Ћε Grάγίtψ öf Löγε

by shirozora

An evil risen from the dusts of time will take down the Universe with it. Without its legendary chasers, Sora may be forced to work with the Organization XIII to stop it but to what cost? KHII Remix DISCONTINUED

10. Wayward Voyagers

Authoress' Note: The chapter following this one will include a little extra information regarding this story; every ten chapters will have something extra, and no, this is the ninth chapter, not the tenth as the site lists it as. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Characters, settings, rules of the Universe, and back story are copyrighted by Square-Enix and Disney. The storyline is copyright of mine with major differences. The two theme songs aren't mine, either. You know, This is Love – Utada HIkaru and Gravity of Love by Enigma.

Theme Song: Gravity of Love by Enigma

X X X

Ћε­­ Grάγί†ψ öf Löγε

«9 – Wayward Voyagers»

Riku threw himself into the cockpit, not caring he had no idea how to take charge of one of these-these hovercraft spaceships. He stared at the controls wildly while the Cheshire Cat materialized on the control board, sitting rather comfortably next to the windows, and Tarzan scrambled onto the ship the conventional way. Merlin was outside, shouting words, but Riku did not hear them. He heard Merlin's voice but he did not know what the wizard was saying.

"Riku…news…word from the outside…fire…the beast has been sighted."

"Where, Merlin, where?"

"I'm…I'm so sorry…I'm so sorry, Riku."

"Where is it, Merlin? Where's the damn thing!"

"Destiny Islands."

The Cheshire Cat and Tarzan told him their worlds were destroyed by this strange beast of fire. The way they described it, with Tarzan's apparent ineptitude with words and the Cheshire Cat's calm cold explanation, chilled him deep inside.

"Like fire…it came like white fire. I…I have never seen white fire. It came…it wanted…what Sora had taken away. The blue butterflies…the keyhole…it opened the keyhole…and ate the light."

"It comes in white fire, blinding light, and yet it reeks of pure evil, utterly foul air. Everyone fell before its path, devoured. It went to the doorknob and destroyed it. It ate the light while Wonderland fell all around it. It is a terrible thing to watch. And the chasers were not there. The three hunters were not in sight when the demon fox destroyed Wonderland."

Riku shuddered in his swivel seat as he stared at the controls. He stared at the various buttons and levers and had absolutely no idea what to do with them.

"Start the engines, Riku," the Cheshire Cat said calmly. "Close the door or Tarzan will jump out and hurt himself."

"I-I don't know how!" Riku retorted angrily. "I never-never drove one of these before!"

"What does this do?" Tarzan wondered curiously. He banged a fist against the ship's side and the ship issued forth a hissing sound.

"D-don't touch anything!" Riku blustered, looking frantically at the controls while still ignoring Merlin's shouting. "Don't do anything yet!"

"Look at the red button," the Cat remarked, sprawling across the controls and wagging a finger at a conspicuously large round red button to the very left of the controls. Etched into it was the word 'START'.

"Some joke," Riku snorted.

The ship suddenly jolted, jumped to the side. Riku scrambled, his hands raking at the buttons and switches and levers. His large frame practically lodged him in the seat while the Cat slid the length of the control panel and scrunched up on the other side. There was a huge cluttering and crashing and Riku whipped his head around to see Tarzan scrambling up the side of the ship. Riku groaned, ran a frustrated hand through his long silver hair, and turned back to the controls to see all the buttons alight.

"Riku! Riku, damn you, listen to me!" Merlin shouted outside but his next words, whatever they were, were blasted away by the roar of engines. The ship shook violently and the lights flashed on and off all over the control board.

"I can't hear you!" Riku yelled back, hoping Merlin could hear him over the roar.

"You might want to start the ship," the Cat remarked lightly.

"I already started the damn ship!" Riku shouted, jumping to his feet. "What else am I supposed to do?"

The Cat didn't answer; he carefully – daintily – picked his way down the control board to the lever sticking out on the right side of the cockpit. The Cat yawned and stretched out; he grasped the lever and pushed down on it.

The ship jumped forward and something crashed into the seat; Riku slammed forward into the control panel. The Cheshire Cat clung to the lever and wasn't subject to the physical banging up that Riku and Tarzan were dealing with. In the mess that ensued, the ship somehow rose in the air. Riku shot his head up and smacked it against something that wasn't there. Rubbing his head, Riku growled at the offender but found it to be some strange contraption that stuck out of the control panel.

