And here's a treat for you because I took so damn long. I'm already getting started on Chapter five and we'll see where that takes us.
Chapter 4: Old Friends of Future's Past
I grinned as I leaned against the wall, taking in the sight before me as I waited for Sora. I could sense him getting closer but it would be a little longer for the boy to get through the paths that the Worlds' had set up for him. A theme park, in full swing with rides and everything was cheerily in action. The only down side to it was the fact that the entrance was a creepy clown guy and there was no one enjoying the rides which meant that it also had that whole abandoned theme park feel to it. Perhaps I had just watched a few too many horror movies still it was nice to see a place like this again. I loved roller coasters; I was something of an adrenaline junkie when it came to the things spending a number of summers at the roller coaster capital of America with the family. My smile took a slightly nostalgic twinge, a little sadder and smaller before I shook off the feeling eyes catching the movement of something moving closer to the ground. "Jiminy?" The cricket in the top hat jumped, spinning around and peering up at me in clear confusion before he started into his reprimand,
"What are you doing here young lady? You shouldn't be here." I knelt down, so we would be closer to eye level with each other, with a slight smile.
"I'm waiting for Sora, he's on his way here."
"Sora?" I blinked, freezing in place, my eyes narrowing as I contemplated the anthropomorphic insect before me.
"Do you not remember?" Jiminy tilted his head in confusion,
"Remember what?" I sighed and shook my head,
"Never mind. I'm Ghost. What are you doing here?"
"I'm the acting conscious for a boy puppet named Pinocchio and he ran off." He bit his lip worriedly. "His father must be worried sick." I smiled warmly down at the smartly dressed bug and held out a hand for him to hop on.
"Well, I'm sure Sora wouldn't mind helping you look for him once he gets here." Jiminy stared in surprise before jumping into my hand so I could lift him up onto my shoulder where he could get a better view of the park.
"Are you sure? I would hate to be a bother." I huffed a laugh.
"It's not a bother, Jiminy. Sora's a do-gooder anyways," my lips twisted into a sardonic smile widening slightly in good humor, "and my conscious wouldn't let me go if there was a kid missing somewhere that needed help. Sora shouldn't take too long, so why don't you give me the rundown on what's going on?" Jiminy nodded, placing a hand on the side of my head to steady his balance as I stood up.
"Well you see the Blue Fairy brought Mr. Geppetto's wooden puppet to life so he could be happy after he had brought happiness to so many others. He had been wishing for a son for so long and she made it come true. I was chosen to be Pinocchio's conscious and he needs me to guide him, if he does well enough he might just be able to be a real…well a real boy." He laughed slightly, more to himself than to me, "First I gotta go find Pinoke." He glanced over my way, tugging slightly at my hair so he could capture a bit more of my attention his southern drawl ringing in my ear, "You know…you seem really familiar Ghost, I can't really be sure why." I grinned, even in dreams people remember each other.
"Why don't you tell me about this place? You seemed pretty damn," Jiminy yanked my hair in reprimand for the language and I rolled my eyes at the attempted censure, "adamant that I not be here." Jiminy frowned at my language but let it go so he could explain what the theme park in fact was, it had been years since I had last watched Pinocchio. All I could really remember was there was a giant whale, the main characters, an extortionist Blue Fairy, and boys turning into literal asses.
"This is a terrible place! Boys here are allowed to wreck things and loaf around and make jackamules of themselves." Mischief glinted in my eyes as I stated playfully,
"You mean they make jackasses of themselves." He tugged again at my hair and I laughed, I nearly down right cackled at his reaction, "No need to be so polite Jiminy, there's no kiddies here." Jiminy scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest before continuing,
"Poor, lost Pinocchio wandered in here on my watch. I gotta find him before he turns into a donkey like the rest of the boys." I nodded, careful to make sure Jiminy didn't fall off of my shoulder.
"We will Jiminy, we will." I turned as I heard the door open behind me and closing with a heavy thud, Sora gasping in appreciation of the sight before him. I grinned as I turned fully around. "Took you long enough Sora."
