Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories The Novel (light novel)

by Tomoco Kanemaki

  Almost as if they enjoyed it, they faced off against the Heartless dozens of times their size.

  “This is it!” Sora jumped even higher than before, and he felt the impact on the Keyblade. “There!”

  The Guard Armor fell like a puppet with its strings cut and lay still, then turned to light and disappeared.

  “Huh?”

  The door to the wizard Merlin’s house in the Third District wouldn’t open.

  “What’s with this thing?” Donald pushed and pulled, but the door stayed tightly closed.

  “Did you find your friend?”

  The voice that hailed them was Leon again.

  “Uh… Hey, Leon, what’s through here…?” asked Goofy, a little confused.

  “Through there…? I don’t think you can go through there.”

  “But there’s a door— Wha—? It disappeared!” Donald tapped the bare wall with his wand. He’d just been trying to throw his weight against it—but there was no door, only a brick wall.

  “What’s going on…?” Sora cocked his head at it and turned to see Leon and Yuffie, as well as Aerith and Cid. “Hey, guys…”

  “So your friend wasn’t here, huh?” said Yuffie a little apologetically.

  “No, I don’t think I’ll find him in this town… But he’s somewhere in this castle,” Sora replied, determined. “I just know it.”

  Riku was here somewhere. Sora was sure of it.

  “Castle?” Cid folded his arms. “Like this whole town’s inside some humongous castle? Hoo…that’s rich.”

  “We might not be able to understand it, Cid,” said Leon, “but Sora and his friends do. They can see that reality is bigger than just this world.”

  “I wish I was that sure,” Sora mumbled. He was starting to get less certain of what was illusion and what was real. A door disappearing right in front of his face—what could that mean?

  “You’ll be okay, Sora,” Leon told him firmly. “No matter what shape reality takes, you can handle it.”

  Yuffie grinned at him. “Take care, Sora.”

  “I’m a little lost, but…best of luck anyway,” said Cid.

  “Oh! Wait, how do we leave this town?” Sora asked.

  “Well—”

  Leon and the other Traverse Town citizens looked at one another uncertainly.

  “There’s a door, right over there.” Aerith pointed to a corner of the Third District square.

  “Huh…?” Sora looked at the wall—or it had been only a wall. Now there was a door. “What’s going on?”

  Aerith quietly shook her head.

  “Whatever! We can get somewhere else through there. C’mon, Sora, hurry up!” Donald ran toward the door as if he couldn’t stand still a moment longer.

  “Hey, wait!” Goofy went after him.

  “Umm, but…” Hesitating, Sora was about to follow them anyway, but Aerith called to him.

  “Sora, wait.”

  He turned back to her.

  “I don’t have all the answers, but I had to tell you something.” She looked terribly sad somehow.

  “Aerith… What’s wrong?”

  “Your memories created this town, right?”

  “That’s what the guy who gave me the card said.”

  If the man in the hooded cloak was right, everything in this world was an illusion…

  “If that’s true,” said Aerith, “then this town is just a figment of your mind…and so are we.”

  “But…you can’t be a figment!” Sora exclaimed. “You’re standing right here. The town is here, too!”

  Even if this place was made out of his memories—he just couldn’t believe that.

  “But I’m not really me,” she went on. “I don’t remember the things I should. And I sense things I shouldn’t.”

  “Things you shouldn’t know…?” Sora frowned, thinking hard. How did Aerith know things that she had no way of knowing? Because she had some kind of special power, or…?

  “Sora… Beware your memories.” She pronounced the words slowly, giving them weight.

  “Beware? How?”

  “In the journey to come, you’ll be faced with more illusions. The shadows of your memory might deceive you, try to lead you astray…”

  Sora could only blink at her. This wasn’t making much sense. The shadows of my memory…?

  “So, uh… What exactly does that mean?” he asked finally.

  “I’m sorry. I’m just another illusion. The truth is out of my reach.” Aerith looked down disconsolately.