"Use it to steer the ship," the Cheshire Cat remarked. "We're headed for the wall of the hanger."

"Shit!" Riku scrambled out of the mess and threw himself into the seat, then grasped the contraption with both hands and twisted it violently to the left. The ship flew left, the wing scraping the wall of the hanger. He peered out the window and saw three other ships sitting scattered throughout the hanger and a blue figure jumping up and down emphatically. Then it stopped hopping madly and a voice boomed throughout the hanger.

"WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T TRY AND FIGHT THE DEMON FOX! WE HAVE NO IDEA HOW STRONG IT IS OR WHAT ITS PLANS ARE! JUST HUNT DOWN THE STORY AND THE HUNTERS! YOU GET THAT? DON'T DO ANYTHING FOOLISH OR-"

Riku looked at the Cat questioningly.

"Next destination: space," the Cheshire Cat said and banged his fist on a second, smaller lever. Riku had just enough time to grab onto the contraption as the ship rocketed out of hanger and Traverse Town.

Space welcomed the erratic ship. Heartless ships skittered about amongst the asteroids and rings and various strange floating objects. Riku stared at one particularly menacing purple and green boulder, then realized what he was supposed to do and jerked the ship out of the way. There was a crash somewhere behind him but he ignored it.

"There," the Cat remarked. "There."

"What?" Riku stared at him. "What do you mean 'There'?"

"The wrong way you go. That's debris from Wonderland, my former home."

A chipped teacup floated by. Riku took the cue and quickly turned around. "Then where the hell do I go?"

"Not that way. The other way."

"I was just heading in the other way!" Riku yelled back, finding the Cat's voice much more irritating than before. "Which way to Destiny Islands?"

"Why bother?" the Cat drawled. "Oh dear, I did not say that."

Riku stared at the Cheshire Cat in astonishment. "Why bother? Why bother? WHY BOTHER! WHAT DO YOU MEAN, WHY BOTHER!"

"Too late, Riku," Tarzan whispered from behind him. He was shaking his head sadly. "Once there…uh…um…"

Then came a series of gibberish. Riku, already at a head with what the Cheshire Cat told him, glared behind him and yelled, "What's wrong with you? Why can't you talk right!"

Tarzan backed away, gripping his spear tightly. His mouth was set in a thin grim line and he looked sad. The Cat was tsking.

"His family consisted of gorillas. His familiar speech is their speech. Human speech comes difficult to his mind. Patience, Riku, patience."

"I don't have patience!" Riku snapped. "I rushed the ship and it's too late? What do you mean, too late?"

"It kills quickly. A ball of fire that sweeps over the world, hidden from view by black clouds. The world will burn while the beast rips open the Keyhole and destroys the world's heart and the world itself. Once it devours the light in the world, the world is gone. It doesn't take long. Very few survive, if at all."

"You-you mean…" Riku stammered as he collapsed in the seat, deflating, defeated. What about Kairi? "Too late…I can't go…and-and save Destiny Islands? I can't…I can't save Kairi?"

"You heard Merlin. Don't attempt to face the beast. Do you really want to face it? Perhaps you should witness its method of destruction. Yes, yes. You want legend, see it. Destiny Islands is that bright star."

There were many stars in space. Riku glared at the Cat, wondering if he was mocking him. The Cat, though, pressed a finger against the window and when he removed it, there was a hot bright star, glowing in various intensities. As Riku watched, as he unconsciously steered the ship towards it, he saw blood red stain the pure white glow, slowly turning the white light into a scarlet shade. And then…it went black. The star disappeared.

"Where'd it go!" Riku yelled, startled. He grasped the lever the Cheshire Cat and leaned on, the small lever that had slid back up, and yanked it down.

"Quick study," the Cat said as the ship jumped forward rapidly. There was more crashing in the back and the lights in the ship went out. Riku sighed and turned around to see Tarzan hastily shove cords back into a large crack in the wall.

"Eyes on the wheel, Riku. There are several ships headed for where the star was," the Cat said, jumped off the control board and rather daintily sauntered off. Riku stared at the purple and pink cat, then swiveled back in his seat only to see a Heartless ship loom into view, its guns locked on his head.

"Oh shit!"

The ship shot downwards but as it did bolts of light flashed to the Heartless ship and it exploded. Riku stared as he pulled the ship back up and straight for where the Heartless ships were congregating. The ship jumped abruptly and as Riku watched a missile from underneath the ship screamed towards the ships, ricocheting off of ships and damaging them considerably. A good handful shuddered and exploded.

