A/N: I often wondered if I should have done this for this year's Halloween Special. What with my lack of playing the second game, and the technological discontinuities, and the utter nightmare that was the re-casting of this work. Still, I think I like it enough to give it a go, but be wary of probable Out Of Characters in the upcoming. I might also warn for camp and possibility of crap, as so advised by a flamer of my last special. Again, the events herein are based off the animated movie, Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door, so if you watched the movie, more of the same. If not, then you realize that you've just spoiled yourself. You've been warned.
Have Fun.
-
-
-
Executive Producer: Person With Many Aliases
-
-
-
There is a room. There a man plays a board game of solitaire, letting each glass bead jump over the other, removing each little orb with every step…
He was just… all alone.
In a corner, a butterfly flew. One of his hands was under the table, massaging a pile of the marbles he held. Eventually it went limp, letting them scatter across the floor, reflecting the weak light.
He couldn't enjoy a game with anyone else. Like living inside a dream…
That's the kind of man he was.
-
-
-
"Oi… Sora… wake up… I said wake up!"
-
-
-
It was night; black shoes paced their way across the streets of Traverse Town towards possibly the only convenience store that existed in the entire place. Therein, things did not fare so well.
The woman behind the cash register was fairly young, only taking the job to make a bit of extra money. More hours meant more money, so she didn't complain about working late at night.
She wasn't sure about complaining about the man in the black raincoat and eye patch that was sitting on the counter, telling her to stick her hands in the air. Especially with that Magic Gun of his, plus a few other similarly dressed men guarding the other store-goers with weapons, with one other keeping watch over the front door.
"Got it? The world's like a steaming pot of stew, no ingredient more important than the other. In the end, you just see the combined product. But there is one thing you can't forget." The guy with the eye patch leaned forward, "Know what it is?"
The woman twitched for a second before attempting an answer, "…Meat?"
Eye Patch leaned back with a sigh, "That's what everyone thinks… but without stew base, it's not stew. With the same ingredient you could make… curry!"
"…The stew base is in aisle-"
"I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT THAT!" Eye Patch roared, before firing a burst of light through the window above the girl.
Outside, a teenager with silver hair sighed at the sight of the shattering glass. "Man, that robber sure whines a lot…" moving to more important matters, he spoke into his radio. "Sora, let's go. I'm going in from the back."
A tired voice fizzled back, while the speaker was slowly pacing towards the store with black shoes. "Okay…"
Back inside, Eye Patch continued his sermon, "If you're waiting for the police, it's useless. We've got the security of this place all scoped out. Why else do you think we're doing this?"
One of robbers in the back shouted. "Xigbar, shut up and just do it already!"
Xigbar, with his large gun, tapped the side of cash register nothing the design that was printed on it, "This is a mark of my organization. I used to work there. Then I got laid off, and I became a robber."
"I see." The cashier lady decided to say.
"You think it's funny?"
"Um…"
"Why don't you laugh then?"
She gave a stifled chuckle.
"Is it funny?"
She decided to keep laughing, before Xigbar joined in as well for a second, before shoving his gun into her face, "I didn't tell you to laugh!"
Outside, at the main entrance, one of the robbers noticed a figure approaching nonchalantly, with his hands in his pockets. It was some kid about 15 years old, with brown hair that seemed to never have met a comb in its life, with hair shooting out in spikes every which way. The boy was held down fairly well in dark clothing with red, blue, and yellow accessories, and a large silver necklace. He was also wearing a pair of headphones on his head.
"Oi, this place is closed, go someplace else."
The kid didn't seem to notice, instead finding something on his shoe interesting.
"Hey! Are you even listening?"
Finally, the robber looked down to what had exactly so enraptured to kid. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was the kid's foot suddenly flying upwards into his face.
Therein, Xigbar was finally getting to the conclusion of his speech, as he pulled out a small bag. "If you understand any of this, put all the money in this bag, got it?"
Just then, the doorbell jingled, as the Kid with Headphones paced in, ignoring everything as he immediately moved to an aisle and started picking through the products. Xigbar immediately trained his gun on him.
"Who're you!?"
No response. Apparently the headphones were playing something loud.
"Hey! Are you listening to me!?" Muttering something savage, Xigbar jumped off the counter, gaining the attention of the other robbers in the back, as they watched him move to the kid.
Closer, Xigbar raised his gun again and shouted, "Take those off and listen to me!"
The kid picked up a small tube and grinned at the Sermonic Robber, "I'll take this!"
"What-"
Without notice, the firecracker ripped open into a display of red and yellow flashes, blinding Xigbar's lone eye, while he struggled to fire. Next he knew, his gun was suddenly knocked out of his hand, before a foot slammed into the side of his knee, bringing him forward into a round house kick that sent Xigbar head first into the store racks. He didn't get up.
"You little-" A robber began, distinguished by his bleached hair and beard and his playing cards, which he threw with enough force to cause gouges in the walls of the building as he attacked the kid, while he rolled away. A second later, another kid with silver hair fell from the rafters above next to the final robber, who wore a crew cut and carried some unwieldy stringed instrument. He proceeded to plant a fist into the coated figure, bringing him down. On the other side, the brunette had just thrown the card-wielding robber into the glass of a donut stand, while catching one of the pastries in midair.
"Sora, you okay?" The other teenager called over the hunched form of his thief.
Sora, managed to swallow down a "Yeah", before turning to the cashier and pulling off his headphones, "Yeah… could you put the donut on their tab?"
"Er…"
The three of them noticed the sounds of a flushing toilet, while another man in a black raincoat and dreadlocks came out, brushing the dirt of his coat.
They all saw each other.
An awkward pause.
The robber choked, rushed to one of the hostages, and elderly lady, and conjured a magic spear to her neck. "Don't move!"
Sora gave something in between a frown and a sigh. "Riku…"
"Yeah?"
"You said were only three guys inside the building."
("Drop you weapons now!" the robber went in the background)
"Well… if you want to deceive the enemy, you have to start your friends." Riku managed to shrug out with a feasible enough excuse. It didn't work for Sora.
"And how does tricking me help!?" Sora shouted, pointing a finger at his friend indignantly.
("Are you guys even listening to me!?")
"And you! Don't talk to me like that! You took too long in the bathroom!"
"Shut up! Don't you care if she dies?" Dreadlocks threatened, while pressing his blade closer to the lady's throat.
Riku acquiesced, sighed, and dropped his key chain of an eyed wing to the ground.
On the other hand, Sora confidently pulled out his key chain of a silver crown design, where it morphed in a ray of light into a Keyblade pointed straight at the robber-hostage duo.
Dreadlocks blinked in disbelief for a second before shoving his hostage forward for Sora's better look. "Don't you see my holding my weapon to this lady? Aren't you listening!? I'll really hurt her!"
Sora addressed the elderly lady instead, "Sorry, Grandma, but we're not really security guards or police, or any of that stuff really. Our concern's not really about civilian lives, you know."
Sora let a portion of his mouth into a smirk, "Not you lucky day today, robber."
Dreadlocks: "Damn, an actual cowboy…"
Riku: "Sora wait, you just can't-"
Grandma: "YOU LOW LIFE! I OUGHTA-"
Between the various staggered comments between the three at Sora's actions, the final robber decided he had enough and pointed the tip of his spear at Sora instead, prepared to release a spell-
"FIRE!"
Amidst the screams, Mr. Dreadlocks was knocked backwards by a mass of low-level burning magic orbs that threw him into a stand full of drinks, and knocked his weapon out of the way. The weight of the products weighing down on him, and his battered head was enough to knock him out.