"Hey, Ghost." Responded the boy absently, his eyes still trapped on the theme park. I chuckled quietly at his obvious excitement and stepped into his line of view. Sora blinked up at me as I raised an amused eyebrow before catching sight of Jiminy. He grinned and started to say something only stopping when I kicked him lightly in the shin causing him to frown at me for a moment before it cleared up as he remembered Yen Sid's directions. Simply because we knew him didn't mean that Jiminy really knew us, even if he did seem to vaguely remember me.
"Jiminy, this is Sora. Sora, Pinocchio went and got himself lost," Again. "and might be in a bit of trouble. Jiminy's asking for help to find him." Sora grinned, his hands going behind his head in a familiar gesture as he grinned with a nod.
"Sure. I don't mind helping at all." Jiminy jumped in excitement and grinned at the two of us.
"Thank you. I sure am grateful for the help but…how do you two know Pinocchio?" My face went suspicious blank as Sora wavered, searching for an answer before he gasped dramatically and pointed at something behind us announcing,
"Hey, there he is!" Jiminy spun around in 180 and practically whooped.
"That is Pinoke!" I laughed quietly and bowed to the younger boy, Jiminy holding on tight so he wouldn't slide right off my shoulder.
"Lead the way, Sora." Sora grinned and took off with a laugh. I followed close on his heels, Jiminy holding onto my hair and his hat as I jogged after the boy.
"Don't think I didn't notice you two not answering my question." stated Jiminy, quiet enough to only be heard by me, my mouth twitching upwards in amusement.
"I'm not surprised, Jiminy. You've always been very smart but there are some things we can't tell you. All we can ask you to do is to trust us, trust that we don't mean any harm to your charge." Jiminy studied my profile as I watched him out of the corner of my eye, I was fond of the anthropomorphic cricket. He had a good head on his shoulders and while it wasn't often he had spoken during the main portions of our ventures with Sora, he was something of a mother hen while we were all gathered in the gummi ship. He saw something in me that made the suspicion fade from his eyes and give me a small smile and a nod of his own. My own smile warmed and I turned my attention back to where I was running just as Sora came up to a Pinocchio dressed in blue.
"Pinocchio, it's not safe for you here." Stated Sora just as I reached out and pulled him back. He shot a confused look at me over his shoulder as I hissed,
"Wrong color." Sora's eyes widened and his head snapped back to the Pinocchio they had found just as it poofed into a Dream Eater. I twisted around so my back was up against Sora's as we were surrounded, our weapons appearing in our hands as we got ready to fight. "Hold on Jiminy, this might get a little rough." I felt the cricket latch onto the side of my head with an iron like grip as Sora and I separated, splitting the four between us.
They were annoying little buggers that liked to charge but they weren't that large of a problem until they called in the pandas as reinforcements. I twisted out of the way, nearly dislodging Jiminy in the process, dodging one of the little Dream Eaters as I launched a bolt of lightning at the panda that was attempting to attack Sora's back. Sora's spirits had popped out of wherever it was they went to help and were making themselves useful but it seemed they were little more than distractions. It wasn't the first time I had wished that Goofy and Donald were with us and I doubted it would be the last either. I stabbed the last of the smaller Dream Eaters and focused my attention on the last of the big ones just as Sora and his spirits swarmed the thing.
"Wow, you two really know how to fight." Muttered Jiminy as he finally relinquished a bit of his grip on my head. I shrugged in response, a roll of the shoulders that was smooth enough that it wouldn't knock him off.
"You get used to it after a while I suppose."
"Huh." Jiminy frowned as he looked around, giving a little gasp as he spotted something. "Up there!" I followed where he was pointing, finding the next doppelganger we would have to get rid of.
"Nope, not him. That's purple." I replied as I squinted up at the figure at the top of the Tower. Sora stepped up next to us, peering up at the figure.
"Another Pinocchio? You sure it's not the real one, Ghost?" I nodded and Sora accepted the answer without a fight. He trusted my judgment, I had always seemed to know more than I should have and this wasn't any different. I was slightly humbled by the show of trust, small as it seemed. "I wonder how many are running around." I just shrugged again.