Tarzan made a sound, which sounded a lot like awe. Riku couldn't help but swivel in his seat and saw Tarzan staring into a room that previously wasn't there. Tarzan caught his eye, pointed into the room, and said haltingly, "It…it…good. Good…aim."

Aim? Riku leaped out of his seat, not caring if the ship could take care of itself without him at the cockpit, and ran to the room. He peered in and saw a strange sight: the room had different controls in it, including what looked like a machine gun with some sniper stuff added to it and the Cat was sitting in the backless swivel seat in front of it, leisurely taking aim at the various ships flying past towards where Destiny Islands was.

"You're kidding me," were the first words out of his mouth. A cat manning a gun? He's seen and experienced very strange things in the one year he wasn't on Destiny Islands but this was by far the strangest.

The Cheshire Cat then said, "I suppose you know nothing about autopilot."

"What?"

"Autopilot. The ship steers itself."

The ship suddenly lurched forward and Riku grabbed at the doorframe as the ship tipped forward. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tarzan hurtle himself at the other end of the ship and though more cords spilled out of the cracks in the walls, the ship leveled itself. However, and Riku could see this through the window in the room that wasn't there before, the ship was drifting aimlessly; it was going off to the side away from where the Heartless ships were.

"They're there for the Princess of Heart," the Cat suddenly said, while Riku carefully let go and began walking backwards back to the cockpit. "That's why they're massing. The world is about to go and they're here to collect the prize before that happens. I gather…no I don't…yes I do…no I don't…"

"They want Kairi? Oh shit, of course! Of course they want Kairi! How'd that slip my mind!" Riku demanded, peeling his eyes away and throwing himself into the cockpit seat. He scrambled over the controls a bit, then got it together and turned the ship towards the Heartless. "They'll have to get past me first!"

"But…but they are…ahead…of you," Tarzan pointed out in rather obvious fashion. Riku sighed, grimaced.

"That's not what I meant!"

He forced the engines to high power and the ship streaked towards where the Heartless ships were. But as he neared, the other ships began turning around and soaring off in all directions, scattering.

"What the-"

"I suppose you want to die," the Cat sang out, setting Riku's teeth on edge. Again he rose to his feet and stormed to the Cat.

"What the hell are you talking about, you goddamn fucking cat!" Riku shouted.

The Cheshire Cat, amazingly enough, slowly and casually craned his head to Riku and grinned. Riku hated the grin. He hated it. It was a mocking grin, gleaming white with huge teeth. It was a grin that told Riku there were many things he didn't know. It was a smile that told him that he was stupid and foolish and naïve and a child. He itched to put his fist through it.

"It is no more," the Cat hummed out through the grin. Riku stared at him, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. Slowly he raised his head and stared out the window.

A pinprick of light became an explosion, a terrible force of sound and light that blinded and deafened him instantly.

xxx

He stood there, looking around, his shoulders raised in sign of confusion. He looked at his two companions, saw that they too had their shoulders raised. They had no answers, either. None of them knew where they were or how they got there. They had no recollection of how they went from charging into the Chapel with Beast, looking for the Princesses of Heart, to a stark white room full of egg-shaped contraptions housed within a rundown mansion with high gates in the midst of trees under a sky painted with hues of sunset.

And when they consulted the journal of their fourth friend, they found the last entry to be just as enigmatic as the place they had come into.

'Thank Naminé'.

Sora looked at Donald and Goofy once he had finished reading the two-word sentence. "Who's Naminé?"

Donald shrugged. "Like I'd know."

Goofy scratched his head, pushing his lopsided hat to the side of his head. "Beats me."

Jiminy Cricket shut his journal and tucked it under his arm. "I bet if we find people and ask, they'll tell us something about this 'Naminé'."

Sora nodded in agreement. "How long do you think we were in there?"

He looked pointedly at the mansion and got no answer from any of them. He looked back, saw them staring at him rather openly and unabashedly. Suddenly self-conscious, he shifted weight onto one leg and scratched his head. "What?"

Donald marched up to him and gave him close sharp scrutiny. Sora stared back, more confused than offended. "You've gotten older."

Goofy nodded emphatically. "Yup, he's right! You gotten taller and, er, skinnier and, er, you got longer hair!"