A silence, before the old woman turned to the brunette who was backing away. "You're… a cowboy? Really, who are you?"
Sora dramatically blew at the tip of his smoking blade, before spinning it about, magic dissipating the weapon back into a key chain that spun around his fingers a few time. He gave a sheepish grin.
"Just an average bounty hunter."
-
-
-
Kingdom Hearts: 2006 Halloween Special
Production of: Person With Many Aliases\ Disney\ Square-Enix
Based on the Story by: Hajime Yatate
Character Design: Tetsuya Nomura
Co-Director: Person With Many Aliases
Director: Shinichiro Watanabe
-
-
-
Twilight Town. An entire planet that was eternally in a state of sunset, never day, never night. Except once every year, when Twilight Town finally experiences a complete nightfall, since then forever celebrated as the event Halloween.
Making its final approach to the capital city was a large Gummi ship that housed several bounty hunters that had just made their return from Traverse Town. Emblazoned proudly against the side of the ship was the name Kingdom Hearts.
Inside, Sora and Riku sat around a game of chess (For some reason, the nutter who made the pieces decided to paint the black side in red instead). Riku was sitting patiently. Sora was tapping his foot with excess energy, unable to wait.
"Hurry up and go, Riku, I'm getting bored."
"Don't rush me…" Was the retort, while the silver-haired youth finally decided on moving a pawn forward. Sora's hand immediately slid a bishop, much to Riku's surprise.
"…You don't think before you move?"
"Just go already…"
Riku frowned, "You know, in a game of chess, you're supposed to think ahead and predict your opponent's move-"
Sora yawned.
"-and when the timing is right, be where your opponent wants to be. Being one step ahead is the true challenge of chess. You just can't move around wherever you want… and your bishop is where I want to move."
"'Course Riku!" the resident key master grinned, "You can't win at chess if you just stick to the rules and nothing but it."
A sigh, "You really just don't get it, do you Sora? You know, a game of chess also shows one's personality. If you just play around and do whatever you want-"
"Just move already, Riku…"
"Sora. What would have happened if that hostage did get injured?" Riku finally got around to, with a lecturing glare. Sora shrugged.
"Whatever happens happens."
Riku raised his arms in a shrug, meanwhile the resident adopted-against-their-will pet, Pluto had wandered by before standing on the table, looking at the chessboard with interest.
The silver-haired youth mused, "As usual, for a bounty worth only 125,000 Munny, there's too much risk involved. And bounty hunting already harder than just that… You know, before the two of us left home, I had a fairly simple life." Riku then noticed the dog some how miraculously sliding a rook to the side with his paw before looking at the boy.
"I'm surprised… that's the move I wanted to make! How about that, Sora?"
The boy in question was snoring.
Nearby, a blonde girl finished her work on an arcane powered laptop, and gave a quiet smile to herself, "Found him…"
-
-
-
While Kingdom Hearts made its way to a watery landing on the harbors outside Twilight Town, a smaller, single pilot gummi made circling passes above the city. In the cockpit, a girl's hand quickly flipped through the various channels on the radio installed into Oath Keeper's control panel.
Finding a tune suitably fast and catchy, the pilot allowed her fingers the thrum against the flight sticks, while a head nodded with the beat, red tresses bouncing everywhere. A sound of a message coming through on her control panel caught her attention.
"Hello, Kairi! Ship number 12 unloaded, and it's moving its cargo through route 8!"
"M'kay, Namine. Send the car and the bounty's info, I'll take it from here."
"Got it…"
Namine's face was replaced by two screens showing a yellow tanker, and the face of a young boy that looked strangely similar to Sora, if not for the differing hairstyle and color.
Kairi frowned, "Why is it that I always have to deal with kids my age these days…?"
Putting the thought on hold, the girl kicked her ship into action, Oath Keeper soaring deeper into the city, before following the paths of the newly built highways that entwined portions of the older city. This seemed simple enough. Follow the tanker, wait till it stops, punch the kid in the face and turn him in, and head back to Kingdom Hearts for dinner.
Soon enough the small gummi ship fell behind a large yellow tanker truck. All Kairi had to do now was wait, while tapping her fingers to the beats of her radio-
The tanker started peeling off the highway into the emergency side lanes.
What's he doing stopping in the middle of the road?
As the tanker came to a stop, Kairi's ship flew past before hovering above the concrete bridge, curious.
In the light of the eternal sunset, the door of the driver's seat opened up, letting black clothing spill out. Soon enough the entire figure emerged, simply walking away from the truck. A lanky figure with a black trench coat with red highlights, silver hair, and a strange way of making every movement look disturbingly… beautiful.
Well, whoever it was, it was obvious it wasn't the same little punk Kairi was expecting.
Next thing she knew, Oath Keeper was suddenly thrown away by an explosion, the tanker disappearing in ball of flame, scattering concrete and metal everywhere amidst a shocked population.
Despite that, Kairi kept looking around from her position as she brought her ship back under control, trying to find the man behind this. She caught sight of billowing black figure standing on the edge of the highway, atop the barriers. Down below, the man turned around to look up at the ship, arm covering his eyes to protect him from the wind.
The two of them "stared" for a time, Kairi herself unsure what to do.
The man in black on the other hand, simply dropped off the side of the highway, disappearing out of view. Bringing her vehicle over the side of the highway as well, even Kairi couldn't find a sign of the man anywhere, escaping, or a mere puddle on the ground. He simply was gone.
She could only get one thought out …WHAT THE HECK?!
-
-
-
Back on Kingdom Hearts, Sora and Riku watched the news on the arcane screen, looking curiously at the top story of some sort of chemical explosion. After the initial explosion, people as far and three kilometers away were collapsing for no reason. But no one knew the cause of the explosion, or what was even going on. Given the stolen tanker, there was a possibility of bio-terrorism.
"Every station is talking about nothing but this." Riku noted aloud.
"Again…"
"What, Sora?"
The boy in question stared down at his meal. "It seemed like last night we also had instant noodles…"
"What are you talking about? We've been having instant noodles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the past three days."
"I see… I thought it was a dream…" Sora mumbled in a philosophical tone, leaning his head back to stare at the ceiling lamps.
Riku reached into the cardboard box nearby, taking out other packages, "Well, if you have a problem with that, we also have… instant Udon…. instant Soba… we also have instant Sushi… but that expired a year ago…"
"Nevermind."
Despite that, Sora still dug into the food with enough appetite, still whining all the way through. Namine and Pluto didn't seem to mind, though.
"Seriously, Riku… humans weren't made to each only dried food. We also need protein."
"Meaning?"
"I'm saying meat tastes good." Was the deadpanned retort.
"Then make sure next time you go after a bounty, it's a big one, not some small-time robber." Riku chuckled.
About this time, the door to the main room they were in opened up, letting Kairi inside.
"Hey, Kairi! How was it?" Sora cheerfully called out.
"How was it? Better listen to the story then…"
"That's right, you were saying something like "A small time magic-hacker? I'll just pick him up after I make some money at Setzer's place." I don't see either, though."
"Oh, be quiet Riku. You know Setzer's place is fun. Besides, there was some weird explosion…" Kairi muttered as she picked through her dinner choices, before noticing the news. "Oh yeah, that one!"
Sora and Riku choked, "You were there!?"
Kairi didn't notice as she closed in on the screen, "So there's a big fuss about it… hmm… virus… weapon… hmm…huh?"
