Melody of Memory

Nothing Left to Teach

When the war was over, and Xehanort was gone, Terra sent for Riku, and Riku went to the Land of Departure. Terra looked at him for a while before he said anything, and there was something close to pride in it. "Well, look at you."

Riku smiled back at him. "Thanks. I finally fulfilled my promise to you."

Terra didn't make light of it. "You did. Now there's nothing left for me to teach you. You're a true Keyblade Master, not to mention a great leader to those around you. You've even found the strength to save your friends." He told Riku why he had asked him to come. "The very fact that you were able to make your way here proves just how strong you are. That is why I called for you." Riku waited, as if there ought to be more to it than that, and Terra laughed at him. "You expected more?"

The two of them were still laughing when Ventus came looking for them. "Hey, you two, what's so funny?" Neither of them told him, and he didn't like it one bit. "Aww, come on, tell me!"

Terra only shook his head at him. "It's a secret."

They hadn't called Riku only to say goodbye. Terra, Aqua and Ventus were going into the Realm of Darkness to look for Sora. Aqua had spent more than a decade lost in that dark, and Riku knew it. She answered the worry on his face before he could put it into words. "Yes, but don't worry, I'm not alone this time." Then the three of them put on their armour, and Riku stood and watched them go.

No Sign of the Boy

A year went by, and nobody found Sora. Riku came to Radiant Garden, to Merlin's house, where Leon and his friends had been working on the same problem. Cid was bent over his computer, as he had been for most of that year, and Yuffie was losing patience with him. "Come on, Cid! Can you throw us a bone here, please?"

Cid didn't look up. "Be quiet! I'm tryin'! I'm this close to somethin', I know it!"

Yuffie threw up her hands. "Cid, you are a million times worse than a broken record!"

Riku didn't sound hopeful. "But we've been searching everywhere for Sora, and we haven't found a single clue. If he's really out there, don't you think we would have found something by now?"

Aerith wouldn't give that up. "But if we still remember him, then he must still be with us."

Leon agreed with her. "Yes, that would stand to reason." Then he turned back to Riku. "Cid's been looking into the data for a year now. Aren't the people at the castle doing the same thing? No one's found anything yet?"

The people at the castle were Ansem the Wise and his apprentices, and Riku shook his head. "Well. It's outside their field of expertise." He told them where everyone else was looking. "Well, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are searching for clues in every past world that Sora's been to. Terra, Ven, and Aqua went to the realm of darkness. And the Twilight Town gang are studying Roxas and Xion's memories."

Aerith asked the question he had left out. "And what about Kairi?"

Riku was quiet for a moment before he answered. "Kairi. She believes her heart might hold a clue about Sora. For a year, she's been sound asleep while they search her heart."

Aerith looked down. "So there's been no progress."

Cid sat up so suddenly that his chair nearly went over. "What in the. What in the world is this?!" They crowded round the screen, and he explained, too excited to slow down. "This computer, the one in Twilight Town, and the one in the castle are all connected to the same network. They sent me all of their data and I merged it with the stuff I already had, and looky here."

What was on the screen was Sora, and Yuffie nearly shouted. "Sora's inside the computer?!"

Cid waved that away. "No, no. That's just the data I constructed based on Sora and his fightin' abilities."

Yuffie glared at him. "So you gave us a heart attack for nothing?!"

But it wasn't nothing, Cid said. "No, that group Sora was fightin'. You know. Battalion somethin'? Well, I recreated their data too."

Aerith saw what it might mean before anyone else did. "The real Organization XIII. Maybe their data will lead us to where Sora is."

Cid had thought of that, and it had got him nowhere. "Well, it crossed my mind, but I must be better at this than I thought 'cause their data, it's so powerful, I can't access any of it."

Leon looked at the image of Sora on the screen. "Can you use Sora's data to gain access?"

Cid brightened. "Oh, good idea. Worth a shot!"

