Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine, as are Tabaeus McCallister, Corbin Franks, and the Fractured Circle. There be much in the ways of plot twists in this chapter, and more questions be answered. Hehe, when I wrote that, I was speaking like a pirate in my head…Anyway…As always, constructive feedback is always welcome and appreciated!
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Chapter Ten: Horizon
July 20th, 5:00 P.M.
He moved among them like a cobra among common garden snakes. Lieutenant Lockhart had practically looked straight at him, but she didn't see who he was. She glanced past him like she would have any commoner in the Marketplace. He watched them: the Lieutenant, Colonel Leonhart, and that imbecile private who'd been helping the Keybearer.
It wasn't hard to overlook someone if you didn't want to see them.
He'd left the Fractured Circle's base in the castle ruins, leaving his second with full command. He couldn't just wander into the thicket of enemy lines wearing the face of the Alliance's executioner, so he'd…adjusted. Lips curling unpleasantly, he drifted toward the sectors of the old city, keeping a wary eye on the Colonel. In less than half an hour, either they would all be dead, or the Fractured Circle would be dead. Or perhaps they would take the Alliance down to Hades with them.
Now that was an interesting concept.
He navigated the crowds like a leaf in a stream, winding around the civilians and harmlessly maneuvering between buildings, until the two Allied leaders and their noble idiot had disappeared from view. Turning his back on the town, he followed his mental map to the old study of Ansem the Wise.
If the Alliance was this easy to penetrate, how in Kingdom Hearts had they amassed such notoriety for cunning and strength? It was pathetic, really.
He tilted his head away from the windows as he crossed the last patch of tourist traps, catching his reflection. The soft face of a feeble old man smiled concealingly back at him. The wrinkled, scarred skin was far too aged for his taste, but it was an inconspicuous guise, so not a massive inconvenience. The sooner he was able to take a more…appealing form, the better.
There were no guards manning the old study. How arrogant of them, really. Anybody could just sneak right in and view all of the Alliance's little dirty plots and history. Like him, for instance.
Slinking down the hall, he opened the door to the study and immediately knew he had struck gold. The old chamber of Ansem the Wise was a wreck, thoroughly disorganized. Papers clung to every surface and the computer and printer sounded like they were under attack. Pursing his lips, the leader of the Fractured Circle swept around the overturned chair and peered toward the massive computer room.
The catwalk leading to the technological center overlooked a grand and intimidating corridor, lit only by the flashing monitors and buttons of who only knew what kind of information. Very intriguing. But, he pushed onward past curiosity to the computer chamber. This room was also full of furniture and recently moved boxes.
"What a sty." He remarked thoughtfully, casting a judging eye over the mess.
His gaze caught on a body, motionless on a displaced bed. Kairi, one of the seven Princesses of Heart, slept oblivious to his presence. He tilted his head and drew closer, noting the complete lack of expression on her face…totally swallowed by oblivion.
"Bit of an inconvenient time for a nap, I'd say." He murmured, leaning forward and brushing some auburn hair from her eyes. He got no response. "Well, well, Master Keybearer. My dear, your rebel of a boyfriend is really cutting his own wrists with this ordeal, isn't he?" He remarked softly, straightening and surveying the rest of the computer room. "Severing all connection with emotion…even striking you down with a Sleep Spell…no doubt to keep you out of the way. Noble, misguided…as it may be…You'd be smart to get as far from ickle Sora as possible."
The sound of a door opening loudly reached his ears and he turned back to face the catwalk.
"It's all back here, sir." The girl was stammering.
"What's printing?" Ah, Colonel Scarface.
"Satellite images of Fractured Circle bases in Neverland. We also found evidence of their activity at the End of the World." She answered.
His ears perked. So they knew about Neverland? Impressive. And End of the World? How naïve did they think the Fractured Circle was? He wasn't going to build a base of a noble cause in the breeding grounds of those Heartless demons. Still…labor under whatever delusions make you happy, fools.
The sound of another door opening, and he drew closer to the study, peering into the lit chamber to see that Leonhart and the private had gone into some side room. They were speaking, but their voices were unintelligible from where he was. From the looks of how vehement the Colonel was, he would make a good guess that all was not well in Allied Town.
Smirking, he looked back to Kairi, who slumbered on blissfully.
"I hope you don't mind, m'lady." He whispered, rolling his shoulders. "But a gentle young girl is much more easily trusted than a weathered old man."
