Chapter Text
"UGH!" The platinum blonde slammed the keyboard into the trash.
"Rough day?"
"Don't even get me started, Kairi." He sighed as he flopped down onto the worn out couch beside her, "The boss was such a dick today and I swear, I'm about ready to kill him."
Their other roommate grabbed the keyboard from the trash and began wiping it off, "Well, don't go throwing away the goods, man!" He teased, looking at the platinum blonde, "Do it after you quit or get fired!"
"Wow, lots of faith you have in me, Axel."
"You betcha, Riku." The redhead teased.
"Well, regardless, why don't we all go out tonight? We can go out on the boat!" Kairi offered, "Look at the stars, enjoying the night-"
"Pretend we're under the dazzlingly lights of the beautiful and perfect park!" Axel rolled his eyes sarcastically.
Kairi huffed, "I wasn't suggesting that."
"I know, Kai, but we want to help Riku not remember work and-"
"I actually think it's a good idea." Riku smiled, "Stargazing. It's been awhile since we've done that. We've all been too busy."
Kairi smiled triumphantly, "See?"
Axel rolled his eyes again but smiled, "Alright, if Riku's down, so am I."
The three walked out of their small, worn down apartment and made their way to the small motorboat they owned. They got in and Riku drove it out into the water.
They found a nice open spot that wasn't completely overshadowed by the Heartfall Amusement Park, a floating amusement park that was built to make dreams come true. Once they had their spot, they parked and all three just looked up at the sky, smiling as they stargazed.
"Looks, pretty sure that's the Big Dipper!"
"I think it's the Little Dipper."
"Oh, whatever, same thing."
"They have slight differences.
"You know, no one asked you!"
"Hey, be nice!"
The three chuckled before Riku gasped, pointing, "Look, shooting star!"
The other two followed his finger and saw it too.
Only...
"That's... I don't think that's a shooting star!" Kairi yelled.
Axel moved and turned the motor on, beginning to drive, "No way! Did someone fucking jump out of the park?!"
They drove towards where they saw the person jump, unsure if they would even find anything. It took awhile, but they managed to get to the location.
They knew it was the right place because they saw a floating body in the water.
"O-Oh my god..." Kairi covered her mouth.
Axel slowed down the boat and they got close to the body. Riku grabbed at it and pulled it into the boat, all three gasping in shock.
"Is that...?"
"There's no way..."
"It can't be..."
They stared at a humanoid robot. One with caramel brown hair, eyes closed. The skin was a nice tan color, dressed in an old, torn, dirty white hospital gown. The gown itself was covered in blood and grime and dirt, stains of unknown origin splattered on it. It had clean and clear skin, but scars traced over its arms and legs in straight, deliberate lines. The middle and ring finger on its right hand were completely metal, as if someone had chopped them off and replaced them with just medal fingers, it's left hand also replaced from the wrist up to be entirely medal.
"It's an S0R4, a park android!"
"Yeah, but what make? And why is it dressed like this?" Kairi exclaimed.
"Who cares?!" Axel yelled, "We need to get this back to the house!"
"Agreed." Riku nodded.
They quickly went back to their apartment, the men carrying the android back inside as Kairi held the door open. They gently placed it on the couch before Riku grabbed his laptop and Axel grabbed some extra chargers and extension cords they had lying around (all "borrowed" from Riku's job).
"On its back, there should be a medal door you can open and reveal its circuitry. I can charge it and diagnose it to see if anything is wrong and what to do." Riku said after logging into his computer.
Kairi and Axel gently flipped the android onto its side before the woman pulled down the top of the hospital gown. She attempted to feel for the door Riku had mentioned...
"Riku, there's nothing."
"What? Of course there is!"
"I'm telling you, there's not."
Riku looked up from his laptop and began feeling the android's back.
"...That's... weird. All androids of the parks have one and the same location, makes it easier to fix if they're all the same or at least similar."
"Could it be somewhere else?" Axel asked, laying the android on its back, "Maybe its chest?"
