Okage Hearts
Chapter 4
I own neither of these works. I think. Yeah, let's go with that. Sorry to take so long. This took a while to finish. Thank you for the review anon.
Ari was dragging his feet as he walked. He still couldn't believe that Julia wasn't going to be with him anymore. She was the only person he could talk to other than the baker that would listen to him. He would never have as good a friend as her. How could he ever even stop thinking of this?
"Enough with this pity fest, Slave!" Stan shouted, giving him the answer to that mystery, "We still need to terrorize mortals!"
"Ari, it's terrible!" the Scared Man shouted, running up to the boy, causing another surprise for this day. Someone else saw him today. Odd.
"Calm down," Ari suggested in his usual quiet, flat voice, "What's wrong?"
"There are Evil Kings around!" the Scared Man screamed, "This is bad! This is very, very bad!"
"Yes! I am being Recognized once ag….." Stan cheered as he rose from behind Ari, before he paused and flatly demanded, "KINGS! What do you mean Evil Kings! I, Evil King Stanley Hihat Trinidad the XIV am the ONLY Evil King there is!"
"Sorry, Ari," the Scared Man said, "But things are so serious that even your shadow trick isn't funny enough to cheer me up. Some guy in the bar at the Inn is showing what he refers to as the Map O' Evil Kings. It turns out that there are a bunch of Evil Kings in the world."
"Did you hear that, Slave?" Stan asked, looking down at Ari, "Let's go!"
"Sure thing, Stan," Ari responded, walking away from the Scared Man, who had already lost interest in the boy and his shadow. A return to the norm.
As the pair continued on their way, Ari realized where he was going. He was headed to the Inn. Julia was the Innkeeper's daughter. Julia didn't want to see him at the moment. This would be fun.
Much to his good fortune, Ari found that Julia wasn't there. Perhaps he could talk to her later. Maybe they could patch things up if they got the chance.
"Slave," Stan said, "You're doing that weird mopey thing again. We have a task at hand. Go find the drunk who is besmirching the name of Evil King."
Pulled from his stupor, Ari began searching for the drunk, only to find that the Ringmaster who had given him the Keyblade was the only drunk in the bar, let alone the only one who was drinking in there at all.
"You!" Stan shouted, "Who are you to be claiming that there is more than one Evil King?"
"I was wondering when you'd show up, kid. Ah, a shadow Evil King," the Ringmaster said, smiling at the pair, "I see that I was right about you being overshadowed, kid. Well, here you go."
"What is this?" Stan asked as Ari accepted the sheet of paper.
"The Map O' Evil Kings, of course," The Ringmaster replied, "You're going to need it, after all."
"Thank you," Ari calmly whispered, still looking around for any sign of Julia. So far, he was in the clear.
"I'll be leaving soon," the Ringmaster commented, "See you around, kid."
"Well, that went well," Stan said, as they walked out of the Inn, "We got the Map O' Evil Kings, and so we know where to find the frauds now. James!"
Summoned, James appeared and asked, "What do you need, my lord? I was with Natasha… I mean serving your purposes from afar."
"I currently have a Map O' Evil Kings." Stan said in a deceptively calm, "What is the meaning of this?"
"Well, Sire," James responded carefully, "I believe that these fake Evil Kings probably took some of your vast power."
"Yes, of course!" Stan shouted, "If I defeat them, my power will probably return to me. Let's check the Map, Slave."
Ari unrolled the Map and read the only visible clue on it: "In the Sewers of Madril is the Sewer Evil King."
"Wow," he commented, "You'd think that whoever wrote this Map would have used riddles or something like that. I guess we'll need to go there if we're going to fight any Evil Kings…"
He paused, suddenly hearing a familiar feminine voice gasp. She probably heard at least
"You're leaving?" she asked. That could be good. Then again…
"I don't particularly have a choice," Ari said softly, pointing at Stan, who was still engaged in conversation with James, "King Chatty over there doesn't really take 'no' for an answer."
An unfamiliar silence came between the pair. It remained unbroken for over a minute before Julia broke it, softly saying, "Please promise me you'll be safe."
"Julia, I… I promise I'll come back as soon as I can," Ari said, hoping that that promise would suffice.
"Promise me you'll be safe," she pled, the concern in her gaze more noticeable, "Please Ari. Just promise me you'll be safe."
Ari hesitated before responding. It was a dangerous path that he was about to go down. He could be hurt or killed. Still, he never could tell her no, so he looked her in the eye and said, "I promise I'll try to be safe."
"I'll be waiting for you to come back," Julia said, "Good luck out there."
Suddenly, she wrapped her arms tightly around him. Surprised, he paused a moment before returning it.
"Slave!" Stan shouted, "Come! We must leave here now!"
"Actually," Julia commented, "It'd probably be best if he said goodbye to his family first. Even if they are jerks who sold him to you, they're still his family."
"Very well," Stan said, in a surprisingly calm tone of voice, "Slave, go tell your family farewell."
"Goodbye Ari," Julia softly waved, "Be back soon."
"Goodbye, Julia," Ari answered. He did still have a promise to keep to her, and he fully intended on keeping it.
"Well," Ari commented, "I'm here to tell all of you goodbye until I need to come home again."
"Good luck, Ari," Annie responded, "have fun out there."
Next, the boy went up to his Father, who said, "Son, I hope you get to have some grand adventures. Here, take this. It might help you. It's part of some mysterious machine, supposedly."
His Father then handed him a glass tube. Accepting it, Ari moved to his Mother next.
"I wish you luck out there, son," she said, "I remember when I had my own adventures when I was a child. I really want you to have a good time. Be safe. Here is a music box for you. You should give it to a special girl."
He took the music box from his mother, putting it in his jacket pocket, leaving no noticeable bulge in the coat. Continuing down the line, he walked up to his Grandfather, who merely said, "Good luck out there, Ari. Be careful out there."
Ending his farewells, he went to his Grandmother last. She turned to him, saying "Dear child, you're going down a brave road. Always keep your friends in mind and in heart. They are where your true strength lies, nowhere else."
And so, with all of his goodbyes in order, Ari stepped out of the house, ready to begin what promised to be an interesting adventure.