Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Kingdom Hearts Route B ❯ The Forest of Spirits ( Chapter 10 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy or any of the Disney/Square Enix characters that appear in this work. Please support the original releases.

 

 

Chapter 10: The Forest of Spirits

 

 

 

A purple vortex revealed Sora, Donald and Goofy re-entering the castle's foyer from the diminutional door. Dr. Facilier watched the trio.

"So much for the the Fationista," said the fire headed god next to Dr. Facilier.

The witch doctor smiled, pulling out a walk-talkie from his pocket.

"Cruella may have succumbed to her own insane hatred, but she still did her job."

"And just what do you plan to do with those, my shadowy friend?"

"Oh, you'll find out, sooner or later."

"You know, I've worked with three old, wrinkly fates that are less cryptic then you."

"Thank you for the compliment." Dr. Facilier inclined his head.

The so called God of the Underworld clicked his shark teeth, and then shrugged. "Whatever. As long as what you're doing gets rid of those three yutzes, I'm not going to complain."

"Speak for yourself," said another in the room.

The old man in minister's robes walked forward and gazed into the window in the air. His eyes narrowed as he glared at the image of Sora, Donald and Goofy speaking to the so called "treasure hunter."

"What a disgusting display," said the old man, curling his lip at the treasure hunter. "Clearly a gypsy, that man. How you can stand to let that filth stay in this castle is beyond me."

He waved his hand, as though shaking off a piece of dust from his fingertips.

"Tell me, are the rest of us to share that boorish woman's fate?"

Dr. Facilier bowed graciously at the old man. "Cruella was consumed by her own need for vengeance of course, but that doesn't mean that one so noble as yourself must follow her example."

"Don't patronize me."

"Not at all your Grace. And fear not. The boy found another keyhole. Everything is still on track. As long as the two of you do your part, all will be well."

 

 

 

"Whoa kid, what happened to you?"

Locke pointed at Sora's clothes.

"What did you do, jump from paint buckets into a mud puddle?"

Sora rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know, I'm a mess, but that's not important right now. Did anything strange happen while we were gone?"

"Sure did."

Locke pointed over his shoulder to the entrance wall of the castle. The wall was more translucent then ever. Just beyond the thin, white material, Sora could see a blurry, dark blue something. Maybe it was the sky?

"Oh boy," Donald jumped, "does this mean we can finally get out of here?"

Sora knocked on the wall. While the cold surface wasn't visually sturdy, it was still felt too hard to break through.

"What's causing this wall to look weaker. Is it because we're going to a different world each time we travel through the castle door?"

"And what about Dr. Facilier. We still don't know where in this castle he is," Goofy added.

"Or what he's going to do with Lewis' bully radar," Sora said.

"Don't forget that man in the black coat," Jiminy whispered in Sora's ear.

Locke snapped his fingers in front of Sora's eyes. "So are you guys going to tell me what you're talking about or do I have to piece together the story myself?"

When Donald and Goofy finished filling the treasure hunter in, Locke leaned back against the castle wall and crossed his arms.

"That explains the green smoke."

"Green smoke?" Donald repeated.

"As soon as you guys went through the door, just as it was closing, there was trail of green smoke following you. By the time I got to the door, it was already closed, and the smoke had passed through. I couldn't pull it open after that. Seems as though the door locks on this side after you three close it."

Donald huffed. "So that's how Cruella got into that world."

"Did you see anything else? Like the shadow of really thin guy?"

Locke shrugged at Sora. "Other then the smoke, there was nothing. In the ten minutes you guys were gone, that's all that happened."

Donald quacked. "Only ten minutes?"

Jiminy hopped out of Sora's hood and went to the transparent wall. He opened his journal and began writing.

Sora knelt down behind him.

"What are you up to?"

"I'm writing down all the clues we have so far. This wall gets thinner every time we go to another world. The door locks from this side when we enter, and it seems as though time works differently in here then in the worlds through that door." Jiminy tapped his feather quill on his lower lip. "But what could it all mean?"

"Maybe we just need to do like Lewis said, and keep moving forward," Goofy said. "But I sure wish we could resupply on some potions and ethers."

"If it's supplies you need, I got them," Locke said. "Though they don't come cheap."