So Riku fought them, through Sora's data. Cid had built a place for it inside the simulation, a copy of a hall called the Garden of Assemblage. Waiting in it were all thirteen of the real Organization, remade from their data and stronger than they had ever been. Riku faced them one after another until the last of them fell and their data opened to Cid at last.

It gave them nothing. Sora's data hadn't changed, and Cid read the result off the screen flatly. "No sign of the boy."

Yuffie spoke for all of them. "What a bummer."

The Other Two

The air shimmered in the middle of the room, and a little round woman in a blue cloak was standing in it, beaming at them. "Oh-ho-ho, I hope I didn't startle you." She had come for a reason. "Well dear, I was asked to come by Merlin and Master Yen Sid. Now, where is. Oh, Riku! Yes, Riku is his name." She turned to him. "Why, it's nice to meet you. Now, I'd like you to tell me about the dreams that you've been having, dear."

Nobody in the room knew why she should want to know that, so the Fairy Godmother explained. "Oh, because Master Yen Sid was worried. You weren't having any luck finding Sora. And because Riku had been in Sora's dreams before, he thought perhaps Riku just may be the key. That's why he and Merlin asked me to come here and look into his dreams, since of course dreams are my specialty."

Aerith turned to look at Riku. "So Riku's dreams might. Hold the key?"

The Fairy Godmother nodded. "Yes, dear. I'm sure there's something there that leads to Sora."

Riku hadn't thought his dreams were worth mentioning, and he had to reach for it. "Huh? My. Dreams? There's one. It was dark. And I was surrounded by tall buildings. I was looking around for Sora, when I felt someone watching me from way up high. And that's all I remember."

Cid folded his arms. "I hope you're not expectin' me to turn a dream into data."

The Fairy Godmother didn't need him to. Riku's dreams might hold what they needed to find Sora, she said, and then she added something that none of them understood yet. "And. The other two."

Across the city, in the castle's laboratory, Kairi lay asleep, as she had for a year. And far beyond any world, the Final World lay under a clear sky, quiet and empty.

A Weird Dream

Sora woke on a plain of stone under a night sky, and knew it. He had been here before, in pieces. He looked down at himself, at his hands, and was relieved at least by that. "This place. At least. I'm all here." Then he cupped his hands round his mouth and shouted into the dark. "Heeey! Is anyone out there? Hellooo!"

Someone answered him. "Hey. Hey. Where are you? I see you." A young man came out of the night towards him, and Sora knew who he was.

The young man stopped, wary. "You know me?"

Sora nodded. "Yeah, you're Yozora, right?"

That didn't reassure Yozora at all. "How do you know that? Who are you?"

Sora told him. "I'm Sora. And actually. There's something I have to ask you."

Yozora looked at him hard. "Sora? You're Sora?" Then, more carefully: "Sure, I've heard of you."

Sora was working something out aloud. He had heard the name from a girl among the stars, the last time he was here, and he hadn't thought the one she was waiting for could be real. "If you're here, then this can't be the real world, can it? But wait, that girl, she told me about you. Maybe you are real after all."

Yozora had heard enough. "Are you done? No, this isn't the real world, and I am here. But this isn't what I really look like. How'd you recognize me as Yozora? Why are you using Sora's name?" He didn't wait for an answer. "If you are who you say, and it was fate that brought us here, then. My path is clear."

He told Sora why he had come. "I accidentally wandered into this place, and went through some trials. Then, I was told to 'save Sora.'"

But there was a sword in one of his hands and a crossbow in the other, and Sora stared at them. "Huh?! Then what's with the weapon?"

Yozora wasn't going to explain. "Time to end this."

The plain was gone. They were standing on top of a tower in a city of towers, under a night sky full of lit windows, and Yozora came at him. It was a hard fight, and Sora won it. Yozora lowered his weapons. "I guess. That my powers aren't needed yet." Then he broke apart into light and was gone.

Sora found himself back on the stone plain, and now it was day.

Somewhere else, a young man woke in the back seat of a car. The driver called him Commander, and asked him whether he didn't think it impressive. Yozora looked out of the window, still half in the dream. "I've been having these weird thoughts lately. Like, is any of this for real or not?"

