There Is a Destiny That Makes Us Brothers
Chapter 9: Heroes and Thieves
...I liiiive! And, uh, yeah. It's a long chapter, so hopefully it was worth the wait?
Warnings: violence against SAND.
The Corridor of Darkness deposited them in the middle of the desert, which seemed to stretch out endlessly in all directions, disorienting Sora and Roxas. They quickly gathered their bearings, and set off in the direction they supposed the Cave of Wondres to be. Sora had thrown a longing glance in the direction of the walled city of Agrabah, visible in the haze, wishing he could stop by and see his friends. But he and Roxas had agreed that the powerful object they needed to find was probably in the Cave of Wonders, and it was better to head straight there, no dawdling.
Before long they could make out a dark blot on the shimmering horizon. The Cave of Wonders was easy to spot even from a distance; the mysterious tiger-shaped sand formation that marked the entrance to the cavern was the only landmark in the desert for miles.
"Is it just me, or is it getting darker?" Sora asked as they approached, eyeing the sky in bewilderment.
"No, it's definitely getting darker..." was the reply. The sky had suddenly turned overcast, with thick dark clouds nigh impenetrable by sunlight. It cast an eerie bluish glow over the sandy expanse.
At first the guardian to the Cave of Wonders was completely motionless, but as Sora and Roxas approached, he began to move; at first only slightly, as if the creature were stirring after a long sleep. He became aware of their presence, peering down at the two as they came to a stop before the massive head.
"What business do you have here?" it said suddenly, its deep, booming voice drowning out the desert winds.
Sora cut right to the chase. "We need to find the magic thing in Agrabah that'll help us get into the Domain of Shadows," he said, and the creature eyed him expectantly. "We, uh...kinda figured you would have it?" Sora added.
The massive guardian's whole form rose and fell, as if it had let out a mighty sigh. "You have assumed correctly, and may proceed," it said, opening its mouth wide and holding it open. Side-by-side, Sora and Roxas entered the cave through the guardian's gaping mouth. Once they were inside, the guardian's voice echoed around them.
"You must face an adversary most perilous before you may take the object you seek. If you are victorious, you will leave this cavern with the object you require. If you fail, you will never again see the light of day," it rumbled.
Sora and Roxas exchanged uneasy glances, but there was no turning back now, of course. Before them was a long, steep staircase leading deep into the Cave of Wonders; the steps were made of sand, but they were surprisingly sturdy under their feet.
"This is gonna take forever," Sora sighed, as they began the long descent. "And I guess we're supposed to complete some test here, too."
Roxas was about to answer, when suddenly the stairs beneath their feet were simply no more. And they were falling, hurtling through the darkness, the wind stinging their faces. Roxas braced himself for impact, but just as abruptly as their mad descent began, it ended. They hovered a few inches off the ground for a moment, before they were unceremoniously dumped on the cavern floor. For a minute, Roxas could hear nothing but his heart pounding in his ears, a sound still so alien to him that it drowned out all else. Disoriented, he slowly became aware of Sora trying to get his attention.
"You okay?" Sora was asking, having pushed himself into a sitting position. Giving himself a mental shake, Roxas sat up as well.
"I'm fine," Roxas muttered. "You?"
Sora nodded shakily, his blue eyes wide as dinner plates. "That was totally uncalled-for!" he burst out, glaring up at the ceiling of the cavern as if the guardian could hear them.
Roxas got to his feet, standing still for a moment in case the ceiling was going to collapse or something. "We ought to keep moving," he said to Sora.
"Sure, as soon as my legs are done being jelly!"
They journeyed down a long, dark passageway for a while, finally emerging in the Cave of Wonders' main treasure chamber, an enormous room stacked nearly to the ceiling with dazzling gold artifacts and gemstones from around the world. Sora and Roxas were momentarily dumbstruck by the sight of it; they'd both been to the Cave of Wonders more than a few times, but the sheer size of it and the numerous treasures never ceased to amaze.