"We have a lot of munny," Goofy said, digging into his pocket.

"Not munny. Got anything from that world you visited? Any special treasure?"

Goofy pulled out the button that Cornelius had given him from his pocket. "Will this do?"

Locke took the button from Goofy, turning it over. On one side, there was a rocket ship. On the other side, the button was smooth and flat. Locke bounced the button up and down in his palm and grinned.

"Yup. This will do."

For a guy that didn't look as though he had pockets, Locke produced a lot of glass bottles and vials seemingly out of nowhere.

"And as a special gift." Locke winked, pulling out a glass vial with swirling, galaxy colored liquid. "One elixir."

"Gosh! Thank you, Locke."

While Goofy carefully stocked up on supplies, Donald came to stand next to Sora and leaned up to whisper in his ear.

"There's something I want to try when we go to the next world. Don't do anything there until after I've checked."

"Okay," Sora whispered back.

Jiminy finished writing and hopped back up into Sora's hood. Goofy put away his newly bought supplies. After saying goodbye to Locke one more time, the trio passed through the door.

 

 

 

The realm of darkness felt different then the last time he was awake. There was a hint of a scent that Riku couldn't put his finger on. He tried to think back to what had helped him wake up, but the memory of his dream was hazy. He walked with his weapon, the soul eater, in his hand, keeping an eye out for heartless while trying to figure out his next move at the same time.

The last thing he remembered was closing the door with Sora and King Mickey. Had he fallen asleep right after? Riku put a hand over his heart. And, at least, Sora and Kairi were safe.

Or so he hoped.

For a split second, right after he had woken up, he thought he had heard Kairi's voice, but it must have been his imagination. He was alone. Even King Mickey had vanished. When the realm of darkness had been cut off from the realm of light, something had forced him into a deep sleep, something strong enough to separate him from the king, but what could it have been?

Riku stepped on something squishy. Looking down, he felt his blood run cold as a shadow heartless had appeared in the ground. It wrapped its hands around his leg and soon, Riku found himself being dragged down.

Riku swung his the soul eater and sliced the heartless' arms. It let him go, and he pulled his leg free. Yet, he wasn't finished fighting yet. More heartless appeared on the road before him. Riku charged and slashed through the first wave easily, but another squadron of heartless appeared right after, converging on him.

Gasping, Riku fought the next wave, and the next, until the sweat was dripping from his face. His entire body ached from exhaustion. The soul eater was too heavy to lift and his arm fell limply to his side. The heartless had slowly morphed from simple shadows, to menacing dark balls, and finally to powerful neo-shadows.

The hungry creatures had pushed him to the edge of the platform he had been standing on. Riku stared at the line of heartless advancing toward him. His head swam in a thick fog, his knees shook, and a voice spoke from deep inside him.

Why don't you control them? You did it before.

"No."

The voice was silent, but its presence was not gone.

A neo-shadow lunged at him.

Raising his weapon, Riku was able to stab the heartless right in the gut, making it explode in the air, but he didn't have any time to react when three other heartless came at him from the front, the left, and the right. They grabbed his arms and pushed him down. Riku could barely breathe under all the weight, but he forced himself up against the heartless' crushing downward push.

No any energy left to fight, Riku rolled, falling off the edge of the platform and taking the three neo-shadows with him. The fall was enough to send the three heartless flying off, but Riku had no way of stopping himself from splattering into the platform down below.

Something hit him from mid air, and Riku was knocked out cold.

 

 

 

The chirping of birds and the whistling of wind moving through the leaves met Sora's ears. The smell of fresh spring and the softness of the grass under his feet was a much welcome feeling after being in the dreary, rotting space of the warehouse in the last world. Too bad his clothes didn't look any less messy.

Goofy went to the nearest rock and sat down to stretch and Sora was about to join him before he felt a tugging on the back of his shirt. Turning around, he saw Donald point to the door that led back to Castle Oblivion.

"Lock the door so that nothing follows us this time."

"Good idea."

Sora stood in front of the white door and aimed his keyblade at it. A second passed, and the keblade didn't respond. Sora swung the keyblade again at the door, but there wasn't even spark at the end of his weapon.

"What are you doing Sora?" Donald snapped impatiently. "Lock the door."