Riku nodded and lifted up its gown before gasping. The other two looked and also gasped.
The android... the way it was modeled, it looked like a real chest, but the stomach was too thin, showing ribs, as if malnourished. There was a large scar vertically and horizontally across its chest, almost looking like surgical incisions.
"Why... Why would the park make this...?" Axel asked.
"I-It must be a new droid or something." Riku tried to reason, "I-I mean, it's not as full as the other ones, even its arms and legs seem to be thinner. Maybe this was either a prototype or an unfinished project? I mean, it did jump out of the park, so...?"
"Can you fix it?" Kairi asked.
Riki shrugged, "I would need a Repair Halo." He groaned dramatically, "Which means back to work for me!"
"We'll come too!" Axel reassured.
"Yeah, I wanna see this droid fixed up, too!" Kairi giggled.
Riku smiled, "Let's go to one of the labs that's towards the back. It'll have less security, so less of a chance of me getting in trouble."
The three, with Riku and Axel carrying the android, went back to their boat and Kairi began steering it this time. Riku gave her the directions with the android's head in his lap, gently running his fingers through its hair.
"Hey, uh, Riku, I got a question for you." Axel suddenly interrupted.
"Shoot."
"The H.E.A.R.T droids. Aren't they suppose to have like plastic hair?"
"Yeah. It keeps kids and stuff from accidentally falling or sticking in their hair."
"Then how have you been playing with this android's hair for the past 20 minutes?"
Riku widened his eyes and looked down, the android still in its resting or sleeping phase. He looked at his hand, that was currently tangled into the brown locks. If it was plastic, he would be tracing it, not combing through it. Not to mention, the hair felt... it felt real. Not like faux fur or like a wig or... anything other than real.
"I..." Riku cleared his throat, "This one must just be a really old prototype! I mean, that would explain all the scars and the clothes and the lack of a back plate. It's probably just one of the first of its kind and that's why it's so... odd."
The other two were silent.
"Let's just keep going."
It took about another hour and a half before they reached the checkpoint. From there, the three got off their boat and carried the android to the elevator. The elevator took them up to the lower basements before dinging, the three stepping off.
"Lower Basements. All the old, scrapped, or failed projects get thrown down here, forgotten, and never touched again."
"Hey, look!" Kairi grabbed a nearby cart, "This will make it easier to carry it!"
Axel and Riku put the android on the cart before the redhead began pushing it, he and Kairi following Riku as he took out a flashlight.
"Shouldn't take us too long." Riku reassured, "We'll be in and out in like half an hour."
"This place is crazy." Kairi exclaimed, looking around at all the piles of trash and giant pieces of buildings, "I mean, it's so big and so much. How could you fit all this crap down here?"
"Lots of money and an excessive amount of land." Riku snickered, looking over his shoulder, "So, once we get this droid fix, what should we-"
"Shhh." Axel suddenly hissed.
The other two looked at him, confused.
"Do you hear that?" He asked in a hushed whisper.
Kairi and Riku listened. It sounded like... machinery. Like something was moving, the hissing of its metal and buzzing of its circuits filling what should be an empty place.
The three looked around, trying to determine where it came from.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The three jumped and looked down at the android. It was still in its resting phase, but had shifted to laying on its side, curled up in a ball.
"Did it just-"
Kairi wasn't able to finish the sentence as a large towering figure began to rise up from behind them. They screeched in fear, looking up at a giant robot with glowing yellow eyes and a weird heart shaped sigil on its forehead.
"Fair Lady and Lords, I command thee release thy prince." It said in a robotic voice, lifting up a large sword, "If not, face retribution."
"RUN!" Riku screeched instead.
They screamed as they began running down the bridge. In response, the robot lifted its sword and swung it down. The impact from the sword destroy the bridge sent the three flying, landing on a nearby globe like building. They quickly got up, Axel throwing the android over his shoulder as Riku hacked into the system and opened the door. They quickly hid inside as the robots yellow eyes began to scan the area.
