Entry tags:
- asuka,
- aw verse,
- evangelion,
- fanfic,
- gundam wing,
- kairi,
- kingdom hearts,
- riku,
- shinji,
- sora,
- writing
Fic: Awakenings (Chapter 4)
Title: Awakenings
Awakenings
Chapter 4
When Shinji woke up sometime later, he was pleasantly surprised to find that in addition to his arm, the rest of his body was feeling stronger now, as well. Though there was no one else in the room with him this time, he heard the muffled sound of conversation downstairs that told him the others were still in the house. Sitting up and stretching, he pushed the covers off of himself and stood up. Finding his sneakers by the foot of the bed, he slipped them on and started walking down the wooden stairs just outside the door to Aerith's room.
The room at the foot of the stairs was messy, loud, and above all else, crowded. Books were piled on shelves, tables, chairs, and even the floor, a few occupants of the room standing where there was no sitting room. In contrast to the books, however, a whole section of the room was devoted to a large computer, where a scruffy-looking blond man was smoking a cigarette and typing rapidly and a brunet man in black leather pants was looking over his shoulder and giving suggestions. Near where Riku and Kairi were sitting, a girl with short, black hair was talking excitedly and gesturing wildly, causing Kairi to cover her mouth as she giggled. When Shinji walked into the room, Asuka, who'd been browsing one of the bookshelves, looked over towards the stairs and caught his eye.
"Oh, you're finally awake," she said, sounding bored-on-purpose. All the other eyes in the room immediately turned to Shinji, including those of Sora, Aerith, and an old man with a long beard in pale blue robes, who had apparently walked in from another room when they heard Asuka speak. Asuka, however, turned to Kairi, almost as if dismissing Shinji once she knew where he was. "Does this mean we can go to the next world now?"
"Yes," Kairi answered, with a smile, "but not before we introduce Shinji to the rest of the Restoration Committee." Shinji wondered how the girl could be so patient with someone like Asuka, and also absently wondered if that was because of that princess-without-darkness condition she mentioned earlier. "This," she said to Shinji, gesturing to the upbeat girl she'd been talking to earlier, "is Yuffie."
"The greatest ninja in the world!" the girl, Yuffie, said brightly, with a large smile. "It's great to finally meet you when you're conscious." As for Shinji himself, he just nodded slowly, under the impression that great ninja were supposed to be stealthy instead of loud and outgoing.
"The one at the computer is Cid," Kairi continued, as the man in question waved a hand distractedly before returning to typing on the computer. "The one with him is Leon, the leader of the Committee…" Now that the brunet man was facing him, Shinji could see that a scar ran diagonally on his face, from his right brow, down across his nose, and to the left. Leon inclined his head in acknowledgment and crossed his arms. "…and the one with Sora and Aerith is the wizard Merlin, who also owns this house." Well, that was certainly a lot of people.
"Thank you for letting us stay in your house," Shinji said, bowing towards the committee.
"So polite!" he thought he heard Aerith say, pleased, but she was quickly interrupted by Asuka.
"Wait… Merlin the Wizard?" she exclaimed, shocked. "The Merlin?"
"Yes, I'm that Merlin," the wizard replied, laughing. "In fact, I was instructed by King Mickey to teach you kids the basics in magic before you depart." Asuka seemed awed, but Shinji was still a bit confused.
"We're going to learn magic?" he asked, and Merlin nodded.
"Please follow me into the training room," Merlin said, and gestured at Shinji and Asuka to follow him down a set of stairs that Shinji could've sworn hadn't been there a second ago. They did so, and ended up in a stone-walled room with what seemed like a lot of beaten-up, old furniture. "Now," Merlin explained, once the three of them were downstairs, "I'm going to give each of you just one spell to start out with, but as you continue to grow stronger, you'll start to pick up the rest on your own." He snapped his fingers, and a thick, leather-bound book appeared out of thin air. He flipped through the old tome for a few moments, then stopped, a smile on his face, and plucked two pages out of it. "For the young lady," he began, and presented Asuka with a page; it disappeared in a burst of red sparks once she touched it, "and for the young gentleman," and he handed the other page to Shinji. When Shinji's fingers came in contact with it, it too disappeared, this time with blue sparks, as well as a tingling sensation that traveled through his arm to sit in his chest.
"What was that?" Shinji asked the wizard, who pushed his glasses further up his nose.