About this time she looked back to see everybody else in the room slowly backing away from her.
"Hey! What's with you guys? Hey! What- even you Pluto!?"
"S-stay away Kairi! You might have a space disease or something!" Namine managed to let slip as she hid behind the sofa. Wrong words, though.
The room degenerated into cacophony, as a livid Kairi chased down whoever was in the room, particularly Sora, since he was closest.
"Space disease!? I"ll Show you space disease! I ought to-"
"Wait! Kairi! Let go-urk!"
It was about the moment Kairi was latched around the key master's neck and crushing his temples that the news on the screen came up with an announcement:
"-due to the severity of the crime, the government has decided to place a 300,000,000 Munny bounty on the apprehension of the perpetrator of this attack…"
Cacophany stopped, a combined melody of only a number replacing all previous:
"Three hundred MILLION!?"
-
-
-
Across the city of Twilight Town, the hospital was in distress, as patients afflicted from the mysterious bio-attack continued to trickle in. Pacing down the hall towards the quarantined zone for those particular hospitalized were two characters, for those familiar with the King's court from the Disney Kingdom.
The mere sight of the anthromorphic duck and dog, otherwise known as Donald, Royal Wizard, and Goofy, Captain of the Knights, was already enough for the guards the let them pass the doors into the quarantine zone. As they passed by the glass of the air tight chambers, they watched with grim dissatisfaction at one of the stricken attempt to feebly reach for the fluorescent lights above, not knowing anything else.
They were met with a doctor soon enough in the seated area of waiting room, where he giving a debriefing of all that had occurred, "It's strange, I've never seen anything like it before. On most of the patients, I can see some brain activity, but I still don't know what It did to them, though."
"Well, we haven't found anything either!" Donald harrumphed, while the doctor continued his analysis
"In most of the patients we saw normal body activity… but they don't have any form of coherent thought. They just react to stimuli, as if they… lost their souls. And it only gets worse."
"Worse than natural causes? Or a virus?"
"If anything, the best I can compare it to is AIDS. But we still can't figure out what it is though."
"What are you talking about? Shouldn't there be anything-"
"We've checked the blood. Nothing. There's no evidence of anything ever being there. Now, the only thing I can think of is… a new type of virus, or biological weapon, and a tremendously powerful one at that."
The doctor froze up at the sound of a sneeze hitching up.
"Nyyrggh…agghh-ACHOOO!"
Goofy sniffled and rubbed his nose before noticing Donald and the doctor on their feet, frozen in horror, "Ah, geez! I'm sorry! I got aller…allergies, ya know?"
The tension subsided, embarrassed. The doctor, having said all he could say, left the two guardians to mull about the issue.
"Umm, really, I thought they cleared up, ya know, Donald-Ahyuck!" Goofy managed to explain, ending in his customary hiccups. "Maybe that virus is spreading it. Ya think someone is spreading it?"
Donald snorted, folding his arms, "Whoever he is, he's only teasing us right now."
-
-
-
At Kairi's behest, Namine inserted a disc into the laptop, letting the entire construct come to life. Riku, seated on the table, and Sora, hogging the sofa, were doubtful.
"Are you sure this is safe, Kairi?" Sora mumbled.
"Even if it isn't, I'm expecting you to come with me after this bounty, alright?"
"Got it." Namine called out, calling everyone's attention to the arcane screen.
"Bio-Terrorism…" Riku read one line aloud, "Hey Sora, take a look at this."
"Geez, I guess I'm really stuck in this…"
"Just to let you know, I'm my information isn't cheap, okay?" Kairi made sure to slip.
"Just show us." Riku said, slightly exasperated in the back of his head. Who knew space travel could change a person so much…hmm…
"Here we go!" Namine muttered to herself as the disc came to life, showing the face of the boy-who-looked-a-lot-like-Sora-if-it-weren't-for-the-hair. A fine price of five million munny was also with the picture.
"This is the hacker I was talking about, Roxas, with a price of five million on his head. I also found a fake identity he set up."
"And how'd you find that?" Riku asked.
"Woman's intuitions, with some help from Namine, of course."
"From what I figured, someone used the fake identity to get that truck that exploded-"
The arcane screen switched to the camera recording on Oath Keeper, which showed the damage of the explosion.
"-But the guy on the truck wasn't Roxas. The only thing I can think of is an ally or friend of Roxas'. I'm not really sure, still. Namine, freeze here."
The recording stopped on the blurry image of the man in the coat holding an arm before his face.
The two boys still seemed skeptical, "That's a great tip, Kairi." "How are we supposed to catch him with such a crummy image?"
"Hey! I remember his face perfectly!"
Namine held up a pen of sorts to Kairi before the argument could escalate, "Try this."
"Huh?"
"You can draw on the screen. Try drawing his face."
"Besides, how do you know this guy's the criminal, or that he's even alive? If he just stood around without gas mask at the epicenter, he should be dead by now." Riku also noted.
"He's not dead."
"How do you know that?"
"I just know…done." Kairi backed away from the monitor, revealing… a very poor level of drawing skill.
"Huh? What's that supposed to be?"
Sora couldn't help but chuckle, "That's great! Kairi, if you can actually catch the guy with that picture, I'll pay the three hundred million out of my own pocket!"
"Whatever! I'll just get him myself!"
With that, Kairi huffed, either in search of more clues or a shower.
Riku snorted, "Good girl, but this was still a waste of time."
Sora shrugged, before pacing off with his hands in his pockets, "I'm going to take a look around."
Riku smirked, folding his arms as he watched Sora head out, "And you actually do something on your own instead of sleeping? What's this world coming to?"
"I'll trust Kairi on this. She's got a good intuition…"
"But-"
"Besides… I want to eat something that's not out of a cup."
-
-
-
A bum told him to go the Moroccan section of Twilight Town. A baked sweet potato for lunch. A kid gave him directions. A nap in the early afternoon. An old lady pointed further. The sun beat down on him even more harshly in the middle-eastern flavored portion of the Town. Hence, he asked about. A few more pointed fingers led him to a trio parking their behinds around a plastic table, playing cards and betting matches.
"Man, back home, there used to be ships all over the place." The girl with short black hair muttered.
"There sure were…" The blonde man with a straw in his mouth mused through chewed teeth.
"I used to be a great warrior… it's how I got my scar…" The man dazedly remembered, his mentioned scar running across his nose.
"What are you talking about?"
"You got that scar when you fell into a table! I was there!"
"Really…?"
A new voice cut into their game. They all looked up to Sora, "You guys got a minute to talk? I have some questions."
They averted their eyes, "We're too deaf to hear anything, so that's impossible."
Ugh. "… Do you know of an accessory shop that sells seeds?" Sora continued to try.
"They sells seeds everywhere around here." The girl answered evasively.
"Okay…. a store that doesn't sell seeds around here."
"…Police aren't welcome."
"Do I look like a cop?" Sora deadpanned.
"More like a gangster…" The scarred fellow dazedly sighed out.
"It's the same thing!" The others indignantly replied.
"I'm a bounty hunter okay? That's it."
"Cowboy, huh?" The girl smirked.
"I used to like them…" The scarred guy mused, his mind still in another dimension.
"Then, you guys know why I'm here, right?" Sora asked.
"You're even less welcome now!" With that, the three picked up the table and marched away with their game, leaving Sora in the dust.
The key master could only raise an eyebrow.
A fruitless walk led the boy into late afternoon, seated and slumped over on one of the vehicle barricades that cordoned off the stone steps.
