Kingdom Hearts; The Dark's Keeper

Chapter XI; Forgotten Friends

Upon boarding the Gummi ship, the engine started and began to move the ship. X frowned as he looked around at the others. None of them were sitting remotely near the steering wheel. Donald and Goofy had grabbed onto the wall for support as the ship lurched into movement. Sora hadn't been so fortunate and was sitting on the ground rubbing his back.

"Huh?" Goofy said as he released the wall and made his way to his seat. X walked over to Sora and offered his hand. Sora smiled gratefully and took it allowing X to pull him to his feet. After Sora was up X walked away from him, hands going into his pockets as he went to a window.

"Is the ship supposed to be doing that?" X asked as he watched the stars pass by.

"Hey, wait a minute. Is the ship moving all on its own?" Sora asked watching the stars move, then looking to the seat by the steering wheel he usually occupied, though Donald, Goofy, and Jiminey (the cricket that lived in Sora's hood and recorded their journey) had him under heavy supervision. They didn't trust him not to crash the ship.

"Yup! Looks like we're headed toward Hollow Bastion," Goofy said from his seat. Sora nodded as he sat down himself. X remained standing as they made their journey to Hollow Bastion. He always liked watching the stars. They reminded him of Y, though he knew they were other worlds.

Y was always like a star to him. Shining brightly despite the darkness that seemed to suffocate her. In the realm of darkness, he remembered thinking she had glowed. Even as a Heartless her heart was brighter than almost anyone. Shining as bright as the heart of any world, even though she was only one person.

X was broke from his train of thought by the Gummi ship lurching to a stop at Hollow Bastion. The group all exited the ship finding themselves in the Borough. Looking around nothing seemed wrong. There weren't even any Heartless, and the security system that had attacked X last time didn't even activate. Sora led the way through the town towards the house that belonged to Merlin.

"I wonder what's up," Sora said as he looked around. He stopped as he saw Merlin's home. The door was open and Heartless were running out of the building. Before any of them could draw their weapons the Heartless vanished. X frowned as he looked around. He didn't see anyone else who could command them to just leave. The Heartless were acting strangely here.

"C'mon!" Sora said as he ran towards the house. Inside they found Merlin on the floor. Sora rushed over to him and helped the old wizard to his feet. X nervously glanced around the room. There had to be something that had attracted the Heartless here.

"Well, now, took your time, did you?" Merlin asked as he brushed himself off. He straightened his glasses on his nose as he looked at Sora.

"Oh, was it you who summoned us, Merlin?" Goofy asked. Merlin nodded as he continued to brush himself off. X couldn't see a scratch on the man, which was strange considering he had clearly just been in a tussle with a group of Heartless.

"Yes, yes. But it seems I used too much power in doing so, and those infernal Heartless," Merlin said. Sora seemed to sense something coming and quickly cut off Merlin before he could get much farther.

"So what's up?" Sora asked.

"Well, I happened to stumble across this in the Zero District," Merlin replied summoning a book to his hands. X didn't get a very good look at the cover, but he saw at the very least a picture of what could have been a bear on the front. The book was leather bound with a gold clasp. Sora recognized the book immediately.

"Pooh's storybook!" Sora said excitedly taking the book.

"That's right. I know you're a good friend of Winnie the Pooh, Sora--that's why I summoned you. And when I did, I was attacked by the Heartless. Of course, I fought back with some rather powerful magic, but then I began to fear the book would be damaged, so I," Merlin explained. He suddenly changed demeanor as a new thought occurred to him. "Oh! Now, just a moment. Leon and the others will need to hear this too. I-I'd better go find them. Be back in a jiffy." He vanished in a puff of white smoke leaving the four standing in his house with the book that apparently the Heartless were after.