"What do you want to do?" Sora gave a bit of a helpless little shrug.
"It's not like he's hurting anybody up there, so I guess we can leave him alone. C'mon let's go check out another section of the park." We all nodded and followed as Sora ran off leading the way in that recklessly brave sort of way that he did. Following behind Sora on all these adventures had certainly gotten my stamina when it came to running up, I used to hate running now I did it all the time…sometimes even for fun, which was plain weird.
"So, do we go to the Circus, which screams trap to me, or do we go down the creepy tunnel?" I asked, jabbing a thumb over to the aforementioned creepy tunnel that led who knows where. Sora glanced between the two. The brightly lit Circus with the predominant arrows inviting all of us in and the cheerful colors or the tunnel that wasn't lit and was built into the side of a mountain.
"Tunnel." Decided Sora decisively, I tilted my head back and laughed as I followed after the boy into the dark.
"Sora, did you honestly just get challenged to a duel by a frog?" The sheer amount of incredulity in my voice was nearly palpable and Sora just shrugged as he edged away from the rapier wielding crowned frog. It was a very polite Dream Eater, I had to give it that. It didn't attack even after Sora declined its challenge.
"You two sure do get up to a lot of odd things." Commented Jiminy lightly, he only got a pair of matching grins and wide innocent looks from the two of us as we turned around and headed back to the Circus, it was clear that Pinocchio had never been there.
"And this has been a rather mundane day all things considered." I commented blithely. Jiminy shot a disbelieving look my way.
So the circus tent turned out to be a trap, not the greatest trap I had ever seen but that was where the bait had ended up, partially turned into a literal ass; donkey ears sprouting from the puppet's head. Jiminy hopped off of my shoulder once I jerked my head at Pinocchio and lead the young wooden boy out of the multi-layer trampoline section. "You got the lower level?"
"Yep."
"Alright, I've got level two then. See you when it's over." Sora grinned as I took off running, ducking under a swing from the ginormous glowing red panda, so that I could leap up to the second level and take on the enemies there. My grin turned a touch feral as I faced down my opponent. This was gonna be fun. I landed on the trampoline, legs bent beneath me so that I could launch myself at the panda before me.
The trampoline propelled me faster than I would have been able to move normally, blade appearing in my hand so I could attack. The panda slammed into the wall and bounced back just as quickly swiping its claws at me. I rolled out of the way throwing a fireball at the thing quickly as I got to my feet dodging out of the way as it leapt into the air and slammed back down onto the trampoline sending me up in turn. I caught sight of the one that had been on the third level dropping down to attack Sora and sent a Blizzara its way, freezing it in place for moment so that Sora would be able to at least be prepared to be attacked by another Dream Eater. I landed back on the trampoline, absorbing the energy that tried to launch me back into the air with my knees lashing out with my blade and taking one of the panda's paws off. It reeled back and I lunged forward, blade sliding home in the creature's chest. It wasn't enough to kill it just yet but the lightning I sent down the blade was. It had barely begun to vanish when I spun on my heel, taking in the scene below me.
Sora was having a bit of trouble being swarmed like he was, my focus narrowing on one of the panda's as it landed on the trampoline. I jumped and landed on the thing's back, plunging my blade into its head, riding it down as it fell and rolled out of the way tearing my blade free as I went after one of the smaller enemies that was left, while Sora finished up on the last of the pandas. I looked over the boy once we were both settled firmly on the ground again searching for injuries before handing off a potion to take care of the bruises he had gained in the fight. He flashed a thankful smile my way, so much of our communication taking place silently, and drank it down before they both turned towards the door.
We hadn't even made it two steps before a portal warped into being before them. I threw my hands up in clear annoyance as both Xemnas…es stepped out of the portal. What is the plural of Xemnas anyways? Xemnai? "Did you take up stalking as a hobby or something?!" Xemnas the Older flashed an irritated look my way before turning to Sora, clearly smug about something.