"What was that?!" Kairi asked.
"I-I don't know! There's not suppose to be something like that in here! It's a junkyard!" Riku yelled, "But, the android... it..."
"Screamed? Yeah." Axel confirmed.
"But none of the H.E.A.R.T androids are programmed to...?"
"Scream? No." Axel again confirmed.
The three were in stunned silence.
"Do you think it was trying to warn us?"
As if in cue, the android began groaning and trying to pull away from Axel. The three looked towards the doors and quickly got out of the way, just in time for the sword pierce through it. The robot used long, sharp, claw like fingers to pry the metal open more before scanning with its yellow eyes.
Once it confirmed the four were in there, the robot picked up the globe and threw it. The four screamed as they were tossed around, trying to find something to hold onto. Riku managed to grab something and looked at his friends to see if they were okay-
WHAM!
A cardboard box hit the back of Riku's head, causing him to loose his grip and fall unconscious.
***
Riku's eyes fluttered open as he laid under a spotlight. He was confused, turning his head weakly and seeing a...
A boy.
He looked to be in his early twenties. Brown spiky hair, sun-kissed tan skin, wearing a black and red hoodie with some matching jogger pants and yellow shoes. The boy looked over and had brilliant sky blue eyes.
He smiled, "Riku, was it?"
The platinum blonde nodded weakly.
The boy looked away. Riku followed his gaze and saw the robot from before.
"Sorry to have dragged you into this." The brunette stood, "Heartless. They're always so dramatic." He looked at Riku, "Tell you what. I'll handle this for you, and you owe me a burger and fries, kay? It's a deal!" He giggled.
"Who...?"
"RIKU!"
Riku's eyes fluttered open, this time for real. His arms were over Kairi and Axel's shoulders as he was brought into an elevator. He looked over his shoulder, seeing the brunette android standing up, snapping its fingers. It looked over its shoulders, piercing blue eyes meeting Riku's green eyes.
Wait, blue?
They got into the elevator and the doors closed, the three collapsing into the ground.
"Shit, Axel, your arm-!" Kairi exclaimed.
"Nnngh, it's fine, we'll visit Aqua and Terra-"
"The droid..." Riku murmured, "What... happened...?"
"W-We don't know!" Axel exclaimed.
"We need to help it!" Kairi yelled.
"How?!"
Suddenly, something splattered against the elevator doors. They stared at the dark crimson red liquid, seeing more splatter against the doors, more, more, and more. The three sort of hugged one another, terrified, watching as the same liquid began to pool under the doors.
It smelled of iron.
Blood.
The doors opened and the android stared at them with icy blue eyes, blood covering its hospital gown, feet, face, and hands. In its metal hand, it held some sort of key-like sword. It squeezed the handle of the sword and it seemed to sink into its medal hand. Once it was gone, the android's eyes rolled back into its head before it collapsed on the ground.
Riku pushed himself to sit up, groaning and grabbing his shoulder. He pushed through the pain and grabbed the android, pulling it into the elevator, the doors closing.
The three looked at one another. They hesitantly nodded at one another, the elevator beginning to go up. Once they made it to the floor with the Repair Halo, Riku and Kairi put the android's arms over their shoulders. Axel walked into the room and turned the lights on as the other two placed the droid on the bed.
Kairi and Axel stepped back as Riku moved to the computer and began typing away. The Repair Halo scanned the android before a password popup appeared.
Riku typed in his employee password.
"ACCESS DENIED. PLEASE ENTER THE CORRECT ADMIN PASSWORD."
"'Admin Password?'" Riku questioned, "H.E.A.R.T droids don't need an admin-" He paused.
He hesitated before typing in Heartless.
"ACCESS GRANTED. ADMIN PASSWORD ACCEPTED. INITIATING CARE FOR SORA."
"'Sora?'" Axel asked, "Do the droids have names?"
"I... don't know."
The Repair Halo had multiple robotic arms come out, beginning to wipe the blood clean from its body.
