Chapter 4: David Frostmourne: Lightning Blades

Please don't tell me that this is what I think it is. I hammered on the creatures back until it fell over. There were far too many giant Heartless here for my comfort. My strength was very high since the odds were nearly impossible. The fact that the more there were against me the stronger I got was definitely in my favor. The second I had arrived in Hollow Bastion I had encountered a witch named Maleficent, and nearly gotten fried by some green flames. I had escaped, however, as the witch was not part of my assignment. Now I was in a ruined town, searching it for traces of Cloud, thinking that he might have come here. But I hadn't seen him.

Who was that kid back in Traverse Town? I kept wondering. And why didn't that Heartless attack him? I need to know eventually or I'll go nuts! I killed another Heartless. Damn it! There were too many, even for me. But I couldn't leave yet: the Anti-Gummi wasn't at full power yet.

Two Darkside Heartless approached me, with another Guard Armor and a Chameleon behind it. No choice. Mentally cursing the situation, I made the portal and fled through it. My strength may increase exponentially when the odds are higher, but I'm still human.

There was an instant of pain, and then I was in another world. I looked up: I was surrounded by a town. Twilight Town. Whew, the portal was stable enough to get me here… I need to be more careful in the future! I began walking down the street.

"Hey stranger, I haven't seen you here in a long time!" I turned, and my pulse quickened. A beautiful woman with blond hair stood there.

"Iris." I nodded. "It certainly has been a while. Are you still working for that madman?"

She sighed. "Yes, unfortunately, but it pays well, and he treats me well. It's a good job to have, even if I do not enjoy it." Iris was a nursemaid in the house of the mayor of Twilight Town, and she took care of the old man's children.

"You know," I lowered my voice, "you don't need to do this. If you come with me, I could get you to the palace of the King, and-"

"No David!" Iris stopped me. "What is done is done. To come here was my choice. I don't have any regrets. Moro and Mara are sweet children."

I snorted. There was no love lost between me and the brats. Once, I had been assigned to investigate a ring of inter-world drug dealers, and the trail had led me to the house of the mayor. The trail had kept going, although there was a series of rather unpleasant events, instigated by me in attempts to find where he had the drugs hidden. It had come to nothing, however, although the two children had caught me in their room and attacked me with water balloons. Water is fine enough for drinking and swimming, but I didn't appreciate spending the winter night soaking wet on the beach.

"You know, Iris, what the king is doing now, don't you?"

Iris had a gift for prophecy. She could see glimpses of the future. I had first encountered her as a fortune teller in the street here in Twilight Town. She knew about other worlds, but had no desire to see them. Truth be told, she wasn't missing much. A world was just a world, in my opinion.

Iris focused. "He's in a lot of danger, but it's nothing he can't handle. All around him is darkness, and his light draws the Heartless to him. What I keep seeing is another world, a city at night, where four children have just arrived… but not really children anymore, they are eighteen, I think… Two of them possess elemental powers of lightning and water, respectively. One of the other two is the target of your co workers Donald and Goofy. They should arrive in that world in a few days. The last child is different. He wears all black. He is clouded by something I cannot pierce. Walking next to him is... a shadow heartless? I cannot tell, but both the child and his friends are powerful." Her eyes cleared. "I can't see anything else."

"Traverse Town." I remembered. "I met that boy there. We got into a battle with Heartless, and the boy was about to be killed, but a shadow heartless jumped in the way and saved him. Afterwards, the two were like best friends. I showed him to Cid's place, and then came here." I paused. "You say he's clouded? Can you tell what blocks him?"

"Mists… like black fog… like darkness itself." She whispered. "He frightens me… yet at the same time, his face is the kind you can trust on instinct. He isn't evil, but I have a feeling he doesn't know what he is either."

"Hmm…" I thought. Who is that kid? Why didn't the heartless attack him? What world is he from? "Do you think I should return there and bring him to the king?"

