Kingdom Hearts: Gate to Paradise

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As she spoke, he listened. A friendly ear, nothing more, nothing less. Sometimes it was all it took.

And so was his payoff.

"Kaze... Ruko..." He uttered, seemingly to no one in particular. Calmly and without reason as if simply recalling the names she was most concerned about. Friends and family.. but the names, the Memories of those two. That he could use later.

As she sobbed, he wouldn't overstep his boundaries to arouse suspicion, but he did try to give her peace of mind. He needed her to trust him afterall. This was crucial. "Do not waste their sacrifice. Nothing happens without purpose.. Use the life you've been given to it's full advantage. Do good, and make their memories proud."
 
"How do you even know they're dead? Who are you?" Virie asked, still not having pulled herself together but she'd picked up immediately that the voice had noted them as having been sacrificed. If they had managed to avoid the wolves, maybe they'd dropped into this town too. It seemed so unlikely but she wouldn't have ventured so far as to say that she knew what had become of them. She had every intention of searching for them but at the same time, she had to figure out what to do with this troublesome key. If she was right, staying put wouldn't really be safe. If all those things started coming after her in earnest, there was probably no place in the world that was safe for her to stay too long. There was no doubt that her little display before had acted like a flare up into the sky to call them to her.
 
"A friend." The man smiled apologetically, and his mouth moved to voice a name, but it did not come. Instead there was a slight echo of sound the started out really quiet at first then grew louder and louder as the man began to fade. Theyw ere voices, yelling and one was calling her name.

"Kai! Get her up already!" Came the annoyed voice of Leon as he blocked the spinning attack of a knight and deflected it into the wall. "It's getting a little crowded in here!"

"Sheesh! How'ed they get pass Aeris' spell?!" Came a new voice, young and feminine.

"Doesn't matter, KAI! Pick her up and head out onto the balcony, we need to move. NOW!" Leon called and there was the great splintering of wood as a large fist blasted through the door of the hallway. A massive round body reaching halfway in to reach at the kunoichi, but the girl leapt back and out of the way as Leon was kicking down the door leading to the balcony.

"Virie!" Kai shook the girl who seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep or some sort of spell. Though when she didn't seem to be responding, he picked virie up into his arms. His clothing had been changed. His usual white long shorts now had black pockets, and his blue hooded sweater been returned to him with a stylized ghost fire emblem on the back of it. The hood was white and the shirt he was wearing was now as black as the shoes he wore. All of it was brand new and seemed to hold a magic about them. Magic clothing to help protect against the darkness they'd be facing. More practical than running around in a torn t-shirt and worn pants while being barefoot.

Kai whipped around, Kicking off the ground and sliding to the side on his knees, only barely dragging Virie's legs as he ducked the sweeping arm of the large bodies heartless that seemed to fill the room with girth and crushed the bed to pieces. "Let's go already!"

Yuffie picked up a small duffle bag containing Virie's change of attire and followed Kai out the back door and onto the balcony before the 3 of them (after putting Virie more comfortably on Kai's back) they found their way onto the rooftops and bee lined in the direction of the first district.
 
Virie wanted to ask for a more precise answer than something like "a friend" but he was long gone. She could feel it. Not only that but she could hear the sounds of others calling her. She felt herself being dragged back out of the dream and all her fatigue returned to her. Her eyelids were heavy and her body felt like lead. It was better than before. She felt like she could move but the exhaustion seemed far from having left her.

"Ugh..." she groaned, gripping onto Kai like a body pillow. Her body told her that sleep would be good for her but her mind was giving her the reality check that this was not the best time for a nap. The clanging of swords and the sound of splintering wood brought her to attention. Then as if that wasn't enough, the fireballs that fell around them from the red nocturnes certainly got her up.

"What's happening?" she asked, still groggy but aware enough to tell that bad things were happening.
 
Kai glanced up as Virie groggily woke from her sleep. He grinned back to her over his shoulder in spite of the Red Nocturns trying to burn them alive. "Oh look, sleeping beauty awakens. You've been out like a light all day." He said, taking in a breath as he cleared the gap to the bell tower and took a knee to catch his breath for a second. Leon and Yuffie standing guard on either side. Kai was athletic, but he was in no way a professional hero like the other two appeared to be. "Something happened tonight though. They just started appearing like crazy outside the hotel, then next thing we knew they were breaking in and trying to get at you... Luckily we got out but.. i don't think we can go back to that hotel anymore.."