He clenched his jaw and rotated his neck, flexing his hands. The broad bones of his shoulders and ribcage shuddered, constricting under the muscle walls. Scraggled, gray-brown hair fell away, leaving him bald as the skin over his body shifted and tightened, smoothing out wrinkles and leaving only soft, richly tanned skin. As he transformed, fingernails grew clear and narrow out of suddenly smooth and silky hands. Auburn hair framed the new narrow-jawed face, with large blue eyes shining clearly now.
Clothes, shabby and patched, were infused with the blood of vibrance, spreading friendly pink and silver, shrinking into a skirt that hugged slender legs, and constricted around morphing feminine curves. Bones shrank and slid under the new skin, and he watched his reflection as he transformed into a perfect replica of the sleeping girl not ten feet away.
"Thank you, princess." His voice was high pitched and bubbly like hers. "I won't need it for long."
He turned toward the study and slipped across the catwalk, entering the room and crossing toward the back room, occupied by the talking soldiers.
Just long enough to tie up a few loose ends.
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Lieutenant Armand Walker lay on his belly on the crest of the dusty brown dunes of Pride Lands. He and his men all wore the tanned uniforms, making them invisible on the landscape. Walker lifted his binoculars, focusing them on the little white structure poking out of the rocky side of the dry riverbed.
So far he had only seen a few men wandering around outside, but he kept his radio ready as his wrist watch neared 6:00 in the hot desert afternoon. Behind him the men kept the sand out of the mechanics of the launch site, hidden mostly underground, but the tip of the missile poked out, waiting patiently for its moment to light up the desert.
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Tifa reached the battlements as quickly as she could without practically steam rolling everyone in her path. She avoided crashing into several corners of buildings as she swung around them, pushing away from the wall with her hands. Damned limited depth perception.
The Marketplace curled around the lips of the Great Maw, ending just before the Maw widened into a small purple canyon. She found the old ramparts of the ancient Radiant Garden defensive walls and spotted a few guards standing with loaded rifles near the buckled concrete entrance. She slowed to a quick walk and smoothed her clothes, striding up to the soldiers.
The sentries looked unsure how to proceed as she stalked up to them.
"Stand aside." She ordered, slowing slightly when they didn't move to obey. "I have information for the General from Private McCallister."
They exchanged looks and one guard spoke up. "Lieutenant, we were not informed that you were back in Radiant Garden, ma'am. Disney Castle—"
"I got better." She snapped. "Now I order you to let me pass."
"The General—"
Tifa shot the heel of her hand into the speaking soldier's jaw, snapping his head back and knocking him thoroughly unconscious. The other guard hardly had time to lift his rifle or send up alarm before she drove her elbow into his sternum. She swung into a roundhouse and connected her heel to his temple. The man toppled bonelessly next to his comrade.
"Nothing personal." She hopped over the bodies and jogged up the stairs leading out onto the battlements.
Sora stood alone at the edge of the wall, overlooking the Great Maw and the expansive plain leading up to the ruins of old Hollow Bastion. One other man stood in uniform on the other end of the battlement, looking through binoculars and relaying some gibberish into his radio. Sora's shoulders were relaxed and level, no tight muscles or clenched fists. His stance was loose and at ease.
"Are you insane?" Tifa barked.
The other soldier started slightly, looking to Tifa and then to Sora. Sora offered no physical reaction, not even turning his head toward her. Tifa marched out from under the overhang and onto the open air of the battlement, facing him at the railing.
"Hey, are you so far gone that you think this is the answer?" She stomped her foot, cracking the concrete block under her foot.
"Sir—" The binocular soldier started.
Sora lifted a hand, silencing him, and tilted his head toward Tifa, eyes never wavering from the Great Maw. "How do you teach an animal not to jump on you?"
Tifa dropped her hands to her sides with a slap. "We are so beyond not having time for this." She waved one hand at the castle ruins. "You have to call off this attack."
"When he jumps on you, you bop him on the nose." Sora continued, ignoring her. "Soon, the dog learns not to jump on you, or nose-bopping with follow…It's a consequence of his actions."
"Are you listening to yourself? You have over two dozen missiles, armed to launch all over the Alliance, killing hundreds, possibly thousands, of people—"
"Dogs." Sora cut her off. "The Fractured Circle is composed of nothing but cowardly dogs, animals. I'm doing this—" He looked to Tifa slowly, "—to protect civilians, people who depend on the Alliance for protection."
