A/N: Okay, here's the next chapter. I'm not totally happy with it, but maybe it isn't so bad. Let me know what you think!
Kingdom Hearts I; Fallen From Grace
By Shattered Glass Memories
Chapter Six
"It's over this way!" Riku shouted as they ran. After a few moments they entered a clearing, seeing a tall man with a large gun resting on his shoulder.
"Clayton! What's going on?" Jane demanded as they approached him.
"Ah, Miss Porter. Just taking care of a small problem." Clayton answered, a cocky smirk firmly in place on his lips.
"I see you found more stragglers." He continued, raking his eyes over Mirage and Riku.
"What kind of small problem?" Mirage demanded, ignoring his other comment.
"A gorilla got out of hand and had to be dealt with." He said, and Jane gasped.
"You shot a gorilla? Mr. Clayton, we are here to study the gorillas, not to harm them." She protested.
"You hired me to be your bodyguard, Miss Porter. I am doing just that."
"And what about the other gorilla?" Riku put in when the women fell silent.
"O-other gorilla? There was another one?" Jane questioned.
"I'm afraid so. Riku and I discovered it before we met Tarzan." Mirage confirmed.
"Well, Mr. Clayton? What do you have to say about that?" Jane questioned, but when he didn't answer she became angry.
"That's it! You have been trouble since you arrived, Mr. Clayton—you're fired!"
Before he could answer, Abbey spoke up.
"Hey, where's Tarzan? He was following us for a while, but he's gone."
"Hmm… that is odd. But Tarzan does have a habit of disappearing at times. He must have gone home." Jane said.
"And yet he refuses to take us there." Clayton put in.
"Clayton, go wait on the ship until I return." Jane ordered, and he headed in the direction of the distant shore.
The group decided to backtrack to see if they could find Tarzan, and discovered that he hadn't gone far. And with him was…
"Sora!"
"Mirage! Hey, I'm glad you're okay. Have you seen Donald and Goofy?"
"No, not yet. But look who I did find!" Mirage said, looking back toward Mirage and Riku.
But they were gone.
"Hey! They were right here! Man, why do they keep disappearing like that?"
"They? You mean you say Riku and Abbey? They were here?" Sora questioned, and Mirage nodded.
"Man, I wish I could have seen them. But at least we know they're okay. Maybe Kairi's here too. Come on, let's get looking. We still have to find Donald and Goofy too."
"Right."
They were near Jane's tent by this point, and she decided to go back inside while the others continued to look for their friends. As they searched they came to a swamp, and on the far side of the murky water was Goofy.
"Hey! Goofy!"
"Hey, fellas!"
"Have you seen Donald?" Mirage asked, but the King's knight shook his head.
"Nope…"
"Ah, well, we'll just have to keep searching. Come on!"
"Y'know, I would join ya, fellas, but this here swamp is full of hippos. And I don't think they want me interrupting their nap."
Looking down into the water, Mirage looked into the eyes of the nearest hippo. It had a dull, glazed over look, like it was tired and didn't care about the goings on of a group of random people invading its swamp.
"Hmm… okay, let's try this…"
Mirage waved her hand over the surface of the water, and a shadowy bridge formed over it.
"Okay, Goofy. You can come across now."
Goofy pressed one foot onto the bridge, testing its weight, before deciding that it was safe enough to walk on. A few moments later he stepped onto solid ground again, joining Sora and Mirage on the other side.
"So, did you find anything useful other there while you were stuck?" Sora asked.
"Well, I found this…" Goofy said, holding out his hand which held a strange gummi block.
"That looks like one of the King's blocks." Mirage said, studying it closely.
"King!" Tarzan echoed, reminding everyone that he was still there.
"Tarzan? Do you know something?"
"King!"
"Oh, nevermind."
"So the King is here?" Sora questioned eagerly.
"Well he was, at least. No way to know if he still is without looking."
"Well, let's go then!"
0~0~0~0~0~0
The four were running through yet another forest when they heard sounds of a fight. As they entered a clearing they saw their white feathered friend fighting a group of Heartless.
"Hey, look—its Donald!" Goofy said as they ran to help.
Once they were finished they took a break to rest.
"Hey, Donald, have you seen the King?"
"No. I haven't seen anyone until now."
"Oh… well, now what do we do?"