"I wonder if the thing we're after is in all of this," Roxas frowned. Sora made a face. Searching through all of this treasure could take days – the chamber was looking more like a landfill and less like a fantastic treasure hold every second.
"I hope not," Sora said, beginning to walk through the chamber. "And I mean, what about whatever thing we're supposed to face? Maybe it's in some separate room neither of us has ever seen before. We oughta poke around for a while and see what we can find."
Roxas nodded. It was as good a plan as any, and much better than digging through all of that treasure piece by piece.
The Cave of Wonders was completely silent, save for the sounds of their footsteps as they began to venture deeper into the cavern. Nervously, Sora began to whistle, stopping only when he noticed the deadpan look Roxas was giving him.
"...Really?" Roxas asked.
"What! I'm getting the creeps down here!" Sora protested.
But by then Roxas was only half-listening. "Shh!"
"Alright, alright, I'll stop whistling, sheesh," Sora grumbled.
"No, no, I thought I heard something..."
At this, Sora fell quiet, listening intently. It was soon apparent that Roxas had indeed heard something unusual – every few seconds, there was a clattering sound. As they moved through the heaps of treasure in the direction of the sound, they could hear a voice, faintly muttering.
"Who's there!" Roxas called out. There was a startled shriek and a huge clanging and clattering. They hurried in the direction of the sound. To their surprise, half-buried among piles of treasure, was a girl, about their age.
"What's the big idea!" she shrieked, brushing her long black hair out of her eyes. "I was just – " She stopped dead upon seeing Roxas and Sora, her eyes wide. She clambered to her feet and darted toward them – at least, she would have, if she hadn't tripped over a particularly large golden chalice, falling face-first onto the rough surface of the floor. But even that didn't seem to deter her much. The strange girl lifted her head up, looking up at Sora and Roxas, and shouted hopefully, "Rescuers!"
For a minute Sora and Roxas could only stare at the girl, dumbfounded.
"Uh...what?" Sora said finally. At this, she sat up, gazing up at them, crestfallen.
"You...aren't here to rescue me?"
"No..." Sora began, glancing at Roxas, who only shrugged in reply. "What would you need rescuing from, anyway?"
Wordlessly, the girl held up her arms, and it was then that the boys noticed the iron shackles around her wrists; when she stretched out her legs, they noticed the shackles on her ankles, as well. Sora, who'd never been able to turn a blind eye to someone in any kind of peril, stared in horror.
"Who did that to you!" he asked, crouching in front of her.
"This...this place!" she said, gesturing wildly. "It was so stupid – my friends told me to go in the Cave of Wonders. It was just a stupid dare, and I wasn't going to touch anything, I swear, but I've got three little brothers and sisters, and it's tough for my parents, you know? There was this one gold necklace, and all I did was pick it up, for crying out loud, and everything just went crazy. The ground was shaking, and I could hear this awful roaring, and I think I must have passed out. When I came to, I had these," she said, gesturing to the shackles on her wrists and ankles. "I've been stuck here ever since. I can wander around the cave, but I can't leave."
"That's awful," Sora said solemnly. "How long have you been down here?"
She shook her head vigorously. "I-I don't know for sure. But it's been a really long time, I know that much."
"What do you do for food!" Sora exclaimed. There wasn't anything to eat in the Cave of Wonders, unless there was some kind of well-stocked grocery he'd never seen before. Although, he supposed, he'd seen weirder things in all his travels.
"For some reason, I don't get hungry or hot or cold or anything," the girl said, her eyes welling with tears. "I think that's how I'm being punished. I'll be stuck here forever, just like this."
"And nobody's ever tried to help you before?" Sora asked, still appalled at the harshness of the punishment the cave's guardian had doled out.
She shrugged, rubbing her eyes. "Not a lot of people go into the Cave of Wonders in the first place. And I don't always see the ones that do. The rooms and the layout changes depending on who comes in and what they're here for."
"Hey, I didn't know that," Sora was saying, but an idea was already forming in Roxas's mind.
