Hey all! You're looking at the first little bit of a Kingdom Hearts/Chrno Crusade crossover that I've been working at for a while. Be sure and let me know if you like it, and I'll see if I can push life aside long enough to get some serious writing done. That said, enjoy!
Crosshairs
Anna swore frustratedly as she fired yet another Sacred into the teeming mass of black creatures moving in on her and her fellow Sisters. "Dammit! What are these things?"
"I'm more worried about why they keep showing up whenever we're around!" Mary replied, taking out three of the shadow creatures with three quick shots. "It's like they're after us!"
In the small corner of her mind that wasn't occupied with fighting, Anna had to admit that the blonde had a point. These creatures had started showing up about two weeks ago, and it seemed they only appeared whenever the Order was on a mission. Slaying demons was hard enough without these creatures – simply and rather uncreatively dubbed Shadows by another sister – complicating things.
It hadn't helped that the number of demon attacks in New York had been steadily increasing…
"Well, it could be worse," Claire, the general voice of reason of the trio, pointed out. "At least they're not too difficult to defeat." She ducked as a Shadow leapt at her, counting on Anna to shoot it out of the sky – something she did promptly and with great satisfaction.
As that last gunshot rang through the street, the Shadows froze. A slight shudder ran through the group as its members exchanged looks with one another. It looked for all the world as though they were conferring about…well, whatever it was that Shadows would confer about. After several long seconds, the conferring stopped and the Shadows were gone, disappearing in wisps of darkness and smoke.
The trio of exorcists was silent for several long seconds, each trying and failing to understand why their opponents had suddenly left.
"Well." Anna was the first to find her voice, if only for a word.
Mary blinked. "That was easy."
"Yes," Claire mused quietly, twirling a strand of her brown hair nervously around her finger. "At the risk of sounding cliché, it was almost too easy."
As though they had been awaiting her words, several new creatures appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, in the middle of the street.
The sisters stared at these new creatures. They seemed to be the exact opposite of the Shadows in every way – their tall, too-thin white bodies looked as though they may have been human once, and they moved as if they were being constrained by some unseen force – a direct contrast to free, almost wild movements of the Shadows.
Of course, just because they weren't Shadows didn't mean they weren't dangerous.
Anna was the first to speak. "Who are you?" she called to the creatures.
No answer. The creatures remained eerily silent as they moved towards the sisters.
"They look like they're dancing," Mary whispered.
"Or having seizures," Claire replied.
"You guys, be quiet!" Anna hissed over her shoulder. She decided to try to communicate again – maybe they'd reply this time. "Hey! I said, who are you?"
Still nothing. One of the creatures drifted almost lazily into the air, turning a few effortless somersaults before continuing to move down the street with the other creatures.
The trio stared in disbelief and shock. At least demons and Shadows had some concept of gravity. These new things seemed to follow a completely different set of rules.
Anna decided it was time to make her point. She gathered her courage and aimed her standard-issue Colt .45 at the advancing creatures. "Stop right there or I'll shoot!"
No response. The creatures continued to move.
"I said stop!" she yelled.
Still nothing. The street remained quiet but for Anna's threats and the inexorable forward movement of the white creatures.
"You asked for it," Anna muttered, taking careful aim and pulling the trigger. Mary and Claire winced as the gun fired and the bullet struck one of the creatures head-on.
They watched as it shuddered for several very long moments, then shook its head – if that thing on top could be considered a head – and, along with its compatriots, continued its advance.
"What is that thing?" Claire whispered. Mary's only reply was a very small squeak. She had never seen anything take a Sacred to the face and not even care. Hell, that thing had barely noticed the bullet.
Anna was once again the first to pull herself together, popping the clip containing Sacreds out of her Colt and ramming a clip of Gospels into the empty slot. "Stand back," she commanded, supporting her left-handed grip with her right hand and taking careful aim at one of the white creatures.
Mary and Claire ducked and covered their ears as the minor explosion that signaled the firing of a Gospel echoed through the street. They watched as two of the white creatures were obliterated by the powerful bullet. The third reeled backwards from the shockwave of the explosion. It righted itself in midair, turned a blank stare to the exorcists, and disappeared back into nothingness.
After several tense heartbeats, Anna sighed in relief and lowered her gun. With her mind still on the three creatures that had been before her, she failed to notice her fellow sisters stiffen in fear next to her. With the noise of the Gospel ringing in her ears, she failed to hear the winged white beast warp into existence. With her gun at her side, she was unprepared.
"ANNA!" Mary shrieked.
Anna whipped around, already raising her gun to the previously unperceived threat. Unfortunately for her, this beast was not like the others, neither in shape nor in power. She faced a truth of which she was unaware: nobody outshoots a Sniper.
Her gun wasn't fast enough.