Yuffie turned to look at them for a moment as the coast seemed very suddenly clear. "Heya! I'm Yuffie! Yuffie Kiseragi. Kai and Leon told me what happened.. You must've been pretty worn out to have slept this long. This guy hasn't left your side though. That's a real strong bond you guys must share!"

"Small talk later. we need to get moving again." Leon said, swinging his blade through the air and placing it on his side as he walked to the ledge. "Something big is getting ready to show up in this courtyard.. it might not let us pass."
 
Virie's cheeks tinged pink. Sleeping Beauty? She probably looked more like a complete wreck after what had happened today. Or was it yesterday? It looked like Leon had grabbed help but that didn't make them not on the run or anything close. She was a really lively one too, perhaps even a little forward and nosy given her... comment about her and Kai. Then again, Leon had had his say too, just not quite so blatantly.

"Um... Define big," she said, half afraid to know the answer. Sure, all three of the others knew how to fight but she frankly hadn't a clue. If they were expecting her to do something awesome and beat it up or nuke it, they had another thing coming. Her little display from before had been a fluke. A fluke. Flukes were called that for a reason. They weren't repeated often.

"I would like to remind the three of you that I don't know how to fight at all. About all I've done so far is run and get hit. Isn't there any way we can go around it?"
 
Nosy? Oh Virie had no idea. Yuffie was as nosy as she was observant, and the pink to Viries cheeks at Kai's innocent quip didn't go un-noticed.

"No telling.. but since we were being hounded by heartless not even 10 seconds ago and now they've all stopped pursuit, it's safe to assume it's gonna be at least as big as it is vicious. Leon crossed his arms over his chest and shut his eyes in thought. "There's a waterway that passes under ground. Problem is the entrance is back where we came from behind the hotel." Leon said with a grimace.

Kai stood after letting Virie down since she was awake now. She still seemed sleepy, but he figured if she needed a ride again, he could just pick her up and run. It'd be good to help build up his endurance. "So...waterways.. that's something like.. a sewer.. right?"

Leon shook his head. "Not quite. but it is out of our way"

"Me and Leon can probably hold it off while you guys get to the waterway." Yuffie suggested.
 
Virie wobbled a little but managed to not fall over. Yuffie seemed to be extremely perceptive. It was written all over her face. Mischievous too. It seemed that the heartless had stopped following them but the idea of the calm before the storm seemed to ring true in her head. Speaking of which, there was something else that tugged on her mind and not in a good way. The "sewer" was the least of her worries and that was saying something. Wading through one was not on the top of her list of things to do. Nor would it ever be.

"Where are we going after the waterway? Out of here is good but you're not just going to send us off without a clue of where to go, are you?"
 
Yuffie giggled slightly behind a hand. "This girl is kinda smart, Squall. You didn't really tell them who'd be waiting for them at the other end, did you?"

"It's Leon.." Leon corrected her, and turned to face Kai and Virie as the girl stood shakily to her feet. "And you're right. I wasn't going to send you off without a clue where to go, but I suppose it slipped my mind that you two haven't been here for very long. The waterway will lead you underground where you'll have make your way through an underground passage. You'll be looking for a doorway. Nearly impossible to miss, beyond the doorway will be stairs and beyond that will be a magic lift that will take you into the house of an old friend. "

"...Old friend?" Kai repeated in question. "Just who is this person and why do they live underground?"

"The old man doesn't live underground." Yuffie said with a wag of her finger, "The lift will take you OUT of the underground and into the space he's made for his home. I wonder if the old man is there though?" She asked, curious.

"If he isn't then they will at least be safe there until we deal with this----" Leon was cut off by the sound of tearing and a strike of lightning from behind them as a dark portal opened. Dark flames scattering as something stepped forward. White robes.. but it wasn't Jaq, this one was different in stature, tall with strong broad shoulders. On his back was the Kanji for "Taurus" down his back. Even still, he didn't move nor say a word as something large stepped out of the darkness behind him. The creature was nearly 10 times the size of the man, and clad in dark and jagged armor with long golden horns and a nose ring at the and of it's snout. The beast stood hunched over, looking entirely too bulky to be very fast, but with the quake of it's mighty fists hitting the ground like an ape, the armorer terror looked as menacing as it was powerful.

"....Seems they were telling the truth about the lady in white." Leon said, unimpressed, hefting his sword onto a shoulder.

Yuffie shrank behind him with a slight groan. "Is it too late to claim escort for them?"

Leon smirked. "this morning you were complaining about dealing with small fry."

Yuffie stuck her tongue out him in an immature manner.
 