"My my, a hollow puppet that's managed to grow a heart. Just imagine that." I rolled my eyes and drawled,
"Yeah, it does seem to be the going trend nowadays." Xemnas frowned at me as I rolled my eyes and shooed him off with a wave of my hand, "Yes, yes make your cryptic remarks and then leave. It's becoming rather routine by now." Gold eyes locked with dark blue, a challenge going between the two until Xemnas smirked and stepped back into the portal leaving without saying a word. That actually made me more worried than anything else. Xemnas liked to talk, whoever was in charge of them had known that and had put that particular fact to good use. If he was silent that meant a rethinking of tactics, I didn't like it. It left me off balance for a little bit until I shoved it off to the side and turned to Sora shaking my head deadpanning, "Congratulations, you have picked up stalkers."
"Thanks? I think." I snorted at his confused tone and threw an arm around his shoulders, pulling him into a one armed hug before tugging him out of there with a patient sort of insistence only letting him go so he could go off and collect treasure.
We got out of the Circus tent without too much trouble and Sora sighed, seeing as neither Jiminy or Pinocchio were there, "I hope they got home alright." I ruffled his hair fondly, reassuring him,
"They're probably okay." We both ground to a halt flinching back, myself more than Sora, from the light that descended on the two of us. The light only faded out once it was closer to eye level revealing the blonde haired, blue eyed fairy who smiled kindly at the two of us. I was less than trusting, I knew the legends when it came to Fae. They're pretty and all but they liked their deals and you shouldn't trust them even if they can't actually lie.
"You must be Sora and Branwyn." I frowned at that tidbit of knowledge that she shouldn't have but didn't say anything, giving a shallow nod of acknowledgement when she looked my way, as Sora greeted her,
"Uh, yes ma'am and you would be the Blue Fairy." She nodded silently, lips pressed into a thin line the only show of her anxiety.
"That's right. And I'm afraid that I have grave news. Good Geppetto went off to look for Pinocchio and he was swallowed by a whale named Monstro." My hand and face met once again, they were rather old friends by this point, and I heaved a resigned sigh.
"Have you told Pinocchio and Jiminy about it yet?!" demanded Sora.
"Yes, and when I told them Geppetto was still alive inside the whale and at the bottom of the sea, those two little ones ran off at once. They're very determined to save him."
"But that's crazy!" His head whipped over to me, "We've gotta find them." I dropped my hand back to my side and nodded following the boy as he ran towards the coast we had found via the creepy tunnel, the Fairy fading out of existence behind us. I grumbled under my breath as we ran, annoyed and resigned to the entirety of the situation.
"Stupid Fae, stupid kid, idiot old man. None a this woulda happened if they had all just stayed the hell put. How the hell does Jiminy expect to breath down there?! I knew I should of put a spot on that bug!" One of my eyebrows swept up as Sora plunged into the surf with no hesitation and I called out to him, "Can you breathe under there?" Sora nodded.
"Yeah, I can. Why?" I rolled my eyes.
"I can't. You're a part of the dream, I'm outside interference I guess you could say. Get to Monstro, find the kid, and give me a shout I'll be able to find you once you're someplace with air." Sora nodded one more time and grinned,
"Got it." With that said he vanished beneath the waves and I began my vigil. I hated the fact that there was someplace he went that I couldn't follow but I trusted him to look after himself…surprisingly enough. Didn't mean I wouldn't still worry.
Four hours. Four painstakingly long, boring, hours in which I either wore a grove in the beachhead or stared out at the ocean the only thing that could be considered even remotely exciting were the few enemies that were brave enough to attack me. Even then it only took my mind off of where my little brother was for minutes before the worry came flooding back. So where is it that Sora finally calls me back to him.
On the top of a fucking iceberg, I love the cold but this was ridiculous and straight into the middle of a fight with a giant crab that could fly.