And alone on the plain in the daylight, Sora couldn't make it add up. "None of this. Makes sense to me."

This Place

Kairi had let them put her to sleep so that she could search her own heart for Sora, and for a year she had slept in the laboratory of Ansem the Wise, with Ansem, Even and Ienzo watching over her and the machines that followed her dreams. Then, all at once, every reading on their screens went wrong. Ansem the Wise was on his feet. "Something's wrong. Shut it down!"

Ienzo was already reaching for the controls. "And just when things were going well."

Even stared at the screens. "What's happening!?"

Kairi was standing on a plain of stone under an open sky, somewhere their machines couldn't follow. She had been here before. "This place." And something came back to her there that she hadn't remembered in all the years since: the day she was sent away.

She was very small, and her world was being swallowed by the Heartless. A young man with white hair had taken her and put her into a little boat made to cross between worlds. He told her why. "This world will be engulfed in darkness, everything you care about and everyone you love. If you truly possess the power of a princess of heart, your heart will resonate with a Keyblade wielder's, and I believe you can lead me to that wielder's world. That is the only possible way to save ours."

She only looked up at him. He told her the rest anyway. "You see, this is more than an experiment. It's hope. Like most, you probably believe that nothing exists outside of this world you live in. And yet, there are countless other worlds. You can see them sparkle brilliantly in the night sky. Through that sea of stars, fate will guide your ship to where you are meant to be."

Then Terra-Xehanort gave her a warning. "However, if you arrive in a world that's neither of light nor darkness, but somewhere on the other side, your task will be far from easy. If that happens, you must abandon your search. We have failed."

The memory let her go, and a hooded figure in a black coat was waiting for her. "Not so fast, my dear."

Kairi called her Keyblade. "Who are you? Show your face!" He put back his hood, and he was Master Xehanort, old and smiling, and she knew at once what he had been to her. "You're the one who keeps messing with my fate. If it weren't for everything that you've done, then Sora and everyone would be safe. Even if you're not really here and this is just a memory or illusion. I won't let you walk away!"

He didn't deny any of it. "You're right. I set you adrift in another world and drastically altered the course of your fate. In the end you were destroyed by my hand, paving the way for Sora's disappearance." She went for him. He met her easily, and seemed pleased by what he found. "You've become quite the Keyblade wielder! For a retired master, Yen Sid prepared you remarkably well."

Then he told her what this place was, and why she would find nothing in it. "This world was created from the memories contained within your heart. You seek clues to Sora's whereabouts by using your memories of him to search through your own heart. But there's nothing for you to find here. I'm afraid the answer you seek lies in memories that are long gone."

Kairi had heard enough from him. "I have had enough of this!"

She charged him, and he beat her down. He raised his Keyblade over her to finish it. Then Kairi wasn't the one who stood up to meet him. Sora was, in her place, from wherever he had gone. Xehanort only smiled. "Ah, look who joined us. As I thought, your voice can't reach us here. Now I'm certain of where your heart is." Sora fought him, and Sora won.

When it was over Kairi was herself again, and she held on to the moment he had been there. "Thank you. Sora."

Xehanort was fading, but he wasn't quite gone. "On the day that I sent you out from your world. Do you remember what it is I said to you? Those words hold the answer you seek. I may cause you to suffer, but I am a product of your heart. For that reason, I shall give you your answer."

As she watched, he was young again, the young man with white hair from her memory, and Terra-Xehanort said it to her once more. "Before, when my heart and body were still united as one, I told you about what would happen if we were to fail. 'If you arrive in a world that's neither of light nor darkness but somewhere on the other side, your task will be far from easy.' That is the answer I have for you."

Then he was gone, and Kairi was alone with it. "What does that mean?"

The Other Side

Kairi woke in the laboratory and told them everything Xehanort had said. Ienzo asked her if he had truly called it the answer.

"Yes, he said that's the answer," said Kairi.

