1Nori lay motionless, face first on the cement floor of a junk filled storehouse. Only moments later, two familiar faces entered the room, rolling him onto his back. He slightly opened one eye weakly.
"Ohayo Kyoko, Takeshi," one greeted.
"It's been a while…hasn't it?" The other noted.
It was at that point that Nori recognized who was talking to him. Gasping in pain, he attempted to sit up. Even if he did have the strength to sit up, the second man held him down with an evil smile and a slight chuckle. Suddenly, he pressed a needle against Nori's throat.
"I know what kills you," he whispered as Nori squirmed slightly. The man paused to let the threat sink in real well before continuing, "But we don't want to kill you."
"We don't?" The stupider one questioned.
"No, we want darkness. If we kill him, darkness only lasts until that Tia Dalma finds herself another minion. We want continuous darkness, which can only be caused by the suffering and pain of the light bearer."
"No," basically fell out of Nori's mouth in shock. For some reason, he started shouting in Japanese, spending some time cussing them out—which was unusual for him, remember? Anyone outside of Nori's position would have found his dramatic anime flailing humorous, which is why the man chuckled again as he pulled out his newest torture implement. The sight of the small, square object brought Nori to a halt. The man held the object to Nori's bare shoulder, and the seizures began again. The horrible shaking, and the pain, and…
"Nori!" A girl's voice called. Frustrated, she put her hands on her hips and called again, "Nori!"
The boy's eyes flew open and he quickly sat up in bed.
Kairi then began, "Nori, it's ten thirty in the morning, and it's still dark outside. Don't you think it's time to get out of bed?"
Nori rested his head in his hands for a moment before looking back to Kairi with an obviously fake smile. Gradually, sunlight entered the room as the outside world brightened. As soon as he was convinced that Kairi was satisfied, he fell back into bed. After a second of annoyance, she jumped onto the foot of the bed.
"Nori, this has been happening a lot lately…since the whole Warren thing. I'd hate to think it's all just laziness," Kairi probed.
"No," Nori countered. "The sun used to come up before I got out of bed."
"Is something bothering you that you're not telling us about?"
A third voice appeared in the doorway, adding, "Again."
Nori sat up again, acknowledging the presence of Vash, saying, "You're back? Do you always show up when you think something's wrong with me?"
Vash only thought for a second before nodding and responding, "Yup."
"Well then, yeah. I guess, it's the stress of being in charge of the light. I keep having these dreams that random people are trying to take it away from me. And, I guess it works, because every time I wake up, darkness has returned."
"And all this only since Warren disappeared?" Vash questioned, mostly for himself. "I don't know how those two connect."
Nori shrugged.
Curiously, Kairi inquired, "Do you swear you have no idea at all what happened?"
"Again," Nori replied, slightly aggravated, "I have no clue what happened."
Vash seemed skeptical about Nori's sincerity, but eventually accepted the response, wandering over to Nori's window. After a while, he mentioned, "We're going to have to do something about the gloomy weather you've created on such a nice August day. Let's go swimming."
"Why do you want to swim when it's so cold?" Kairi questioned, not agreeing with Vash's solution.
He smiled. "One time down the waterslide at the center of town, and it will be ninety degrees out. Believe me."
Only moments later, it was Nori's turn. Just standing in line had already made most of the clouds disappear. Nori excitedly waved down to Chiyo who had just finished the ride and looked sick. The lifeguard began reading the safety instructions—you must know how to swim, do not ride if you have back problems, please remain in the forward position and on the sled at all times. Nori wasn't paying attention, though. He'd heard it a thousand times, so all he did was wait for the go signal.
When he got it, he immediately jumped onto the sled, giving himself an extra fast start. The first half of the slide was designed specifically to pick up speed, at the perfect angle to be called the fastest waterslide in all of Fiction-land. Then, once you've picked up all that speed, the slide becomes almost vertical, and if you're going fast enough when you hit the drop off, you can pick up air. You have to be careful about that, though, because you want to still have enough speed when you land again to make it back up the next hill.