"Really?" Sora asked, then touched the top of his head, carefully feeling his spikes. After several minutes, he decided that they must be right; his hair did feel longer than he remembered. He then stared at the mansion again and repeated his question. "How long were we in there?"

"More than a month," Jiminy Cricket input, pulling out his journal and flipping through it again. "People don't grow and change like that in a month. Maybe a few months…maybe a whole year!"

"Year!" Donald shrieked indignantly. "We were in there for a-a whole year!"

He jumped up and down furiously, outraged by the idea that they were in a mansion in the middle of nowhere for a whole year without even knowing it. Sora had to agree with Donald, though; that was a crazy idea. Why would they go into those strange egg machines for a year? What would they have been doing? How'd they get in there in the first place?

"Hey, huyuk, look over there!" Goofy exclaimed, bounding forward towards what looked like a path through the wooded area. Sora perked up at the discovery.

"There is hope after all!" he cried out and ran after Goofy. Donald squalled madly behind him while Jiminy Cricket gave a startled shout and grabbed onto the hood of Sora's jacket for dear life. "A light at the end of the forest!"

"Sora, get back here!" Donald yelled, running after him. Jiminy Cricket flew off and Donald caught him as he followed Goofy and Sora to a high wall and a large makeshift arch in the wall. Beyond the wall there seemed to be life.

People stared at them as Goofy, Sora, Donald, and Jiminy Cricket tumbled into town, all gasping for breath, breathing hard. Sora was the first to jump to his feet and recover but noticing eyes on him, he looked down on himself and cringed. His clothes may have fit him well the last time but if Jiminy Cricket was right and they were in those things for few months, his clothes were now awkwardly short and ridiculous on him. Sora deflated and turned to tend to his friends. Somehow Goofy had flopped himself onto Donald and knocked himself out in the process. Donald pushed him off and got to his feet, muttering and brushing at his sleeve.

"Where are we?" Sora asked as Jiminy Cricket jumped onto his shoulder and dusted his hat.

"I have no idea."

Sora sighed, looked around town. There were buildings taller than Traverse Town and bigger, too. The road they were on was enormous by Sora's standards. And there was-what was that?

"Hey, what's that?" Sora asked loudly, pointing at a strange contraption that went by them on wheels. It seemed to be following a track on the ground that sauntered around a corner and disappeared.

"A tram, by golly!" Goofy hiccupped, apparently now awake, while even more people stopped walking around to stare at them.

"Maybe we shouldn't be shouting these things out," Jiminy Cricket suggested. Sora looked at his shoulder and saw the cricket with his head in his journal. "I think its normal things for these people and us shouting out how outlandish it is would probably bother them a lot."

"I know," Donald retorted. "That's why I didn't say anything."

"Oh hush, you're nothing special," Sora replied good-naturedly. Donald flared up and took a step towards him but already Sora had turned his back to the wizard and walked off into the streets, whistling.

"But we don't know where we're going, do we?" Goofy asked, looking at Donald.

"He doesn't know where he's going," Donald said, crossing his arms crossly. "We'd better follow him before he does something stupid-"

As if on cue and as if Fate wished to make Donald's nightmare come true, a very rude voice demanded, "What do you want?"

"What do you mean what do I want?" Sora countered. "I wasn't doing anything!"

"Oh leave him alone, Hayner," another voice, definitely female, added.

Donald sighed deeply and jogged towards the voices. Goofy scratched his head, then followed, holding onto his hat tightly. He crossed the tracks just before the tram whistled, hooted, and nearly ran him over, then followed Donald down the street to a corner, where Sora, and Jiminy Cricket, seemed locked in conversation with three teenagers about his age. The rotund one was eating a light blue ice cream bar, the wavy-haired brunette was shaking her head, and the intense-looking blond boy was waving his arm about while Sora stood there scratching his head. Donald and Goofy caught up to him and the boy stopped talking.

"What are they?" the rotund black-haired boy asked, his mouth lined with something blue.

"My friends, Donald and Goofy," Sora explained. "Hey, they said this is Twilight Town. Any of you know where that is?"

"Uh, here?" the blond teenager suggested sarcastically. The brunette elbowed him, then said, "Name's Olette. That's Pence and this is Hayner. Hayner, be nice! He didn't try and trip you on purpose just to get back at you for something he never did! Remember, we never saw him before!"

"You sure?" Pence remarked. "Sora looks familiar to me, I think."

