Disclaimer: Look, we all know what the deal with
Kingdom Hearts is. It's a joint Squaresoft/Disney
venture, and one company or the other owns rights in
some fashion to every character in this story. 

Continuity: This takes place before Neverland and
after Atlantica. Yeah, I know, what a huge window,
right? :-p


KINGDOM HEARTS EXTRA-

The Hall of Lost Heroes 
Part 1

by Aaron Bergman.


"Welcome to the Hall of Lost Heroes."

Well. She was obviously expecting me to be shocked and
surprised at her words; however, I had better things
to do with my time than maintain a thin pretense. I
smiled up at her and sat up, wincing slightly at
expectation of pain in protest of my movement. 

My eyes widened a bit as I felt nothing, aside from a
slight soreness in my side. Now THIS was surprising.
Considering what I remembered of the crash, I surmised
that someone had cast a healing spell upon me in the
recent past, or perhaps used a device to accelerate
cell regeneration.

"Thaht's about what I thought. Garsh, what did you say
this world was called again?"

She blinked at me, looking a bit surprised at my
admittedly nonchalant attitude in being a stranger in
a strange land. "This is... the Hall of Lost Heroes.
My name is Rydia, newcomer. What is yours?"

"M'friends call me Goofy, and since almost everyone's
my friend, y'kin call me Goofy! Hyuk!" A wide grin
seemed to reassure her, and she smiled shyly. 

"Very well, then... Mr. Goofy." The young woman
brushed a strand of fine green hair from her face and
moved away from me, sitting on another bed nearby. 

As I looked around my new surroundings, it became
clear that I was in some sort of a semi-permanent
infirmary, with ten beds arranged in two lines along
the longer walls. A window in one end of the room was
open, as well as the door on the other end, thus
creating a fragrant breeze that reminded me most
pleasantly of our stay in Tarzan's jungle.

"Hey, where're Sora and Donald?"

She cleared her throat quietly. "Your companion, Mr.
Donald, left this morning in the company of Mr.
Fatima- er, Bart, and Darkwing. This area is dangerous
for the uninitiated. Who is Sora? You two were the
only ones we found on the Welcoming Green."

I absorbed that for a moment. This young woman -
Rydia, had she named herself? Yes - seemed sincere in
her statement that only Donald and I had been found.
Sora, it would seem, was absent...

"Welcomin' Green? What about our gummi ship?" 

She blinked. "'Gummi ship'? I'm afraid I don't know
what you're talking about, Mr. Goofy."

I winced as I swung my legs out of the bed. "Shucks,
no need fer that mister stuff, Miss Rydia, I'm just
plain ol' Goofy."

She reached out and patted my knee. "Then I'm just
Rydia, Goofy." 

I stood up and offered one hand to Rydia. "Garsh,
d'you wanna show me around? I'm sure Sora'll show up
sometime. He always does!"


****

Sora knew pain as though it were an old friend. Ever
since he'd been sucked from his peaceful island home
and cast adrift, the quest for his friends the only
anchor he had to cling to, the young man had endured
incredible hardships coupled with frequent injuries,
and experience had lent him some ability to judge
those injuries.

Sora's entire body was numb, with only slight tingles
coming from his limbs as a reminder that they were
still there, and he knew what it meant: That he was
going to be in a great deal of agony very, very soon. 

"Are you awake?" A woman's musical voice intruded into
Sora's detached contemplation of his immediate future
with the smoothness of a razor. The woman's  - no, she
was a lady, she had to be, with a voice like that -
every word was beautiful, her voice sliding up and
down in a way that made the simple sentence a lovely
song that mingled concern and hope in equal measure. 

Sora opened his eyes and nearly lost control of his
stomach as he found the entire world to be a sickening
blur that blurred together everything into a swirling
melange of colors. The young man closed his eyes again
and for the next few moments restrained the urge to
vomit all over himself. 

Once he felt ready to speak, Sora asked weakly, "Wh...
where am I?" The sound of his own voice, tortured and
thin, a harsh rasp against the soreness of his throat,
told the tale of how badly he'd been hurt.

A soft hand stroked his hair away from his forehead,
and for a second he imagined that it was Kairi
comforting him; just as she had a long time ago when
Sora had caught a disease which had left him bedridden
and weak for days. 

The illusion shattered when the mysterious lady spoke
again. "In a safe place, the only place that is safe
any more." This time, her song was of deep and abiding
sorrow, quavering at the edges with a knowledge of
grief that was beyond tears, and Sora felt a prickle
in his eyes at the sound of her voice. 

Resolutely, he continued questioning. "Where are my
friends?"

A long silence followed, and the lady's soft hand
stilled, resting gently just above Sora's brow.
Finally, when she spoke, the notes in her voice were
reluctant, the song muted. "...I'm afraid you were the
only one that I could rescue." 