"So, you know this place pretty well by now, right?" he asked, crouching in front of the girl alongside Sora. She nodded.
"Okay, then. You help us find what we're looking for, and we'll see if we can't help you get out of here. How's that sound?" Roxas said.
The prisoner looked at him with wide eyes, shining with sudden hope. "Really!" she squeaked. "I thought you said you weren't here to help me!"
"Well, I mean..." Roxas just shrugged. "We're not, but it doesn't meant we can't help."
Grinning, the girl hopped to her feet, full of energy. "Okay, let's get to it!" she chirped, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. "What are you guys looking for?"
"Uh, we dunno exactly, but it's probably some kind of gem, about this big," Sora pinched his fingers together.
The girl put one hand on her hips, and with her free arm, made a sweeping gesture towards the piles of treasure behind her. "What do you need me for, just start digging!"
"It also apparently hurts anyone who touches it who isn't meant to touch it," Roxas said. "And it was probably stolen by some kind of evil force recently."
At this, their mysterious companion tucked a fist under her chin. "Now that's more like it," she said. "I don't think I've ever come across anything like that...and I sort the treasure in here when I get bored. And I am bored most of the time."
"It's probably off by itself?" Roxas offered. "And probably guarded by something dangerous?"
"Well, this whole stinking cave is dangerous, but...I think I might know what you're talking about. Should we get a move on?" With that, she began to lead them deeper into the Cave of Wonders, towards the back of the grand treasure room. "Oh, I'm Safiya, by the way," she said, turning back and flashing the boys a smile. "Though my friends call me Safi. At least, they used to..." she trailed off, her smile fading.
"I'm Sora, and this is Roxas," Sora chirped. "And don't worry, we'll have you back to your friends in no time."
Safi gave them another bright smile. "'Kay, I'm holding you to that!"
She led them much deeper into the cave, finally stopping in a large open area. Along the walls of this area were open doorways leading into much smaller rooms. Somehow, this place was even quieter than the rest of the cavern, making the three adventurers rather nervous.
"This is the really, really dangerous part," Safi whispered. "Your item is bound to be in one of these rooms."
"But which one?" Roxas frowned. It'd still take a while to get through each room, especially if each was as dangerous as Safi seemed to imply...But Sora was walking away, towards one of the rooms. "Uh, Sora...?"
He shrugged. "I dunno, I just have a feeling. Let's try this one first." The three headed into the room, which was empty, save for a large pile of sand along the back wall. Safi eyed the pile intently, but to Sora and Roxas, it looked exactly the same as any other pile of sand they had come across so far in Agrabah. Roxas glanced at the girl, a flicker of doubt entering his mind. Though it was Sora who finally spoke the obvious.
"I had this feeling it'd be in here, and I kind of still do, but, um...this is a big pile of sand."
"Well, thanks for that," Safi drawled, "but I'm pretty sure this jewel thing you guys want is in this pile of sand."
Roxas and Sora exchanged glances. If that were true, then presumably the gem Sora was meant to have was buried in that pile, since Roxas already had his. Meaning there was nothing for Sora to do but stick his hand in that pile and see what happened.
"There you two go again," Safi said suddenly. "With your...telepathic twin-talk. Are you guys twins? You sure look it."
"Something like that," Roxas said distractedly. Though he supposed she did have a point – he and Sora were getting pretty good at discerning what the other was thinking. But as Sora began digging through that pile of sand, Roxas was more preoccupied with whatever horrible thing might come springing forth.
Sora dug his fingers through the warm sand, guarded and ready to summon his Keyblade at a moment's notice. His fingers brushed against something smooth and hard. "I think I found it!" he said, but before he could close his hand around the object, he was suddenly flung out of the sand pile and halfway across the room. He landed hard on his back and sat there for a moment, dazed.
"Sora!" Roxas darted over to the other, crouching next to him.
