Volume 7
Chapters
Story
Chapter 24: Sora
Rei makes her way to Sora. Riku tries to stop her, but DiZ tells him to let her go, saying that Sora can knock some sense into her. They use this time to leave the mansion before Sora can find them. Rei recalls a conversation between her, Riku and Naminé, where they expressed their appreciation and admiration for him. She had once before looked forward to meeting him, but now she is only filled with jealousy and rage.
Sora slowly wakes up and finds his friends Goofy and Donald waiting for him. They begin to catch up and wonder where they could be. A hooded figure appears behind both Goofy and Donald. By using two sleep spells, she knocks them out. They both draw their weapons, Sora demands to know who she is, but Rei instead accuses Sora of taking "him" away, her mind clouded by anger. They begin fighting. Sora, still weak from just waking up, is overpowered and disarmed. Rei reveals herself, takes his Keyblade and points it to him, mocking him. Her hair has turned white, resembling Rin's appearance. Noticing Rei's injury from her fight with Axel, he grabs the end of the Keyblade, and rushes towards Rei, pulling her wounded arm and knocking the Keyblade from her grip. He then strikes her and knocks her to the ground. Rei's hair turns back to normal as she regains her senses. He tells her he doesn't know her or what he did, but he won't let her get away with hurting his friends. Rei notices that the sleep spell on Goofy and Donald is wearing off, and chooses to retreat. Before she leaves the room, Sora sudden calls out her name. She turns around, both of them shocked, but chooses to leave when Goofy and Donald come to.
Sora attempts to stop her, but Jiminy suggests they let her go. After all, they don't know where they are or how they ended up there. When Goofy and Donald regain consciousness, Sora tells them what happened. They are relieved to hear that Rei is okay, but confused on why she would attack Sora. They decide to leave the mansion to get some answers.
Rei runs to Naminé's room, desperately trying to find her, but her room is empty. On the table is a book with Rei's name on it. Before she can look through it, she hears Sora, Donald, and Goofy. She quickly puts it in her bag and leaves.
Chapter 25: Lost Again
Rei makes her way to Yen Sid, who is surprised to see her visit. Yen Sid scolds her for her actions in Twilight Town, questioning her logic and trying to understand her intentions. Rei stands by her motives, but recognizes that she behaved inappropriately. She believed that DiZ had taken it too far, and how they went about doing it wasn't right. Yen Sid provides a counter argument, saying that Roxas was at least able to live a few days in a normal life. His fate was inevitable for Sora to wake up, and there was no changing that. Rei expresses her doubts in Sora, and Yen Sid hopes that she has a change of heart upon getting to know him.
They hear sounds outside of the door. Yen Sid tells Rei that heartless have infiltrated the Tower, and he had manipulated the rooms to keep them from reaching the top. He tells her that Sora, Donald, and Goofy had been taking care of the threat. Shocked, she tells Yen Sid that she's not ready to face him again. With no where to hide, Yen Sid casts an invisibility spell on her and pushes her to the corner. Shortly after Sora enters.
After Yen Sid teaches Sora about their upcoming threats, the nobodies and Organization XIII, he sends them to the other room to retrieve some new gear. Rei comes out of hiding, asking Yen Sid if he really believes that nobodies as a whole cannot be considered evil and undesirable. Yen Sid retorts with the purpose of the Keyblade: to maintain balance. Heartless and nobodies are part of this balance, but people like Maleficent and Organization XIII force them to take appropriate action. By endangering the safety of the other worlds, millions of lives are at stake. As a response, those who use and abuse the power of darkness should be treated as enemies. Without knowing the true intentions of the Organization, one must take the appropriate precautions.
Rei challenges the idea, stating that the power of light can also be abused. She's not excusing the misdeeds of their enemies or the threat they cause, but if there's a way to help nobodies to be whole, she believes they have the power of helping them. She claims that the light is so blinding that it causes them to not see their own flaws and manipulative tactics, using the excuse to uphold the balance. When you treat someone as an enemy without understanding them, you plunge them further into darkness, forcing them into isolation and resentment. It feeds into an endless cycle of hate. Yen Sid gives Rei's ideology merit, but is hard to achieve in a realistic world. One can not force a change of heart. It is up to the person to find that within themselves.
He encourages Rei to depart unless she wishes to meet Sora formally. He gives his condolences to Rei, and hopes she is able to find a sense of peace despite what has transpired. Before she leaves, however, he warns her: Sora is not someone you would want as an enemy.