  “Don’t say stuff like that,” Sora blurted. “It’s depressing…”

  Leon and Yuffie, and Aerith and Cid were all just illusions? He didn’t want to think about it.

  “Stay strong, Sora. Don’t let the illusions distract you from what’s truly important.”

  At that Sora stood up taller and nodded.

  “Soraaa!” Donald was yelling for him from over by the door.

  “Maybe we oughta get going,” Goofy added.

  “Yeah, I’ll be right there!” Sora replied, and then turned to Aerith again. “Well, I’d better go.— Aerith?!”

  She wasn’t there at all. He looked around frantically. Just what was going on?

  “Sora, what’s the matter? We’re gonna go without you!” Donald shouted.

  “Aerith’s gone! But I was just talking to her! And Leon and Yuffie and Cid, too—they were right here! I thought we’d get to say good-bye to them!”

  “What’re you talking about? There wasn’t anybody here!” said Donald, sounding exasperated.

  “Huh?”

  “We were gettin’ worried. You were just standin’ there all by yourself.” Goofy peered into Sora’s face anxiously.

  “Illusions…,” Sora murmured.

  Heading for the door again, Donald stopped to look at him. “Did ya say something, Sora?”

  “Nah, it’s nothing… Let’s go.”

  And the trio went through the door that hadn’t been there before, leaving Traverse Town behind.

  CHAPTER 2

  WONDERLAND

  The only time anyone looks at me is when I draw pictures.

  I want to draw the things I would like to draw.

  But the only time anyone looks at me is when I draw what they want me to draw.

  Even so…I’ll still draw.

  I’ll put my wishes into it.

  If I do, my wishes will come true.

  I can hear someone knocking at the door.

  Someone…has come to see my drawings.

  Who…who are you?

  Are you the person in my drawings?

  Or are you someone else?

  GOOFY CAME THROUGH THE DOOR AHEAD OF SORA. “Gawrsh, did we go backward?” he wondered, looking up at the ceiling. The spacious room they had come into looked very much like the room they had been in before coming to Traverse Town.

  “I think it’s a little different, though…,” said Sora.

  “Are you sure?” Donald looked all around, taking in the surroundings. It did seem at least like the marble flowers occupied slightly different positions.

  “So, did you enjoy meeting the shadows of your memories?”

  The voice addressed them suddenly. They turned to see that man in the black cloak standing there.

  Sora glared, holding the Keyblade ready. “It was good to see everyone. But what do you really want from me?”

  We met illusions of our friends. It wasn’t actually them. And anyway, meeting illusions made out of my memories—it feels like somebody’s messing with my memories… Sora didn’t like it one bit.

  The man stared hard at Sora from beneath his hood. Just then a strange presence came, as if the air trembled.

  “Hello!”

  A moment ago, no one had been standing beside the cloaked man, but now there was another man. He wore the same sort of hooded cloak, but didn’t hide his face or his bright red hair. His eyes were sharp and fierce, and beneath each eye was a little blue mark, like carnival makeup.
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  “What do you want?” the hooded man asked, sounding unhappy about it.

  “No hogging the hero now,” the red-haired man replied teasingly.

  “Are you guys working together?!” Sora demanded, tensing.

  But they ignored him, and the hooded man tossed a card to the redhead. “Then, perhaps you’d like to test him.”

  “Perhaps I would.” The red-haired man smirked, and the other promptly disappeared into thin air.

  “Hey, wait!” Sora ran toward where the hooded man had just been standing. The red-haired man moved right in front of him, practically blocking his way.

  “My show now, Keyblade master.” He looked down at Sora, a smile at the corners of his mouth.

  “…Who are you?”

  “Oh, my name’s Axel. Got it memorized?” As he said his name he straightened, puffing himself up a bit.

  “Axel…,” Sora murmured the name to himself, as if that would etch it into his memory.

  This was a different feeling somehow from when he’d first met the hooded man… What could it mean?

  “Good, you’re a quick learner.” Axel grinned and in a vicious motion spread both his arms wide. The next moment he held an eight-pointed weapon in each hand—they were spiked chakrams.