"SORA HAS FOUR BROKEN RIBS. SORA HAS LOST HIS STANDARD CLOTHING. SILLY SORA. SHALL WE LET THE WOUNDS HEAL NATURALLY OR REPLACE THEM WITH MECHANICAL RIBS?"
The three were silent. Silent in confusion, fear, and shock. What does that mean? How does a robot "heal naturally?"
Riku clicked that button.
"GOT IT. SORA SHALL HEAL NATURALLY." The robot arms removed the droid's hospital gown and stuck about four or five metal devices that automatically wrapped bandages around where the "broken ribs" were. Then, the arms redressed it with a normal black shirt, black and red hoodie, and matching cargo pants.
Once finished, a robot hand pat its head, "SORA IS ALL BETTER NOW. SORA SHALL WAKE UP IN APPROXIMATELY 120 MINUTES."
The Repair Halo retracted all of its robot arms.
And the three were still in shock.
***
"Okay, I have to straighten your arm."
Axel groaned and was handed a towel. He put it in his mouth to bit down on before he nodded at the other.
"Alright, three. Two. One."
The brunette snapped the arm back in place, Axel biting the towel and groaning in pain. Once it was back to normal, the man put a few small metal devices that wrapped a cast around it.
"There."
Axel removed the towel from his mouth, "Thanks, Terra."
The woman looked over the android, "You're saying it jumped out of the park?"
Kairi nodded, "I know it sounds crazy, but it did! And it saved us from this big crazy security robot thingy! You have to believe us, Aqua!"
"I do, I do." Aqua reassured, "You and Riku are not good liars, plus the actual android itself. Kinda hard not to believe you."
Riku sat in front of the android as it stayed in its resting phase. He was tuning out the others, just staring at it. The Repair Halo treated it more like a human than an android. He thought, The Halo said it'd wake up in two hours. It's been a little over that. Was it wrong? ...I wonder if I can extract its memory to see what happened... There's just no way this-
The android groaned.
Everyone faced it. Riku stood over it, watching as the android's face scrunched a bit before slowly opening its eyes.
Blue.
"Blue eyes." Riku murmured to himself.
The android's eyes landed on Riku.
.....And immediately grabbed his shoulders and slam him on the ground. Riku cried out before the droid wrapped its hands around his neck, choking.
"Riku-!"
The android turned to the others before pulling Riku into its chest, arm wrapping around the platinum blonde's neck.
"Let him-"
The android clenched its arm tighter, glaring as Terra tried to step forward, "Don't come any closer." It demanded.
"O-Okay, okay, we won't, but you-"
"Where am I. Who are you." The android demanded once more, "This one is dressed as a park engineer. Are you all like that. Answer."
"You can scan us, we're-"
"I don't scan people. That's a robot thing. I am not a robot."
Everyone was confused. How could it say that? They couldn't tell the difference between a robot or a human. Could they? Shouldn't it just know it was a prince or something?
"S-Sssorraaa-!" Riku choked out.
The brunette gasped and let Riku go, the platinum blonde falling forward and holding his neck, taking deep breaths. Aqua and Kairi immediately knelt in front of him, Kairi offering water as Aqua looked over his neck.
Meanwhile the... android crawled back until its back hit the wall. It stood up and looked around, grabbing a broom and holding it out in front of it to protect itself.
"How do you know my name?! Who are you?! Where am I?!" It hissed.
"Okay, look." Axel pointed to himself, "Me, Kai, and Riku found you after you jumped out of the park. We tried to fix you up at our place but ended up having to take you to a Repair Halo and brought you back here after you were fixed. It told us your name was Sora."
"Me? Need fixing?" It scoffed, rolling its head with its eyes to truly show how exasperated it was, "I told you, I'm not-"
Its eyes caught something. It moved to the left and saw a small circular table mirror. It knelt down, confused.
"They're... gone." It murmured, "When did they-" It lifted its hand, as if going to stroke its cheek.
