WHY AM I DOING THIS TO MYSELF. I already have tons of stories that need completing and what comes along? MORE PLOT BUNNIES. XD Well, it's not entirely a bad thing...I'll finish those other ones eventually!
This is also my first delve into the mystery genre. If I'm doing it wrong, feel free to let me know XD
...this is also my first fic where Roxas is the main character. Wow, a lot of firsts in this one.
Prototype
By FlikFreak
Chapter One: Exploring the Mansion
The day had started normally enough. The four of them eating sea salt ice cream in the Usual Spot. It was Roxas's first summer vacation since he had moved to Twilight Town, but unfortunately for him it was beginning to be quite dull. While this was mainly due to the lack of things to do in town, the weather was also to blame: it was far too hot to do most things, and the train line wouldn't be up and running until a day or two from then. Thus, in order to stray from their boredom, they rambled amongst themselves about random topics.
Hayner, the ever-impulsive one with an attitude problem to boot, was anticipating the Struggle tournament in a few days. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that he was carefully planning his revenge on Seifer (whether it would work or not, however, was a mystery to all). Olette was no doubt thinking about summer homework, studying, or shopping, but was of course no doubt content to join the boys' conversations. Roxas remained quiet for the most part, pitching in a thought when he came with one like he always did. Hayner once admonished him for being so quiet all the time, claiming that being new didn't give him an excuse, but later they all just accepted that Roxas didn't talk quite as much as the rest of them.
Of all of them, Pence was the one that started the talk that made their summer more eventful. While he was laid-back and easygoing, Pence was also more intelligent than he seemed. Not only was he a computer genius, but he also made some rather good grades in school as well…which never failed to surprise Olette, whom was constantly wondering when he ever had time to study between hanging out with them and going to school or doing chores. The thing about Pence, though, was that he had a thing for the supernatural. If you ever wanted to know anything and everything about any urban legend, Pence would know.
And it was one of those urban legends that started the whole mess.
"Have you heard those rumors about the old mansion?"
"Everyone knows about those rumors, Pence," Hayner groaned, proceeding to thoroughly ignore his friend.
"I haven't," Roxas pointed out, nibbling on the corner of his ice cream.
Pence looked all too happy to explain, and put on his usual ghost-story-telling face. "Well, this well-known scientist used to live there. Really smart guy, invented a lot of stuff. But then something happened at his house, and he mysteriously vanished. No one's lived in the house since."
"What happened to him?"
"No one knows," Pence replied. "People suspect a lot of things. An experiment gone wrong, murder, suicide…all sorts of stuff, but no one's even gone inside to see. The authorities won't even go near that place."
"How come?" Roxas asked.
"No one knows that, either. When people ask, they refuse to answer."
"Does anyone know what happened to that place?" Olette asked.
Pence shrugged. "Not a one."
"That's it!"
All heads turned to Hayner. "What's it?" Pence asked.
"If no one knows what went on in there," Hayner began, "That means no one's been there, right?"
Pence and Olette exchanged glances with Roxas. Their thoughts were shared ones: "Oh boy, here he goes again."
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I sure could use some excitement. Today was getting really boring anyway. We're going to go check that place out."
"Do you even know how to get there?" Roxas asked dryly.
Hayner crossed his arms. "Of course not; that's why you're all coming along."
Roxas suppressed a groan. Why did he get the feeling he wasn't getting a choice in this?
Several minutes later saw them heading down Market Street to Tram Common. The entrance to the forest consisted of a large hole in the brick wall past the Sandlot entrance (Pence explained that after Tram Common was rebuilt, the hole had appeared and no one bothered to repair it), and the woods beyond were rather dark, even for midday.
The mansion itself was enormous. The windows were surprisingly intact, but several pillars lining the front walkway past the wrought-iron gate had crumbled. Vines were overgrowing the walls, and the grass reached up past their ankles, making walking a bit awkward.
"This is it?" Hayner deadpanned.
"This is it," Pence replied.
Roxas gulped nervously as the rest of the group headed forward. "Guys? Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"What's wrong?" Hayner teased. "You scared, Roxas?"