At the top of the hill, the slide falls into a tight spiral. Nori was incredibly dizzy when he reached the bottom, but he was ready for the small jump that came next. When he was in the air, he flipped the sled around backwards, stood up on it, and waved to Chiyo again. Then, the sled hit the slide again, and, because the sled was backwards, the runners got caught in a crack. Nori toppled over backwards, and slid down the rest of the curvy slide head first, on his back, without the sled.
When he came out of the slide, Chiyo stood at the bottom, staring down at his glowing smile. "What happened up there?" She questioned with a laugh, "How did you fall out?"
Nori smiled even wider as he climbed to his feet and responded, "I did that on purpose."
She shook her head at him, and the next moment, Kairi shot out of the tube still on her sled. She quickly joined the friends, noting, "Vash was right. Once down that slide and this day is beautiful!"
They stood around for a while, waiting for more people to come out of the slide. All were busy watching Nehemiah in his grand exit, when Vash snuck up behind them and knocked all three over in the water. They quickly returned to their feet, each one splashing him with a handful of water. He splashed back, and a water fight began.
Something like a year earlier…
After the initial shock of being turned into a younger version of himself, Sora remembered that he was in a city he didn't recognize. He looked around, frantically searching for something that might help him find his bearings, but nothing lent itself to his location. Eventually, he just decided to choose a direction and run. He ran for a very long time, until the road suddenly came to an end to be replaced by an indefinite field of black.
Sora took a step closer to the black, resting his hands against the bubbly substance that held him and everything else on the small planet. In front of him, in the center of the endless vacuum of space, was the rest of Fiction-land. For a while he just stared, slightly awed by the view, but mostly just shocked that he wasn't even on the same planet anymore.
Back to now…
Suddenly blue flashed before his eyes. It was cold…shivering cold, so cold that breathing made puffs of fog. Through the blue flashed up a test tube, gelatinous liquids, electricity, a strip teaser being strangled…Eventually it all came to rest on Warren Peace.
Nori's eyes once again flew open, and he sat up, breathing deeply. As he repeated to himself, "Think happy thoughts, happy thoughts," the figure of two piercing eyes nervously pressed itself against the wall. He was just coming down from his room in the attic. He hadn't meant to wake Nori. After a moment, Nori crawled out of bed. Walking over to his dresser, he rummaged through it until he found what he was looking for. He grabbed the bag and left the room without ever noticing the other boy.
Hallom curiously came out of the shadows, watching Nori from the door as he slipped on some shoes and left the house. Hallom was worried about Nori; everyone was. Something was clearly wrong, again. After leaving the house, Nori slipped down an ally so he could put on the disguise in the bag. He was going to Japan.
He was easily able to get past the gate. No one would recognize him as Kyoko, Takeshi with the long blonde hair, strange crown with a magical pendant, flowing cloak, and tall boots. In fact, as long as he kept his eyes narrowed, he looked exactly like a villain from a series: Sakura Taisen. Feeling mischievous, he shot a glare at a girl across the street. She turned and ran. On the train, he did the same to a little boy and it made the kid cry.
Nori wanted to laugh, but he knew that would blow the disguise. Hence, he just waited patiently to arrive at the place he was going. It wasn't too long before he did. He walked in the door without knocking, removed his boots, and then entered the living room.
"Miyagi-osan," he began.
The elderly man came from the kitchen in slippers and a bathrobe. He almost spilt his morning tea on himself at the sight of the barefoot villain. Nori bowed in greeting and then stood up with a smile.
"Miyagi-osan, it's me."
Recognizing the voice, Miyagi sat down his tea, returned the gesture, and stated, "You, Kyoko-kun, scare Mr. Miyagi ev'ry time you come. Why you still wear disguise?"
Nori smiled again, pulling the wig off. "I guess you're right. Now that CrawFish is gone, I suppose I'm no longer banned."
"Tea?" He asked, officially inviting Nori in.