Well, whatever this old man was, he sounded like he wasn't "normal" by their standards. If he was able to keep his place safe, he must be some kind of retired hero or something, someone of some importance. It sounded a lot better than here as much as she didn't like the idea of ditching Yuffie and Leon. Then the portal opened and another one of those people in white stepped out.

"That's not the same one..." she mumbled to herself, slowly bringing her gaze up to the head of the massive bipedal bull that stood taller than the largest building she'd ever seen in her life. Sure, she came from a pretty simple place but this thing was as big as the biggest ones she'd seen in this town too. Something in the back of her head told her that they would be utterly useless in this kind of fight. Or at least she would be. Kai would be better off but if he burned himself out, then he'd be in the way just like her while Leon didn't look all that concerned and Yuffie seemed more lazy than worried too.

"Kai, we should go," she said, tugging on his sleeve which she noticed was different from before. Apparently, he or someone else had gone shopping while she'd been out. Well, he wanted an adventure. Even though it came at an unthinkable cost, she supposed he was getting exactly what he wanted.
 
Kai stared at the mans back. He wanted to know who they were and just what they wanted with them. Leon didn't know any more about these people in white than Kai or Virie did, and that troubled some part of Kai deep down. He loved mysteries.. Ran blindly into the unknown even.. but lives were at stake here, every ones lives they came into contact with it seemed. And it wasn't a good feeling.

Virie tugged on Kai's sleeve and Kai snapped out of his stupor with a firm nod of his head before stepped forward. "Yuffie!"

On cue, Yuffie slipped the bag from around her shoulder and held it out to Kai with a short "Be careful!".

The bag was taken and slung over the one shoulder and Kai took a knee so Virie could hop on his back.

Yuffie and Yuffie meanwhile launched their assault. Yuffie hurling a giant shuriken at the head of the armored bull as Leon shot down toward the man in white. They'd do their job. The key was the most important. Virie had to survive.
 
Virie looked back with a depressed sigh and half fell, half tipped over onto Kai's back, draping her arms over his shoulders. She hated feeling so weak but now wasn't the time to try to go and do something when she could easily get one or all of them killed. Deep down, she felt a little guilty, though. She had a feeling that this was all a stage, a play, that those people had no intention of actually killing her yet. After all, Jaq could have killed both her and Kai but seemed to have purposely allowed them to live and sent them here. Yuffie and Leon didn't seem like they were privileged in that way, meaning that if the man could kill them, he might and over a battle that could have just as easily been avoided if they'd just run too. She couldn't be sure but the thoughts still lingered.
 
Kai let Virie onto his back, and took in a deep breath that seemed to slow town time as he lowered himself once more, legs coiling like powerful pieces of machinery before He, Virie, and the bag were off in a flash. Kai couldn't fight as well as he'd liked. He'd loved to be of more use in combat.. but there was something he found he COULD do that didn't drain him like throwing around his frozen flames.

Run.

And run he did, dashing across the shingled rooftops in the direction from which they came. There were no heartless though. It seemed the presence of the man in white had scared them off. Something good to come of a bad situation Kai thought. Though there would come a day when he and Virie wouldn't be able to run and hide from their pursuers.. if he could shield her from combat and all the horrible things of this world they'd crash landed in.. this... nightmare where everyone they knew was long gone..

He'd take that chance.

After a while Kai finally slowed as the roars of battle faded int he distance behind them, and he dropped down in the alleyway behind the hotel where there was a channel of water.. like a pool or man made river that disappeared into the mouth of a tunnel where rushing water could be heard falling a fair distance.

Kai took a knee to let Virie down, and catch his breath. Magic was useful.. but until he could control it he'd need to be careful how he used that extra well of energy. He hadn't forgotten that wearing himself down would shorten his lifespan. Kai rested hands on his knees, and looked around them, checking to see if they'd been followed, then nodded toward the tunnel. "I think.. this is it. "
 
"If it isn't, we're in trouble," Virie sighed, hopping off of Kai's back. She'd never known that he could run that fast. Sure, he'd always been in better shape than her but it was like he was a whole different person, rising to the challenge of a world that required more than hopping off of some tree limbs. She seemingly hadn't been graced with that. She'd told herself that she didn't need it but more and more, it was seeming like she did. She could tolerate being weak but when that weakness threw others into harm's way that was completely different.

"Let's hurry. The faster we get to safety, the faster Yuffie and Leon can split."

Though she told herself that, as far as she knew, they had no way to tell when it was safe to run. She could only hope that this "old man" they'd been talking about would have some way to contact them through magic or whatever. It seemed like about all she could do was exist with a weapon she had no idea how to use and a fat target on her head to be exercised at a later time and the hunters were none too friendly.

