Chapter Text
"Sora, dinner's ready. Come on down."
Nova tipped vegetables onto plates with practiced ease. Then she paused, skillet in hand. Confused.
It usually took seconds for thundering feet to cascade overhead. Sora wouldn't appear so much as launch himself from the staircase. A quick hug, and half of his dinner would vanish with a breath. Nova had never seen anyone eat so fast, though she'd learned to find the humor in it. Her son was beginning to grow past the limits of his usual clothes: it wouldn't be long before his legs and arms caught up with his feet and hands and then she'd never be able to keep enough food in the house.
If he didn't kill himself first pinwheeling from one play fight to another.
Speaking of... he'd been so quiet earlier. The smile had been genuine, but he'd vanished to his room as soon as he'd tied his boat down. Nova had watched the evening sky unfold alone, without the usual exuberant re-telling of who had scored the most points that day. Tracking which of his friends won races or avoided the most hits while they swung around sticks was usually the highlight of his visits to the smaller island near their home. Had something happened?
A trace of unease shivered down the back of Nova's neck. She leaned out of the kitchen to peer down the hall, up towards the second floor. "Sora?"
His room was right at the top of the stairs, close enough she could usually see a hint of movement underneath the door: if it wasn't left wide open. A dim light meant the lamp had been lit, but something seemed... off.
Shadows slithered out of an eerie darkness and writhed where light ended. A few stretched long, against the wall, while more seemed to pool in place before scuttling down towards her. Almost like... almost like...
Two pale amber eyes glistened wide from the lantern light behind her. Another pair bobbed awake. And another. And another.
Oh no.
No, no, nononononono-
Surprise shrieked out of her. Nova swung her hand wide and smacked the first shadow into the wall by accident. Long-forgotten training snapped together a sluggish second later. Before the first had slithered into a heap on the floor she had her frying pan pointed at the rest like a mallet.
Some shadows folded into the ground to avoid her, only to find themselves smacked, spattered, and slipping on dribbles of oil. The rest faced their doom with blank surprise, clogged in a small hallway without hope of avoiding the unexpected menace inside of it.
Her reprieve was short: more peeled out of the ground from behind and grabbed at her heels. Nova kicked out from the tangle of fingers and vaulted for the stairs. Cast iron swung wide: "Sora!"
She had to get to her son.
A dark, wiggling tangle reared up in front of her. Gravity went sideways; Nova rolled mid-air and drove the skillet forward into a sweep. Little shadows spurted all directions. Metal thunked hard into wooden stairs. New cracks bellowed protest, and she groaned above them, slammed forward too far, too quickly. Her body wouldn't respond as it used to.
But that didn't matter. It didn't matter. Nova grabbed the upper floor and leveraged herself into another turn, left shoulder distant and numb. Yellow eyes glowed at her from all directions.
And somehow, the door she wanted swam into focus between them. Somehow, she slid inside the last few feet, legs swinging wild, and kicked it shut behind her.
Sora's room.
Empty.
Her eyes dimmed. Her heart seized.
Choked.
Heartless eat the strongest light.
No.
Heartless always win the fight.
No.
Nonononononono-
A thin wail shattered hope like glass. Nova struggled to her knees, unable to breathe. Stray thoughts picked through the shards, razor-thin pain trailing ribbons of fire through the haze:
:A messy room covered in discarded clothes:
:Rumpled blankets hanging off an empty bed:
:A toy boat swinging above a small, unused desk:
:Harpoons tossed by wind and scattered across the floor:
:A storm raging through the open window:
:And Heartless scrabbled under the door:
Heartless grabbed-
Get up!
Instinct pushed Nova to her feet. She staggered to the bed and leaned over the windowsill.
Something metallic clanged protest. Nova looked at her left hand in surprise, fingers still clamped white and cold around the handle of her frying pan. Her shoulder throbbed, and the rest of her arm prickled in response, half-asleep. A bruise, then, and a bad one. She shouldn't expect to move as well as she remembered. It had been far, far too long since any of that had mattered.
But now...
A giant ball of swirling darkness hovered over the children's island.
An invasion. The Heartless had found the door to the world's heart. They would devour it soon and cast all the Destiny Islands into the Realm of Darkness.
She'd seen it happen only once before; survived it by pure chance. This time, no one would be so lucky. They had no way to escape.
More Heartless whispered into the room. The vague figures seemed wary of her now and wavered against the door, eyes pale and staring. What were they waiting for?
Nova peered into each one, trying to see. Which one was Sora? Did he remember her?
Would he know if his shadow plucked out her heart?
A dozen Heartless bobbed and wiggled; sidled forward.
Nova turned away. She would give him that peace, if the memory ever came to haunt him.
If her son ever returned to light.
The cloud of darkness covered the sky now. Wind kicked up towering waves, smashed into the pier and up against the walls of their house. Her own small boat rode with it, still tethered, and flung against the ground with a crack that set her teeth on edge.
One boat...
Nova slapped the wall with the skillet and gasped. Pain thrummed down her arm, but she ignored it, already halfway through the window.
One boat. Her boat. Sora's boat was missing.
Sora was missing.
Of course.
They'd slipped away before, to play under the stars, long after sunset.
He was at the island. With the other children.
Underneath the apex of a dark, swirling vortex, ready to fall to the Heartless.
No.
Nova felt relief, purpose, and panic bubble up and choke her, all at the same time. She felt the sudden urge to laugh, to cry, to sing. Her son was alive.
In danger. But not lost to darkness.
Not yet.
Heartless lost patience at last. They slithered up behind her. Claws slashed out-
-and met empty air. Nova tumbled out of the window, a desperate smile lit across her face.
She would save her son.