"I don't know," Hayner muttered, now just disgruntled. "Let's go."

Olette tugged at his arm. "C'mon, he asked about Twilight Town. We should tell him."

"Where'd you come from, anyways?" Pence asked. "We don't get a lot of people coming in from outside Twilight Town, and you three definitely look weird."

"Weird!" Donald snorted under his breath. Jiminy Cricket looked outraged; he'd been overlooked again.

"Well…we did come from outside of town, didn't we?" Goofy asked, looking at Sora, Donald, and Jiminy Cricket. "We woke up in this weird mansion and…der…yeah, a mansion, in the middle of the forest! And there was a trail and we followed it and came here."

Goofy looked proud because he remembered the details so well but the look slipped off his face when he noticed how Hayner, Olette, and Pence gaped at him.

"The mansion?" Pence repeated. "But-but it's haunted! How'd you-maybe you magically got into that mansion from another place! Like, it's haunted and-"

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy Cricket stared at him. Sora decided he had absolutely no idea what Pence was saying. Maybe that ice cream's making him crazy.

"A while back we saw shadows and lights in one of the windows. But everybody knows nobody lives in the mansion; it's been abandoned for as long as we remember," Olette explained over Pence's low continuous mutters. "So how'd you get in there?"

"I said we really don't know," Sora explained. "Well actually, I have no idea how it all happened. The last thing I remember I was running through this really dark, creepy hall to this big round platform in front of a huge keyhole. Yeah, a real keyhole. I knew I'd find this person I've been looking for there. I-I remember running up the stairs, two at a time, and when I reached the top, I saw her, I saw Kairi, and…and I don't know what happens next. I remember her lying on the floor and then I remember waking up in this white room and Donald and Goofy were outside of this thing I was sleeping in, waiting for me to join them. Does that make sense? I don't think so."

Hayner, Olette, and Pence were staring at him. One by one they shook their heads, each saying, "No."

"Plus," Hayner added, "we don't know your story. Not that I want you to share it."

"Oh don't be so mean," Olette retorted.

Sora smiled. "Yeah, it's a long story, and weird, too. Whatever happened and happens to me will probably never happen to you so why bother?"

"You just want us to bite the bait," Hayner accused. His eyes, though, spoke differently, and his mouth soon followed. "How'd you meet up with that-those-those things?"

"He calls us things!" Donald snorted to Goofy, who was apparently not paying attention.

"Huh?"

"I met them," Sora said rather simply. "I met them in this world, Traverse Town. They were looking for their king; I was looking for my two friends-"

"Are they still looking for their king?" Pence suddenly interrupted and with great interest. Sora scowled at him, his story spoiled, but shrugged.

"That's hard to say. I don't think we did. I don't even know what he looks like. And I think there's something missing, too, something I can't remember…"

"What about your friends?" Olette quickly added before Pence could open his mouth again.

"Well…I don't know. I remember I was still looking for them, for Kairi at least. Riku was there but-but he turned against me, fought me. You have any idea what it's like," and here his voice began to waver, pain-filled tears filling his eyes, while he remembered his clash with his best friend, "to fight your best friend over another friend that I'm looking for? He-he already knows where she is, and I was about to find her, too. And then…and then I don't remember…"

Why was his mind bringing up an incredibly annoying blank wall every single time he tried to figure out what happened beyond Donald, Goofy, and Beast fighting off Heartless while he ran up the stairs to find Kairi?

Sora wiped his eyes and looked at the three teenagers. Olette looked sad, Hayner looked confused and a bit put off, and Pence-

"We met a king," he blurted out. "We were at the train station waiting for the local train and we saw this weird guy. He didn't look like anyone from around."

"What did he look like?" Goofy asked before Sora could.

"Short, really short. Had these huge disks on the top of his head," Pence said, taking a bite of his ice cream bar. "He was wearing this black coat and he had a whip. At least I think it's a whip-"

"I think it's a tail," Olette input.

Sora scratched his head. "Don't sound like any king to me-"

"Why, that's His Majesty!" Jiminy Cricket suddenly exclaimed, jumping from Sora's shoulder to the top of his head and down to his other shoulder. "That's His Majesty alright! What do you say?"

"Huyuk, that does sound like him!" Goofy agreed. "C'mon, he's around town then!"

He loped off. Donald sighed. "Goofy, get back here!"

Sora turned back to the teenagers. "When was this?"