This heat… "I could use a drink…"
He unexpectedly caught a can that was tossed to him. Looking up, he found himself face to face with a smug man, a real resident of Moroccan Street. Robes, dark skin, designer sunglasses… gray hair for a guy who looked only closing in on thirty?
"You're the one looking for the seed shop?" The man asked, with his thick rich voice. The type of voice that had the speaker dog-piled with women at social events, had he been anyone else.
Sora grinned, and shrugged as he turned to his drink, "Do you have one that can't be seen by the naked eye?"
"Of course. You can find anything you want on Moroccan Street." With that the man walked off, leaving a confused Sora. The man turned back, "Isn't that why you're here?"
The man beckoned to follow. Sora did. As they traveled across the plank-roofed alleys, many people seemed to be familiar with the man as they passed by.
"Ushay'ab, Xemnas!"
"Ushay'ab."
"Min'kay ashyb, Xemnas!!"
"Ut'ay ka-ab."
"Ushay'ab, Xemnas!"
"Ay-avab."
This continued on, people greeting him, with 'Xemnas' giving a passing greeting, or pulling aside a man to give a hearty hello. Some sort of celebrity on the street, as far as Sora could figure.
They stopped by a kiosk with several trays and jars of seeds and signs, manned only by an eerie limbless mannequin that displayed his plastic organs.
"Do you want bean starch? Almonds?" Xemnas began as they stood in front of the merchandise. Xemnas pointed to one, "This one's Carbaru seed. It's for getting back at your wife if she's unfaithful. If you want to check if it's a good seed or bad, eat it fast. If it's poisonous, you can throw it back up. If you eat it too slowly, the poison will spread through your body, and you'll die before you can throw it up. Got it?"
"Er… I'm a little too young to get married."
"You're living in bliss then!"
"What I want to know is-"
"Don't touch that. That seed is bad. A friend of mine died from it. You can't make light of the power of seeds…'
Coincidentally, Xemnas had just plucked up another seed from another tray and swallowed it down with a gulp.
"Look, I'm just looking for the virus that was used in the tanker explosion."
That stopped seemed to freeze Xemnas for a minute, before he turned to look the key master in the eye.
"…Do you believe in demons?"
"Huh?"
"In this universe, there are things that exist, and things that don't. But why do people worry about things they don't see?"
Xemnas picked up a handful of seeds and held it to Sora's view, "Why do people love the air, and build ships to fly into space?"
In a single gesture, the seeds all disappeared, "Because… we all used to be able to fly."
"What, this place is a path to the heavens?" Sora attempted to catch on.
"Anything you see in your mind can exist. Even if you can't see it."
"So… there is a virus."
Xemnas seemed to smile at a personal joke, "That's nothing like a mere virus. Follow me."
Deeper into the alleyways they went, past the sleepy lights and the shadows of the buildings. Soon enough, Xemnas was crouching into a little hole at the bottom wall of one of the buildings, and disappeared out of sight. Sora kept his groan inward at the things he did, and followed after.
At the other side, Xemnas pushed the small cabinet doors open, leading the two of them into a shop covered by clocks along the walls, and oddities covering the shelves.
The man at the counter called Xemnas over, "Hey! I found something good!"
Ducking under the counter, the man returned with a large vase that was placed into the Moroccan's hands, who inspected it.
"It suits you perfectly!"
"No, but this pot is perfect for this young man here."
Sora turned around, confused while the earthen pot was pushed into his arms, "Huh?"
"Yeah! It suits you perfectly!"
"How does it fit me!?"
Xemnas only gave another of those smug looks, "People should always take what suits them."
"Hey! I'm not here to shop!"
"You just bought something. Good bye, En Chara." With that Xemnas was pacing out the main entrance of the shop. Sora was frustrated and trying to juggle a pot and follow after the man all at the same time.
"Hey! Wait! HEY!"
As the clocks across the room sounded out the time in perfect unison, Sora continued out into the streets. Sliding to a stop, he found himself lost in a mass of people, with no sight of the gray headed man anywhere.
The heck?
Time however, seemed to crawl when his instincts kicked in. Behind you.
Turning around, a particular walking towards him seemed to stand out from the crowd. A feminine form wrapped up in cloaks and robes, cloth across her mouth. All Sora could see was the green eyes with intensity that pierced through everything. As the two closed in on each other, the bounty hunter kept his ground at the approaching… threat? Mystery? Woman? Clue?
In a moment she passed him by and was gone, leaving Sora by himself in the crowds on Moroccan street.
-
-
-
While in the state of hysteria quietly gripping the city, many people in their vehicles were leaving the capital of Twilight Town towards the quieter cities beyond its borders. Many cars left. Few entered.
One of them held a man in a black trench coat silently driving, while the boy beside him, looking remarkably like Sora with different hair, rattled away his thumbs on the display of his handheld game.
"You know, these older games are actually really good." Roxas mused to his comrade over the tinny music. "These new games these days are getting boring. These old school ones are way better. You know, games back then were enough for everyone. You can say the same about hackers; it was better when there weren't as many. Even little things got you left in the history books, but now with so many; you have to keep doing bigger and bigger things to get noticed."
Roxas nodded to the man, "That's why I'm seriously grateful to you, you know. I always wanted to know… what it's like to be a terrorist."
Ahead of them a security cruiser and an officer was waving them to a stop as the car moved towards the industrial section of the city.
Inside, Roxas continued to play until- "Aww… I died."
The security officer came over to the driver's side, prompting the window to slide down, "Let me see your license. Where are you going? From here on is storage space, and it isn't permitted to-"
A flash of light, and the where the head of the officer was, there was only empty space. Sheathing the flash of light back into recesses of the dark car, the dark figure of the driver drove on, leaving the body in the street.
Roxas looked back, "Aww… he died."
-
-
-
Riku quietly watched the flickering cowboy western, arms folded behind him. Beside him was an old friend; both were catching up with current times.
Riku's "friend" seemed darkly amused at the sight of the black and white sheriff facing down the movie's antagonist, "You know if they could see so easily, sheriff's could take care of anybody…"
"We've wasted enough time, Colt. What was inside the tanker?"
"Nothing."
"Hmph. What's that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly what I said, nobody seems to heard or seen it before."
While the sheriff shot down the villain in a tense duel, Colt reached into the folds of his jacket and pulled out a smaller arcane display, with a disc already inserted. He showed it to Riku. An image of a totaled Gummi ship amongst asteroids showed up.
"This is?" Riku asked.
"We found this space truck in the asteroid fields. The driver had died instantly. He was a convicted felon, anyways."
"A runaway?"
"We did some digging around. The truck belongs to a medical company called HOL-BAST Incorporated, but they didn't even bother filing a theft report until this happened. There was a rumor they did something big inside that truck, so nobody could find out. Then the tanker explosion happened soon afterwards."
"That's suspicious."
"Even for an expensive medical research company, their security is pretty insane."
"Why don't you just barge in, then? You can use any reason."
"Things changed since you left, Riku. The police around here are just full of corrupt fat men looking to fill their pockets. The higher ranks want more power, and the low lives just get in with the gangs. If we start a commotion, it won't be pretty. Tch…"
Riku remained stony faced as he drank his coffee, as he watched sheriff ride into the sunset. "Things haven't changed at all… That's why I left."
-
-
-
At the warehouse in the industrial section, a suitcase was set on a table in a chamber full of Halloween constructions. Black gloved hands pulled the latches open, revealing a series of glass beads insulated by Styrofoam. The terrorist in the black trench coat picked one up, letting a man look on in a mixture of awe and horror. This particular was a curious mixture of looks. Dressed in white-collar clothes, yet at the same time his hair was filled with untamable crimson locks and small tattoos under each eye.