"Ah, yes," Merlin responded. "Now, if you'll take out your keyblades and aim them at one of the targets I've provided for you," and he gestured at the furniture as he did so, "you will be able to create the demonstration yourselves. If the young lady will start us off?" Asuka seemed to find being called a young lady somewhat awkward, but complied and took out her keyblade, pointing it at a wooden chair. "Concentrate," Merlin said, "and feel what magic you want to cast." Asuka furrowed her brow, and after a moment of concentration, a small fireball shot out from the tip of her keyblade and set the chair aflame. "Excellent!"
"Simple," Asuka said, looking pleased with herself.
"Now," Merlin continued, "if the young gentleman will take his turn?" Shinji nodded, called his keyblade to his hand, and pointed it at another of the chairs. "Remember, feel which magic you want to cast." Shinji thought about that tingling he'd experienced earlier, and willed it to travel from inside of him and out of his keyblade. After a few seconds, he felt a burst of slightly chilled energy travel through the keyblade, shooting out at the chair as a small chunk of ice that also froze the chair in its place. "Well done, Shinji."
"Did I really do that?" Shinji wondered aloud, looking from his keyblade back to the chair.
"Always remember, you two," Merlin said, with a hint of seriousness, "that the keyblade is a very powerful weapon. It is up to you two to each unlock its secrets and discover how best to use that power." Asuka looked at her own keyblade determinedly, then back at Merlin, though she didn't say anything. After a moment of silence, Shinji nodded at Merlin, who seemed satisfied by these two responses. "Now, I believe you two have a journey to complete, along with the others, so I won't keep you any longer."
"Thank you," Shinji said, again giving a small bow. Merlin inclined his head, and then with another snap of his fingers, made the stairs appear once again, as well as undo the magic that had been performed on the two chairs. With that, Shinji climbed back up the stairs, Asuka following behind him. Sora gave them a little wave when the two of them stepped back into the main room, and started to speak as they approached him.
"Riku, Kairi, and I are ready to go," Sora said, "and the letter we got from King Mickey says which world we need to go to in order to find the other Keybearers." There was another mention of that king of theirs.
"Your king sent you a letter?" Shinji asked. He silently wondered if the three of them were secretly royalty in disguise. Sora looked unsure as to how to respond, but Riku quickly explained.
"He's investigating more about the enemy himself," Riku responded, lifting one of the bags of supplies over his shoulder. "Probably those brothers." Riku probably meant that man Loz, and the group he seemed to be associated with. And their mother… "We'll give you the details once we're on the ship."
"The ship?"
"How do you think we got here, stupid?" Asuka said. "Their spaceship." They'd been in a spaceship? Shinji didn't remember any of that.
"Oh, right," Sora laughed, rubbing the back of his neck momentarily. "Forgot you weren't exactly conscious for that part." Riku and Kairi exchanged an amused look as Sora picked up another of the bags himself and then planted a smile firmly on his face. "Anyway, since you're healed now and we've got all our supplies, let's get going." They said goodbye to the Restoration Committee and started to walk to the ship's hangar, quite a few people waving to Sora as they crossed a small shopping area. When they finally got to the ship itself, it was... not quite what Shinji expected.
"It's so… small." Apart from the window on the cockpit, the rest of the ship – blocky and brightly-colored in a strange combination of orange, yellow, blue purple, white, and neon green – barely seemed like it could fit the group. It certainly didn't look like it could fit the myriad of supplies that the others claimed had been bought; in addition to the bags that Sora and Riku were carrying, there were also four wooden crates stamped with RG and a picture of some… small, portly creature with wings and a large antenna on them.
"It's bigger on the inside," Sora said helpfully, opening the hatch in side of the ship and gesturing with his free hand for the others to follow. That… didn't really make sense, and it must've shown on Shinji's face. "It's part of the magic," he explained, grinning. "If you guys could help bring those crates back to the galley and storage in the aft, we can get going." With that, Sora went into the ship, followed by Riku with his own load of bags. Turning to walk over to the crates, one of which was already being lifted and carried by Kairi, Shinji was pleased to find out that they weren't actually that heavy. Although Asuka had a somewhat sullen expression on her face, presumably at the thought of being told what to do, Shinji was actually looking forward to the trip a little more. And when he actually stepped into the ship itself, his mouth dropped open a little.
It really was bigger on the inside than the outside. The first area they entered was a combination of work-and-rest area, with a big, chart-and-instrument-covered table with chairs and a few lower tables with benches. To one side was a hatch which seemed to lead to the cockpit, but Shinji followed to others to the hatch on the other side, which led to an area with sleeping berths. Sora and Riku put their bags down there, but Kairi continued walking through the area to another hatch further on.