  “Wak!” Donald held out his wand.

  “So, Sora, now that we’re getting to know each other better…don’t you go and die on me now!” Axel leaped at them so quickly it seemed he could fly.

  “Whoa!” Goofy went sprawling first.

  “Why don’t I show you how it’s done.” Axel swung his arms downward and flames rose up from the floor—a wall of fire. “Look out—you’ll get roasted!”

  The flames chased the trio, cornering them.

  “C’mon! Here goes!”

  “Huh? Wa-waaak!”

  “Aaahoooey!”

  Sora took Donald and Goofy by the hand and ran straight at the flames. They rolled on the floor and made it through.

  “Oh, not bad!” Axel smirked, and Sora rushed in, bringing the Keyblade down on him. Metal struck metal with a terrific clang as Axel blocked the Keyblade with his starlike blades.

  “Donald!” Sora called.

  “B-Blizzard!” Donald cast the spell, realizing that ice would put out fire. A little chunk of ice hit Axel in the face.

  “Okay, my turn…!” Goofy held his shield out in front and ran for Axel—but Axel disappeared before his eyes. “Hyuck?”

  “He disappeared?!” Sora glanced around, but Axel was nowhere to be seen. “Where’d he go?!”

  Beside him suddenly, he heard a rushing sound. “Whoa!”

  He caught something in his hand—three cards.

  “Sora!” Donald and Goofy ran over to him.

  “More cards?” said Donald.

  Sora flipped them over. Like the one that had opened the door to Traverse Town, each card had a picture.

  “Uh… Hey, this was Alice’s world, right?” The card Goofy looked at showed a heart pattern and the garden of the Queen of Hearts.

  “And these ones are Monstro and Agrabah…” Of the other two cards, one showed a giant whale and the other a palace in the desert.

  “Hmm…” Jiminy Cricket hopped out of Sora’s pocket and nodded. “They look like the card you use when you made Traverse Town.”

  “So, we’re supposed to use these and keep going…,” said Sora.

  “That’s right,” Axel’s voice rang out to answer him.

  They turned, and Axel was standing at the top of the stairs.

  “Axel?!”

  “Did you really think I’d give up oh so easily after an introduction like that?” he said mockingly.

  “You were testing us, huh?” Sora brandished the Keyblade at him again.

  “And you passed. Congratulations! You’re ready now—ready to take on Castle Oblivion.” Axel kept on looking down at them from atop the stairs. “You will need to follow your memories. Trust what you remember and seek what you forget. Then, you’ll find someone very special.”

  Someone special…?

  Goofy spoke up before Sora could. “You mean King Mickey and Riku?”

  “Heh… You’ll just have to give some more thought to who it is that’s…most important to you.”

  Most important…, Sora thought. Who’s the most important to me…?

  “Our most precious memories lie so deep within our hearts that they’re out of reach,” said Axel. “But I’m sure that you can find yours, Sora.”

  “Why me?”

  Memories lying deep within my heart… Have I forgotten something important?

  “You’ve lost sight of the light within the darkness. And it seems that you’ve forgotten that you forgot.”

  “The light within the darkness…”

  That was a phrase Sora knew. He’d heard it somewhere before… Right.

  “No matter how deep the darkness, there will always be a light shining within…”

  Kairi was the one who told me that. So what is the light for me…? When I turned into a Heartless, the light I saw… That light was…

  “You want me to give you a hint?”

  At Axel’s offer, Sora came back to the present and glared at him again.

  “Sora… Do ya need it?” said Goofy.

  “I’m gonna figure it out for myself!” Sora angrily gripped the Keyblade.

  Axel laughed. “Good answer. Just what I’d expect from the Keyblade master. But be forewarned… When your sleeping memories awaken, you may no longer be who you are now.”

  I’ll…become something I’m not?

  “What’s that supposed to mean?!” Sora demanded, but Axel had already vanished.