"Kerchak." Tarzan put in.
"Kerchak?"
"Tarzan go see Kerchak."
"Okay, can you take us with you?"
Tarzan didn't answer, simply started running.
"Hey, wait up!"
Several minutes later, the group entered a large area with few trees. It was very open, with several areas on the ground where the grass had been flattened out in large circles.
"Is this… their nesting ground?" Mirage asked, her voice low and almost reverent.
Before anyone could answer, they heard a loud rumbling sound and the ground started to shake. Suddenly a group of very large gorillas entered the area.
"Wow…" Sora breathed, too stunned to say anything else.
Tarzan spoke to one of the larger gorillas, presumably Kerchak, in a language no one understood. Kerchak didn't answer, and seemed distracted, leaving a few moments later.
"What was that about?" Sora wondered.
"Was he looking at the tree house?" Mirage questioned.
"Let's go check it out."
0~0~0~0~0~0
Up at the tree house, they saw a small gorilla playing with a damaged globe. Mirage smiled as she watched it spinning the item, fascinated, until she suddenly heard Donald squawk angrily and run off.
Following him with her eyes she saw Clayton, aiming his rifle at the gorilla.
"No!" She cried out, reaching out her hand.
Donald slammed into Clayton and threw off his aim, just as a stream of darkness wrapped itself around his arm and covered the barrel of the gun. When it discharged, the bullet was caught safely in the net-like darkness.
"What's the big idea?" Donald demanded as the gorilla ran off.
"You don't understand. I was only trying to... Ah. A snake slithered by, you see. I saved that poor gorilla's life."
"Right." Mirage rolled her eyes as she pulled her arm back, using the darkness around Clayton's gun to pull it away.
"I don't think you'll be needing this anymore."
Clayton followed the others back to Jane's tent, where his actions were reported to the young brunette.
"How could you do such a thing? I told you to wait on the ship."
"Now, Miss Porter, as I told you, I was not aiming at the gorilla." Clayton tried, but Jane was in no mood to listen.
"You are not to go near the gorillas again!"
"All because of one mishap? Come, now..."
"Get out, Mr. Clayton."
Without another word Clayton stormed out of the tent. A moment later the group still inside it heard a gunshot.
"What the? Guess we shouldn't be surprised that he has another gun…" Sora sighed.
Running outside, everyone saw a large number of Heartless, but Clayton was nowhere in sight. When they fought off the Heartless they turned to Jane, who was standing in the doorway of the tent.
"I do hope Clayton is all right. Would you mind terribly going to look for him? I don't want him causing any more trouble."
Everyone agreed to find Clayton and left the tent. As they headed toward the bamboo thicket another gunshot rang out.
"Well, at least he's still alive." Mirage said.
"Unless the gorillas or Heartless got hold of his gun, anyway, yeah."
"Now there's a scary thought-a gorilla running around with a gun."
As they neared the thicket they heard a low growl.
"That thing just doesn't give up, does it?" Sora sighed.
"You've fought it too?"
"Yeah. Tarzan helped fight it off."
"He helped me and Riku too. Guess he's just all over the place!" Mirage said as Sabor came into view.
The jungle cat walked a large circle around the group, as though sizing them up, before launching itself at Tarzan again. Everyone jumped into the fray as Tarzan shoved Sabor off with his spear, and when the cat landed hard on the ground he ran forward and stabbing him, his spear piercing deep into Sabor's flesh.
Blood spilled everywhere.
The cat cried out in a loud howl and thrashed about wildly, and Tarzan dug the spear in deeper, pressing in as Sabor's movements slowed. With one last pitiful howl, Sabor closed his eyes and lay still.
"Whoa…"
"I guess that's the end of that. Let's keep moving."
0~0~0~0~0~0
Once they reached the end of the clearing, they found a dense forest they wouldn't be able to walk through. So they turned back and returned to the tent. As they entered it, however, they saw that Jane was nowhere in sight.
Tarzan started grunting wildly, moving through the room and tipping things over as if Jane would be underneath the items.
"Tarzan, what's wrong?" Sora asked him.
"Something coming. Jane, danger. Jane near... Near tree house."
"Near the tree house? Let's go check it out."
As they approached the tree house, they saw Jane and the small gorilla they saw earlier tied up. There were several Heartless in the area as well, and the group defeated them easily.