"This is not for their protection, you ass." She hissed. "This is just selfish vengeance. Blowing these men to Hell is not going to change what happened. It won't bring them back. We've all lost people, but if you kill a murderer, you're becoming a murderer yourself."
Sora turned to face her wholly. "If it wasn't for those 'people', we would still have a capable, experienced Council. I would still have these fingers." He lifted his hand, "You would still have your eye. Riku, Aerith, Yuffie, Cid, and Cloud would still be alive."
Tifa bristled.
Sora leaned toward her, "And you're telling me that no part of you wants to see these animals burn?"
Tifa swallowed hard and narrowed her eyes. "Don't even try to justify this. Riku and the others would be ashamed of what you're doing, what you're planning to do."
The soldier with the binoculars walked over, murmuring a few words to Sora, who nodded curtly and took the radio transmitter, lifting to his mouth and pushing the knob while still holding Tifa's gaze.
"Ready the men and get the trucks out there. Move out, boys." He hung the radio at his hip and dismissed the soldier, who made quick haste off the battlement.
"I knew you were a fast healer, but this fast?" He remarked absently.
"Nothing an elixir can't handle."
"Ah, Tifa, you know the rules." He tsked her. "Items are only to be used in emergency, life-endangering situations."
"Well, considering you are about to completely destroy what the Alliance stands for, I think I can make an exception." She seethed. "Don't call in this launch."
"Then what happens when Franks finds out the missiles in the truck are fakes?" Sora canted his head, looking back out to the canyon. "Then the leader will send all his troops to attack ours."
"How many troops does Corbin Franks have? We're better trained than they are. Our soldiers are armed and skilled. They would wipe out his ragtag minutemen." Tifa commented, eying the radio.
"Corbin Franks is not the one in charge of the Fractured Circle." Sora spoke softly.
There was a rumble as the black trucks below roared to life, the soft crunch of rock under tires echoing up the sharp slopes of the canyon walls. The trucks pulled out of the overhang slowly, with roughly a dozen soldiers flanking each truck. Tifa watched them before looking back to Sora.
"On the tape—"
"He lied."
"What point is there in that?"
"Anonymity. We fear what we do not understand and do not see. The nameless assailant." Sora responded. "Corbin Franks is an alias, a fake name, or maybe he's framing some poor bastard. Something about this doesn't fit, doesn't feel right."
Tifa gazed around the Great Maw, where the rest of the battalion was moving into a surrounding position. "Where do I begin with that statement. Look, our men can fight off whatever troops they throw at us. We don't need the missiles. That's overkill."
"That's war." He immediately countered, looking down at his watch. "5:25. Their representatives should be engaging us soon for the exchange."
Tifa grabbed him by the shoulders, forcing him to face her. "I cannot allow you to see this through. You're unstable and you've convinced yourself that this is justice. This is not justice, this is manslaughter."
"They aren't people, don't you get it? They're just mindless beasts." He said.
"Then this is animal cruelty."
"I've fought too hard to just cop out now." He said.
The radio crackled and a voice came over the static. "Their men are in our sights, a hundred yards out. Are we open to engage, sir?"
Sora took up the radio. "Open to engage, Commander. Wait until all of their ambassadors are close enough, then execute Order 12."
"Sir." The radio responded.
"Is that when you betray the agreement and cut them all down?" Tifa hissed.
"You catch on quick." Sora cupped his palms over the railing.
"This makes you as bad as them. No, it makes you worse. You're a Keybearer. You're supposed to represent hope and justice and life, not destruction and reckless violence. I'm surprised the Keyblade hasn't rejected you already." She spat
"That's because I have control of the Keyblade. It obeys me, not the other way around."
"Yes, but it CHOSE you, and it can un-choose you if you keep this up."
Sora rolled his eyes and lifted his left hand. The thick handled body of Keyblade Oblivion flashed against his palm. He looked at her nonchalantly. "I don't think so."
Before Tifa could reply, a burst of colored movement drew both their eyes to the armored trucks. Yellow smoke was pouring out of the back of the trucks, and the Allied soldiers, their faces covered in gas masks, were moving like black animals in the haze, taking down the ambassadors of the Fractured Circle. The trucks suddenly accelerated, flying over ragged terrain toward the castle ruins. The soldiers left behind swung their weapons, and the cacophony of gunfire multiplied as it echoed around the canyon.