"Do you know of Purgatory?" The man in black asked, a voice smooth and steely cold.
The white-collar looked in surprise, "Huh?"
"A place between Heaven and Hell. A world where people are left behind, and cannot ascend to Heaven… yes… it is this world."
"…This is all?" The other asked, anxious to move to less morbid conversation, and looked at the beads.
"Each capsule holds thirty thousand of them, and if you open one, it begins a self-replication process." The terrorist answered, toying and tossing the bead, despite the cautioning of the other.
"Hey-! Be careful with that! What about my money?"
He reached into the pocket inside his coat and dumped a bag into the white-collar's palms. A quick count got his confusion.
"This amount… this is below what we agreed!"
"You'll get the other half of it after the Party. After that, you can do what you please." The terrorist simply put it as he left the case full of beads into the care of the other.
"Yeah… and I'll be saying good bye to this cheap life… just one question." The white collar asked the terrorist's back. "Why on Halloween?"
"…In the old days, Halloween was a day when people prayed for souls to go to Heaven."
The terrorist turned around, silver bangs spilling across his face, green eyes smiling in grim humor as he sneered.
"You should start praying."
-
-
-
Back on Kingdom Hearts, Kairi just threw down the remote on the news. "Nothing, as usual."
Near her, Namine was seated on the table that just as often sat on as any other chair, doing magic on her laptop, while Pluto lay on the ground nearby.
"Kairi?" The resident blonde beckoned, "Can you take a look?"
Kairi found herself looking at the frozen blurry image of the man in coat holding his arm again, "Yeah?"
Namine didn't answer, instead typing more commands that found the section of the image being cleaned and zoomed repeatedly, until a close up of the man's gloved wrist was all that was seen.
"Is that an emblem on the glove?"
"Yeah. I've looked around for marks similar to it, and I came up with about… fourteen matches, which one do you think it is?"
As Kairi looked over the images of the various similar symbols she pointed at one. "It's this one?"
"You think so?"
"Yeah, it's definitely this one."
Namine typed in a few more queries, and the brief of the emblem and its organization was revealed.
"Shin-Ra Special Forces… SOLDIER… He's a military man?"
"SOLDIER was disbanded about three years ago, Kairi."
"You have any other data on this group?"
"Just a dossier, check out the soldiers."
Kairi snorted at the list, "Nearly all of them are dead! Go to the next one."
"Hmm…"
Pluto whined, catching the attention of Namine, "What is it?"
With that, the dog barked at one of the images.
"Really…"
"What is it? Hurry up!"
"But Pluto says it's this guy."
"What would the dog know? Look, he died in the Wutai War. Agh… nevermind. Let's just call it a night."
"Fine… huh?"
"Finding information this way is so boring… why did that idiot have to blow up my old home…?"
"Kairi…"
"… It would have been pretty cool being a princess, not having to do anything hard for a whole decade…"
"Kairi."
"…Why did I let Sora talk me into this… I'm going to lose all my hair and beauty before I'm twenty…"
"Kairi!"
"…When did this all go wrong…?"
"Roxas is spending money at an arcade!"
"…I forgot about him!"
As Kairi rushed out of the living quarters, she spied Sora walking back with a pot in his arms.
"Hi, what's that? Pottery?"
"Yeah, something like that."
The two passed by with that fake conversation. Sora walked into the now Kairi-less quarters, seeing only Namine mumbling to herself in thought as she watched the monitor of her laptop.
"Oh? Came back with a present for me, Sora?"
"Not really… who's that?" Sora nodded to the screen. Namine picked up the laptop to show the man.
"Pluto thinks this guy's the guy, but Kairi doesn't think so, all she knows is that it's one of these guys."
"Hmm… Sephiroth…?"
"Sora, you find anything?" Riku called out as he returned as well. He caught the pot that was tossed to him.
"Apparently, this jar suited me. How about you?"
"…The western was pretty good."
In other words, there wasn't much of a lead. That was until Namine shouted out she wanted to see the pot and found herself squeezing her lithe body inside, much to the deadpanned shock of everyone else present.
"She'd be perfect in a circus, seriously, Riku."
"This is what you should expect if you pick up kids who spent their early childhood inside a castle that didn't even have windows. Either way, I asked a friend in the force, but I only found out there's some weird chemical place."
"Guys! I found something!"
"Huh?"
"It was at the bottom of the pot." Namine continued, as she pulled out a glass bead up to everyone's view.
-
-
-
Roxas had finally made it to level eight, a real accomplishment on his part, given the difficulty of the shooter game he was always on. Keeping calm, the boy continued to blast away at the screen, catching alien monsters across the landscape.
Suddenly a girl with red hair leaned up against the railings of the booth and hummed appreciatively, "You're pretty good. Oh, here they come."
Roxas blasted, and was in a good mood, "Hey girl, you're all by yourself? If you want, you can join in and play two-player."
"Sure, but prefer the real thing."
"Real…what?" Roxas looked beside him to see a Keyblade just before it release a fire spell, shorting out the game and roasting the screen for an instant before the magic flames burned out on their own. His jaw dropped.
Kairi smirked, "We meet at last, hacker boy."
"I was only five hundred points away from fighting Spooky Donkey…"
"Hey, are you listening?"
"You almost never get to see him…" With that, Roxas hurled his plastic gun to the ground, before turning around with a glare, "What are you going to do about it, bounty hunter girl?"
"You're not really paying attention to the situation, are you? The game's over."
Roxas only grinned, "I can definitely take revenge for Spooky Donkey…" With that, he reached for his belt, which was laden with electronics, and started typing away at the buttons, to Kairi's confusion.
The effects were soon known, as right after, all the lights and electronics in the arcade shorted out, leaving Kairi in the darkness.
"What the-"
She only managed to see Roxas rushing away towards the inactive escalators.
"Hey! Get back here!"
As Kairi got to the bottom of the metal stairs, she fired two more Fire spells, hoping to scare Roxas into freezing. Unfortunately, in the dim light, all she scored was burning through the metal supports that held one of the helium balloons that rested above the stairs, causing it to fall down the escalator as the bounty huntress was just running, much to her shock, as she was chased back down the escalator.
Outside, Roxas was heaving, until he tripped outside the entrance of the arcade, ripping a cloth bracelet off his wrist against the pavement. Wasting no time, he was already off and running. By the time Kairi had caught up to where he was last, all she could find was the checkered piece of cloth on the ground.
She kicked a stand in frustration.
-
-
-
The scanner was certainly out of date, but at least it was compatible with Namine's computer. Inside the windowed tube, the glass bead was within.
"Weird shapes…" Namine muttered to herself.
"So what's inside?" Riku asked over the top of Namine's head, who remained wholly concentrated on the screen.
"Lymphocytes. It's full of it."
"Lymphocytes? Isn't that something in your blood?"
"But like I say, this one looks different than the usual ones."
"How so? I'm not very good at this sort of stuff."
Namine pulled up a second screen next to the real-time image of the lymphocyte that was inside the bead.
"This one's a real one, this one's the one inside."
"How's it different?"
"Zooming in…"
The close up of the cell wall didn't show too much either. Sure, the "different" one looked more organized, but that was about it.
"I still don't get it."
"Then let's microwave it."
"Eh?"
Before Riku could make any more arguments about possibly destroying the only clue they had, the inside of the tube was immediately bathed in red, signifying the heating process had begun. Nothing left to do, Riku just watched.