Even turned the words over. "Not of light or darkness, but on the other side?"

Ienzo shook his head. "I've never heard of a place like that."

Even had caught something else. "Something else he said perplexes me. 'Your voice can't reach us. I'm certain of where your heart is.'"

Ansem the Wise was quiet a long moment before he tried it aloud. "Where voices can't reach. The other side of our world, of reality. Unreality? A fictional world? I'm afraid such mysteries are beyond our comprehension."

Ienzo wasn't ready to go that far. "You would assume that he's referring to the realm of darkness, but. That clearly isn't the case here, wouldn't you say?"

Ansem nodded slowly. "Yes, perhaps. The three realms of our world, light, darkness, and between, these are all places we can travel to because they are on 'our side.' This also includes the worlds of memories, data, and dreams. If I am correct, then this 'other side' of our world from which voices cannot reach must be a place outside of our reality. Namely, it must be unreality, or fiction. But. That is the extent of our knowledge."

Kairi thought of who else might know. "Maybe Mickey or Master Yen Sid knows."

The door opened on Riku, and he stopped short when he saw her sitting up. "Kairi! You woke up!"

She was as glad as he was. "Yeah, just now. How come you're here?"

He had come with news. "Well, actually I found some info about Sora."

Kairi's face lit up. "Really? We got something too!"

Before either of them could say what, the air sparkled and the Fairy Godmother was standing among them, apologetic. "Oh, excuse me, dears, I certainly didn't mean to startle you. If you're not expecting magic, it can be a surprise." She smoothed her cloak. "Now then, I am the Fairy Godmother. And it's a pleasure to meet you all."

Kairi looked from her to Riku. "Yen Sid sent you?"

Riku answered for her. "She came here at Yen Sid's request. He said she's got a clue that might help us find Sora."

Ienzo told the two of them what Kairi's sleep had found. "Yes. We performed an examination of Kairi's heart and obtained an important clue from the lost memories it contains, which is that. There's another world on the other side of ours that's not of darkness or light."

Kairi turned to Riku. "Riku, what did you dream?"

He told them. "Oh, well since Sora disappeared, I've been having dreams about a large city with tall buildings. Apparently, that's the clue."

Ienzo put the two pieces side by side. "Maybe that's what Xehanort was talking about. A fictional world."

The Fairy Godmother was delighted with them. "That's right. To find Sora, we need three keys. First, Riku, and then of course there's you, dear Kairi." She beamed at them both. "With Riku's dreams and Kairi's memories, you two have already done your part."

Kairi still thought the answer lay with the Mysterious Tower. "So, I thought we should go to Mickey and Master Yen Sid to ask about it."

The Fairy Godmother shook her head gently. "Mmm, I'm not quite sure they'll be able to help you, my dear." She held up a finger. "Oh, you forget; there are three people who hold the key. There's still one more. One with a strong will and a very precious dream." Neither of them could think who that might be, and she wouldn't tell them. "You'll see. I'll introduce you!"

The Final Key

With a wave of her wand, the Fairy Godmother took them both to a place Kairi knew. "Yeah. I came here with Sora, and also in my dreams while I slept. This is. The Final World. But there's no one here."

The Fairy Godmother smiled at her. "That's not true. Why don't you look closer?"

Kairi looked up. The sky was full of stars, low and close, and every one of them was a light. "The stars. I never noticed."

The Fairy Godmother told her what they were. "Yes, strong hearts gather here after death until they are ready to move on. I'm sure she's around here somewhere." She went looking among them, and then she stopped by one star in particular and held out her hands to it. "The final key." She was as pleased as if she had found a lost child. "We found you! We've been searching all over for you, my dear."

The star was puzzled. "Do I know you?" Then she noticed Kairi and Riku. "You're all able to retain your appearance in this world. I met someone else who could do that."

Kairi introduced herself. "I'm Kairi. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The star turned back to the Fairy Godmother, who seemed to know all about her. "Oh. Yes. It seems you know a lot about me."

The Fairy Godmother nodded. "That's right, dear. Now we finally have all three."