Then it gasped, looking at its hand and seeing it was entirely metal. It began to shake, lifting its shirt before seeing the bandages.
"N-No... no, no, no-!" It let go of its shirt, "Wh-What did they take, what did they take?!"
"Woah, easy, take it easy-" Terra tried, stepping forward.
"DON'T!" It yelled, "Don't touch me-! You have no idea what's going on! They took something and I don't know what they took and I-"
"Relax, those bandages are to help heal your, uh, ribs." Axel reassured, "The Repair Halo said you had four broken ribs."
The brunette seemed to relax, "...These are from you?"
"Yeah. Kinda. The Repair Halo prompted us to see if we wanted to replace them with mechanical ribs, whatever that looks like."
"...You're still under the impression I'm one of those bots, aren't you?"
Everyone stared at the brunette.
"What else would you be?" Riku asked.
The brunette laughed. It looked around and grabbed one of the knives from the knife block.
"Woah, woah, take it easy-"
It interrupted Aqua, "You know, those park bots. They all took inspiration from someone."
It plunged the knife into its own arm, everyone screaming in shock.
Which quickly turned to terror as they watched red crimson blood dripped down the tan skin.
"Y-You're-!" Riku sputtered as everyone stared in horrific realization.
The androids in the park specifically have golden liquid on their insides. Any liquid they use or run on, like hydraulic fluids, are turned gold so if there's ever a malfunction, it doesn't ruin the magic by leaking black liquid. The golden liquid makes it look more magical to kids, or whatever.
So why is it dripping blood? Real blood?
"You're looking at what inspired those brown haired jester bots." The brunette's arm hung limply at its- his side, "The name is Sora."
Everyone was silent.
"...S0R4." Aqua said.
"Huh?"
"That's what we call those androids- er, your androids? It's the model, s-since they don't have names."
Sora stared at her. He removed the knife from his arm and threw it in the sink carelessly, "...Fucking bastard, that man is."
"Who-"
"The other models. What are they?"
Kairi answered, "Um, there's R0X45, V3N5, and V4N1."
Sora scoffed again, "Couldn't get our names out of their mouth..." He then widened his eyes, "Wait, if I'm here after jumping off, then I'm on the surface, right?!"
"Uh, yeah-!"
"SHIT-!" Sora, uncaring for his arm, ran to the door and pushed it open. He looked up and gasped, seeing...
"Hey, look, let's take a look at that arm before we do anything rash-"
"What's that?" Sora pointed up at the yellow ball in the sky.
Terra followed his point, "...That's the sun."
"It's... beautiful."
Terra was silent, looking down at the boy. He can't be any older than 23, maybe 24? But that's pushing it. Yet... he looks like a little kid, staring at the sun, like it's the most beautiful thing in the world.
"Come on, let's wrap that arm up." Terra gently nudged him back inside.
Sora stared a bit longer before nodding, turning around.
He walked inside, Terra looking at his back, What exactly has he gone through? What is that park hiding?
***
Aqua used one of the automated devices that wrapped Sora's arm up as Kairi and Terra made them lunch.
"Well, that's pretty cool." Sora traced his arm with the bandages, "Thank you."
"Of course." Aqua smiled reassuringly.
"So, uh, you're a human...ish." Riku said awkwardly, "Where have you been this whole time?"
"Either in a lab or in a cage." The brunette said casually with a shrug. He looked at his metal hand, clenching and unclenching it, "...So, he really did it."
"Uh, who did what?"
"Who do you think?" Sora slammed his hand down on the table as he stared at the platinum blonde with a raised eyebrow. He gave a fake smile and clapped his hands together, "The oh-so wonderful and perfect Mr. Ansem the Wise, the brilliant and amazing wizard who created Heartfall Park to make dreams became reality!" He faked gagged, "The real name for the bastard is Xehanort, and the only dream he wants to make come true is to see if he can make people immortal, starting with my brothers and I."
"Brothers?" Kairi asked, placing a plate in front of him. It was just a simple grilled cheese with some chips.