"Days ago," Hayner said nonchalantly. "That was only the first time. Last time we saw him, it was the train station earlier today. He actually talked to us. He said if we met some really weird people, tell them to go to the train station-"

"Right, then!" Sora declared and whirled around on his heels to run after Goofy, who was still loping along and totally ignoring Donald's demands to come back.

And then Sora realized he didn't know where the station was.

"Uh…you know where the train station is?" he asked, embarrassed.

Olette giggled, then pointed at the huge clock tower reaching for the skies. "That's the station tower. You go to that, you'll find the train station."

"Okay, thanks!" Sora waved and ran towards it, Donald in tow. He yelled to Goofy, "Goofy, wrong way!"

"Oh, right then!" Goofy replied, turned immediately, and fell over a street lamp. He was quickly back on his feet and running to Sora, Donald, and Jiminy Cricket, dodging people as he went. For someone with such an ungainly gait, he was quite the agile one.

Eventually people began to disappear…more like they just weren't there as they kept their eyes and their sense of direction glued to the huge clock tower. Down a couple more streets, past some squares, and then they were running up the stairs to what must be the train station. They pushed open the doors, more like barreled through them, and came out to a very vacant station. There were no trains, no people on the benches or pacing, nobody at all.

"Wow, that's weird," Sora remarked, scratching his head. "There's no one-hey!"

Something streaked past his left eye, flashed gray and white. He quickly turned to it, saw some long elastic thing flip over the floor and over the tracks to the other side. Sora looked at Donald and Goofy, then said, "Hang on, Jiminy."

He ran and jumped over the train tracks. Donald and Goofy soon followed, with Goofy landing on his face and Donald barely making it. Sora ran over and helped the wizard up, then looked around wildly for that mysterious streaking grayish thing. He couldn't put any stationary features to it; it kept bouncing around, flipping this way and that.

And then there was another one! It bounced off the walls and over their heads but as soon as it landed, it seemed to multiply into threes. Now there were four of these strange things-no, six. Sora quickly took a step back, bumped up against Donald and Goofy. He felt Jiminy Cricket slide down into his pocket.

"G-guys?" he asked worriedly as one of the bouncy things landed and didn't take off again. It was a bizarre creature, with sharp narrow deadly-looking hands, and a flat head. Its mouth was a zipper. "What is that? Exactly?"

"They don't look like Heartless to me," Goofy suggested.

"Of course they're not Heartless!" was Donald's immediate comeback. "And no, I don't know what they are, either. They look dangerous!"

He put a special emphasis on the last word, as if to warn Sora. He took the cue and held out his hand. A smile formed on his face as the familiar form of the Keyblade flashed into his grip in an explosion of light. He felt the handle, grinned at the familiar feel of being 'dangerous'.

"I'm dangerous," he declared pompously, then the grin froze when he noticed how all the strange grayish creatures stopped jumping around. All their heads pointed to him, to his beloved weapon.

"You think," he muttered to the others, "they know about the Keyblade?"

"Der…" was Goofy's reply. "I dunno."

One of the creatures took a step forward, bent over, its head leaning forward towards Sora. He swallowed and took a step back as the creature nosed towards the weapon. It then pulled back, stood up straight, and the zipper flew back and forth across its mouth, again and again, open and close.

"You are not our liege!"

Sora felt his mouth drop open and he quickly looked at Donald and Goofy, who were both shocked the creature talked. More than that, though, they had no idea what it meant by calling Sora a 'liege'.

"What does that mean?" Donald demanded of one of the other creatures. It turned to him and its mouth zipped open.

"You are not our liege!"

From the corner of his eye, Sora spotted a gray flash and whirled around, instinctively flinging his Keyblade up. He felt himself jump back as the gray creature ricocheted off the weapon and bounced off the wall of the train station.

"That means they're definitely not nice," Sora declared shakily as Goofy immediately summoned up his round shield. Donald sighed.

"I hate this."

He held his Wizard's Staff out in front of him and watched the creature warily. That was a bit difficult, as they kept bouncing around, never staying in one place for longer than a handful of seconds.

"They just won't stay still," Sora growled under his breath as he watched them bounce all around them, the ceiling, the walls, the windows, everywhere and anywhere there was a foothold. A few of them flew across the train station and bounced off the far wall all the way back.

"You hafta admit, they are good," Goofy offered tentatively as something positive. "They're like gym-gym-gymancisistic…what's that word again?"