"I'll go get the other crate," Shinji heard Riku say from over his shoulder.
"Thanks!" Kairi called back brightly, then looked over her shoulder at Shinji and Asuka. "Follow me." They did so, and Kairi led them through what looked like the ship's galley. At the far end of the galley were two smaller hatches, and Kairi set her crate down to open both of those. One of the compartments seemed standard enough, but the other one had a soft green-blue glow emanating from within. "The food goes in this one," Kairi explained, gesturing towards the glowing compartment, "in stasis, so it doesn't go bad. I think Asuka's crate and mine are the ones with the food, and Shinji's is other supplies. Since the ship is fairly small, it's important to keep everything in its proper place." With that, she opened the hinge of her crate to double-check, picked it up again, and started moving its contents into various areas of the compartment.
Not really knowing what to do besides follow her lead, Shinji set his crate down to look inside. Cleaning supplies and toilet paper, how mundane for a magical spaceship. Looking inside of the compartment to see where the things should go, he tried to put everything in a place that made sense with what items were already there.
"The sleeping area is small, too," Asuka commented, looking through her crate as well. "Does it get annoying, having to share a space with two guys? How do you get any privacy?"
"That sort of privacy isn't really a concern for the three of us," Kairi responded serenely. Shinji looked up from his crate to look at her. Did she mean… "We're very close." Were Kairi, Sora, and Riku really in that kind of a relationship? "You might as well know now, since we'll be traveling together for a while." She was smiling, and while Asuka's eyebrows had disappeared into her bangs, and Shinji felt like his face was warm, Kairi didn't seem bothered by this in the slightest.
"…Oh," was all Asuka said. "That's… okay."
"I'm glad you understand," Kairi said. But it also seemed to be the end of the discussion, so Shinji turned back to finish emptying his crate, ears still with the faintest hint of pink. Kairi acted like she didn't want to make a big deal of it, so… Shinji would leave them their privacy and not ask about it. He finished quickly after, and was about to close the hatch again, when Kairi stopped him. "Riku's still getting the other crate," she reminded him, "so you can leave that for now." Shinji nodded, but now he wasn't really sure what he was supposed to be doing. "Why don't you go help Sora unpack the other stuff? He said he got something that you might be interested in."
"Alright," he responded, then turned back towards the sleeping area once again. On his way, he had to stop and make himself flat against the bulkhead in order to let Riku pass; the silver-haired boy nodded at him, but didn't speak otherwise. In the sleeping area, Sora was unpacking one of the bags and separating the contents onto different beds. When he heard Shinji come in, he looked up and smiled.
"Kairi said I should help you unpack here," Shinji said, not entirely sure that he knew where everything should go.
"Great!" Sora responded. "C'mere." Shinji obliged and walked up to the bag Sora was currently emptying. "You guys didn't seem to have anything with you when we picked you up," Sora started, and Shinji assumed he was referring to Asuka and himself, "so we picked up some pajamas and stuff for you to wear at night. We don't have extra clothes, but Kairi got some special detergent that's gonna make them more durable." He handed a pile of clothes and toiletries to Shinji. "There's lockers under the bunks where you can store those; just write your name on the card at the front."
"Thank you," Shinji responded, blinking a few times, then turning to look for a locker.
"No problem," Sora responded. Shinji saw one that didn't seem to have a name on it yet and pulled it out from under the bunk. Opening it, he divided the things Sora had bought into the various compartments within. "I got a pencil somewhere…" Shinji stood back up to see Sora digging in his pockets, concentrating. After a few more seconds, a triumphant expression appeared on Sora's face and he pulled out a short, though still usable, pencil. "Here you go." Shinji made a noise of acknowledgement, and then knelt down to pull the card out of the plastic cover at the front of the locker. "Which reminds me…" Shinji wrote down his name, put the card back in, pushed the locker under the bunk, and then turned to face Sora once more.
"What is it?" Sora seemed to be holding some sort of small knapsack.
"We got one of each for you and Asuka, since I figured you'd be needing them." He traded the pencil in Shinji's hand for the knapsack. "It's enchanted to be bigger on the inside," like a lot of things were, apparently, "so you can put as much stuff in there as you want and it'll never get full. I put some other stuff in there for you to use, since it'll be useful when we have to fight next. Oh, and if you put the bag in your pocket, it'll shrink to fit, but when it's that small, you can't use everything at once."