"Roxas, Ventus, Vanitas. The other inspirations for the other 'models.'" He explained, poking at his food, "...If we knew what he wanted, we wouldn't have gone with him."
"Do you mind if we ask what happened?" Kairi sat beside him.
"...We were kids. Lost our parents. Orphaned. Xehanort found us. He... He was nice." The brunette shrugged, "When we first met him, that is. Nice man. Took us in. He always was fascinated by robots and actually made us some tiny robot dogs to follow us, cheer us up when we were missing our parents..." He looked at her, "Do you know what H.E.A.R.T stands for?"
She shook her head.
He looked at the rest, everyone shook their head.
"Human Empathy Affection Response Technology. " Sora explained, "Those tiny robot dogs were AI that were specifically made to learn and cheer us up. They learned what made us sad, what made us happy, what scared us, what made us feel safe, etc. Seeing as they worked so well, Xehanort began his development of his other robots, until eventually he made the androids you all know about." He clenched his fists, "They are AI versions of my brothers and I, they developed and learned from us. Learned our mannerisms, learned how we act..." He looked at his metal hand, "...And once he had at least a prototype, that's when he started testing on us." He sighed, looking away from it, "Last memory I have was the last time I tried to run. One of his bots caught me and I fought, I remember getting a black eye and... the rest is a blur. You said I jumped out of the park, right?"
"Yeah."
"...I must've been super loopy if I still don't remember." He then looked at his hand again, "Then again, I'm sure he tried to keep me under for my full recovery after he took my hand." He scoffed, "How generous..." Sora murmured sarcastically.
Everyone was silent for awhile.
Sora then stood, "Thank you for your help, I should get going."
"Woah, woah, wait." Riku stood and grabbed his wrist, "Where are you going?"
"Back to the park."
"What, but you've been trying to get away and-"
"Did you forget I said I have brothers?" Sora huffed, "I'm not leaving them up there. If I get caught again, so be it. But there's no way I'm just going to sit here and live out the remainder of my life while they rot."
"Well, we'll come with you and help you." Axel offered.
Sora looked at him, "...What?"
"You heard me. We'll help you out. No offense, but the security bots will be able to clock you immediately if you go out like that."
"Why would you want to help me? You do realize you could get, like, killed or something, right?"
Axel shrugged, "We don't know what it's like living in the park, but you don't know what it's like living on the surface. That shit is nothing new."
Sora widened his eyes.
"How about you eat first?" Kairi pat where Sora was once sitting, "And while you eat, we'll think of a plan."
Sora was hesitant. He sat down and looked at his food, "...This is... food."
"Yeah. You, uh, know how to eat, right?"
"Yes, I know how to eat." Sora scoffed, "I'm not an idiot." He then sighed, "Just... haven't had real food in awhile."
He grabbed the grilled cheese and inspected it for a moment. Then, he opened his mouth and took a bite. He chewed for a few seconds before tears came to his eyes.
"Are you-"
"Ish good." He said, mouth full. He smiled a bit and began to scarf down the food.
***
Sora was given one of Terra's old jackers, which was way too big on him. However, the hood covered his face and, after they zipped it up, it went down to his knees like a poncho, covering most of his body.
"Kairi and I will stay back and keep an eye on you guys through the cameras." Aqua said as Kairi offered the four ear pieces, "We'll connect and talk to you guys through these."
The four put them in their ears.
"Surprised you can hack into their systems." Sora hummed.
"It helps when you got the best hacker on the team plus someone who works on the inside and steals their equipment!" Terra smiled smugly.
"Not stealing, borrowing!" Riku playfully corrected.
"You've 'borrowed' this extension cord for the past 2 years." Kairi teased.
Riku shrugged, "I never said when I'd give it back. I'm borrowing it for an extended period of time! Besides, they never do an inventory check on this shit."
The group shared a small chuckle before the other four left. They got onto the motor boat and began riding out on the ocean.
Sora pulled up his sleeve and widened his eyes, "Where's my watch?"