In moments, the image of the real lymphocyte showed the cell shriveling up under the heat, but the "different" one seemed to be resisting the heat. That struck Riku as odd, even with his basic knowledge of cells. In fact, the sides of the cell seemed to turning fuzzy…
"Hmmm?"
In moments, the lymphocyte simply dispersed into a cloud and disintegrated, causing the boy to blink in surprise, "What the… What the heck's in this thing?"
-
-
-
In a room, a black-gloved fist moved one bead over the other, and removed the jumped orb with mechanical smoothness, leaving only four left.
-
-
-
It was another day again, and Sora was found on an apartment opposite of HOL-BAST Inc.'s company and research office, spying out the building with a pair of binoculars. Noticing some large public vehicle entering the building without much trouble, the boy focused his attention on the side of the truck
-Strife Cleaning Co. 272-2437-8120-
"Hello? Strife Cleaning Company? I'm just doing a survey for my school, and I was wondering where you keep your vehicles…"
-
-
-
Inside the office of the director of HOL-BAST, a woman stood in front of the aged man. Even with the bright pink blouse, and braided tail of brown hair that ended in a red ribbon, her intense green eyes made sure to show she was far from cute, even if she liked certain colors. Behind her was a lower ranking scientist.
"Please continue with your report." The director commanded. The scientist thus continued to do the talking for her.
"The police force is investigating the incident as a terrorist attack. They still have no idea who's behind it, though. The investigating the cause of the outbreak from the angle that it is a virus."
The director hummed, "They won't find anything out for a while, then. However, we must keep cautious."
The woman spoke next, "At Moroccan Street, some information was given about the incident. We encountered the spy, but before we could act, Ansem had already gone into hiding."
"We must deal with every issue for this situation. This time it's big enough to affect the entire world."
"But do you really think Sephiroth really used… That?" The scientist asked, hiding his apprehension behind formality.
"That… is a heartless monster that cannot be seen. It is something that should never have existed… and is forbidden from existing. Sephiroth and Ansem… you know what to do."
The woman eyes flashed with despondency for just a second, looked back up firmly, "Yes, sir."
-
-
-
Outside a Strife Cleaning company garage, one of the drivers emerged from the bathroom and looked on in shock.
"What the-! Hey! Did you see where my truck went?"
"Eh? Did you just leave?"
Somewhere else, a Strife truck was just being checked through, its driver suspiciously young, a cap precariously placed atop his spiky brown hair as he whistled his way through to the parking lot.
-
-
-
The woman in the pink blouse slotted her access card through the reader, letting her back out the heavy security section and into the plainer "civil" laboratories.
Down the hall, a certain key master in cleaning uniform and a broom looked up the directions.
Should I go to section six for archives, or section seven for research and development? Huh?
At the sounds of footsteps he quickly brought his broom up in what he thought was an accurate display of cleaning the wall. The woman that passed him by only gave him a strange look before walking on. As the footsteps faded away, Sora gave a sigh of relief.
An arcane staff lodged itself beside his temple.
"Put your hands in the air." She commanded promptly.
Sora dropped the broom, and did as he was told, though he put a grin on top of that. "Haven't I seen you before?"
She didn't respond to that.
"You look kinda good."
"That doesn't speak for yourself." The woman bluntly put it.
"Ah, that wounds me…"
"Turn around, back to me."
Again Sora did as he was told, but he also made sure to stomp down on the brush of the broom. The wooden shaft flew up with enough force to knock the woman's staff out of the way as the key master ducked down. In another deft movement, Sora's palm crashed into the underside of the woman's wrist, knocking her staff loose, which was promptly slid away by the same broom.
As Sora rose he only managed to duck a kick that swept away his hat instead. Even with his the broom being held between the pits of his elbow and his back, Sora was easily dodging the oncoming fists of his female adversary, twisting his body this way and that.
As one fist passed his eyes, he noticed a peculiar tattoo one the top of her right wrist-
Sora had to dodge another fist that headed for his head before swerving behind the woman. With his key chain trapped between his clothes and his uniform, he had to make do with only the broom. But that was already, he already had smacked the wooden handle into her back, making her stumble forward before she twisted around in another roundhouse kick. He ducked under that and brought his broom swinging back into her mid section, which she blocked, though she was pushed against the wall with the broom.
The woman frowned. "How much do you know already?"
Sora shrugged while bringing out a coin in one of his hands, "Who knows? How 'bout this, if I get heads, I'll talk-"
The woman already was shoving the broom away, fists punching while Sora kept a corner of his mouth grinning, as he kept blocking blows with his makeshift weapon. Eventually he changed momentum, bringing his broom forward in a series of jabs and swipes, which the other easily ducked away from as well.
As they backed away, Sora seemed amused at the predicament, "You know, for a doctor in a medical place, you sure know how to fight."
"Knowing too much is a good way to die."
"You sure have a way with words. I think I'm falling in love!" Sora laughed, before twisting out of the way of a heel that was launched towards his face. Jerking away from a few more blows, Sora twisted his waist to swing his rod into the woman's side again. This time, she actually caught it, and wasn't letting go. After launching another kick which was blocked, she brought a palm crashing through the wood, splitting the broom in half, before backing away, as Sora brought the remaining half into his hands, posing rather ridiculously while holding the bristled weapon. His face dropped.
The woman averted her eyes just for a second to look at the approaching two security guards that was heard the commotion, before she found a broom blocking her vision. Backing away, she crouched under the obstruction, only to see the teen abandon his weapon and run away from the other two guards. As she dashed after the entire party, she also quickly grabbed her staff from the ground.
Sora meanwhile, turning a corner, quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher from the ground, and as the two guards came about, they were quickly overcome with a spray of foam that left them blind and choking. At the sight of the crazy pink lady that was rushing past the immobilized security, Sora was already running off frantically.
Quickly finding his way to an elevated walkway above the main lobby with the woman quickly chasing behind, Sora took his chances and leapt off the high platform, and managed to roll across the floor safely, before dashing to the exit. Within moments, the woman had also fallen heavily to the ground in a crouch. When she rushed outside she found the escapee waving cheerily from the back of a leaving Strife Cleaning truck. She brought a radio to her mouth and spoke rapidly.
The main gates shut right in front of the truck Sora was on, leaving it screeching to a halt while guards with magic guns started pouring out the sides of the buildings.
Sora tossed his head around, looking at the approaching army, gritting his teeth.
That way! No- wait- That… no. Geez!
Sora scrambled to the top of the truck while flares of energy scattered around him, smashing the metal hull of the truck and heating up the air around his head. Dashing across the length of the truck, Sora leapt across the gates and into the streets and kept running.
In the back, watching the chaos of guards and escaping spies, the woman sighed and walked very stiffly back into the building.
-
-
-
Roxas paced down the streets looking at his watch.
Any minute now…three, two, one… boom.
At the exact same time, arcane screens across the entire Twilight Town, no matter what was being shown, suddenly burned away to another message. An image of a cartoony flying bandaged pumpkin, with teeth and eyes, and fluttering around with a single black wing took up the entirety of the screen, while a man's recorded message and text cycled through to the viewers in various languages.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! TRICK OR TREAT!
I'M SO TINY THAT NO ONE CAN FIND,
SO GREAT THAT NO ONE CAN SEE,
BUT YOU ARE ALL MADE OF ME
TO THE MARROW.
Sora and Riku looked at the cryptic message together from their screen, but Kairi didn't bother paying attention, more concerned about finding something she had misplaced.