Riku looked at the little light. "Um, so she's the final key?"

The Fairy Godmother explained. "It's simple. She came from the world on the other side. You see, she's very special. Her form was taken from her, but she managed to find her way here. If she goes back to her world, her heart will certainly be stolen. Right, dear?"

The star hardly dared ask. "My dream. Come true?"

The Fairy Godmother was gentle with her. "A little, and I would use my magic to change you back if I could. But I'm afraid that's impossible while you're in this form. Don't fret, though, I believe that we'll find a way to make your dream come true very soon."

Riku meant it when he said it. "I want to help make that happen. Will it lead us to Sora?"

The Fairy Godmother wouldn't promise him that. "Oh, I'm afraid it's not that simple. First, we must get to her world. She can open a path for us, and you can use the power of waking to go there."

The star had caught the name. "Sorry, but did I hear you say 'Sora'?"

Kairi turned to her quickly. "Wait. Do you know him?"

The star did. "Yes. He was here. He encouraged me not to give up. Did something happen to him?"

Riku told her. "Yeah. Sora disappeared. He's a good friend of ours, so we've been looking for him. Right now, we think he's in a big city full of tall buildings. Ring any bells?"

It did. "A city full of tall buildings," said the star. "Quadratum? It has more skyscrapers than any other city I know. That must be it."

Riku said the name over. "Quadratum. Is that where Sora is?"

The Fairy Godmother was honest with him. "There's no way of knowing, but I believe it is possible."

The star didn't hesitate. "I'm not sure exactly what's happening. But if Sora is in trouble, I want to help. Please, let me know what you need from me."

So it was settled that Riku would go, and Kairi couldn't bear it. "I want to go." Riku only looked at her. She knew what he would say, and said it for him. "Yeah. I know. I want to go with you. But. I know that I can't. I need to finish training. I need to become stronger. And when I do, I'll be right there next to you and Sora. But first I'll go explain everything to Donald and Goofy and to Mickey and Master Yen Sid."

The Fairy Godmother had done all she could. "I'm afraid this is as much as I can do. It's up to you, Riku, to take care of the rest." And she fussed over him as he got ready. "Be careful out there, dear. And try not to do anything too reckless. Come straight back if you encounter any trouble."

The star opened the way, and Riku went through it alone.

Where You'll Begin

Kairi went to the Mysterious Tower as she had promised and told Yen Sid, the King, Donald and Goofy everything. The King was out of his chair before she had finished. "Riku went alone!? But that's way too dangerous! I hafta go after him now!"

Yen Sid didn't raise his voice. "Do not be hasty, Mickey."

The King couldn't sit still. "But Master Yen Sid, he's all alone in a world we know nothing about!"

Yen Sid agreed with him, and that was his reason. "Precisely. We have never faced something like this before, which is why we must remain calm."

He turned to Kairi. "Kairi. This information you bring us, it comes from Xehanort during his time as a researcher?" She told him it did, and he was silent for a moment, thinking it through. "Then that means he must have been aware of this other world for quite some time."

The King frowned. "But we defeated Xehanort. Is there anybody else we can ask?"

Yen Sid looked back further than any of them could. "When I was still serving as a Keyblade Master, it was known that the ancient masters had crossed over into another world. I surmise that Xehanort looked more deeply into that world."

Then he gave each of them a task. "For now we must reach out to those in Radiant Garden, the Land of Departure, and Twilight Town who are searching for Sora to inform them of what we have learned and have them halt their respective efforts. Donald, Goofy, I leave this to you." He looked at Kairi. "And Kairi, will you continue your training as you were before?"

She had already thought about it. "Actually, I'd like to study under Master Aqua."

Yen Sid was pleased. "That is an excellent idea. I approve."

Last, he turned to the King. "And you, Mickey. I task you with the investigation of this new world and how it is related to the ancient Keyblade Masters." The King straightened, and listened for where it would start. "You'll begin," said Yen Sid. "In the world of Scala ad Caelum."