"Watch? You never had one." Riku responded.
Sora groaned, "Damn, I can't give you coordinates without them..."
"What about your hand?" Axel asked, "You, like, had a sword come out of it."
"I what?"
Terra looked between the redhead and platinum blonde, "...I'm guessing this happened when Sora was still out of it?"
"I, uh, yeah. Guess so."
Sora stared at his metal hand, truly looking over it. He looked at the palm and tapped his middle finger against it. A rectangular USB chip removed itself from his palm with a button on either side. He clicked the buttons and the chip turned into a key-like sword.
Sora widened his eyes and looked over it, confused, "...It's... it's like..." He was silent.
"Sora?" Riku questioned.
Sora squeezed the handle of the sword and the chip went back into his hand. He blinked a bit before turning his hand over, staring at it. He then specifically snapped his middle and ring fingers, a small holographic screen with a map on it.
"Seems this hand can do lots of things for his benefit." Sora smirked, "Too bad he's not going to be the one to use it."
With their map, Sora directed them on where to go. It took a long time, almost three hours, before they arrived at the destination. They climbed out and Sora led them to the elevator. Once inside the elevator, instead of just hitting one button, he hit a series of buttons in a specific order.
Once he finished, the elevator around them changed. It went from being see through glass into TV-like screens. Surrounding the group looked to be four different blueprints, each labeled differently with a silhouette of a person.
Roxas: Located in Sector A-4
Current Status: Resting
Vanitas: Located in Sector B-8
Current Status: Recovering
Ventus: Located in Sector C-1
Current Status: Under Observation
Sora: Located in [ UNKNOWN ]
Current Status: [ MISSING ]
[ IMMEDIATE ACTION IS REQUIRED ]
"Well, you're popular, Sora." Axel teased,
"What are these 'sectors?' The park is split up by locations and themes." Riku asked.
"The park? Yes. The underground labs where my brothers and I were held? No." Sora explained, clicking a button, "We'll go to Ven first. He's the closest to our current location and he needs the most help at the moment."
"I'm guess 'Under Observation' means the time before you guys are put under." Terra cringed.
"Exactly."
The elevator stopped on the floor they needed and, upon walking out, the other three were immediately weary. They walked out into what looked like a hospital hallways with white walls surrounding them, tiled floor, fluorescent lights buzzing. It was so unlike the park, which was super colorful and extraordinary, even the backstage and labs had a ton of bright colors that made your eyes hurt.
The brunette tapped his earpiece, "Anyone in the halls?"
"Nope, you guys are all clear!" Kairi responded.
Sora began walking down a hall, "This way."
"Sooooo... if you don't mind me asking, why did Xehanort build this park? It can't just be because he wanted to experiment on you guys." Riku asked.
"...He said he built it for us. We were his 'tiny miracles', his 'little princes.' When he first built it, there were no androids or robots or anything, just the rides." He sighed, "But, I guess he wanted to expand the park for others. And, in doing so, he got the idea of making his 'little princes' into the main attractions."
"What a bastard." Terra said.
Sora chuckled a bit, "Yeah... he is... and yet, it's so stupid of me to still... love him."
The others were silent.
"Even with all the shit he did to us, it wasn't all bad. He gave us a good childhood, some would argue the best. He spoiled us to death, truly treating us like his sons." He put his hands in the jacket pocket, "...Not sure what changed."
"It's not stupid." Axel reassured.
"You're holding onto the good memories. Anyone in your shoes would do the same." Riku added.
"...Thank you, I appreciate that."
They continued down the hall until they got to a door. Sora pressed a code into the panel next door, the doors opening. Once it did, he ran inside, the other three following. It was a long runway with guardrails to avoid any accidents. In the middle of the room was a circular platform, a hospital bed in the middle of the platform with a large protective tube surrounding it.
Someone dressed in a hospital gown laid on the bed.
"Ven!" Sora called as he ran over. He pressed against the tube, a screen appearing.