"Gymnasts!" Donald supplied. Then suddenly he turned around and yelled, "Fire!"

The tiny orange fireball met the streaking gray creature full in the face and it bounced away, shrieking. Sora stood up straight and blinked, lowered the head of the Keyblade as he watched the creature shake its head madly. That proved rather foolish and stupid on his part as he was instantly knocked sideways by another creature, which quickly bounced off and was replaced by two more creatures. This time their dagger-like hands were out and they did not look remotely nice.

"Sora!" Goofy shouted and threw his shield like a discus. The blue and cold weapon plowed through both creatures, carried in a wide arc, and knocked out another creature about to ambush Donald before returning to the knight's grasp. Sora, cursing his foolishness, leaped back to his feet, and swung out the Keyblade, immediately catching one of these gymnast creatures and throwing it into another of its company. While those two crashed into the wall, another creature jumped forward and did something that insulted Sora: he held his Keyblade up to deflect its momentum but instead it grasped the body of the weapon and flipped over his head. Sora didn't react in time to avoid its dagger hands slashing at the back of his legs; they nicked his calves and he stumbled to the side, making a very angry sound in the back of his throat. He backed into the wall and took a quick look, saw his blood dribbling down into his yellow shoes.

Suddenly thinking about the shoes made him suddenly realize how uncomfortably small they were. His toes were hurting but it would be worse to just kick off the shoes, even if to relieve the pressure. Sora looked up, bared his teeth, and charged at the melee in front of him, Keyblade ready to attack.

Unfortunately they weren't Heartless; they weren't stupid. As if everything was coordinated, all the creatures bounced away and out of his path and Sora barely yelled out a warning before tumbling into Donald and Goofy. Jiminy Cricket dropped out of his pocket and ended up elsewhere; Sora shut his eyes tight as he rolled and flipped over the floor like a Dodge Roll gone wrong. Goofy was yelping and Donald was cursing. And the creatures-what of the creatures!

He quickly sat up but he didn't know what direction was and fell over, smacking his head against the ground. There were bright white explosions in his head and he cried out in sudden pain as the wounds on the backs of his legs burned hotly as they grated against the floor. Somewhere he heard Donald yell, "Fire!"

Goofy was yelling unintelligibly but he managed to hear the knight say, "There's no Potions on me!"

Sora suddenly realized they were in a very bad situation. These creatures obviously were not stupid and they readily proved it, making short work of Sora. Although Sora wasn't ready to give up, he also wasn't ready to die in the train station of a town he never remembered setting foot on until only an hour or two ago.

Sora felt around desperately for the Keyblade, having lost it in the mad tumble, but it wasn't anywhere near. He opened his eyes and as the hazy aftermath of the head trauma faded away, he realized he was still lying on his side, not sitting up as he thought he was. Donald and Goofy were standing in front of him, both tired but both furiously fighting off these freakish bouncing monsters.

Sora quickly climbed up onto his knees, took several deep breaths as the world swayed violently, then rose to his feet. He looked around him and stared at the dull red smears on the grounds of the train station. He wondered who had gotten hurt when he saw the Keyblade balancing precariously on the edge, just ready to tumble onto the tracks. Two creatures were pointing their heads towards it hungrily, and the others had Donald and Goofy preoccupied.

"No!" Sora yelled and jumped forward as one of them dashed for the Keyblade.

Then Jiminy Cricket jumped into the fray – where'd he come from? – and walloped the creature on the snout with his umbrella. It lost momentum and fell onto the tracks. The second one finally decided to snatch the Keyblade but the distraction had been enough; Donald sent a fire spell its way while Sora grasped the Keyblade and somersaulted over the creature onto his feet. Jiminy Cricket quickly jumped up and onto his shoulder.

"That…" Sora panted, "was…totally awesome…Jiminy."

"And I hope it never happens again," the cricket agreed, then said, "Here, I found a spare Potion."

The burning on the backs of his legs went away and Sora felt rejuvenated, ready to take on these creatures again. "Hey Jiminy, you really don't know what they are?"

"Nope."

"Sora!" Donald screeched indignantly. "Get over here and help!"

"Hang on!" Sora ordered Jiminy Cricket, then grasped the Keyblade with both hands and charged.