"I'm all right," Sora mumbled, his back throbbing. He was going to be paying for that one tomorrow. If he even made it to tomorrow; as he spoke, the pile of sand was seemingly coming to life. It stretched to nearly eight feet tall, and long arms grew out of the sand-creature's sides. Indentations in its "face" served as eyes and a mouth. Sora and Roxas scrambled to their feet, Keyblades ready, as the monster let out a growl and began to glide across the floor towards them.
Safi, who was eager to get out of the way, dashed over to the archway leading out of the room and clung to the wall, peeking in at the scene before her. "Guys, I think he's got that jewel you want!" she cried, pointing at the monster's face.
Sora glanced to her when he heard her shout, then followed the direction of her finger. Sure enough, embedded deep in the sand-creature's forehead was a gemstone, rectangular in shape, with a deep gold color that sparkled when the light hit it. "I think we can beat this thing if I can grab that!" he called over to Roxas, pointing at the jewel.
Roxas nodded. "Guess this is the adversary we have to face!" he said as he darted forward. The thing swung a heavy arm at him; Roxas barely had time to drop to the floor and avoid the blow. He could hear a whoosh as the arm passed through the air only a few inches above his head. But swinging its arms around wildly seemed to be the thing's only attack. If they could disable the arms, there'd be nothing to it. Roxas rolled back and jumped back into a standing position, so that he was standing behind the monster. He leapt forward, Keyblade above his head, and lopped off the monster's arm.
Sora, who had been busy dealing with the other arm, looked over and cheered. But Roxas did not take his eyes off the sand-monster. It hardly seemed perturbed about losing an arm, which made Roxas a little nervous.
All of a sudden he was hit in the stomach – hard enough that the edges of his vision flickered. The force of the blow knocked him clean on his back, leaving him dazed. He heard Safi scream and Sora shout his name somewhere in the distance, and in an instant Roxas felt Sora's hand gripping his shoulder. He shook his head, pushing aside the pain fogging his mind, and realized what he'd been hit by – the monster had merely grown another arm to replace the one Roxas had cut off.
"How the heck are we supposed to fight this thing!" Sora exclaimed, helping Roxas to his feet. He had a feeling the jewel in the thing's forehead was the source of its power, but simply running up and grabbing it was out of the question, what with those long arms keeping him from getting close. For the moment the monster simply sat and watched them, aware of the same thing as Sora – they were at a standoff.
"H-Hey!" came a small voice. Sora turned to see Safi standing just inside the room, anxiously eyeing the monster. It had turned its attention to the girl as well.
"Safi, what are you doing!" Sora exclaimed, as he and Roxas inched towards her, wary of making any sudden movements.
"I-I think I found something that might help," she said to them, although she never took her eyes off of the sand-creature. In her hands was an ornate blue glass bottle, filled with some sort of liquid.
"What is it?" Roxas asked, keeping his voice quiet.
"I'm pretty sure it's the essence of water. If he's made of sand, then maybe water will weaken him."
At Safi's explanation, the monster reared back and lunged for her; either it had understood her words or it was simply tired of just standing there. Safi shrieked in fear, tossing the glass bottle towards Sora and Roxas and making a mad dash back for the relative safety of the doorway. Sora dove for the bottle, just as the sand-creature shot both its massive arms towards Sora and the bottle, making the mistake of turning its attention completely away from Roxas. Keyblade in hand, Roxas dashed forward, slicing both ends of the creature's arms off. At least this time, though, he was ready for it to regenerate itself.
Clutching the bottle, Sora scrambled to his feet before the thing could attack. "Let's give this a try, hm?" he said, pulling the stopper out of the bottle, and was greeted with the scent of the air back home after a sudden summer rainstorm. But there was an awful lot of sand and only a little bit of water. Would this little bottle really do that much?
There was nothing to do but try it anyway. The monster slid along the ground closer to them, reaching for the bottle with one of its long arms. Sora gave the bottle a little flick, and to his shock, a whole wave of water seemed to erupt from the bottle's opening. The water touched the tip of the creature's bulbous hand and began snaking up its the arm, the sand darkening as it absorbed the water. They watched as the monster began flailing its arm wildly, as if to shake the water off. But the added water had made the limb heavy and removed all of its elasticity. The creature could barely do a thing with the arm.