Iris shook her head. "Even if you could, you wouldn't know where to find the king, and the king could be just as unknowledgeable as you. Let him be, hitsuzen will play itself out."

Hitsuzen… "Fate"… "I do have a mission." I pulled out a picture of the man I was hunting. "Would you have happened to see this man in your visions?"

"Cloud Strife, wielder of the Buster Sword. Searching the worlds for a man named Sephiroth." She paused, focusing again. "I've seen him on his way to Olympus Coliseum. Maybe you could find him there."

"Thank you, Iris." I took her hand. "As always, you are a godsend." I kissed her hand. "Thank you."

* * * * * *

I awoke in Iris's house, and left without disturbing her. She was still sleeping.

Olympus Coliseum, huh? All right, I'll check it out. I slid on my weapons. Then I activated the Anti-Gummi, and stepped through to Olympus Coliseum.

I emerged, right into the middle of a Heartless match. An army of Heartless was taking on a large monster. I slipped my iPod on. Then I charged. (Cue song "Wake Me Up (dance mix)" by Evanescence.)

My muscles swelled, and I took out several Soldier Heartless with a few blows. Then I performed a back flip onto the head of the monster Hydra. With a few punches, I targeted the heart. If you targeted the necks and heads of the Hydra, it would grow another head for every one that you destroyed. The wings on my gauntlets flipped forward and became a pair of short swords. I used these to stab the heart of the Hydra, killing it in one blow. It was a tactic that was not usually used. Other warriors preferred to take out the heads, since the Hydra could only grow a maximum of seven heads before they died permanently. I preferred no drawn out battle.

Landing on the ground again, I faced nearly fifty shadow heartless. Only Shadows? Phil must be slacking these days. I charged forwards, cutting a swathe through the group. Then I stopped on a dime and spun in a circle, taking out several more with my outstretched arms. Then I flipped the wing-swords back down to my arms, and proceeded to punch out the remaining Shadows. Then there was only one left, a giant Darkside. Hmm… that explains why there were only Shadows… This match was probably originally Hydra vs. Darkside, but the Darkside has the ability to summon Shadows. I ran forwards, and targeted an arm. I gripped it, and then began a test of strength with the giant heartless, both of us pushing and sweating, trying to push the other back. In the end, my odds-enhanced strength won over, and I snapped the arm of the giant enemy cleanly off and threw it behind me, where it dissolved into nothingness. Then I hurled myself at the tiny legs of the giant being. I rammed them from under it, and the Darkside fell over. That was the sealing of its fate. I slid out my golden punching blade, and hurled it at the eyes of the fallen creature. It pierced it deeply, and it died twitching before disappearing in a wave of darkness. I retrieved my weapons, bowed to the ones who had come to the Coliseum to view the combat. Then I stalked off into the area where Phil was waiting. The pudgy faun was trying hard to be mad at me, although he couldn't quite pull it off, since there was a good chance for more money coming from the results of today's match.

"You idiot!" He spluttered. "You interfered with my match. I had a feeling something would go wrong today! At least you didn't get yourself killed." He grunted. "Good to have you back. Hercules has a new match today against those idiot heartless; I'm still upset that you took out that one. I had my bet on it to kill the Hydra."

I smiled. "Your gambling will get you one day, Phil." I pulled out the photo of Cloud. "I'm looking for this man. Have you seen him?"

Phil scratched his head. "A guy with the name Cloud was signed up for the Hercules Cup last night. I haven't seen him here though. The Hercules Cup isn't for three weeks. You would probably have better luck then. Sorry that I can't help you more." He paused, suspicious. "Of course, if you would tell me who you worked for, then I might be able to help you more."

"Sorry Phil." I shook my head. "Even if I was allowed to tell you, you wouldn't believe me."

Hmm… the steroid has a girlfriend… LOL… nice job interrupting Phil's match. From now on we will be having other people's perspectives as alternate chapters, not just David Frostmourne. I'm thinking maybe C or Leon or Yuffie for the next chapter. Review!