"I'm trying, but the keyblade's not working."

Sora inspected the door. There was a handle, but there was no lock. Grabbing the handle, Sora tried to pull it open, but the door didn't budge.

"Come on!"

He swung his keyblade again but the weapon refused to respond.

"This is so weird. Usually, the keyblade would react to it!"

Goofy left his rock and put his ear to the door. Then he knocked on it.

"Gosh. Maybe the door to Castle Oblivion works differently then the other doors."

"Maybe it won't let us pass back through until we're done with this world."

"Aw phooey." Donald kicked the dirt. "I was so sure we could lock it too."

Sora checked the other side of the door, and had no luck finding a lock on that side either. Something blue flickered on the forest floor by his feet, erasing all thoughts of the door from Sora's mind. The blue speck danced around his legs and then floated away.

A whisper fluttered through the air. It was so quiet that Sora felt as though he had heard it in his thoughts, but then Donald and Goofy looked around the forest, searching for the sound.

The blue spec reappeared a few feet away.

Sora moved toward the blue wisp but it was gone just as he took a step. Up ahead, another blue wisp appeared. This one moved, and Sora heard the soft whispers coming from it.

Donald came around the door and pointed. "What's that?"

The wisp blinked out.

"Donald," Sora whined, "why'd you have to be to loud?"

"I was just asking a question!"

"Hey fellars, there it is again." The wisp had moved to shimmer between two trees just a few more paces ahead.

Donald charged. "Get it!"

He lunged forward, his greedy fingers wrapping around the blue spec. The wisp blinked out before he could get his feathers on it and Donald crashed into the floor, right in the middle of a clearing in the woods.

Sora and Goofy followed Donald into the clearing and then marveled at the site around them. They stood on emerald green hill, with thirteen-foot-tall stone pillars arranged in a circle. Scratches and scuffs decorated the pillars. Sora wondered if the stones were naturally set up in a circle, or if someone placed them in that pattern. Before he could ask his friends about it, the crunching of leaves drew his attention back to the forest.

A girl and a big, burly man with pouffy, red hair rolled out of the trees and right into the middle of the stone circle. The man raised a sword high and brought it down on the girl. She blocked easily with her own sword and danced around him to try and slash at him from behind. He blocked her by throwing his sword over his shoulder. With a grunt, the big man threw her back and the girl nearly crashed into one of the stones.

"Keep yer elbows up, girl!"

The big man roared, charging.

Sora and Goofy slid between the two. Goofy blocked the sword strike with his shield, allowing Sora to shove the big man away. The man fell backward into the grass, his blue eyes wide with surprise. He kicked his peg leg in the air as he tried to regain his balance. Donald used this chance to grab the sword from the man's hands.

Goofy charged to help his friend. "Don't worry, miss, we'll handle this!"

By this time, Donald and Goofy had piled up on the big man. The man thrashed.

"Sora! Get in here," Donald called.

"He's really strong!"

The big, red haired man grunted. "Merida! Help!"

Sora ran forward, his keyblade up. Something swept in front of his shins and he fell face first into the dirt. Raising his head, and spitting out a mouth full of fresh earth, Sora saw something shine from above him.

"What are ya doin' to my Dad?"

Looking up, Sora saw the girl. She drew back her bow, aiming an arrow at him.

"Let him go," she commanded Donald and Goofy.

The duck and the dog got off the big man. He sat up, rubbing his forehead.

Sora stood. The girl tightened her bow string in response. It was a warning.

He put up his hands. "I'm not going to do anything. I swear!"

"Who are ya? What are ya doin' here?"

Donald and Goofy abandoned the big man and got between Sora and the girl.

"Hey! Put that done before you put someone's eye out," Donald growled.

"Gosh, miss. We're sorry. We didn't know he was your dad."

"Yeah," Sora added, "why was he attacking you with a sword?"

"We were sparing, ya dumb lad."

The big man had now completely recovered. He came to stand next to his daughter, and nodded to Sora, Donald and Goofy.

"Aye, twas just a friendly bout between father and daughter." He ruffled the girl's already messy, bright red hair. "Got to make sure my little girl has got her wits about her."

"You need to keep your wits about you! They almost had ya."