Roxas glared at his friend. "Of course not! I'm just… Well, look at it. The place is obviously falling apart. What if it falls in on top of us?"
"It shouldn't be that bad," Pence pointed out. "This place isn't that old."
"You're only here so you can see if there are really ghosts or not," Roxas mumbled, but he followed them anyway.
Hayner shoved the iron gateway open and the group started forward. After grabbing the front door and twisting the knob, he paused. "Funny. The front door's unlocked."
"Whoever owned this place sure wasn't that concerned about burglars," Olette commented, "Or vandals."
Roxas begged to differ. As they stepped into the house, he felt chills running up his spine. Something was definitely off about this place…
Security scan commencing…
Scan complete. Intruders detected.
Hibernation mode terminated.
Possible match found. Analyzing…
If the previous owner wasn't worried about vandals invading his house, he'd regret it now if he saw what had happened…that, or the place really was falling apart. Various displays that had been in the ballroom had all been smashed, their pieces scattered across the room. Only one was left standing, and the glass case was shattered, the display object itself crumbling.
Numerous paintings lined the walls, several torched or ripped. There were two statues near the back of the room between the dual staircases, between them a glass door to the garden outside (which was also slowly becoming overgrown). The chandeliers were, thankfully, still in one piece.
"Defintitely vandals," Pence mumbled, pulling out his camera and snapping a photo of the ruined display.
"I don't think so," Olette replied. "Come over here."
In a small room nearby was what was possibly some sort of dining room. A chair still remained, along with a cabinet or two, but the chandelier in this room had crushed the table underneath it. Roxas's eyes widened and he stepped back. "Whoa…it had to take something huge to smash that."
"I doubt a chandelier would have done the job, either," Pence added. "That table looks pretty sturdy…"
They left the room as quickly as they had entered it, deciding not to stick around to see if whatever broke the table decided to test its strength on them. They made their way up the stairs and to the south end of the house, pushing open one of the doors. The room within was entirely white, full of crayon drawings that were strewn on the table, on the walls next to the cabinet and curtained window, and on the floor. They were all exceedingly difficult to make out, and Roxas gave up after trying to discern a black-and-yellow object standing next to a…something.
Hayner sniffed. "Someone obviously needed an art class."
"This room is pretty different," Olette commented. "The rest of this place is in dull red and gold colors…this room is white."
Pence fingered the glass roses in the vase on the table. "Yeah. It makes no sense."
"It probably did to the owner," Roxas pointed out, "Whoever he was."
"Are we though here?" Hayner grumbled impatiently. "There's still one more room to check out."
"You're the one who was so eager to come here," Olette scolded him. "No need to be so impatient."
They ended up leaving anyway, but when they reached the other room, it was locked. Hayner stared at the doorknob like it was the cause of all his problems. "You've got to be kidding me," he hissed.
"That's weird," Olette observed. "Why lock this door and not any of the others?"
Pence grinned mischievously, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his library card. "Wanna find out?"
Ironically, the room that Pence unlocked with his library card was a library. Numerous books of varying subjects lined the walls, and the room itself was, surprisingly, not all that musty. The window, however, was filthy, but this didn't surprise Roxas; the place had been abandoned for years.
"They wanted to protect their library?" Hayner deadpanned. "That's pretty dull."
"These are some weird books though," Olette pointed out. "I've seen this one in the library at school, it's about the War of the Chasers."
"And look at this one!" Pence said excitedly, pulling one off the shelf. "'Door To Light: A Mystery Unexplained.' Huh. Wonder what that's about."
Roxas scanned the bookshelves, but the subjects were far beyond his understanding. Instead, he directed his attention to the table on the opposite side of the room. On it was a small vase and a few books. The title of one book caught his eye: 'Kingdom Hearts: Myth or Reality?' He was about to pick it up when the floor began to shift underneath him, knocking him flat on his rear. "Wha-"
"Roxas! Move!"
Scrambling to his feet, Roxas raced off of the tiled floor and back off of the carpet just in time for the floor to slide away right from beneath him, revealing something none of them had expected.