PLEASE INSERT THE ADMIN PASSWORD
"Let me, I-"
"No, it's not going to be the same as my password." Sora interrupted Riku, "Shit, I don't know theirs!" He raised his voice, "VEN! VEN, WAKE UP!"
The blonde boy on the bed groaned.
"VEN! WAKE UP! WHAT'S YOUR PASSWORD?!"
"S... Sor...?"
"PASSWORD, VEN!"
"Sora, he's out of it, he might not be able to help us." Terra said gently, "Is there anything you can think of that could be the password?"
"I-I don't know!" He groaned, "I just know mine! Mine was 'Heartless', because it was the opposite of what Xehanort called me! I was 'the heart of everything he built!'"
"Un..."
The four looked at Ventus.
The blonde was struggling, mouth agape, eyes half lidded and dazed.
"Ven!"
"Take it easy, kid, don't push yourself." Axel reassured.
Ventus managed to slowly turn his head, "Un... verse... d..." He managed to get out.
Riku typed it in. Unversed.
The tube lifted up and Sora stumbled towards the bed, grabbing Ventus's shoulders.
"Ven, Ven, it's me, it's okay!" Sora smiled, tears coming to his eyes, "You're safe, it's okay! W-We need to get out of here!"
"S-Sor..." He said weakly.
"It's okay, come on, let's-"
"S-Sor... can't feel..."
"What?"
"Can't feel... my legs..."
The brunette was confused and looked down. During the commotion, he failed to look past the hospital gown. His breath hitched as he noticed on of Ventus's legs was completely mechanical.
"Sor...?"
"You're just tired." Sora lied, smiling at him, petting his head, "W-Why don't you close your eyes and rest? W-We'll get outta here, okay?"
Ventus's nodded a bit, eyes rolling back into his skull. Terra moved and picked the blonde up bridal style.
"Is there a Repair Halo nearby? Maybe we can heal him before we head out."
"Y-Yeah, yeah, this way!"
They left the room and went to the room that was next door with the repair halo. Riku logged in and used the Admin Password.
"ACCESS GRANTED. ADMIN PASSWORD ACCEPTED. INITIATING CARE FOR VENTUS. VENTUS IS SEDATED AFTER A SUCCESSFUL SURGERY, WE ARE UNABLE TO FLUSH IS SYSTEM IN FEAR OF A BOTCHED RECOVERY. VENTUS HAS LOST HIS STANDARD CLOTHING. SILLY VENTUS."
The robot hands of the Repair Halo redressed Ventus in his normal clothes; a half black, half white hoodie over a black shirt and khaki joggers.
Once finished, it gently pat Ventus's head, "VENTUS IS ALL BETTER NOW. VENTUS SHALL WAKE UP IN APPROXIMATELY 24 HOURS."
Once the hands retracted, Terra picked him back up.
"Okay, let's-"
Suddenly, an alarm went off, everything beeping and red lights flashing.
"Shit, we must've alerted something!" Axel hissed.
"We gotta find a place to hide and then-"
"No, Sora, we gotta go!"
"WHAT?!"
Riku grabbed his shoulders, "Ventus is out of commission for at least a day until those sedatives wear off, Terra can't fight when carrying him, and he's going to be slower while carrying him! I'm not saying we can't come back, but right now, we're putting you, Ventus, and your other two brothers at more risk if we stay!"
Sora clearly understood, but didn't like it.
"Look, we can come back tomorrow, and when we do, Ventus will be by our side and we'll have more people to help save your brothers!"
"...Okay!"
"Aqua, Kairi, we need a safe route!" Axel said.
"As soon as you leave that room, head to the left! You'll meet a fork in the road and head right! But you gotta be quick, people are coming!"
The four ran out. They followed Aqua's instructions until they made it to the elevator. They got back down to the docks and quickly made their way to the boat. Once they were situated, Sora had Ventus lay in his lap as Terra steered.
As they began to move, Sora looked over his shoulders at the park.
...Hang in there, Rox, Vani... I'll be back.