The girl finally put down her bow and arrow and bowed her head. Her long, unruly hair spilled over her shoulders. She raised her dark, green skirts in a curtsy that did not suit her at all.

"I am Merida. First born of Clan DunBroch and this is my father, King Fergus."

Sora, Donald and Goofy never got the chance to bow because King Fergus darted forward to poke Goofy's shield.

"You blocked me sword with this wee thing? And you, young man, that is some weapon. No one can push the Bear King back, 'cept me big, strong, girl here."

Fergus' entire barrel chest puffed up as he laughed. Shaking her head, Merida moved passed Sora, Donald and Goofy to pick up her sword, which lay on the grass at the base of the stone pillar. Sora watched her slide the sword into the sheath on her hip.

"You use a bow and a sword?"

"Archery is my specialty. Though I'm not bad with sword either."

"That's my girl!"

"Daaaad."

Fergus cleared his throat and then faced Sora. "So, what brings you three to my lands."

"We were chasing some blue, fiery thing here," Donald answered.

"The will-o'-the-wisps are back?"

Goofy tilted his head. "Willa-the-what-now?"

Merida snorted. "Will-o'-the-wisps. They're spirits that live in these forests. Some say they lead ya to yer fate. Though, why are they here?"

Fergus put his big hands on Sora and Goofy's shoulders. "Let's think later, lads. For now, join me us at our camp! We'll eat and then have a rematch! I want to see what that strange sword and that shield can really do."

Sora, Donald and Goofy quickly found themselves following Fergus and Merida back to their camp. After a short walk, white triangle tents appeared at the bottom of a green hill. Men were riding their horses around the camp, sparring, or training the hunting dogs. A feast was set up on one of the tables. Fruits, fresh bread, chunks of cheese, plates full of giant turkey legs and the most savory looking ham Sora had ever seen.

King Fergus walked them to the table and then growled. Three little boys, all with identical red puffs of hair, were sitting on the table, gobbling up a plate piled high with jelly tarts.

"Hubert, Hamish, Harris! I leave ya three alone for one minute and you're attacking the sweets! Eat some meat for goodness sake! You three are going to get a tummy ache."

King Fergus lunged forward to try and grab the triplets, but the wee devils were fast. Giggling, they darted off into the camp, with King Fergus chasing after them. His peg leg slowed him down, but he still he barreled through the camp after the three boys. Merida watched, laughing loudly at the scuffle.

"Well," she turned, "dig in, you three. You'd best eat yer fill before my dad comes back."

"Don't mind if I do!"

Donald stuffed whole pieces of bread and cheese into his mouth.

Goofy joined in. Even Jiminy hopped onto the table to take a bite out of an apple but Sora wasn't feeling partially hungry.

"You said earlier that those will-o'-the-wisps lead you to your fate, what did you mean?"

"Ach! Mysterious those things are. They led me to a witch last time, and I made one big, dumb mistake."

Merida picked up her bow and quiver and walked across the camp to where an archery range was set up. She rolled her shoulders, notched an arrow on her bowstring, aimed at the target and fired.

Bullseye.

"But if it weren't for that witch, my mum and I would still be arguing."

Sora clapped. "Wow! You're a really good shot."

"Aye," Merida winked, "no one's got my skill fo r shooting." She held out her bow. "Want to try?"

Sora took the bow from her hand and tried to mimic her stance. Pulling the bow was a lot harder then he had first thought. Even worse, the arrow wouldn't stay straight.

"Pull back to yer cheek," Merida instructed.

Sora did as she said. The bow shook in front of him, and he tried to line up the tip of the arrow with the target. He fired and the arrow flew through the air and thunked into the dirt several feet in front of the target.

Merida laughed. "Reminds me of my first shot."

"Think I'll stick to magic," Sora said.

"Magic? Really lad?"

"What, you don't believe me?" Sora summoned his keyblade, raising it so that the end of the weapon lined up with the target in the distance.

"Fire!"

A ball of flame shot across the field and burned the target on the other side to a crisp. Merida whooped.

"That was amazing! Say, how about a match, your sword against mine, eh?"

Sora rested his keyblade on his shoulder. "Bring it."

Merida unsheathed the sword at her hip. "Ready?"

