When Darkness Turns to Light

More Manifest Than Memory

Recap From the Prior Chapter: Goofy squinted at something outside the Gummi, screwing up his face in concentration. Then, he slid to the edge of his seat and pointed in one swift movement. "Look! A star's goin' out!

Everyone followed his finger and saw the star flicker before disappearing. Hikari narrowed her eyes, and Donald said, "We'd better hurry!"

The girl nodded and agreed, pressing a button in front of her that hastened speed

Chapter Two: More Manifest Than Memory

"Where's that key . . .?" Donald wondered aloud as he took a few steps into the First District of Traverse Town, arms crossed. His eyes scrutinized the scene before him, where a few shops and a café stood. Few people were present.

"Hey, ya know, maybe we ought to go find Leon," Goofy offered. Jiminy hung onto the tall, lime-green hat that covered the knight's bone-shaped head.

"The goof's got a point," Hikari pointed out. Akamaru, in her arms, barked, trying to wrestle himself free. "Mickey said he'd tell us where to go. Maybe-Akamaru!" The dog jumped down and began running toward the shops. He disappeared in-between two buildings; the Item Shop and Accessory Shop. "You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up."

Donald grumbled an undecipherable response as the girl chased after the dog. Him and Goofy continued on, toward the other side of the Accessory Shop.

At the mouth of the alley, the teen encountered some boxes in the corner. It was short straight ahead, but then she looked left, and a little ways down was Akamaru as he sniffed yellow tennis shoes. More boxes obstructed her view of whom those shoes belonged to, but so far she could tell it was someone with peach skin. She walked further in; Akamaru wagged his tail and barked up at her.

"You . . . found a boy?" she asked curiously. He sat, slumped, in an unconscious state. His hair, of which there was a lot, was dark brown and spiked. Baggy red shorts matched his shirt and a dark blue, short white-sleeved hoodie stayed unzipped, showing a crown medallion. In a hand covered with a white, fingerless glove, he held a sword that looked like a key.

Hikari's jaw dropped. "You found the 'key!'"

Akamaru simply wagged his tail and then began sniffing the boy again. He climbed over his legs into his lap, and then set his paws on his chest. After sniffing the boy's face with his cold, wet nose, he began licking. The boy must have been in too deep out of consciousness for the roughness and saliva to break through, for he did not stir.

Hikari rested her hands on her knees as she bended to get a better look at the brunette, thinking. After a moment, she raised one hand and smacked the boy, flopping his head to the side. "Ow!" The boy groaned and opened one blue eye as he flinched away from Akamaru's tongue bath. His other eye opened, and Hikari could see that he bore the appearance of a kid.

"What a dream . . .," he muttered; his voice had yet to change from pubescence.

"Are you sure it was that? A dream?" she asked. "You look kinda roughed up."

The Keybearer lifted his head, seeing a girl with stone-grey eyes and blonde hair, wearing a gentle smile, whom he had never met before. Then, he blinked, and that image was replaced by the countenance of an emotionless girl with black hair and yellow eyes. "Huh?"

"You're sleeping behind an Item Shop, bearing only a weapon," Hikari responded slowly. She already knew what happened to this boy, without him saying. Quietly, she lowered her eyes from his face, and said, "Your world . . . I'm sorry to say, is gone. So might your friends, but maybe, like you, they're simply scattered, on a new world."