Chapter 26: An Old Friend
As a means of escapism, Rei uses the star shard to warp far away so she can clear her mind. She had often used it during her travels. It seemed to know exactly where to take her. Rei ends up in Olympus Coliseum. She is surprised by an attack by a large three headed dog, an attack that consisted of excited licking and nudges for pets.
It isn't until the dog is called off that she realizes it was Cerberus, and she sees behind him Pain, Panic, and Hades. Hades greets her, surprised to see a familiar face, especially after she disappeared. Sensing the tension, Hades offers to show her around the Underworld ("because what better way to forget about your own suffering by watching other people who have it worse than you") and eventually takes her to his chamber where he tries to offer some food (she knows not to take it). There, Hades catches her up on the demise of Maleficent. Out of everyone, he was the only one not consumed by the darkness. The others had gotten comfortable and careless. Not to mention the meddling of the Keyblade. Hades is able to sense Rei's discomfort whenever he mentions Maleficent, so to change the subject, he asks Rei about what she's been doing since she left.
Rei expresses her troubles with darkness and frustrations with Sora. Hades asks Rei what she wants. She's confused at first, but Hades encourages her to find the answers to her problems. Does she just want to find someone to trash talk Sora? He's fine with that, he hates him too. Does she want him to attack him and the rest of Olympus with a hydra? Already planned on doing that. Does she want to just take her mind off things? They can take a nice stroll through the Valley of the Dead. But if she's looking for some kind of answer, he can't necessarily provide that. If there's something she thinks she can get done, she has the power to make that change happen. Hades doesn't approve of his brother Zeus' arrogance, so Hades refuses to stroke his ego like everyone else on Olympus. That's something he can do for himself and something he can stand by. Not everyone may like his methods, but he can manage his darkness just fine and believes his path is what is best for him. He explains to Rei that he doesn't want her to end up like the others. He encourages her to find the balance she needs, or else the darkness will take her too.
Before Rei leaves, Hades tells her that she should have never gotten mixed up with Maleficent. It was something he knew, that everyone knew. He apologizes to her, saying that he should've said something sooner, and she could've gotten out of there. Rei tells him that it's not his fault, but appreciates his sincerity. He shouldn't be sorry for the wrongdoings someone else did, and she doesn't blame him. She just has to separate from him because it does bring back a lot of unhappy memories. Hades said that even if she doesn't want to see him, Cerberus could always use a dog sitter. She's welcome to visit any time. Rei smiles and thanks Hades for taking the time to listen to her. He brushes it off, telling her it was the least he could do after she spent the time listening to everyone else's problems.
Chapter 27: Axel
Rei returns to Twilight Town and searches for clues as to where Naminé could have gone. With no leads, she decides to head to the clock tower. Finally finding a moment of peace, it seems like her emotions suddenly come forth. All of the pent up anger and sadness start spilling out as tears. She doesn't know that Axel had also come to take refuge on the clock tower.
Axel sits next to her to her surprise. They both ask how the other is doing. Rei has been trying to repress her emotions, but it only allows her nightmare to grow stronger. She's once again losing control. What scares her most was when Rin took over during her battle with Sora, the feelings were real. They were still hers. Rei apologizes to Axel for not protecting Roxas, and Axel apologizes for the things he said. The two make up as they mourn together for their friend. Axel wonders out loud if there's anyway he could get him back. Rei explains the concepts of heart, body and soul to Axel, saying theoretically a nobody should be formed when a person with a strong will loses their heart. Axel realizes that Rei's plan involves turning Sora into heartless. Surprised, he asks which side she's on. Rei simply states that she just wants her friend back. Axel agrees, and tells her to leave the dirty work to him. Before he leaves, Rei thanks him. They both hope that the next time they meet, it'll be when they can all eat ice cream as they watch the sunset.
As Rei is venturing between worlds, she senses a familiar sense of dread. She recognizes it instantly. The heartless are here and invading this sector. She checks her map to see the nearby worlds, only to find Disney Castle in the middle of the darkness. Panicked, she makes her way towards the Castle, knowing that if the heartless were there, something must have happened to the Cornerstone of Light.
References
Original Characters
Rei • Rin the Foresaken
Kingdom Hearts Characters
Sora • Riku • DiZ • Naminé • Axel
Disney Characters
Goofy • Donald Duck • Jiminy • Yen Sid • Cerberus • Hades • Pain and Panic
Locations