The second Sora nodded, she lunged. He easily sidestepped and parried her next attack, but Merida was fast. She jumped back, circled around him and then aimed a jab at his head. Sora raised his keyblade to block and then found himself on the floor as Merida had used his reaction to switch targets and sweep her leg under his feet. Before she could claim victory, Sora rolled and tried to slash at her side. She caught his keyblade with her sword and pushed him back.

Sora darted forward to start the next round of attacks when he saw something blue and shiny over Merida's shoulder and stopped mid step. The next second, Merida had knocked him down and had forced the keyblade out of his hand with her sword.

"Hah! I win."

Sora stood, dusting off his pants. "You sure did."

"What happened at the end there? You better not have let me win."

"Actually I thought I saw one of those willow things a second ago."

"Will-o'-the-wisps, lad."

"Right. It was over there."

Merida turned. Sora was pointing down a trail that led out of the clearing and into the woods.

A will-o'-the-wisp appeared under the tree. It whispered, beckoning. When Sora and Merida reached the tree, the wisp had vanished. It reappeared by a rock further up the trail. Sora and Merida followed it through the forest, until the air became thick and cold with mist and the wisp completely disappeared.

They slowed down, walking carefully through the silver fog. The trees lost their green luster the further they went in. Skeletal branches, broken logs, and the mangled remains of a ruin appeared through the mist. Sora took a step and then the ground under his foot melted. He tripped. In front of his eyes, the ground split open. He managed to regain his balance just in time to keep himself from falling into the hole in the floor.

Something looked up at him from down below.

Someone with silver hair and light, blue eyes.

Sora's heart skipped a beat. He looked down into the dark ruins. The person was gone.

"We shouldn't be here." Merida's voice trembled. "These ruins used to belong to Mor'du, the demon bear. Why would the wisps lead me here again? What more do I need to learn?"

Sora jumped down into the ruins. Merida called after him from above but he didn't listen. Summoning his keyblade, Sora stepped deeper into the large underground room. The walls were covered in deep claw marks. Broken weapons and shields littered the floor, and there was a turned over table against the wall.

Someone moved through the shadows. A boy stood in front of him, a boy that stretched out his hand as if to say, "come with me."

Sora rushed forward.

"Riku!"

The ground above him rumbled, the ceiling hissed as dust and rocks came lose. From above, Merida screamed. Sora looked around the room, casting a fire spell, lighting up his surroundings. He was alone.

Quickly he climbed back out of the hole and came to stand next to Merida. She was aiming her bow into the mist, ready to attack whatever was thundering toward them. A giant, black, something was coming through the mist.

Merida drew back her bowstring.

Then a horse jumped over a pile of ruins and skidded to a stop in front of Merida.

"Angus?"

The horse whinnied, stomping around in a circle.

"Whoa," Merida put up her hands, "easy there, Angus."

She put her hand on the horse's muzzle and looked into his distressed eyes.

"Something's wrong."

Merida pulled herself up onto the saddle and then reached down to grab Sora's hand.

He settled into the saddle behind her and then they were off, racing back through the mist and into the forest until Angus skidded to a stop in the middle of Merida's camp. He pounded the floor with his hoof as it to say it was their stop.

It didn't take long for Merida and Sora to realize what was wrong.

The entire camp was deserted.

 

 

 

Jiminy's Journal

Merida (First Appeared in Brave, 2012): A headstrong and free-spirited princess that loves the great outdoors, archery, and a good sparring match. She's curious about the will-o'-the-wisps and why they appeared before Sora.

King Fergus (First Appeared in Brave, 2012): The "Bear King" of Dunbroch. Like his daughter, he is loud and easygoing, though he tends to lose patience with his triplet sons whenever they cause trouble.

Hubert, Hamish, and Harris (First Appeared in Brave, 2012): Merida's triplet brothers. Wee devils with a knack for stealing jelly tarts and getting into all sorts of trouble.

Angus (First Appeared in Brave, 2012): Angus is a powerful shire horse who serves as Merida's loyal companion and best friend. He went after Merida because he sensed danger, but what could have spooked him?

Will-o'-the-wisps (First Appeared in Brave, 2012): Blue, spiritual, ethereal beings that represent past lives. The legends say that they lead people to their destinies, so why do they keep appearing in front of Sora?