"That lady, Jaq... There's more than one of them. And no one else seems to know where they come from. I don't even think she was the strongest."

That thought worried her in more ways than one. Even in stories and dreams, there were rarely times when the biggest and the baddest showed themselves right away. It was always just the tip of the iceberg but that tip seemed like a cliff over a bottomless abyss.
 
Kai straightened up with a nod. He wanted to chuckle, but saw the weight of guilt on Viries shoulders. He knew that look.. Virie was thinking about things, or better put, worrying about something she felt was important. The girl was often "plain" but he supposed this new world was really driving the label to home. Sure, the girl had something everyone deemed to be far greater, but as virie had no way to use it, it might as well just be a necklace.

With a frown, he stepped forward to wrap her in his arms. Pulling her into his chest as if to try to still her racing mind for only a moment. "Stop worrying so much, will ya?" Kai said. "We'll get through this, Virie. I told you that I won't let anything happen to you, didn't I? I don't care how many weird people in white there are. We'll beat them. we'll find this door you're supposed to open, and we'll go home. Things will be just like they used to. Alright?"
 
Virie slowly nodded even though she didn't really believe it deep down. It was really hard to believe it would just be as simple as "Go beat the bad guys. Fix everything back to the way it was before and go home". It seemed unrealistically good to be true. How could you revive the dead? It was totally different from fixing a building or even putting the island back. It would take a real miracle. She got the feeling that others would tell her that her key could make miracles happen but she'd believe that when she saw it. As it was, all her key was was just that, a key. It didn't even look magical and powerful. It was even rusting a little. After a few moments, it dawned on her that they were wasting time, time on her account. Though still troubled, she put on a worried but more determined look and headed down the tunnel with Kai in tow.
 
As they entered the tunnel the cold night air seemed a thing of the past as the bone chilling frigid air from below the town washed over them. Kai didn't seem to mind this though, trudging forward through the tunnel , hugging the wall as dark welcomed them and who knew what else.

It was quiet and still, the only thing giving them some direction being the pin pricks of light shining through manhole covers. This was all well and dandy, but e very now and then the ground shook with the battle waging far over their heads. Great crashes and explosions that echoed.

"Seems they're doing well for themselves.." Kai intoned. "Hope we can learn to fight like that.. Got a long way to go, but they're not gonna be there to watch over us forever. Besides.. having complete strangers fight for me kind of rubs me the wrong way...you know?"
 
Virie picked up her pace. Some explosions weren't enough to make her feel better. Sure, they were still fighting but there was no way to tell how it was actually going. A tight knot had formed in her chest and wasn't letting go. Too pained to joke about it, she trudged on, even more troubled by her own inability to fight for herself than before. Not only did she lack the mentality to do it. She lacked the ability to fight when it was going to come to her doorstep constantly. She lacked it when she should have it.

"This will never happen again..." she replied, as much to herself as to Kai. But she knew that that was more hopeful than real.
 
Kai simply nodded in reply. They would learn to protect themselves. They wouldn't search for battles, but at the very least they could defend themselves when push came to shove.

His thoughts were soon derailed when he noticed the uneven and sporadic ground on which they walked. The paved side of the path they used was no bumpy and as a mysterious light ahead of them began to illuminate the water, he began to see shiny green rocks shaved almost perfectly smooth, yet they weren't slippery. Their footing remained just as sure as they were before, and with the light of the water reflecting off the walls of the tunnel, Kai noticed they were in more of a cavern now as the wall drifted from them and they were able to walk more casually.

the sounds of battle overhead were a far and distant thing now. Kai had no idea what they were under but it felt like they couldn't possibly still be within the towns limits. Still, it was nice to have light and he knelt by the waters edge to dip a hand into it, curious and eyes full of wonder.

"..Neat." Kai noted, then glanced over his shoulder as the light of torches flickered to life, and a white archway was revealed to them within the wall beyond some stalagmites and stalactites.
 
"I really hope that isn't sewage," Virie joked, dragging Kai through the archway. It was far too pretty to be a sewer but it had to be said. This was a really, really odd place for someone to live, much less an old man. As they went through, an old busted house in the middle of a small lake came into view with some flat rocks leading up to it. She facepalmed at the sight of the walkway and reaffirmed her hope that the water next to them was not sewage. What an odd place to live. The torches lit themselves too. Just about the only way for this to get more creepy and cliche would be for the old man waiting for them to be a wizard. Not that she put it past this strange reality to make that happen.
 
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