The armored trucks launched off the natural rock ramps leading up the castle, nearly going airborne as they collided with the rock caves and hidden niches in the castle's base. The trucks exploded, fire rippling along the base of the castle. Tifa gasped and took a step backward as the thunder of the explosion reached her.
"What, we're kamikazes now?" She rounded on Sora again.
"My men weren't in that truck. It was being driven by transmitted signals from here." He pointed down to the area where the trucks had left from the battlement. He took up the radio again and spoke into it. "Squad Delta and Squad Gamma, move in and circle around the back of the castle. Block them all in."
Tifa clenched her jaw and watched him put the radio back at his belt. Tabaeus had said that none of the missiles would launch if Sora did not directly order them to, and that radio was the key for that communication. Sora looked at her and she locked eyes with him.
"You're either with me or against me, Tifa." He lifted his shoulders.
She gritted her teeth. She had no intention of following him or letting him keep control beyond the next five minutes, but if she didn't at least offer some form of olive branch, he was never going to listen to her or reason for that matter.
"Fine." She hissed, and it almost hurt to say it. "I'm with you."
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Lieutenant Jessica Anderson leaned against the thick trunk of a tree outside the Allied station in Deep Jungle, one leg propped against the gnarled bark. Squinting in the afternoon sunlight, she took a long drag from her cigarette and withdrew the stick, exhaling a mouthful of smoke.
The black steel walls of the Fractured Circle base were barely visible through the vines and trees, natural camouflage. Closing her lips around her cigarette again, she straightened from the tree and exchanged a look with a subordinate, who was manning the missile control panel. The guy looked nervous and sweaty. She wondered idly how he'd look in about half an hour.
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5:30 P.M.
Tabaeus didn't speak too much as the Colonel paced across the floor of the back room of Ansem's study. Everything was pretty well spread out for him to see, anyway. At this point, he might have just struck her down if she got too annoying. That line was thin enough. So she hung back, answering quickly any questions he shot at her.
"You said Kairi came down here." He finally rounded on her. "How long ago did you leave her?"
Tabaeus bit her lip. "An hour. She must have left."
Leon dropped his gaze, thinking. "That's probably a good thing. The farther she is from town and the Great Maw, the better off she'll be. We can worry about that later."
The phone rang and he picked it up in the middle of the first ring. "What?"
The King's voice was loud over the speaker and Tabaeus listened carefully.
"Leon, the Council isn't budging at all. They're convinced that Sora has their best interests at heart and they won't take back the power they've given him."
"Then we'll have to take it back by force. Tifa's gone after Sora at the old battlements." Leon informed.
The sound of movement in the main study caused Tabaeus to turn, but nobody was there, so she looked back to watch Leon as he spoke with the King. The mouse's voice came over again.
"I don't know if that will be enough. It sounds like the soldiers are loyal to Sora now. They're going to follow his orders whether we take his power away or not."
"What are you saying? There's nothing we can do? I can't accept that." Leon barked.
"No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying we gotta act fast or this is gonna happen. I'm on my way to the battlements now. Meet me there. If Tifa hasn't taken Sora down yet, we'll have to do it ourselves. If the men never get the order, they won't attack, right?"
Leon didn't look overly confident in the idea, but it was better than doing nothing, Tabaeus supposed. "All right, I'll be there." He hung up and turned to Tabaeus. "You," He said the word without any warmth, "Stay here."
"Yes, sir." She answered in a small voice, recoiling into herself. "Sir, I didn't know this was—"
"Just stay here." He brushed past her toward the back room entrance, but stopped short. "We thought you left." He said.
Tabaeus turned to see who he was talking to and saw Kairi standing in the doorway, gripping the frame in one hand. The rage and panic that Kairi had attacked her with earlier was gone. The girl looked almost comfortable.
"Nope, I stuck around." The Princess of Heart replied.
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Sergeant Cassidy Ford sat in the snowy benches of the mountains, overlooking the icy ravine of Land of Dragons, watching the sentries outside the enemy base swap shifts. She smirked, nudging her fellow soldier in the ribs and nodding toward the small station. He shook his head at her and kept rubbing his hands together for warmth.
Ford looked over to where Lieutenant Cape was leaning over the shoulder of the soldier who was running the control panel of the missile…She couldn't remember his name. Her eyes traced the silhouette of the silver plated missile, rendered invisible by the white snow swirling around it. She had just been moved to active duty, and she'd never seen a real explosion before. Turning back, she watched the Fractured Circle cronies switch out to guard their little building.