"How old did you say this place was again, Pence?" Roxas stuttered.
"Apparently not as old as I first suspected," Pence replied.
There, beneath where the floor had been, was a staircase down to what could only be a basement. It hardly seemed like part of the house at all; the reds became blues and greens. And the structure certainly seemed more modern than the rest of the mansion.
Roxas felt a chill go up his spine as he stared downward. "Guys…should we go down there?"
"Of course!" Hayner replied, already heading down the steps. "How else are we going to get to the bottom of this mystery?"
"You're certainly into this," Olette commented, grinning.
Hayner crossed his arms. "Not my fault today's been dull before now. Come on!"
Analysis complete. Match confirmed.
Commencing communication attempt…
"Now that is weird," Pence said. "This place is super old; I'd never expect to find a computer here."
"Strange," Olette muttered.
Hayner nodded. "You said it."
Roxas remained quiet. The screens had various graphs and lists of data. On one screen was a wireframe scan, accompanied by several graphs. Glancing on the back wall, Roxas noticed a few more screens, all with even more data. What was all this?
"Pence, should you really be messing with it?"
Snapping out of his daze, Roxas turned around to see Pence sitting in the computer seat and messing with a few of the screens, looking completely at home. "Relax; the program looks relatively simple. Hmm…" He tapped a few of the screens. "It looks like it's monitoring some sort of prototype of something. This one looks like the house's defense system…"
"This house has a defense system?" Roxas echoed.
Pence shrugged. "Yeah, but the log doesn't state anything being launched yet. Right now it's attempting communications with something I don't recognize most of this…"
A low whir caught Roxas's attention and he turned toward a door on the far end of the room, which led down a long hallway. Tilting his head, he approached it. "Hey, guys…what do you think is in here?"
Hayner, Pence and Olette glanced up from staring at the computer. "You find something?"
Roxas shook his head. "It's just an old hallway, but I think there's something down it." He squinted. "I can see a few lights."
"Well, what're we waiting for?"
The hallway turned out to actually be a large room, and the real hallway was on the other side of it. The wall was lined with several white, bud-like pods two times larger than the average human being. All seemed empty, but the power was turned on. "What are these?" he mumbled.
"Who knows?" Hayner replied, shaking his head. "This place gives me the creeps."
Olette swallowed nervously. "Maybe we should turn back. This place gives me the creeps."
A door at the end of the hallway opened, sliding upward. "Doors to not open by themselves," Roxas said in a near-whisper, eyes wide. "I'm with Olette on this one."
"What's wrong?" Hayner teased, crossing his arms. "Scared?"
"Of course not!"
"Then come see what's inside!"
"…fine."
The room on the other side of the door lit up the moment they stepped in. It was entirely white, just like the white room before in the upstairs part of the mansion. This room, however, was slightly different; for one, it was hard to make out the walls and ceiling. In the center of the room was an enormous pod, much like the ones that were in the hallway, and much wider. A complicated apparatus and system of wires connected it with the ceiling.
"What is that?" Roxas asked no one in particular.
"Looks like an artichoke," Pence commented.
Roxas would have rolled his eyes in any other situation. Of course Pence would reference food, even at a time like this. "We know what it looks like, but what is it?"
"Some kind of container, maybe?" Olette suggested.
Pence quirked an eyebrow. "I don't get it. Most of the mansion is pretty dull and run-down. Then there was that one white room upstairs, and the computer lab, too…they're not run down at all. Then we get here, and there's this huge…thing. I've got a funny feeling about all this."
"Whatever," Hayner grumbled loudly. "This place is weird, but that's about it. I'm outta here."
As the blonde turned to leave, Olette sighed. "He's right. We found some weird stuff, but this place isn't haunted, just old. Besides, it's getting late."
Sighing in defeat, Roxas gave the giant container one last look before turning to follow his friends out. He hated to admit it, but they were right. As hyped and spooky as this place was, it was just some really weirdly built house.
Who's there…?