"You went through all this trouble for us…" Shinji murmured, "but we're new, we don't have the money to pay for all this." The knapsack, especially, seemed expensive. And inside were a few potions and some sort of bangle. He took out the bangle and looked back up at Sora, who was smiling.
"Well, you're new to this, right?" Sora responded. "But we're a team here, so everyone helps each other out. And we're friends, right?" Sora seemed to Shinji like the type of person who made friends easily, but Shinji was already friends with Roxas, wasn't he? That probably made him friends with Sora, at least halfway. Back when he'd been fighting for NERV, people hadn't been so generous. And out of those he'd considered friends… they were unreachable now. He wasn't even sure if Asuka counted, either, no matter the fact that they were now fighting together again. But maybe that could change, now, and Shinji found himself wanting to try.
"Right. Thank you." Sora smiled wider at that, and then launched into another energized explanation.
"Great! So, that bangle is mostly for defense, right? But it also has resistance against dark elemental attacks, so that'll be really useful for you. You should put that on now, but everything else can stay in the bag, and then you can put that in your pocket. Kairi bought pajamas and stuff for Asuka, but you should probably let her put away that stuff herself. This is the bag we got for Asuka, too, so you can put that on the bunk over there with the other stuff Kairi got her." Shinji nodded hastily, trying to keep up, and put his magically shrinking bag in the pocket of his pants. Sora put a pile of stuff into his hands, and then gestured at one of the beds. "Oh, and the rest of that bag is mine and Riku's so that goes there, and then the next bag has more Potions and bandages and stuff, so that can go in the main room." He pointed with his thumb back towards the room with all the tables and charts. "The Potions go in the first cabinet on the left, and the other stuff goes in the cabinet right next to that one."
"Okay." Shinji picked up bag with the first aid equipment and started walking back towards the chart-and-lounge area.
"Oh, and when we finish putting stuff away," Sora added, causing Shinji to turn back around and look at him once more, "Riku and I can show you how we do navigation, if you want. It might seem like it's complicated at first, but it's actually pretty fun once you get the hang of it. And if you like it, you can even pilot for a little, if there aren't too many Heartless ships where we are." It sounded slightly daunting, especially the part about Heartless spaceships, but it couldn't be too bad, right? And maybe he'd get to know Sora and Roxas – and even Riku, who hadn't gotten off to the ideal start with – better.
"Yeah, okay," Shinji answered, with thankfully only a little bit of the nervousness he was feeling apparent in his voice.
"It'll be fun," Sora repeated, smiling again. "Now let's finish stowing all this away so we can get going. I haven't been to the world the King was talking about in the letter before; I'm really excited!" Shinji nodded, and then went to put the rest of the first aid supplies away. In the main area of the ship, Shinji was alone in his task, and it was the first real break he'd had to stop and collect his thoughts since first meeting Sora, Riku, and Kairi on the beach in Tokyo-3. When the others had first appeared, he'd been dead set against the idea of fighting again, much less the concept of his EVA turning into a Keyblade so he could fight more of the same creatures as the Angels. Now that he'd gotten more information and spent more time with these people, though, it was clear that they actually needed his help to fix what had gone wrong in Tokyo-3, and to stop the Heartless from ruining any more worlds. The people, too, had been nice, and if he was still figuring out how to get along with all of them, he still thought that they seemed at least dependable. Maybe it really wouldn't be so bad, this journey that was beginning.
Author: ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
way2dawn
Characters/Pairing: Shinji, Roxas, Quatre, ensemble. Various pairings.
Rating: PG
Summary: Post-KH2. Crossover with Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gundam Wing, and FF7: Advent Children; familiarity with all source media is not necessary. Post-End of Evangelion, anime timeline, but with some elements from the manga. Post-series Gundam Wing, no-movie AU. When Shinji Ikari met the three strange teens with mysterious weapons called Keyblades, he didn't expect that he would be able to wield one as well, nor did he expect to be taken on a journey to various worlds, stopping the threat of the Heartless and finding the Awakened. For a boy who only wants to be at peace, how will he deal with this strange new set of circumstances? When the threads of the past interweave with the events of the present, what future will he make?
A/N: Many thanks to my two lovely betas,myth and cozzybob. This idea has been rolling around in my head for a very long time. This is the Kingdom Hearts universe told from an outsider's point of view, so familiarity with the games is not necessary, although there will be spoilers for at least KH1 and KH2. This entire fic was plotted out before BBS or coded came out in Japan.
Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Interlude 1 - Chapter 3
way2dawn Characters/Pairing: Shinji, Roxas, Quatre, ensemble. Various pairings.
Rating: PG
Summary: Post-KH2. Crossover with Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gundam Wing, and FF7: Advent Children; familiarity with all source media is not necessary. Post-End of Evangelion, anime timeline, but with some elements from the manga. Post-series Gundam Wing, no-movie AU. When Shinji Ikari met the three strange teens with mysterious weapons called Keyblades, he didn't expect that he would be able to wield one as well, nor did he expect to be taken on a journey to various worlds, stopping the threat of the Heartless and finding the Awakened. For a boy who only wants to be at peace, how will he deal with this strange new set of circumstances? When the threads of the past interweave with the events of the present, what future will he make?
A/N: Many thanks to my two lovely betas,
myth and cozzybob. This idea has been rolling around in my head for a very long time. This is the Kingdom Hearts universe told from an outsider's point of view, so familiarity with the games is not necessary, although there will be spoilers for at least KH1 and KH2. This entire fic was plotted out before BBS or coded came out in Japan.Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Interlude 1 - Chapter 3
Awakenings
Chapter 4
When Shinji woke up sometime later, he was pleasantly surprised to find that in addition to his arm, the rest of his body was feeling stronger now, as well. Though there was no one else in the room with him this time, he heard the muffled sound of conversation downstairs that told him the others were still in the house. Sitting up and stretching, he pushed the covers off of himself and stood up. Finding his sneakers by the foot of the bed, he slipped them on and started walking down the wooden stairs just outside the door to Aerith's room.
The room at the foot of the stairs was messy, loud, and above all else, crowded. Books were piled on shelves, tables, chairs, and even the floor, a few occupants of the room standing where there was no sitting room. In contrast to the books, however, a whole section of the room was devoted to a large computer, where a scruffy-looking blond man was smoking a cigarette and typing rapidly and a brunet man in black leather pants was looking over his shoulder and giving suggestions. Near where Riku and Kairi were sitting, a girl with short, black hair was talking excitedly and gesturing wildly, causing Kairi to cover her mouth as she giggled. When Shinji walked into the room, Asuka, who'd been browsing one of the bookshelves, looked over towards the stairs and caught his eye.
"Oh, you're finally awake," she said, sounding bored-on-purpose. All the other eyes in the room immediately turned to Shinji, including those of Sora, Aerith, and an old man with a long beard in pale blue robes, who had apparently walked in from another room when they heard Asuka speak. Asuka, however, turned to Kairi, almost as if dismissing Shinji once she knew where he was. "Does this mean we can go to the next world now?"
"Yes," Kairi answered, with a smile, "but not before we introduce Shinji to the rest of the Restoration Committee." Shinji wondered how the girl could be so patient with someone like Asuka, and also absently wondered if that was because of that princess-without-darkness condition she mentioned earlier. "This," she said to Shinji, gesturing to the upbeat girl she'd been talking to earlier, "is Yuffie."
"The greatest ninja in the world!" the girl, Yuffie, said brightly, with a large smile. "It's great to finally meet you when you're conscious." As for Shinji himself, he just nodded slowly, under the impression that great ninja were supposed to be stealthy instead of loud and outgoing.
"The one at the computer is Cid," Kairi continued, as the man in question waved a hand distractedly before returning to typing on the computer. "The one with him is Leon, the leader of the Committee…" Now that the brunet man was facing him, Shinji could see that a scar ran diagonally on his face, from his right brow, down across his nose, and to the left. Leon inclined his head in acknowledgment and crossed his arms. "…and the one with Sora and Aerith is the wizard Merlin, who also owns this house." Well, that was certainly a lot of people.
"Thank you for letting us stay in your house," Shinji said, bowing towards the committee.
"So polite!" he thought he heard Aerith say, pleased, but she was quickly interrupted by Asuka.
"Wait… Merlin the Wizard?" she exclaimed, shocked. "The Merlin?"
"Yes, I'm that Merlin," the wizard replied, laughing. "In fact, I was instructed by King Mickey to teach you kids the basics in magic before you depart." Asuka seemed awed, but Shinji was still a bit confused.
"We're going to learn magic?" he asked, and Merlin nodded.