Roxas leapt forward and with a wet crunch, sliced through the water-laden arm where it connected with the rest of the creature. The appendage landed on the floor with a wet thud. No one moved for a moment, as the monster turned towards the place where its arm had been. One thing was clear – the water had weakened the monster to the point that it could no longer regenerate its limbs. With a smirk Sora gave the powerful bottle another shake, and another wave shot out the tip, drenching the sand-monster. It let out a roar of frustration and began to jerk wildly, in a futile effort to remove the water, but it was no use. The liquid seeped into every pore and soon the creature could barely move, unable to support its own weight.
Sora strolled forward and reached for the jewel still embedded in the monster's forehead. "I'll take that, thanks," he said, plucking the jewel out of the damp sand. Instantly, the monster collapsed into a pile of wet sand.
"Wow!" came the cry from the doorway, and Safi darted in, eyes wide. "That was...that was awesome, you guys are awesome!"
"Well, we couldn't have done it without you!" Sora grinned. "Where'd you find that bottle, anyway?"
Safi shrugged. "Out in all that junk," she said, gesturing to the open hallway outside the room they were in. Indeed, there was a mixed assortment of interesting-looking artifacts strewn on just about every floor in this place. "So, is that the thing you were after?" she asked, pointing at the jewel in Sora's hand.
He nodded. It felt solid and slightly warm in his hand, and there was a faint glow to it, as well.
"Ooh, I think that's a topaz," Safi said. "They make for pretty powerful amulets. And apparently they create their own light."
Which was fitting, Roxas thought idly. Of course Sora was meant to end up with the stone that could create its own light. He didn't know of anyone more optimistic than Sora.
"So I guess it's about time to get out of here, huh?" Sora said, shaking Roxas out of his reverie. "And we need to figure out how to get you out of here, too," he added, looking at Safi.
"Let's head back to where we came in. Maybe the guardian put the stairs back for us," Roxas suggested. So the three headed back towards the entrance of the cave, the gemstone secure in Sora's pocket.
Strangely, though, when they reached the point where they had been so unceremoniously dumped before, there was no obvious way back up and out of the Cave of Wonders.
"What the heck?" Sora exclaimed, craning his neck at the spot where they had come in. "I thought we'd be able to leave." He turned to Roxas. "That's what the...big tiger head said, right? After we fight whatever it is guarding the thing, then we'd be able to leave."
"Could it have something to do with Safi?" Roxas said slowly. At this, both Sora and Safi turned to look at him – Sora's expression startled and confused, Safi's a little angry and hurt. Roxas put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I'm just saying, maybe since we're trying to take you with us, it won't let us leave."
Safi sighed, considering this. "Yeah...you've got a point, there."
Sora frowned. "Well," he began, brightening immediately and turning to Safi, "we promised we'd help you get out, so we'll just have to come up with something else."
She didn't look entirely convinced, giving him a wan smile. "Thanks, Sora. You're a good guy."
But the nagging, anxious feeling in the back of Roxas's mind was back in full force. Either the Cave was stopping them from leaving on purpose, maybe because they had Safiya with them, or – and it was a far-fetched thought – perhaps they had yet to face their "dangerous adversary" after all.
"You know, there is one thing we could try..." Safi said slowly.
"What's that?" Sora asked immediately, but Roxas was quiet, wary.
"Well, I mean...my father's always telling us kids stories. My favorite one is this beautiful romance, where the prince – well, whatever. The point of the story is, how powerful a promise is."
"What do you mean?" Roxas asked slowly.
"Maybe, if you promise to help me – and I mean, really vow to do it – that might be powerful enough on its own to break whatever spell is keeping me here," she shrugged, raising her arms once again and nodding toward the mysterious shackles on her wrists.
"Okay," Sora chirped. "Why not?" He turned to the girl. "So, do we just shake on it...?"