"So, what that supposed to mean, Riku?" Sora asked from his seat. Riku hummed with crossed arms.
"I'm not sure exactly, but if you look at it from a biological angle, there a few interpretations."
Kairi cut in, "Hey guys… did any of you see a dumb-looking checkered bracelet anywhere?"
"Kairi, this is more important, this is a message from the bounty." Riku scolded lightly.
"Maybe it's a trick…"
"I would have thought so too, if it weren't for what I saw in the pot."
"Pot?"
Riku jerked his head back to the vase in the corner of the room, which now held a sunflower for decorative purposes. After that, he pulled up an image of the lymphocyte over the frozen image of the pumpkin. "At a normal glance, it looks like another lymphocyte…"
The image was zoomed several times, while showing a freeze frame of the lymphocyte as it broke up into the mist from before, "…But in reality, it's actually made up of thousands of tiny machines. These are what the scientists would call 'nano-machines'."
"Nano-machines?" Sora pondered.
"Really…" Kairi also mused.
"You know about this?"
"Not a thing."
Riku continued, "Either way, it's a machine so small that it can't be seen by normal human vision. On top of that, they're also made of proteins… your 'favorite proteins', Sora."
"Hey, don't look at me like that."
"Still, they can't be ingested, and they're normally only used for medical purposes."
"How did something like that end up in a pot?" Kairi asked.
Riku decided to brush off that question, and kept up in his crash-lecture, "Anyways, lymphocytes aren't supposed to be made of proteins in the first place."
"And?"
"Whoever wrote that message knows exactly what this thing is."
"And?"
"…That's it."
"In other words, you have no idea what that thing still is." Kairi sighed, as she arched her back in a stretch before walking off in a dismissive, "This was a waste of time…"
"By the way, Sora. How was that medical place?"
The key blade user gave a quick laugh and a smile, "A great place. They make some powerful looking medicine there, and all the guards there had Golden Snipers."
Riku spun around in surprise, "Magic guns? Those can only be gotten from the military!"
"I also met a girl there, she had a tattoo that was the same as the one on Sephiroth's glove." Sora also noted, while he plucked his headphones from the table and set it to a frequency. "That girl…"
"What about her?"
"She was kinda cute. It's too bad she's so old, though."
Riku snorted, "Anyways, if whatever is going on is related to the military, then the story changes a lot. Geez, solving one mystery only dropped us into something a hundred times more complex… Sora, what are you doing?"
The boy in question kicked up his legs onto one end of the sofa and leaned back on the other arm, "With some problems, it's just better to sleep over it."
"But…"
"Riku, seriously. Some things do just have to cook by themselves."
Kairi suddenly shot back into the room, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I was here to find some stupid looking bracelet, did either of you find one?"
"No."
"Geez… where did it go?"
-
-
-
Pluto brought his nose up and sniffed the checkered cloth show to him by a slim arm. He sneezed.
Namine looked on in surprise, "I guess it does smell funny… either way, Pluto, find!"
Pluto traced the scent across the city, and to about two dead ends, one that held a paranoia-maniac ("Get out of my porch or I'll blast ya!"), and the other… well…
("I don't like cute girls! Get out of here!")
Never mind, strange neighborhood.
Pluto suddenly barked at the form of a boy that was pacing away suspiciously, hands in his pockets, and looking around nervously.
Behind a metal garbage container, Namine looked on as Roxas gave a quick look around before jogging into a particular abandoned apartment complex.
"Found him!"
-
-
-
"Hmmm? Yes, yeah?"
"Kairi! I found him!"
"Eh? Namine, what are you doing?"
"That Roxas guy! I found him!"
"Really! Where?"
"I'm sending you the address now!"
"Uh-yeah! Just stay where you are, okay? I'm coming right over!"
"Got it."
Unfortunately, Namine's short attention span to anything not related to computers or art, combined with a small children's early Halloween parade, proved too much for the girl.
In an instant, she was running after them.
-
-
-
Roxas approached the dark figure, which continued to play his game by himself. "Level one, clear. Easy as cake… " He spied the three orbs still in play, "You're still playing that game? Is it fun? How's it work?"
-
-
-
Kairi scrunched her fists at the empty spot that should have held someone very important. "I should have known this was going to happen… those idiots! Which building? Which room?" She whined into the air.
-
-
-
"In solitaire, every ball you jump is taken away." The dark figure explained, as he moved one orb over the other, "Then, if you are left with only one, you win."
"Oh, it's over. Does that mean you win?"
Roxas looked on in confusion as the edge of the man's overly long blade was rested precariously atop the remaining glass bead.
"The game's climax is about to begin." The man muttered.
Roxas nervously laughed off the comment, shrugging with his hands in his pockets, "Eh… Really, what are you talking about?"
A realization it him, "Wait! You mean that ball-"
"It's only a game."
A simple rise and drop of the blade split the glass ball in perfect halves, leaving the liquid to dribble across the wooden surface of the gaming board.
Silence.
"Y-you're joking right? This is a joke right-"
Roxas suddenly broke into coughing fits, like something was forcibly entering his lungs. The other man silently made his sword disappearing into the dark folds of his trench coat, unaffected by the events.
"There can only be one left." He stated simply.
Roxas looked on in horror, before he rushed to one of the closed windows, trying to budge the rusted shutters while the other man simply walked away, leaving the hacker to his death, coughing and gagging.
-
-
-
Kairi turned around to one of the buildings when she heard the sounds of a window shattering. She narrowed her eyes. In moments she was rushing up the grimy stairwells of the building, her Keyblade in hand. Cautiously moving along the corridor, she met the door to the room that held the shattered window. A kick brought the aged wood slamming out of her way while she barged in, her weapon in the air at ready.
She was met with a Roxas stumbling towards her, bleeding from the forehead, eyes rolling to and fro, while his voice came out strangled.
"I can't meet… Spooky… Donkey…"
Roxas fell to the ground on his face. Kairi was beside him immediately, "Hey! It's not good for me if you die! Get up!"
"Please… restart…"
Kairi rose, confused, before her breath was suddenly strangled with a flame in her lungs, leaving her coughing. As she opened her eyes again, she looked on in confusion as the room around her suddenly started going blurry around the lines, like a world out of focus.
A light fluttered past her, and her vision followed lethargically, her head growing heavy.
As Kairi thought she was going to pass out, she heard someone step behind her. Moving instinctively, she swung behind her. The magic blade ripped into the gloved hand, but was stopped by the grip that even managed to wrench the weapon out of her grip.
Dropping the weapon, the dark man rose with a bloody palm, slightly intrigued, before lapping the red fluid into his mouth, letting it dribble with his smirk.
Kairi backed away, coughing and hacking, while she stumbled drunkenly to the far side of the room, which held a table with a board on it. Losing her balance next, Kairi fell forward onto the table, the force upsetting the beads on the board, leaving them to scatter across the ground. As she turned around, a bloody hand gripped her jaw, forcing her around, before both arms pinned her down.
Powerless, lacking strength, Kairi was helpless as the man clamped his bloody mouth over hers, letting her gag at the taste of the coppery sliding down her throat, before everything went black.
-
-
-
A voice piqued into Sora's headset, waking him.
Emergency call from Alpha One. We have located One Wing. Location is 24.15. He's moving.
Across the city, undercover agents tracked the quiet movements of the black clothed man, coat fluttering slightly. Back at HOL-BAST, the woman was rushing to her car, radio in hand, "I'm coming right over. Don't do anything until I get there."