"Please follow me into the training room," Merlin said, and gestured at Shinji and Asuka to follow him down a set of stairs that Shinji could've sworn hadn't been there a second ago. They did so, and ended up in a stone-walled room with what seemed like a lot of beaten-up, old furniture. "Now," Merlin explained, once the three of them were downstairs, "I'm going to give each of you just one spell to start out with, but as you continue to grow stronger, you'll start to pick up the rest on your own." He snapped his fingers, and a thick, leather-bound book appeared out of thin air. He flipped through the old tome for a few moments, then stopped, a smile on his face, and plucked two pages out of it. "For the young lady," he began, and presented Asuka with a page; it disappeared in a burst of red sparks once she touched it, "and for the young gentleman," and he handed the other page to Shinji. When Shinji's fingers came in contact with it, it too disappeared, this time with blue sparks, as well as a tingling sensation that traveled through his arm to sit in his chest.
"What was that?" Shinji asked the wizard, who pushed his glasses further up his nose.
"Ah, yes," Merlin responded. "Now, if you'll take out your keyblades and aim them at one of the targets I've provided for you," and he gestured at the furniture as he did so, "you will be able to create the demonstration yourselves. If the young lady will start us off?" Asuka seemed to find being called a young lady somewhat awkward, but complied and took out her keyblade, pointing it at a wooden chair. "Concentrate," Merlin said, "and feel what magic you want to cast." Asuka furrowed her brow, and after a moment of concentration, a small fireball shot out from the tip of her keyblade and set the chair aflame. "Excellent!"
"Simple," Asuka said, looking pleased with herself.
"Now," Merlin continued, "if the young gentleman will take his turn?" Shinji nodded, called his keyblade to his hand, and pointed it at another of the chairs. "Remember, feel which magic you want to cast." Shinji thought about that tingling he'd experienced earlier, and willed it to travel from inside of him and out of his keyblade. After a few seconds, he felt a burst of slightly chilled energy travel through the keyblade, shooting out at the chair as a small chunk of ice that also froze the chair in its place. "Well done, Shinji."
"Did I really do that?" Shinji wondered aloud, looking from his keyblade back to the chair.
"Always remember, you two," Merlin said, with a hint of seriousness, "that the keyblade is a very powerful weapon. It is up to you two to each unlock its secrets and discover how best to use that power." Asuka looked at her own keyblade determinedly, then back at Merlin, though she didn't say anything. After a moment of silence, Shinji nodded at Merlin, who seemed satisfied by these two responses. "Now, I believe you two have a journey to complete, along with the others, so I won't keep you any longer."
"Thank you," Shinji said, again giving a small bow. Merlin inclined his head, and then with another snap of his fingers, made the stairs appear once again, as well as undo the magic that had been performed on the two chairs. With that, Shinji climbed back up the stairs, Asuka following behind him. Sora gave them a little wave when the two of them stepped back into the main room, and started to speak as they approached him.
"Riku, Kairi, and I are ready to go," Sora said, "and the letter we got from King Mickey says which world we need to go to in order to find the other Keybearers." There was another mention of that king of theirs.
"Your king sent you a letter?" Shinji asked. He silently wondered if the three of them were secretly royalty in disguise. Sora looked unsure as to how to respond, but Riku quickly explained.
"He's investigating more about the enemy himself," Riku responded, lifting one of the bags of supplies over his shoulder. "Probably those brothers." Riku probably meant that man Loz, and the group he seemed to be associated with. And their mother… "We'll give you the details once we're on the ship."
"The ship?"
"How do you think we got here, stupid?" Asuka said. "Their spaceship." They'd been in a spaceship? Shinji didn't remember any of that.
"Oh, right," Sora laughed, rubbing the back of his neck momentarily. "Forgot you weren't exactly conscious for that part." Riku and Kairi exchanged an amused look as Sora picked up another of the bags himself and then planted a smile firmly on his face. "Anyway, since you're healed now and we've got all our supplies, let's get going." They said goodbye to the Restoration Committee and started to walk to the ship's hangar, quite a few people waving to Sora as they crossed a small shopping area. When they finally got to the ship itself, it was... not quite what Shinji expected.
"It's so… small." Apart from the window on the cockpit, the rest of the ship – blocky and brightly-colored in a strange combination of orange, yellow, blue purple, white, and neon green – barely seemed like it could fit the group. It certainly didn't look like it could fit the myriad of supplies that the others claimed had been bought; in addition to the bags that Sora and Riku were carrying, there were also four wooden crates stamped with RG and a picture of some… small, portly creature with wings and a large antenna on them.