Unfortunately, the creatures were even more devious and cunning than they had shown themselves to be. They let Sora in, then slipped away from Donald and Goofy, who was heavy into the battle. Goofy looked around wildly, confused, while the creatures – and the ones climbing out of the tracks onto the ground, one with a smoking face – formed a semi-circle around the foursome, pushing them backwards towards the tracks and the deadly drop to them.

"I hope a train doesn't come right about now," Goofy whispered loudly.

Sora scowled. "Thanks, Goofy."

Donald didn't look to be quite through with these creatures yet. He set his hat straight on his head, then gripped his Wizard's Staff tightly and stepped forward. Sora grabbed the wizard's shoulder and hissed, "What are you doing!"

"What do you think!" Donald snapped back then pointed his staff at the semi-circle of the creatures. "His Majesty isn't here and they're in the way!"

"You're not – Donald, if that spell hits us, too-"

"We've done hand-to-hand combat, Sora! That didn't work so we've got to try this! Thundaga!"

There was no thunder but bright yellowish white lighting streaked through the air and crashed to the ground. Sora threw his free hand up and blocked out the lights, his body tense and ready to dodge any that came his way. Luckily none of the lightning bolts struck him, Donald, Goofy, or Jiminy Cricket who was safe in his pocket and therefore safe unless a bolt of lightning did hit Sora. Not so luckily, when the spell was over, all the gray creatures were still standing.

Within seconds and when the smoke cleared up, they were gone, streaking and bouncing and in generally ricocheting towards them. Goofy seemed struck dumb by the powerful Thunder spell and Donald was a bit spent from the effort, and they were the first to be taken out. Sora looked around wildly as the creatures closed in on him and Jiminy; he wasn't sure if he could take on all of them and within seconds, he found out he couldn't. They all converged on him and Sora, despite flinging about his Keyblade and tossing some aside, the rest attacked him and slashed at him. His clothes protected him from the more fatal jabs but his arms and legs burned from fresh wounds and he was forced to drop his Keyblade. Then the creatures leaped back, bounced around while he stared at himself, at what the creatures had done to him. Live blood slowly dribbled down his arms and legs, staining his bright yellow shoes and the floor.

"Oh-oh my god," he whispered while the shock was gradually overwhelmed by pain, hot furious pain that ate at him, made him fall to his knees. He could feel his strength seeping out of the cuts and stabs on his arms and legs, tried to will himself to use the Cure spell but nothing happened when he uttered, "Heal."

Donald and Goofy weren't responding. He didn't know what happened to Jiminy. He felt all alone, alive and awake but defenseless in the face of these freakish gray creatures. This, he decided, was one hell of a way to die.

One creature leaped forward, its hands stained with his blood, but something small and black barreled into it midair and it slammed into the opposite wall. A flash of gold and the creature dissolved in a gray mist while a blue heart sailed upwards and disappeared - just like a Heartless in its death throes.

Sora gaped at what was once the creature, then watched as, in quick succession, the tiny black thing finished off the other creatures. Like the creatures, it bounded about, somersaulted and ricocheting off walls. With gold flashes, blue hearts kept soaring up and vanishing, and with each blue heart, the gray creatures reduced in number until not one remained.

By now he could see Donald and Goofy; the wizard was climbing to his feet while apparently dumbstruck. Goofy just sat there on the ground at the very edge of the platform, gaping.

"Heal!"

Magical green-gold lights showered over Sora and the wounds suddenly melded back into clear unbroken skin. The pain disappeared although the blood remained and Sora rubbed at his arm, then stared at the palm of his hand and the clotting liquid on his fingertips. He quickly looked up and searched for the foreign voice.

His thoughts fled at the sight of the shimmering golden Keyblade, with its silver handle and ruby band. Grasping it was someone so small the weapon looked rather monstrous and clumsy in its hands. And, as he recalled Pence relaying it to him, there were two black disks on the top of its head and a long black whippy tail under the black coat. Olette was right after all.

Filling in for the emptiness in his mind was Jiminy Cricket's unabashed astonished cry, quickly followed by Donald's and Goofy's.

"Your Majesty!"

The King of Disney turned his head to acknowledge them, and Sora.

"Hello, boys."

X X X

Authoress' Endnote: I BS'd the Twilight Town scene, as I have never played the game and have seen very few clips involving Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Anything regarding Gravity of Love, including questions and suggestions, will be posted on a freewebs, as listed on my Bio page.

Please review. All thoughts, comments, suggestions, etc. are welcome. Flamers flame at your own risk. You have been warned.

Arigatou gozaimas'!