She giggled a bit, holding out her hand. "Sure, let's try it."
Sora reached out with his own hand, but Roxas reached out, knocking Sora's hand away.
"What gives!" Sora blinked at him. Safi turned to Roxas, and for the briefest moment he swore something dangerous flickered in her eyes.
"Look," Roxas began, more wary than ever. "What if we try this and there's some kind of awful side effect?"
"It's just a story, Roxas!" Safi said, arranging her expression into an amused one.
"Yeah, well, what if it's not?" Roxas countered. "Let's just...slow down a minute before we rush in to something." He turned to Sora. Just listen to me. I've got a really bad feeling about this, he pleaded silently.
Finally, Sora nodded. "Roxas has a point."
"It's just a handshake, though!" Safi said, her tone growing exasperated. "You guys said you'd help me, didn't you?"
The uneasy feeling continued to bubble up in the pit of Roxas's stomach. "You know, it was really convenient that you knew where our jewel was," he said slowly.
"Wha – well, yeah, I spend a lot of time wandering around down here, you know!"
Roxas's eyes narrowed. "And it was pretty convenient that you had exactly what we needed to beat that sand thing back there."
"I told you, it was there on the floor! And listen, mister, enough of these thinly-veiled accusations of yours. Exactly what are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying that sand-monster wasn't our test at all. You're our test, aren't you?"
"What?" Sora exclaimed, but neither really paid him much mind. Safi only stared at Roxas, agape, tears welling in her eyes.
"I can't believe you'd actually..." she stuttered.
"Seriously, Roxas, what the heck!" Sora exclaimed, but despite the hurt expression on Safi's face, he was growing uneasy as well. Roxas had some valid points.
Roxas said nothing but remained firm. He was sure he was right.
"Y-you actually..." Safi continued to stutter, but she saw Roxas was completely unmoved. "You actually saw through me," she sighed finally. "I guess I should've known you'd be a challenge, Roxas. You haven't really had that heart long enough to be taken in by it."
At this, Roxas threw his hands in the air. "Does everybody know about me!"
But Sora was hardly listening, his blood cold in his veins. "He...is he right!" he demanded of Safiya. She turned her attention to him, giving him a pouty smile.
"Oh, Sora. You and that bleeding heart of yours. It's gonna get you into real trouble someday," she said. The shackles vanished from her wrists and ankles, and somehow she seemed to grow taller, older. In that moment, Roxas and Sora both had the feeling that she had been tricking people like this for centuries.
Sora shook his head in disbelief. "I...thought you were for real."
"Yes, well, that was the point, wasn't it?" came the poison-laced answer.
With a familiar flash of light, Roxas summoned his Keyblade. "So, what, do we fight you now?" he asked, more than eager to get out of this place and away from this woman.
"No," she said boredly. "Now that you've figured out my game, I can't do anything else to you. You're free to go, and all that. You really are lucky you ran into me and not something else."
"Something else?" Roxas asked, refusing to put his Keyblade away. "Like what?"
"Let's just say that you and your friends are getting awfully close to getting into the Domain of Shadows. And he doesn't like that, not at all."
"He? So it's a 'he' behind all this?" Roxas demanded.
"Oh, me and my big mouth," Safiya pouted. As she spoke, she reached into her pocket; for what, Sora and Roxas didn't know, but they weren't about to take any chances. Roxas lunged for her, but she'd yanked a small glass vial from her pocket. She threw it to the ground and there was the high-pitched shattering of breaking glass, and blue smoke suddenly gusted forth from the vial, engulfing Sora and Roxas in it and accosting them with its acrid scent.
The ground became sand, soft under their feet, and a gust of hot air blew the remaining smoke away. When it fully cleared, they were in the desert outside of Agrabah. Behind them, the guardian of the Cave of Wonders was sinking back into the sand, to await its next visitor.
"You...still got the jewel?" Roxas asked.
Sora thrusted a hand into his pocket. "Y-Yeah."
