the blue

[a-total-sap.livejournal.com]

Who: Sora
What: Cleaning the Tower. FOR SCIENCE AND DISNEY MAGIC!
Where: Yen Sid's Tower
When: Sunday November 15th

Sora sat on the floor in one of the many rooms in Yen Sid's Tower, surrounded by stacks and stacks of books. The ancient wizard hadn't been surprised upon his arrival at the Tower, flanked by Goofy and Donald (Roxas, he thought, was still in town somewhere), and had immediately sent him to work. Sora had made a face at the idea of reorganizing Yen Sid's library, especially after it had just been reorganized by Cheryle last year.

But he had settled down to the task anyway, and five hours in, he was still lost amidst all the dusty magical tomes. Donald had grumbled off into some corner somewhere, and Goofy was busy cleaning some of the shelves higher up. That left Sora by himself, surrounded by towers of multicolored books. One of the books, a big dark blue one, sat in his lap, and he was paging through it, a confused frown on his face.

Truth be told, he was still frustrated. Maybe he was just a little bit spoiled - last year, during the War of the Hearts, he had been helped by the Refugees and their knowledge of what was going to happen. A convenient prophecy. Now, here they were, facing an enemy that was familiar, but not familiar. He clasped the crown necklace tightly - in his heart, he knew that these were Heartless, shadows born from the darkness in people's hearts, resulting from unlocked worlds. But...Sora had locked those worlds. So where were these Heartless coming from? Had someone created them? That would explain the strange insignias on their bodies.

He sighed, blowing his hair out of his eyes. Something was wrong, and not in the classic sense of the word. He knew the Refugees were getting restless, and he had taken off to Yen Sid's tower hopefully to get some answers that could help. After all, hadn't Yen Sid been the one to originally explain to him what the Nobodies were? Sure, some things had changed in his perception of them, but still.

Speaking of, he pulled out one of his keychains from his pocket - Two Become One, the keychain he had gained from Roxas. Heartless meant Nobodies, and Song had been right. Sora didn't want that to happen again. He was determined that it never would. But if these strange Heartless-like creatures kept threatening everyone...

He wrinkled his nose, and closed the book that was sitting on his lap and beginning to stand up. Well, he couldn't do anything sitting around and moping! He hopped to his feet... and nearly hit his head against one of Yen Sid's brooms hovering over him, holding a bucket of water.

Sora blinked and then waved warily. "Hey..."

The broom stood there, bouncing from one... "leg" to another.

"Uh... can I help you?"

The broom jumped up, water sloshing over the edge of the bucket and onto Sora's oversized shoes.

"Hey!"

The broom marched off, its grip on the bucket causing more water to spill over the sides. It then stopped about a dozen feet away, halfway turned back to Sora as if beckoning him, and the continued its march into a door that Sora could have SWORN wasn't there before. The keyblade master gave a surprised start before scrambling after the broom, almost slipping on the puddles of water left behind by the enchanted broom.

Sora slipped through the door and stepped right into darkness. He paused, listening for the telltale swishing-noise of the broom walking and the splashes of water, but didn't hear anything. He frowned - maybe it fell down into some deep dark hole of doom? He began to summon his keyblade - even with the door open behind him, it was so dark.

Not yet.

Sora blinked. "Hello?"

Not yet, keyblade master.

Ohhh, that was creepy. Sora looked around at the blackness surrounding him, prepared for a random Moogle to come flying out the darkness to sit on his chest. But instead, he took a deep breath, placed his hand over his heart, and listened again.

You will know the answer. Soon.

"But my friends need me now. The Heartless are here, and I can't-"

Not 'can't', Sora. You must be patient. Everything is not as it appears.

Sora made a face. "Yeah, I know that. But... how can I protect my friends if I don't know what I'm fighting?"

Trust your heart.

In the darkness, a glimmer of light appeared. It was bright, silvery and blue and gold and smaller than Kairi's good luck charm. Sora blinked against the sudden light - it was accompanied by a cool feeling. Safe. Familiar. He closed his eyes. It reminded him of new friendships and vacation days lounging on the beach back home and some of the Refugees. It reminded him that not everything was bad, not everything was good, but everything would be okay.

Don't forget, Sora. You will always be the one to open the door to the light.

...

Something tickled his nose.

When he opened his eyes, he was lying on his back, surrounded by the stacks of books again. And there was something sitting on his chest, a bright red pom-pom brushing against him as a familiar Moogle peered down at him.

"Kupo! Falling asleep on the job! You're just as bad as Amateur Moogle!" Mog exclaimed with disapproval in its high-pitched voice before jumping off his chest, and going off to scold some of the brooms that were engaged in a game of hopscotch on the opposite side of the room. Sora scratched the back of his head, glancing off in the direction that the door had been in. Had he been dreaming? Why did he always have those weird dreams with that Magic Voice?

He was about to get to his feet to stretch when something clinked to the floor. He blinked, and looked down at a tiny keychain that had fallen to the ground. It wasn't anything extremely decorative, but it looked strangely delicate. It was shaped like a seven-pointed star, silver and blue and gold like the Ultimate Keyblade. He tilted his head, frowning at it. It was cool to the touch, and it reminded him of...

Weeeeird.

He pocketed the keychain, and his eyes fell on a book that the small item had fallen next to. He stared at the title for a few moments, and a bright grin suddenly appeared on his face.

A little bit of magic never really hurt anyone.