"Jane, what happened?" Mirage asked as she untied the captives.
"Clayton came to the tent… that's the last thing I remember."
"Clayton?"
"Gorillas trapped. Terk run." Tarzan stated.
"Terk? Is that the name of the small gorilla?"
"We must help the gorillas." Jane said.
So the group followed Terk and Tarzan, who led them to a wide open area in the forest far from where they had been before. In the clearing were Clayton and a large group of Heartless.
"Clayton?"
"Not Clayton!" Tarzan insisted, "Not Clayton!"
They fought off the Heartless while Clayton-or not Clayton-stood idly by, looking bored.
When they were finished Clayton stepped forward with a creepy grin on his face. Then he began to float in midair and a huge Heartless chameleon appeared beneath him, so that when he settled down on it he was riding on its back.
No sooner had it appeared than it disappeared, and as the group searched for it Mirage felt something cold and wet on her ankle. Before she could look down to see what it was she felt it wrap around her leg and pull her off the ground. It lifted her high in the air in the direct line of fire from Clayton, who had his gun trained on her.
"Mirage! Hold on!" Sora called as everyone rushed to help her.
Mirage began to squirm. She knew that she was about to be shot, and she was trying to do anything to prevent that. Fortunately, she was able to move just enough that when Clayton fired she wasn't in the direct path of the bullet.
Even though she knew it was coming, it still startled her when he actually fired. Then there was nothing but pain. Blinding pain.
The bullet slammed through her, burning like fire. Her eyes filled with tears at the pain as the chameleon dropped her, and she hit the ground hard.
It tore through her arm and she swore loudly, hissing in pain and grabbing her arm. Blood poured down her sleeve, covering her body and pooling on the ground around her.
As soon as she hit the ground Sora was at her side, gently laying a hand on her wound and muttering the incantation for a healing spell.
Goofy, Donald and Tarzan continued fighting the Heartless and Clayton.
"Cure!"
A soft green light flowed out from around Sora's hand, surrounding Mirage's arm in soothing warmth. She could feel the wound healing, the skin knitting itself back together.
She sighed in relief as the pain ebbed, laying her head back and relaxing for a moment. Looking up, she saw that Goofy and the others had all but finished off the Heartless.
"Sora, they need you. Go." She told the Keyblade Master, but he hesitated.
"But what about you?"
"Your Keyblade is the only thing that can release that thing's heart. Go!"
With a quick glance back Mirage, Sora ran to the beast and plunged his blade into its chest. The creature shrieked, and a brilliant light flooded the area. When the light faded the Heartless was gone, as was Clayton.
Once it was over Tarzan led the group forward, into a place with several cascading waterfalls and lush greenery.
"Wow… it's beautiful…" Mirage breathed. The sight reminded her of her home, Radiant Garden, and the fountains in the square.
Tarzan spoke in a language no one understood as everyone looked around.
"Home? This is your home?"
"Friends here. See friends."
"Oh, now I've got it." Jane said, looking thoughtful, "What he's saying is 'friends in our hearts'."
"Oh… so that's what it was…" Sora sighed.
"Friends, same heart. Clayton, lose heart. No heart, no see friends." Tarzan said.
As the group looked around, they found a keyhole. Sora used the Keyblade to seal it, and a gummi block fell out, as did a piece of paper.
Sora picked up the gummi while Mirage picked up the paper, each studying their respective finds.
"This is another gummi block like the one we found before."
"But it's sure not the King's." Goofy put in.
"How can you tell?"
"Because it doesn't have the King's seal on it like the other one." Donald explained.
"Oh. Hey, Mirage, is that another one of those reports?"
"Yes. It's going to need to be translated like the other one. I'll work on it when we return to the ship."
"Just where is your ship, anyway?" Jane asked.
"It's at the north pier." Mirage answered quickly, "And we should really be getting back to it. It was nice to meet you, Jane. And you too Tarzan."
The others echoed similar sentiments, and headed back to the ship.
"I wonder what kind of gummi this is…" Sora mused.
"Maybe Leon'll know." Goofy suggested.
"Hmm… he might. Back to Traverse Town then?" Donald asked.
"Yeah. It's not like we have any other leads right now."
So they set course for Traverse Town.