"Sure," Nori accepted, and they both sat at his table. "Thank you." After a couple moments of sipping, Nori added, "I need your help again."
"I know," Miyagi responded. Since Nori seemed slightly shocked, he continued, "That only reason you visit Mr. Miyagi, Kyoko-kun."
"Yeah," Nori agreed, mindlessly stirring his tea. "I need to find an ice castle."
"Ice castle?"
Nori nodded once. "I have a friend who's being held prisoner in one. I don't know which one or where it is. Can you help?"
"There…four ice castle on world. I tell you where."
"Thank you Miyagi-osan," Nori finished, bowing again. He still didn't know exactly which castle Warren was in, but knowing all of their locations was a better position than he had been in before. He turned to leave the house, not bothering to put his wig back on. After all, Lionel was the one who exiled him from there. So instead, he carried the wig in the bag he threw over his shoulder.
Nori actually enjoyed walking down the street more as himself. Some people knew him, but everyone recognized him as the source of light who killed Lionel. They all waved and smiled. Nori waved back and kept walking. It was a nice morning, especially considering the fact that he'd had another nightmare the night before. A small cloud passed over the sun from the thought, so Nori quickly brushed it away.
He was trying to think of a happier thought when he heard a girl's voice calling his name. Turning around, he saw a short, dark haired girl from his school jumping and waving. She looked the same as always: short shorts, long socks, a frilly shirt that just barely showed her belly, and dangly bracelets. Her hair was pulled half up by a clip, letting a few spiky strands stick up on top.
"Akiko!" Nori exclaimed, surprised to see her. "It's been forever since I've seen you."
"Too long indeed," She agreed. "You with a cape, and blue hair—you know I saw a picture of you in the newspaper with blue hair? It was right next to…what was it next to? Oh yes, the crowning of Xemnas, I think. I could never picture that man with a crown. Did you see it? It was as wrong as putting a bonnet on your dog. Oh, remember Yuki? She got a puppy! It is soooo adorable…Nori?"
Nori was suddenly pulled back to the random conversation from his distant thoughts with a, "Huh?"
"Where'd you stop listening this time?" Akiko inquired, resting her hands on her hips.
"Yeah, that was all great," Nori replied, still distracted. Then, he pushed her behind him, ordering, "Just…stay behind me."
"What? Nori I—" she began, but her thoughts were interrupted as darkness filled the street. "Nori," she whispered nervously when three dark figures appeared through portals.
Nori stood protectively in front of her, at the same time stretching his arms to the side and returning light to all the street other than a small circle around the five.
"You know," a voice who was obviously Xemnas started, just before throwing off the hood on his cloak, "the law still says you are not to step foot on this land."
Good naturedly, Nori returned, "I suppose I should have kept the wig on," as he held up the bag with the wig in it.
The two other Organization XIII members closed in as Xemnas continued, "Now, we could put you in Writers' Block for this, or we could lock you in a corner of our castle and torture you, or…we could make it disappear."
"What's the catch?" Nori demanded immediately after the offer.
"None really. There's just this organization that believes we have failed as rulers, and they intend to take control of Fiction-land by eliminating you and me. They believe that with both of us gone, they can do away with the separation between light and dark, pleasing everyone with a forever in between."
"Like a continuous dusk? Sounds miserable."
"Yes, they call themselves the Twilight. There are more than you may expect, but if you search them out, you might just find the ice castle you're looking for."
"Th-they're the ones who have Warren?"
Xemnas just shrugged.
"Wait, how did you know I was looking for an ice castle?" Nori asked just before he realized, "You know where he is, don't you?"
"It's one of their four headquarters on the border between light and dark. It's in a land known simply as Ai." Xemnas almost turned to leave, but quickly added, "But in your rush to rescue your friend, do not forget that your mission is to destroy them. After all, without us, you wouldn't be this far."
Just before the three Nobodies disappeared through a new portal, Nori questioned, "Where's Roxas?"