"WHAT?!" Sora sat straight up, his eyes open and
searching for the face of his nursemaid, resolutely
ignoring the way that the world whirled and shook as
he moved. For the first time, he caught a glimpse of
the lady who was soothing him. 

She was nothing more than a blur of golden-green long
hair that mingled with the pale colors of her dress
and face, but the impression of huge eyes that
glimmered and shone woefully impressed themselves upon
his mind. Sora closed his eyes again and felt a tight
choking in his throat that he fought back. _I won't
cry, I won't!_

One smooth hand caressed his cheek, then rested
lightly on his shoulder. "I can't express how
sorrowful I am that I was only able to save you, young
Master-"

At her comforting song that offered surcease and
acceptance, Sora lost the battle against his tears.
They flooded forth from his eyes, and he bowed his
head away from her face. "My name... is Sor-r-raa..."

Gentle arms enfolded him and held him close as the
realization that he was once again alone, utterly and
completely alone, crushed him. Soothing scents of
medical herbs, a sweet perfume, and freshly washed
hair swept over him as he buried his face in her
shoulder and wept uncontrollably. "There, there,
Master Sora. It's all right to cry. Everyone does it,
their first night in this place."


****

True to her word, Rydia led me out of the small hall
where I'd woken up. I shielded my eyes from the bright
glare of the sun and peered curiously at the
ramshackle buildings around me. 

My first impression was a... less than positive one.
It seemed to me that all of the buildings had been
thrown together seemingly without care for anything
but a temporary shelter from the heat, showing no true
craftsmanship and even less care or maintainence.
Several desultory children playing in the streets
almost aimlessly, and a shaggy dog resting in the sun,
were the only prevalent signs of life as we strolled
down the dirt street that meandered through the huts.
The place had a _mood_ which somehow threatened even
my own ever-present smile, making me feel almost glum.

Taking in the wider view, I saw that the village was
in a clearing of sorts, most of the huts being based
around and between trees. A mountain dominated the
landscape, though if I judged correctly it wasn't a
truly huge upthrust. Despite the variety of trees that
grew in and around the village, the mountain was bare
to the rock, as though they refused to grow upon it.

The world was warm, almost tropical, without the true
oppressive heat I remembered so well from the jungles
(There had been moments in which I'd envied Sora for
lacking any fur save atop his head!) Rydia stepped out
onto a path that lead from the small clearing.

"This way is to the cove. Shall I show you it?" Her
smile faltered after just a moment's existence.
"It's... beautiful, I guess."

I nodded and laughed, trying to jolly her up a bit.
"Garsh, that sounds great!" Unfortunately, my attempt
failed to bring her spirits up even slightly, and she
turned away without another word. Shrugging, I
followed her into the almost-forest. There would be
other chances to cheer her spirits, if I just waited
for the proper moment. 

If it's one thing I'm good at, it's waiting. Of
course, all you need to do some _serious_ thinking is
time and quiet; who needs to be impatient when you can
ponder anything your mind turns to?

A large pig sitting on a log looked up from the block
of wood he was listlessly whittling at our approach.
The tattered remains of a khaki uniform covered his
wide frame, and he peered out from underneath a fedora
that matched his uniform as he nodded to my guide.
"Hey, Rydia." 

She half-turned and indicated me with a slight
gesture. "Hello, Mr. Russo. This is Mr. Goofy, one of
the newcomers. Mr. Goofy, this is Mr. Russo."

He waved one hand and winced visibly. "Please, just
call me Porco." He sounded so like myself, just a few
minutes before, that I gave him a companionable grin.
He returned it and said, "Welcome to the afterlife,
Goofy. I was expecting something a bit more
entertaining from the brochures, weren't you?"

My brow furrowed in confusion, the momentary grin
gone. "What're y'talkin' about?"

A frown appeared on Rydia's face and she glared at
Roy. "Mr. Russo, you know how confused we all were
when we first came here. Mr. Goofy probably hasn't
quite realized what's going on yet."

Porco nodded again, this time apologetically. "Got it.
I am sorry, Goofy, I did not realize how new you were.
I've been up on the mountain the last few days,
just... thinking." With a thoughtful air, he fingered
an old scar that matched a tear in his sleeve, and
Rydia moved on without another word. 

Soon enough, we arrived at the cove she'd been guiding
me to. Indeed, her description of the cove as
'beautiful' failed to do it justice. Crystalline water
danced over the glorious multihued miniature reefs and
undersea forests that waved in a hypnotic, repetitive
motion. Beautiful fishes and other aquatic life
darted, half-glimpsed, amid the splendor ofthat watery
jungle. Rydia led me up to a small promentory that
arched over the cove, looking down into the water and
motioning for me to do the same. However, I didn't
enjoy the cove as much as I should have, distracted as
I was by musings upon the town's subdued mood.