Roxas froze. The voice had spoken directly to his mind, but it was almost the same as hearing it with his ears. He shuddered, feeling a sudden cold chill, and rubbed his arms. "Did you guys hear that?"
Olette glanced at him awkwardly. "Hear what?"
"That voice!"
"What voice?"
Hayner stared at Roxas. "What're you talking about?"
Is someone out there…?
"There it is again!" Roxas exclaimed. "Didn't you hear it?"
Pence rolled his eyes. "He's stalling."
Roxas was taken aback. "I'm not stalling! It's really-"
Hayner's trademark grumpy face emerged, silencing his friend. "Roxas, there's no voice. If you want to check out the rest of the mansion that badly, you could just say so."
"But I heard it! Didn't you?"
"Roxas…"
It was a warning. Sighing, Roxas let his shoulders droop and followed his friends out. The voice did not speak to him as he exited.
Communication attempt successful. Commencing area scan…
Scan complete. Target located. Launching defense mechanism.
Error. Security system override. Launch failure.
System anomaly detected. Failure to regulate prototype.
Initiating Emergency Shutdown procedure…
Error. Complete system override.
Emergency Shutdown failure.
Prototype Control System failure.
Warning.
Warning.
Warning.
That night, Roxas found sleep difficult. The voice plagued him; how could he have heard it and not his friends? Perhaps they were right; maybe he was only hearing things.
Are you still there?
Roxas sat up in bed so fast his vision went fuzzy for a moment. The voice again?! But how? It was a lot fainter this time, nearly impossible to make out, but he could still 'hear' it. Rubbing his eyes, Roxas stared out the window. "What's going on?" he muttered
Who are you?
That did it. Quietly, Roxas pulled on some socks and shoes, grabbed a flashlight, and snuck out of his room and down the stairs, careful not to wake his parents, and out the door.
It was rather awkward to traverse the streets of Twilight Town in his pajamas, but Roxas had no complaints this time. No one was really awake at this hour aside from partying college students, and they weren't in this part of town (for once, Roxas was thankful that his parents were so adamant about living in the 'good part' of town, even if it meant being farther away from Hayner). He avoided Market Street, instead heading down the alleyway and through the sandlot to get to Tram Common. Shortly after passing through, he made his way to the familiar crack in the wall and flicked on his flashlight as he entered the forest.
The chirping of the crickets was a lot louder at night, as was the sound of Roxas's every footstep crunching the grass and occasional twigs underneath. There was no breeze, no wind, no nothing. The path was difficult to follow, and Roxas wondered how he stayed on it without straying into the deeper parts of the woods.
The mansion seemed far more intimidating at night. He paused, gazing through the metal bars of the gate before swallowing and pushing them open. The rusted hinges creaked in protest, causing Roxas to wince before he passed through.
There were no lamps on inside, and Roxas had to do his best to watch his footing. "I know I last heard that voice here," he muttered, but his words echoed off the walls anyway.
Who is it?
Again, there it was. Roxas waved his flashlight about, eyes scanning carefully for anyone else that might have been there. No ghosts, no zombies…just an old, run-down house. A creepy old run-down house. Even this didn't change the fact that there was a voice, however. "Is someone in here?" He called, stepping forward.
Who are you?
Whoever this voice was, it sure seemed curious about Roxas. Taking a deep breath, Roxas headed up the stairwell and toward the library. He was only half-relieved that the path to the basement laboratory remained, and he followed it downward to the computer room.
The screens remained the same, still monitoring some sort of prototype. Ignoring them, Roxas continued through the halls and into the white room. It was a dizzying difference from the dark mansion, especially since the lighting didn't seem to change. The pod remained in its same position as it had been before, but there was something different from before that he couldn't discern.
Swallowing, Roxas glanced around the room. "Is someone in here?"
As though to answer him, a loud click sounded and the pod in the center of the room flashed. Then, a loud whirring began as large, petal-like shapes lowered from the pod's exterior. It was opening.
Roxas took a few steps back to make way, and nearly dropped his flashlight when he saw what was inside of the pod. There, floating peacefully and connected to various wires, was a boy.