Sora, who was quickly leaving Kingdom Hearts, gave a grin, "But I'll be done before you get there."
He's entered between One Seven and One Eight.
Sora jumped into a smaller tram a tracking screen in hand, while the woman sped out of her headquarters.
He's headed towards the Train Station.
As the woman reached into the pocket of her shirt to put away something, her hand brushed along something she didn't expect and pulled out a chip. She only gave a half a second of thought before she snapped it in two.
Sora frowned as the display on his hand-held display fizzled away into static. But no matter, he already knew the man was heading for the Train Station, which was enough.
The woman's car slid to a halt near an entrance to the station, next to one of her agents, who pointed, "This way! I'll go with you!"
"I'll handle this myself!" She only said, brushing off the assistance as she rushed into the station.
"But-!"
"Look after my car!"
Behind them, a tram came to a halt, Sora jumping out and shoving his headset into the first person's hand he came by as he also ran into the building.
Inside, she caught the sight of her target silently standing before one of the larger trains that moved people between cities across the giant harbors, and chased after. While the woman only barely managed to slip between the doors of one of the cars as it shut, Sora was not so lucky, being the last behind them all. Another plan formed his in head, though, and he rushed back up the descending escalator, and back onto bridge that spanned the railway tracks. As the train began to pull out, he leapt off the side of the bridge, and landed in a messy roll onto the roof, before moving forwards.
Inside, the woman breathed deeply and made sure to keep a grasp on her weapon of choice, her staff, and discreetly moved down the connected cars towards her quarry's location, making sure nobody would notice. Sora on the other hand, cause quite a commotion further up, as he dropped in front of one of the large windows of the passenger cars and motioned for people to back away with his hand that held the Keyblade. Seeing up ahead that a train was rushing towards him from the tracks parallel to his current ride, he quickly pointed his magical weapon to the glass.
"Freeze!"
In moments, the pane frosted up, and Sora kicked through the weakened glass with no effort, just as the other train rushed past.
Between the shadows and traces of light that moved across the windows, a Keyblade was pointed in the air at a man's back that stood in the middle of the aisle of one of the train cars.
"Sephiroth!"
The man raised his head slightly at the name.
"I don't know your face, but I can tell it's you. You reek of blood."
Sephiroth spoke back, never turning. "You are a… bounty hunter?"
Sora sneered, his business face in these sorts of situations, "Don't think badly of me, okay? But really, it's your fault for putting a three hundred million bounty on your own head like that."
Just then the train passed through a small support tunnel that helped hold the bridge that the train was using to cross the harbor. In the sudden glare as the car left the darkness, Sephiroth spun around, hand glowing with magic.
The woman heard the sounds of magic, and rushed forwards.
As Sora ducked behind the backed-benches, the orbs of energy crashed into the wood around him, shattering glass and prying steel supports free from the wood it was supposed to brace. Sephiroth attacked several more times, before backing away into the next car. Sora chased him, but again, only barely managed to escape the hail of energy that blasted the side of car as the boy jumped behind the benches again.
Again, Sephiroth quickly marched away from the battle, with Sora chasing after. The woman, on the other hand, had no such easy pursuit, as the civilian onlookers tried to escape in the opposite direction, slamming into her body as she tried to move beyond the human river.
Finally, Sephiroth ran out of cars to run into, as he came to the stop in the one just behind the train engine. Spinning around, he faced down Sora with an energy filled palm, while the other had just brought up his blade.
Trains passed. Shadows. Silence as the two looked at each other.
"Why won't you attack?" Sephiroth suddenly asked.
"Hmm?"
"What's the matter? You only talk in the beginning?" Sephiroth gave a grim smile, "Do it."
Sora just came back with his usual cockiness, "Well, that's too bad. Killing you would mean I lose the bounty."
"I do not fear death. You only quietly watch a dream… a dream that lasts forever…"
Sora harrumphed, "What a weirdo."
Sephiroth's glazed green eyes however, turned back down, and noticed someone coming from behind the bounty hunter. Turning his glowing palm just the slightest, the next blast of energy shot past Sora's confused look, before he heard the sound of a woman's shocked scream cut short, and a body falling to the ground.
"Fire!" Sora fired furiously, letting the entrapped flames rip into the scenery around Sephiroth, while the black clothes flew with his movement as he ducked away. As he kept firing, Sora realized that he couldn't bring his blade up against the man, lest he kill him. Thus, just as the magic fuelling his attacks ran low, Sora jumped from one top of a bench to the next, before he flew foot first into Sephiroth's face, knocking him back. From there he unleashed fist after fist, only stopping to knock away a glowing hand that was aiming for head, before pushing the man against the side of one of the seats so that he could pummel him repeatedly. Another punch knocked Sephiroth down the path between the seats, and a high kick to the face launched the man across the chamber, impacting his head against one of the seats, before he slumped to the ground. Sora walked over to the fallen body, and picked the man up by the edges of his coat-
Something suddenly rushed into the shocked boy's chest, and out the other end. Sora could only look on, wide-eyed, as Sephiroth's limp body was procured a long sword from somewhere, and had driven the entire length through his chest. Something started to seep into the clothes around the wound. Heavily.
Sora's face darkened in rage.
"Is that all?" Sephiroth mused, and twisted the blade, leaving Sora gasping for air. A foot also shot up into the key master's chest, shoving the boy across the steel length of the blade and off the end, smearing him across the floor while he grabbed for his chest in search of air.
Sephiroth, blade bleeding in his left hand, walked nonchalantly towards his fallen foe and reached down. Grasping the boy's neck with his other hand, he dragged the gagging bounty hunter towards one of the windows, before hurling his upper body through the glass, scattering shards everywhere.
In the harsh winds that threatened to drag him out of the train and into the sea, Sora feebly tried to reach for something, and with no strength, failed.
"What is your name?" Sephiroth asked amidst the harsh breezes.
He looked up with one last grin, "…Sora…"
"I'll meet you at the end of the world."
"Sephiroth!" Another voice cried out. Sephiroth and Sora both turned to see the same woman the terrorist had shot, standing as ever, arms grasping her staff, though one of them was heavily bleeding, despite the emergency tourniquet.
Sephiroth merely allowed the hand holding Sora over the water to start glowing. The woman tensed up. Sephiroth let a corner of his mouth curl up.
The orb of energy exploded though Sora's chest point black, scattering blood while he dropped out the window towards the waters below the train, to the woman's horror.
A sound of whispered spells brought her back to reality, as she pointed her staff back at the terrorist, whose arm was glowing, bands of rune spinning about the limb as he raised it into the air.
She hesitated, "Sephiroth… I…"
It was all the time he needed. In moments, the front of passenger car exploded in a blaze of flames, activating emergency brakes and forcing the train to a sparking halt on the bridge riding over the harbor.
Amidst the smoke, she crawled wearily into the next car, before the sound of a dropping body alerted her. In front of her, remaining passengers broke into coughing fits, while they collapsed to the ground. She only watched in total confusion for a few seconds before gripping her own mouth in a desperate attempt for self-preservation.
She didn't cough.
Removing her hand, she sat up and looked at her self. Nothing happened. Not a cough, not an irregular twitch of muscle, not a blurry line anywhere in her vision.
"What on earth…?"
Turning back, she looked at the burning remains of the car. Not a sign remained of his being there. He had somehow, disappeared without a trace.
"Sephiroth…"
-
-
-
PART ONE: END
-
-
-
KINGDOM HEARTS: KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR
