Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Kingdom of Hearts: Noble Nobody ❯ Chapter 4: Heart of Darkness (Part 1) ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4: Heart of Darkness (Part 1)

 

Yuffie walked into the house and saw that Leo was headed off to his room, so she decided that she would pay the others a visit. She found them collected around the house's computer. Cid was sitting down in the chair and Leon and Aerith were standing next to him looking up at the screen. Merlin was reading a book off to the side of the room seemingly lost in his thoughts. Yuffie glanced up at it and saw to her surprise the king looking back at her.

 

“Your highness,” said Yuffie taking a bow, King Mickey smiled at the young ninja. “Glad you could join us Yuffie,” said the King as the others turned to see the ninja. “Geez, you mean she actually entered a room without sounding like a bomb going off?” said Cid in mock shock. Aerith knocked him on the head for the comment and then spoke to Yuffie. “We were talking to the king about Leo and what Merlin has found out about him in their sessions,” explained Aerith.

 

“So that's what you were up to?” said Yuffie as she looked at the old man who sighed as he pushed his spectacles up on his nose. “Yes, I was studying Leo to try and find out how the nobodies act and work without hearts,” said Merlin calmly. “In my sessions with Leo I discovered that the man is quite unique, even for a Nobody…”

 

“What does that mean?” asked Yuffie puzzled by what the old man was saying. King Mickey then spoke up on the screen, “from our encounters with the other Nobodies we were able to determine that they were no more than ghosts, or reflections of their former selves when they had hearts.” Yuffie nodded at this explanation, she had figure out as much from what the others told her about the nobodies especially Roxas and how he seemed so similar to Sora.

 

“But,” said Merlin picking up where Mickey left off, “that rule doesn't seem to apply to Leo, unlike the other nobodies who seem to have retained a small degree of their heart behind Leo is completely without any heart what so ever. I managed to discover this with my time spent with him.”

 

“In other words,” said Mickey from the video screen, “Leo's heart is whole, it just isn't apart of his body anymore.” “So what does this all mean!?” said Yuffie angry that the others seemed to be beating around the bush, afraid to come out with what they needed to say.

 

Aerith strode forward and place her hand on Yuffie's shoulder and stared at the King, “it means that Leo is capable of regaining his heart. He can once again become whole.”

 

“Well that's good isn't it?” said Yuffie puzzled as to why they took so long to say that. “Well,” said Leon as he scratched the back of his leg with his shoe, “it also means that we can figure out how to restore the other nobodies back to their original selves. This is good, but there is a minor danger if we decide to restore him…”

 

Cid, tired of being so tact blurted out what was troubling all of them, “if he is completely separated from his heart then that means we have no idea who or what he will become if we turn him back into his old self. We could very well be making another Pete or Maleficent.”

 

Yuffie stared at the others in shock; did they really think that Leo was that evil? “You don't think that do you Aerith?” asked Yuffie poignantly. “Well,” said Aerith looking at the others for some support, “I don't really know.”

 

“We can't throw out the idea that he will be evil just because his heart was lost completely to the darkness for so long either,” spoke up the King from the monitor. “But nonetheless if Leo is able to regain his heart we might be able to find a way of restoring the hearts to all the other nobodies out there. We would be able to return so many back to their normal lives, and maybe try and undo some of the damage the heartless has inflicted upon the worlds.”

 

“It's too dangerous my king!” said Merlin, “if the boy does turn evil we don't know if the same would happen to all the other nobodies and then what!”

 

“I think we should be more worried about sacrificing an innocent life all for the sake of the greater good,” said Aerith quietly causing everyone else in the room to look at their feet in shame except for the two women.

 

Yuffie then spoke up causing everyone including the king to look at the young ninja, “it doesn't matter because Leo doesn't want his heart back, and it's like Cid said we can't force him to get it back.” Yuffie's hair had fallen into her eyes covering up her face as she turned to leave the others to their meeting.

 

“Yuffie,” spoke the King from the monitor causing the young ninja to stop. “Will you at least ask him if he would do it for us?” Mickey looked at the young woman with something of a great sadness in his eyes. He really didn't want to force his subjects to do something they really didn't want to do, but he knew that this was too important to too many people to let something as small as insecurity get in the way.

 

Yuffie nodded and then left the room the others seemed to breathe a collective sigh as they thought about what they were doing to their friend.

 

~Later

 

Yuffie stood outside the doorway of Leo's room, leaning up against the wall the girl was broken. She didn't want to force the young man to do something he didn't want to do, nor did she want to change her friend. But, did she only want to be friends with him?

 

It had been a few weeks since the boy had come into the house and during that time she had seen him smile, had laughed at those goofy faces he made in the mirror when he wasn't looking…heck they even played together when she got bored.

 

But even now she knew that Leo didn't feel the way she did about those times. And yet, she made him laugh didn't she, who's to say that he truly couldn't feel emotions? But, she knew that she wanted more; the kid had somehow taken away her loneliness, would she lose him now? Just because she was starting to feel something for him didn't mean she was ready to gamble it all away…

 

Sighing, Yuffie realized that it wasn't just about her…if Leo was able to regain his heart then they might be able to figure out how to return the hearts to the other Nobodies. It was selfish of her to keep what she had…but she felt that she could be selfish occasionally couldn't she? But…but, she knew that if anyone could change the kid's mind about finding his heart it would be her.

 

She then moved to the front of the closed door to Leo's room and then hesitated for only a second and then knocked. There was a slight shifting from inside the room as the young Nobody opened the door and stifled a yawn, “Yuffie?” asked the young man recognizing the female ninja, “what is it?”

 

~The next day

 

The other three members of the house were sitting around the breakfast table wondering what to expect. Then suddenly Yuffie came down the steps and sat down at the table. She stifled a yawn as the others look at her expectantly, “Well, what did he say?” asked Cid. “I said that I would do it,” the voice came from the top of the stairs. The others looked to see Leo stepping down the same steps, “I owe you guys still for putting up with me any of you could have asked instead of trying to send Yuffie to do your dirty work.” Spoke the Nobody in a surprisingly angry voice as he stared at the others. The three looked at each other and grit their teeth in admonishment as Yuffie chuckled and ate her breakfast.

 

“Well then,” said Cid, “I suppose that I should go ahead and tell you where we are going then.”

 

~in the experimental Gummi ship a few hours later

 

Yuffie, Cid, and Leo were sitting together in the three seats that were allotted for every Gummi ship, their destination was the World that never was. Aerith and Leon decided to stay behind incase there was another heartless attack on Radiant Garden. Yuffie just smiled and whispered to Leo that they were going to be spending intimate time together.

 

Again the Nobody just chalked it up to another strange idiom of emotion. The gray headed Leo decided that if he was going to have to regain his heart he might as well go in the same way he came out. He once again wrapped the red scarf around his neck that covered his face completely he once again donned his white tunic and found that strangely it had a snug fit to it. He supposed that the three meals he had been getting for more than a few weeks had taken its toll on his body though he didn't look it.

 

Leo was jerked from his reflection when the ship begun to vibrate under him, “Hang on!” cried Cid as the engines begin to roar as they started up, Leo and Yuffie gave each other a look of worry but the pilot seemed to not notice as he hit the last lever. Suddenly the ship shot off into the sky as the Nobody, the ninja and the pilot were thrown back into their seat from the sheer force of the takeoff.

 

“WOOHOOOO!” cried Cid as they finally broke through the atmosphere suddenly the ship began to slow down. “What a rush!” said the pilot as he slowed down now that they were in the air space, Yuffie looked sort of sick as she screamed at Cid, “Damn Cid, could you have made it any more rough? I think I'm going to puke.”

 

Leo shared her sentiments, his stomach too felt a little queasy but the pilot seemed to just be ecstatic that he was now in his element. Soon though the three found them approaching the strange and dilapidated world, the world was now cast in dark shadows apparently, the defeat of Xemnas was also a major blow to the strange world.

 

Cid then suddenly looked at the screen in tension and said, “Well that's not good…”

 

Leo was about to ask what wasn't good but his voice paused in his throat when he saw…a large group of heartless and a monstrous flying heartless easily 3 times the size of the Gummi ship coming straight at them. “Hang on!” cried Cid as he grabbed the steering and did a hard banking left, he begin to fire the magna laser cannons taking out some of the heartless that were now approaching them. Yuffie once again gripped her stomach her face a pale green, the dog fight continued on the outside of the ship.

 

Cid piloted the Gummi well taking evasive measures such as fading back in order for the blasts to fall away. The firaga and thundaga cannons firing off round after round taking out the heartless ships, the battle however was taking its toll on the ship and despite Cid's excellent piloting skills the ship's shields got quite the workout as well.

 

Leo wasn't enjoying the process at all, his body was often jolted and thrown about by the attacks from the heartless and the ship's straining engine as it careened through space avoiding the oncoming attacks. Yuffie seemed to be of the same sentiment as she was currently clutching a barf bag and looking rather green in the face.

 

The battle raged on for sometime as the heartless ships were decimated by the advance gummi ship's offensive and defensive capabilities. As the last of them faded away the giant Heartless came forward, the massive creature had the resemblance of a giant dragon its mouth opened wide as in an effort to swallow the little ship. “Damn this thing is fast!” cried Cid as he reached down to hit the afterburners in order to avoid being swallowed. Cid turned the gummi around in a 360 degree turn and started gunning the giant Heartless the cannons causing the monster to roar from pain but nothing else.

 

The giant Heartless this time opened its mouth wide and out spewed a giant laser beam of epic proportions. Cid screamed out a few choice words and hit some boosters that pushed the ship out of the path but the force of the attack caused the shields to become damaged. Cid wiped off some of his sweat just as the ship went into red alert from the damaged and dropping shield levels, if that attack had hit they would have been goners.

 

Cid decided that it was time to pull out the big guns; he started diving and turning shooting off each of the cannons irritating the gigantic Heartless once again. “I don't think that's going to work,” said Leo calmly but the knuckles on his hands were white from his hard grip on the seat's arm rest. “Shut up, I know what I'm doing!” screamed Cid as he continued to blast the monster, “come on you lizard you want some come and get it,” muttered the pilot.

 

The giant dragon-like Heartless suddenly opened its mouth once again and this time Cid was ready. He pushed a button on the panel causing an Ice cannon to appear on the underside of the ship. He then fired the Fire, Thunder and Ice cannons at the exact same time the three beams combined together and flew straight at the dragon's mouth, the dragon roared just as it tried to launch its attack the beam from the gummi struck its fire attack and pushed it into the monster's body. The creature's body disintegrated from the head backwards as the attack from the gummi traveled down its serpentine body at last banishing the last of the monstrous Heartless.

 

Cid gave a whoop of victory causing the passengers to smile weakly; they were still a little shook up from the dog fight. “Alright, next up, the World that Never Was,” cried Cid as he flew the ship toward the dark world.

 

~a few moments later

 

Cid piloted the ship down in the town square, the only area large enough to house the ship. The ramp of the ship opened up and the three strode down onto the surface of the world. “Wow, what a dump,” commented Cid as he flicked some of his cigarette's ash onto the ground. “The others said that this place was oddly beautiful until Xemnas was defeated,” explained Yuffie as she looked around the place. The young ninja then shivered, “but it does give me the creeps.”

 

“Hey kid feel anything yet!” called Cid after Leo who had managed to wander away from the others as he stared off into the distance at the giant castle that rose up and towered over the rest of the world.

 

“Yeah,” said Leo as he pointed, “When I get closer to the castle I feel a lump beginning to form in my chest.” “Yes, of course, it's always the creepy castle,” moaned Yuffie as she went to catch back up with Leo. Cid just stood on the ramp of the ship, “Hey Yuffie!” he called as he threw the young ninja a cell phone. “Give me a call when you guys have done something and I'll come and pick you up.”

 

“Aren't you coming with us?” asked Yuffie as she caught the phone. “Nah, I'll just leave you love birds alone,” said Cid with a laugh causing Yuffie to blush hoping that Leo didn't here the pilot's comment. She hurried off into the darkness as Leo continued to make his way into the castle the young ninja followed the noble nobody until Cid could no longer see the two in the shadows of the world.