"It's bigger on the inside," Sora said helpfully, opening the hatch in side of the ship and gesturing with his free hand for the others to follow. That… didn't really make sense, and it must've shown on Shinji's face. "It's part of the magic," he explained, grinning. "If you guys could help bring those crates back to the galley and storage in the aft, we can get going." With that, Sora went into the ship, followed by Riku with his own load of bags. Turning to walk over to the crates, one of which was already being lifted and carried by Kairi, Shinji was pleased to find out that they weren't actually that heavy. Although Asuka had a somewhat sullen expression on her face, presumably at the thought of being told what to do, Shinji was actually looking forward to the trip a little more. And when he actually stepped into the ship itself, his mouth dropped open a little.
It really was bigger on the inside than the outside. The first area they entered was a combination of work-and-rest area, with a big, chart-and-instrument-covered table with chairs and a few lower tables with benches. To one side was a hatch which seemed to lead to the cockpit, but Shinji followed to others to the hatch on the other side, which led to an area with sleeping berths. Sora and Riku put their bags down there, but Kairi continued walking through the area to another hatch further on.
"I'll go get the other crate," Shinji heard Riku say from over his shoulder.
"Thanks!" Kairi called back brightly, then looked over her shoulder at Shinji and Asuka. "Follow me." They did so, and Kairi led them through what looked like the ship's galley. At the far end of the galley were two smaller hatches, and Kairi set her crate down to open both of those. One of the compartments seemed standard enough, but the other one had a soft green-blue glow emanating from within. "The food goes in this one," Kairi explained, gesturing towards the glowing compartment, "in stasis, so it doesn't go bad. I think Asuka's crate and mine are the ones with the food, and Shinji's is other supplies. Since the ship is fairly small, it's important to keep everything in its proper place." With that, she opened the hinge of her crate to double-check, picked it up again, and started moving its contents into various areas of the compartment.
Not really knowing what to do besides follow her lead, Shinji set his crate down to look inside. Cleaning supplies and toilet paper, how mundane for a magical spaceship. Looking inside of the compartment to see where the things should go, he tried to put everything in a place that made sense with what items were already there.
"The sleeping area is small, too," Asuka commented, looking through her crate as well. "Does it get annoying, having to share a space with two guys? How do you get any privacy?"
"That sort of privacy isn't really a concern for the three of us," Kairi responded serenely. Shinji looked up from his crate to look at her. Did she mean… "We're very close." Were Kairi, Sora, and Riku really in that kind of a relationship? "You might as well know now, since we'll be traveling together for a while." She was smiling, and while Asuka's eyebrows had disappeared into her bangs, and Shinji felt like his face was warm, Kairi didn't seem bothered by this in the slightest.
"…Oh," was all Asuka said. "That's… okay."
"I'm glad you understand," Kairi said. But it also seemed to be the end of the discussion, so Shinji turned back to finish emptying his crate, ears still with the faintest hint of pink. Kairi acted like she didn't want to make a big deal of it, so… Shinji would leave them their privacy and not ask about it. He finished quickly after, and was about to close the hatch again, when Kairi stopped him. "Riku's still getting the other crate," she reminded him, "so you can leave that for now." Shinji nodded, but now he wasn't really sure what he was supposed to be doing. "Why don't you go help Sora unpack the other stuff? He said he got something that you might be interested in."
"Alright," he responded, then turned back towards the sleeping area once again. On his way, he had to stop and make himself flat against the bulkhead in order to let Riku pass; the silver-haired boy nodded at him, but didn't speak otherwise. In the sleeping area, Sora was unpacking one of the bags and separating the contents onto different beds. When he heard Shinji come in, he looked up and smiled.
"Kairi said I should help you unpack here," Shinji said, not entirely sure that he knew where everything should go.
"Great!" Sora responded. "C'mere." Shinji obliged and walked up to the bag Sora was currently emptying. "You guys didn't seem to have anything with you when we picked you up," Sora started, and Shinji assumed he was referring to Asuka and himself, "so we picked up some pajamas and stuff for you to wear at night. We don't have extra clothes, but Kairi got some special detergent that's gonna make them more durable." He handed a pile of clothes and toiletries to Shinji. "There's lockers under the bunks where you can store those; just write your name on the card at the front."
"Thank you," Shinji responded, blinking a few times, then turning to look for a locker.