There was a pretty limited way of attack considering it was covered in a hard shell but at least it was tall enough that the more vulnerable belly was easy to get to, sort of. I flattened myself against the ground, dropping out of the way of the lasers the thing shot out of its claws and scrambled back to my feet so I could continue attacking alongside Sora and his spirits. The damn thing was annoying as soon as we would get anywhere it would fly back up into the air, gaining distance and time. "Ghost! Free Monstro!" I glanced over at Sora where he was still attacking the crab and nodded, turning on my heel and taking off, slipping into the shadows for just a moment so that I could get to the top of the cliff where I needed to go.
I eyed the ice that was holding Monstro in place, twitching as I could feel Twilight in there, and held out a hand flames flickering over my palm as I charged up the attack to a Firaga. I slammed the fireball at the ice shattering it and turned away as Sora did…something that I wasn't paying attention to seeing as I was keeping an eye on the Dream Eater crab that was thinking that it could now escape from the two of us. "Ghost, get on!" yelled Sora and glanced over and up, my jaw dropping as he floated on Monstro who was trapped in a bubble.
"Wha…how?" I shook my head and slid through the shadows so I could join him on the giant soap bubble, shaking off the bemusement even as Sora directed the thing to fly and catch up to the damn flying crab. It might not have been so bad if I hadn't been tempted to pop the damn thing myself trying to hold on to anything that wasn't slippery as Sora jerked it out of the way of the shots that were being fired at us. There was a rumble beneath our feet and I glanced down and gulped, "Uh-oh. Sora! Hurry up, the fish is waking up!" Sora looked over at me before peering down between his feet and blanching as Monstro started to balk at being contained.
The whale didn't really have to do all that much as the single massive lunge it took popped the bubble and allowed it to attack the damn crab, swallowing it, all at the same time. I hit the water with a gasp, the air being knocked from my lungs, and accidentally inhaled a small amount of water before I could stop myself. I reoriented myself quickly and drove myself to the surface where I coughed, trying to clear my lungs and breath at the same time as I treaded water to keep myself up. Sora surfaced and shook his head, his hair poofing up into his trademark spikes with little resistance.
"You okay, Ghost?" asked the boy worriedly. I waved a thumbs up his way, still coughing as I tried to regain my breath freezing after a moment so I could stare wide eyed up at the giant whale that was settled before us…and sounding like it was going to sneeze. I sucked in a breath and dropped under the water, yelling in my head all the while Dive, Dive, Dive, missing out on that particular bit of disgusting fun that launched Sora out of the water. I resurfaced shaking my head, hair plastering itself to my forehead as I located my spot on Sora and followed after the boy with a wordless groan.
Wet jeans were the worst. I emerged on the beachhead that Sora had landed on just as he did his whole business with the Keyhole and collapsed onto one of the rocks with a groan. I was already wet I was not going to get sand all over my clothes as well, I would be finding sand for weeks if I did that.
"I hate wet jeans." Sora laughed at my grumbling.
"I don't know it kind of reminds me of home to be honest. We were always at the beach." I grinned lazily at the boy.
"Oh, don't get me wrong I grew up on the water but wet jeans are heavy and uncomfortable." Sora laughed softly and settled down next to me. I eyed the water for a moment before looking up at the sky, it was cloudy so there was no way were would be seeing any stars, if there were any stars, tonight. "So this is where it all started for them."
"Yeah." Agreed Sora with a pensive frown. I smiled at the boy and nudged his shoulder,
"Well at least you know for sure they'll be alright then. They both made it to Traverse Town just fine didn't they?" Sora smiled and nodded, his enthusiasm renewed and he relaxed a bit.
"Yeah, at least there's that." I leaned back, weight on the palms of my hands.
"So where are you thinking of going next? Or are you just gonna drift to whichever World welcomes you?" Sora frowned thoughtfully over that one at least as he weighed his options. Even though he looked younger than he really was in these dreaming realms and acted like it at times too, there were also times where he acted like his actual self the older version of him that was waiting for him to wake up once this was all over. I let my arms collapse and laid back, pillowing my head on my arms as I waited for him to answer.
"We should probably head back to Traverse Town. It always seems to be in some sort of trouble." answered Sora. I barked a laugh; this did seem to be the case with whatever world we ended up using as a hub.
"Right but first, I vote for sleep."