Roxas nodded in satisfaction, but it quickly occurred there was nothing to be satisfied about. So they had one gemstone each, but what else could be done without Naminé, Riku, and Kairi? Sora was gazing towards Agrabah with a blank expression, also at a loss as to what to do.
"Let's just head back for Agrabah for now," Roxas frowned.
"Yeah," was the singular reply.
Sora was clearly bothered by what had transpired down in the Cave of Wonders, and Roxas thought he'd like to say something to the other, but he was at an utter loss as to what to say. He turned over the words in his mind, but each phrase sounded more trite and cheap than the last, so eventually he just gave up, and they trekked on in silence.
"D'you hear that?" Roxas said suddenly after a while, stopping in his tracks.
"Hear wha – " But Sora could hear it, too; it sounded like someone calling out. The sound was very faint at first, barely audible over the wind blowing through the desert, but it quickly grew louder and louder. Something large and bright blue came shooting between the two of them.
"Genie!" Sora exclaimed as the blur came to a halt in front of them. "Don't scare people like that!"
Genie hovered a little above the two, beaming at them. "I thought I recognized a couple of spiky heads – " He paused mid-sentence, really taking in the sight of the two. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, pulling a pair of comically thick glasses seemingly out of nowhere and putting them on, blinking owlishly at the two. "Am I seeing double, or what? Geez, you two could pass for twins! Are you twins?" At this, he leaned so far towards Roxas that Roxas had to lean back.
"Because that just wouldn't be cool," Genie said to Roxas, "if you were related to Sora that whole time you were skulking around Agrabah!"
Roxas waved him away. "We're sort of related, but not like...family. I'm Sora's, uh...ex-Nobody."
Sora watched the whole exchange with some confusion. "You guys have met?" he asked. He had brightened considerably at the sight of an old friend.
"Yeah," Roxas answered easily. He jerked a thumb towards Genie. "He was always bugging me when I came here on missions."
"Well, geez!" Genie huffed. "If that's how you feel, I'm going over here!" He disappeared in an ostentatious puff of smoke and reappeared a few feet over, in front of Sora. "So whatcha doing here? Visiting Al?"
Sora shook his head. "I wanted to go see Aladdin, but we kinda came here on business."
"Ooh, business. What kinda business?"
"You know anything about the Domain of Shadows?" Roxas asked slowly.
Genie "sat" hovering in midair, legs crossed, suddenly thoughtful. "Oh, you're off to set that right, huh?
"You know what's going on there?" Sora asked.
"Oh yeah, yeah," Genie said nonchalantly. "I hope you guys can get that taken care of, the Shadow Enchantress is just lovely, I helped her redecorate a couple of millennia ago, the color scheme she was using was just awful – "
"Do you know who or what's behind it?" Roxas interrupted.
"Oh." Genie blinked. "Nope, can't help you there. Oh, but wait, how else could I help you?"
Roxas shrugged. "I dunno. We...already got what we came here for, in the Cave of Wonders."
"Aw, my old turf! Too bad I missed you earlier, I coulda helped you out!"
Sora scowled at this. "Oh, we had help."
Genie winced. The Cave of Wonders was home to a host of mystical creatures – some of them there against their will, some of them sent there to protect its secrets. But almost all of them were terribly unpleasant to deal with. "Uh-oh, who'd you bump into?"
"She said her name was Safiya," Roxas frowned.
"She's the worst!" Genie practically squealed. "Ooh, I bet she wanted your hearts, she's always snacking on hearts – "
"That's what she does? Eats hearts?" Roxas gaped.
Genie nodded, screwing up his face in disgust for emphasis. "Good thing you guys figured her out!"
"Good thing Roxas did," Sora spoke up, his mood sour again. With that he turned away from the others and started walking towards Agrabah, as if he could not be away from the Cave of Wonders fast enough. Genie and Roxas exchange glances, Genie shrugging as if to say, 'don't look at me.' Roxas sighed a bit and hurried over to Sora, stumbling a little in the sand.