After perhaps five minutes of wandering near the
truth, the answer occurred to me so suddenly that I
accidentally spoke my thoughts aloud. "Garsh,
everyone's so sad!" 

Rydia looked over her shoulder at me, and armed with
my new knowledge of how everyone here felt I saw her
as if for the first time. The slight quaver of her
chin, the glistening of her eyes, the way that her
gaze shifted away from mine ever so subtly... all of
those bespoke the way that she was barely holding back
the tears. Still, she kept a brave face as she nodded
once and said, "Yes. This is a graveyard. Or perhaps
it's Purgatory, eternity's holding pen for all of us
trapped here." 

Rydia sat down on a large rock that had been sculpted
into a crude bench, and I sat beside her. She looked
up from the water and scanned the beach for several
long moments, letting silence hang between us.

When the young woman finally spoke, it was as if each
new word was a terrible burden, one that she regretted
having to share. "All of us here were once heroes,
defenders of our worlds. I..." 

She flashed a brilliant, though brief, smile. "I don't
have time to tell you my story, but don't get some of
the others started on theirs, they'll never stop
talking!" 

The smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
"Each of us were the first in line against a
mysterious, shadowy enemy that swarmed our world,
attacking without mercy, stealing the life from our
people. And..." 

Against Rydia's will, her mask began to crack, her
chin shaking as emotion besieged her. "And each of
us..." Tears began to well from her memory-darkened
eyes. "Each of us... were the last to die, swallowed
by the darkness." 

Her face went into her hands and she wept
uncontrollably, her next words barely interpertable.
"We f-f-fought to the last, and it wasn't good
enough..." 

She lifted her head and wailed to the pure azure sky,
"I WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH!!!" After that despairing cry,
she put her face back into her hands and wept
uncontrollably.

I put one arm around her and said comfortingly, "The
Heartless ain't easy to fight, Miss Rydia. They eat
hate... they eat fear... but most of all, they eat
doubt. Garsh, if you doubt, even for a second, even
for a teensy bit of a second, that you can beat 'em,
then they've won."

She turned away from her hands and burrowed her face
into my shoulder, so I stroked her hair as
comfortingly as I could. She sobbed, "B-b-but I
n-n-never doubted... and I still lost..." Her hot
tears soaked through my vest. "All my friends...
Leviathan, the Sylphs, Bahamut... I can't hear them
any more, I can't call them any more... they're gone."
She lifted her tear-soaked face to me. "Why am I not
with them? Why am I being punished?"

I didn't answer. I couldn't answer. For long moments,
she looked at me. As she turned her head back into my
shoulders, a terrible, terrible theory spread dark
tendrils in my fertile imagination. 

It was a theory that I could never tell her. From what
I could see, the memories of those last moments still
haunted her too terribly to share the truth of why she
was here. It could destroy the poor girl to know why
her friends, whomever they were, were not trapped here
with her.

I could only hope that I was wrong.

"Ghoofhy!"

At the shout, Rydia turned away and her tears dried
up, as if she were closing away some part of herself
that, for some unknown reason, the young woman had let
me glimpse briefly. That begged the question of why
_me_, but sadly, as Donald was approaching rapidly
with two rather mismatched companions in tow, it seems
the answer would have to await a more opportune time.

One was a tall, slender blonde man with darkly tanned
skin, who had an eyepatch rakishly placed over one eye
and a whip coiled up upon his belt. The other was
another duck much like Goofy, but was dressed quite
tastelessly in a giant purple hat with matching purple
cape and suit; an outfit most unsuited for this
weather. 

Before either of the newcomers could say a word,
Donald seized my arm and motioned with a jerk of his
head towards the forest. "I NHEED to talk to yhou!"

I graciously nodded to Rydia. "Shucks, if y'll excuse
me for a moment..." I stood slowly and followed my
avian companion to the edge of the jungle.

Once we stepped within its borders, he turned to me
and hissed urgently, "All these pheople here are
Summhon Ghems!"

I nodded once. "Yep, that's about what I thought!
Garsh, ain't it great that we-"

"Kheep it down!" Donald held one finger to his beak
and I followed his gaze to the threesome that we'd
left standing around. Rydia had stood up just after
I'd left and was talking quietly with the two
strangers. "They dhon't know what they are, and they
think that this place is punishment fhor-"

I interrupted. "Fer failin' to hold back the
Heartless." A dozen remembered comments from my
conversation with Rydia came back to me, and I gasped.
"Garsh, maybe they think that _we're_-"

"They do, Ghoofy." Donald leaned closer. "And there's
nho sign of Sorah or the Ghummi Ship anywhere! Whe're
trapped here."

"We gotta find Sora, Donald."

Donald nodded solemnly. "I know, Ghoofy, I know."



-END Part 1

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