"What?" Xemnas replied, turning around.
"It's been a year. Surely his memory is fixed by now. Where is he?"
Xemnas's mood seemed to change as he answered, "I do not know."
"What? What do you mean you don't know?" Nori called after him as he once again tried to leave. This time, though, he didn't stop leaving.
As light once again returned to their small circle, Akiko wondered, "What was that about?"
Nori excitedly burst through the door to his house, Akiko still following behind with the bewildered statement, "I still don't get it."
He rushed to his room, filtering through his things for what he needed. As he stuffed a space heater in his backpack, Nehemiah asked from the doorway, "Where are you going?" A nervous Hallom stood behind Nehemiah with a guilty look that said, sorry for telling on you.
"I'm going after Warren," Nori responded after the initial shock of being caught.
"You know where he is?"
Nori nodded.
"How did you find out?" Chiyo questioned, appearing at the door along with Vash and Kairi. "Not even the detectives have found out yet."
"I-I'm a crime fighter too," Nori stumbled out in a semi-lie. "Why can't I be the first one to figure things out?"
Vash knew that wasn't the real answer and once again glared at Nori, silently ordering him to tell his friends the truth.
With a sigh, Nori explained, "The day Warren was lost, I was with him. We were on our way home from asking all Roxas's friends if they knew where he was. Somewhere near Twilight Town, we were mobbed by twenty men with long hair, masks, and gunny sack dresses." He didn't seem too sure about that part but still continued, "They had this big blue ball and then there was a pain in my neck, and I woke up in an ice castle. We…um…I."
Nori had to stop the story because of his head. It wouldn't let him think about what happened. He faintly fell against the wall as the blue and electricity came back into view. Where had he seen that stripper before? Nori's eyes managed to flash open before darkness set in again. Everyone had squatted around Nori, who now sat on the floor, asking how he was.
Not bothering to answer their questions, Nori just continued, "Bad things…I don't remember what, but bad things happened there. Then, for some reason, I woke up again in a patch of wild flowers. I know they kept Warren, though. And now I know where."
"You knew all that and you told us you had no clue!" Chiyo exclaimed angrily. "Forget us! Why didn't you tell the detectives?"
After a moment, Nori answered, "Because…it's coming back so slowly. When I came back, all I knew was…masks, but if I had told the detectives I was with Warren, they would have interrogated me to no end, and who knows if anything would have come back. I just figured out where he is, okay? Just figured it out. Plus, where he is, I don't trust the detectives to be able to bring him back. We should do this ourselves."
"You mean you should do this yourself," Kairi corrected, noting that he hadn't bothered to include them until they cornered him with questions.
"Or with Akiko?" Chiyo added defensively. She was weird that way. Even though Chiyo still hadn't admitted to liking Nori, she had been chasing away other girls since the day they met.
"No," Nori insisted. "She just followed me here. Are you kidding? I wouldn't take her. She wouldn't be any help—no offense Akiko—but…I need someone with weapons, like you." He suddenly pointed at Hallom.
Hallom seemed slightly shocked as well as nervous that he had been chosen. Then, Nori also picked Kairi, and everyone else was surprised that she'd been chosen.
"What? She's the other one with a weapon," Nori defended.
Everyone gestured to Vash, and you could imagine flashing arrows pointing to him. Nori lamely excused, "Well, we don't want to bring too many. It's a quiet, secret mission. No guns." What he really meant was: I don't want my conscience getting in the way.
Vash understood that, whether Nori had wanted him to or not. Even though Vash didn't like that, whatever Nori was about to do, he didn't feel comfortable telling him. However, he intended to respect Nori's request to have no moral advice on the matter. He simply turned and walked away.
Nori was only phased by that for a moment before ending, "Come on. Let's go." Quickly changing his shoes, Nori left his cloak inside and went toward the dirt bikes. Hallom and Kairi were unsure of what just happened between the two friends, but, more concerned about Warren, they followed. Only moments later, the three were on the road to Ai.