"Sora, it's not a big deal," Roxas said, his tone a little exasperated. "No harm, no foul, right?"
"Well, yeah, this time, but what about next time?" Sora burst out, turning to face Roxas. He sighed and stared at the ground. "I just...feel like an idiot."
"You're not an idiot for wanting to help people!" Roxas countered. "Come on, have you ever been somewhere and not made a friend? Just because being friendly didn't work one time doesn't mean you're stupid or you have to change or something. I mean, sometimes I wish I could trust people like you can..." He trailed off, feeling sheepish. That was a little more than he wanted to reveal.
Sora was just staring at him. "Uh...you do?"
"Well, yeah."
Sora frowned a little considering this. "Well...we trust each other, right? That's a start, isn't it?"
Roxas just smiled and shook his head. "Yeah, it is." At least they were off the subject of Safiya.
"You know, I hate to interrupt the therapy session, but can I zap you two anywhere you need to go or something? It's getting pretty late," Genie spoke up, gesturing to the sky, now awash with brilliant hues of red and pink. "And boy is it chilly in the desert at night, maybe I oughta get out my parka..." He yanked a large suitcase seemingly out of nowhere, popped it open, and began digging through the contents.
Sora turned to Roxas, leaving Genie to his antics. "Yeah, I dunno. There's not really much we can do until we get in touch with the others, huh? And we still have no idea where they are."
"Maybe...we ought to head to Yen Sid's again," Roxas suggested slowly. "Maybe the King's been to see him again or something."
Sora wrinkled his nose at the thought. "Yeah, 'cause that went so well last time."
"I know, I know. I mean...I know I really blew up last time, but – "
Sora blinked. "You? Come on, Roxas, what did you do? Yen Sid was the one who was a total jerk to you! But yeah, I can't really think of where else to go," he added resignedly. Roxas couldn't think of anything to add, somewhat taken aback by how quickly Sora had jumped to his defense.
"Aw...so you don't need my help?" Genie piped up suddenly. When they turned, he was wearing a comically oversized parka, complete with furry hood.
Sora grinned, shaking his head a bit. "No, afraid not. Not this time." He turned to Roxas. "Alright, do your thing."
Roxas stretched out his arm, closing his eyes and concentrating on the old wizard's tower, and attempted to banish the feelings of humiliation and anger associated with it. Despite all that, he simply couldn't open a Corridor of Darkness to Yen Sid's. There was something keeping him from doing so.
"There's some kind of barrier or something," he said, opening his eyes and turning to Sora. "I guess he does that to keep people out. Or keep me out," he added, though he felt uneasy. Could there be something more sinister keeping them out? Twilight Town hadn't fallen already, had it?
"Then...just open a portal to Twilight Town, if you can," Sora said, the same worries entering his mind. "We'll just take the train from there.
Roxas nodded and tried again. This time the portal opened easily. Though whether that was a good thing or a bad thing remained to be seen. "This ought to take us to the Old Mansion," Roxas said. "It's probably not a good idea to appear out of thin air in the middle of the train station."
The two stepped in front of the portal, but Genie called over to them, and when they turned, he was wearing a rare, serious expression. "I dunno who's behind this mess in the Domain of Shadows. But whoever it is has some serious dark mojo to be able to pull something like this off. So...just be careful, alright? Not every magic-y, mythological being is as nice as me."
"Or Safiya," Sora added, smirking a bit. "Don't worry, Genie. We'll be okay." With that, they stepped into the portal, in the hope that they could finally get some solid answers about their friends.
Notes: Poor sand monster, I felt kinda bad killing him when he wasn't even the real villain of the chapter. Fun fact (well, fun for me, anyway) – Safiya is named after an old, old RP character of mine. She was pretty weird too, although she never ate anyone's heart.
Anyway, next time, we head over to Halloween Town to see what Kairi, Riku, and Naminé have been up to for the last month-and-a-half! Hopefully, it will not take me near as long to update.