"No problem," Sora responded. Shinji saw one that didn't seem to have a name on it yet and pulled it out from under the bunk. Opening it, he divided the things Sora had bought into the various compartments within. "I got a pencil somewhere…" Shinji stood back up to see Sora digging in his pockets, concentrating. After a few more seconds, a triumphant expression appeared on Sora's face and he pulled out a short, though still usable, pencil. "Here you go." Shinji made a noise of acknowledgement, and then knelt down to pull the card out of the plastic cover at the front of the locker. "Which reminds me…" Shinji wrote down his name, put the card back in, pushed the locker under the bunk, and then turned to face Sora once more.
"What is it?" Sora seemed to be holding some sort of small knapsack.
"We got one of each for you and Asuka, since I figured you'd be needing them." He traded the pencil in Shinji's hand for the knapsack. "It's enchanted to be bigger on the inside," like a lot of things were, apparently, "so you can put as much stuff in there as you want and it'll never get full. I put some other stuff in there for you to use, since it'll be useful when we have to fight next. Oh, and if you put the bag in your pocket, it'll shrink to fit, but when it's that small, you can't use everything at once."
"You went through all this trouble for us…" Shinji murmured, "but we're new, we don't have the money to pay for all this." The knapsack, especially, seemed expensive. And inside were a few potions and some sort of bangle. He took out the bangle and looked back up at Sora, who was smiling.
"Well, you're new to this, right?" Sora responded. "But we're a team here, so everyone helps each other out. And we're friends, right?" Sora seemed to Shinji like the type of person who made friends easily, but Shinji was already friends with Roxas, wasn't he? That probably made him friends with Sora, at least halfway. Back when he'd been fighting for NERV, people hadn't been so generous. And out of those he'd considered friends… they were unreachable now. He wasn't even sure if Asuka counted, either, no matter the fact that they were now fighting together again. But maybe that could change, now, and Shinji found himself wanting to try.
"Right. Thank you." Sora smiled wider at that, and then launched into another energized explanation.
"Great! So, that bangle is mostly for defense, right? But it also has resistance against dark elemental attacks, so that'll be really useful for you. You should put that on now, but everything else can stay in the bag, and then you can put that in your pocket. Kairi bought pajamas and stuff for Asuka, but you should probably let her put away that stuff herself. This is the bag we got for Asuka, too, so you can put that on the bunk over there with the other stuff Kairi got her." Shinji nodded hastily, trying to keep up, and put his magically shrinking bag in the pocket of his pants. Sora put a pile of stuff into his hands, and then gestured at one of the beds. "Oh, and the rest of that bag is mine and Riku's so that goes there, and then the next bag has more Potions and bandages and stuff, so that can go in the main room." He pointed with his thumb back towards the room with all the tables and charts. "The Potions go in the first cabinet on the left, and the other stuff goes in the cabinet right next to that one."
"Okay." Shinji picked up bag with the first aid equipment and started walking back towards the chart-and-lounge area.
"Oh, and when we finish putting stuff away," Sora added, causing Shinji to turn back around and look at him once more, "Riku and I can show you how we do navigation, if you want. It might seem like it's complicated at first, but it's actually pretty fun once you get the hang of it. And if you like it, you can even pilot for a little, if there aren't too many Heartless ships where we are." It sounded slightly daunting, especially the part about Heartless spaceships, but it couldn't be too bad, right? And maybe he'd get to know Sora and Roxas – and even Riku, who hadn't gotten off to the ideal start with – better.
"Yeah, okay," Shinji answered, with thankfully only a little bit of the nervousness he was feeling apparent in his voice.
"It'll be fun," Sora repeated, smiling again. "Now let's finish stowing all this away so we can get going. I haven't been to the world the King was talking about in the letter before; I'm really excited!" Shinji nodded, and then went to put the rest of the first aid supplies away. In the main area of the ship, Shinji was alone in his task, and it was the first real break he'd had to stop and collect his thoughts since first meeting Sora, Riku, and Kairi on the beach in Tokyo-3. When the others had first appeared, he'd been dead set against the idea of fighting again, much less the concept of his EVA turning into a Keyblade so he could fight more of the same creatures as the Angels. Now that he'd gotten more information and spent more time with these people, though, it was clear that they actually needed his help to fix what had gone wrong in Tokyo-3, and to stop the Heartless from ruining any more worlds. The people, too, had been nice, and if he was still figuring out how to get along with all of them, he still thought that they seemed at least dependable. Maybe it really wouldn't be so bad, this journey that was beginning.