  Goofy lowered his shield, looking at Sora. “He disappeared…”

  Sora kept staring at the top of the stairs where Axel had been standing, trying to mull it over. “Sleeping memories…”

  Donald lowered his wand, too, and looked up at Sora. “Have you got any sleeping memories, Sora?”

  “I don’t know… But, I mean, do you remember everything that happened since you were born?”

  “’Course not!” Donald folded his arms. “Nobody remembers the things that happened when they were really little.”

  “Yeah…” Sora stared down at the Keyblade in his hand.

  He could hardly remember anything about when he was small. Was that what “sleeping memories” meant? Or was it…

  Donald and Sora were both lost in thought.

  “But you don’t forget important things!” Goofy said cheerfully.

  Jiminy Cricket, poking his head out from Sora’s pocket, looked pensive, too. “What Axel said worries me, though. ‘You may no longer be who you are…’ What could he have meant by that?”

  “I may no longer be me?” Sora laughed a little, sounding stronger now. “How can I be anyone else?”

  “Of course! Still, you can’t be too careful.” Jiminy ducked back into his pocket.

  As long as they didn’t quite understand what Axel had meant, it did make sense to be cautious, as Jiminy said.

  “I think so, too,” said Goofy. “Feels like just about anything could happen here in Castle Obil…Obliv…Oblivil…”

  “Castle Oblivion!” Donald finished.

  “Oh yeah! Now I remember!”

  “We’ll be okay. Whatever it is they’re cooking up, we’ll be able to handle it together!” said Sora and looked again at where Axel had been standing.

  As long as the three of them were together, they’d be all right. They’d made it this far.

  “Let’s go!” Sora started toward the next door.

  “Right! Didn’t we explore another creepy castle together?” Goofy added, like he’d just remembered. “The one with all those weird contraptions.”

  “Hmm…when was that?” said Sora. They’d been to lots of places on their journey, but was there a creepy castle?

  “What was it called?” Donald stopped in his tracks. He couldn’t recall, either.

  “Gawrsh�
� Oh, it was… Holler… Holly…” Goofy tried with all his might to remember.

  Sora frowned. He must have heard it before somewhere…or had he? Holly… Hollow…

  “Sorry. I can’t remember,” Goofy said, sounding disheartened.

  Donald jumped and snapped, “Well, quit goofing around!”

  “Goofy, are you sure you didn’t make it up?” Sora said doubtfully, facing the door again.

  “Gee, I don’t think so…” Goofy tilted his head as if something didn’t make sense.

  “Anyway…which card should I use?” Sora held out the three cards for Donald and Goofy to see.

  None of the cards had a creepy castle on them like the one Goofy described. Maybe he’d been mistaken, after all.

  “Why don’t we go in the same order we went before?” said Donald.

  “Then…” Sora stared at the cards. The world they’d gone to first after Traverse Town was Alice’s world. “It’s this one.”

  In front of the door, he held up the card with the picture of the hearts and the green gardens. The door began to glow in response and they walked through it.

  A forest full of giant lily pads spread out before them.

  “Quack! This is…”

  “Uh, that place where the flowers can talk, isn’t it?”

  Donald and Goofy looked at each other. The forest was thick with lily pads and flowers. They had definitely been here before. And just then, they could see someone running full speed toward them.

  “Hey… Somebody’s comin’.” Goofy squinted.

  The sweating figure held a pocket watch in its hand. It was a white rabbit, with little spectacles on its nose. “I’m late! I’m late! I’m dreadfully, awfully late!”

  “Hey!” Goofy exclaimed.

  “We met him before, right?” said Sora.

  Goofy nodded. They had, here in Alice’s world… But what was this white rabbit doing?

  “The queen will roast me for dinner!” cried the rabbit. “If I’m late for the trial, it’ll be off with my head next!”

  “What do you mean, off with your head?!” said Sora, but the rabbit didn’t seem to hear at all and kept on running.

  “Oh, my fur and whiskers! I’ll never make it!” With that the rabbit disappeared into the foliage. The trio stared after him, then turned to one another.