Hb: You must check last chapter or the one before for disclaimer. Ya, I only do these in the story but I'm being lazy.
Alex walked into the road and grumbled to himself. Those things shouldn't have come near him at all. And what was Gregory's brother doing with the Heartless? The kid really needed to put a lead on his little brother or something, get him away from the darkness. Then take him to a pet shop somewhere where, while being rehabilitated, he could be taught how to play fetch and... how to chase your own tail when you didn't have one, among other, strange things that dogs do... tonight had messed with his brain. And his sense of being tired. Now he felt really energetic for some reason.
He took one look around and became very close to terribly annoying that self-censor. Everybody had seen the Heartless attack; now what was going to happen?
Snap! He looked over to one side of the street to see Derest and Okan. What were those guys doing here? Well, Okan was holding a camera, and he'd just taken the picture. Derest appeared to be dressed in a long tweed coat and a bowler hat. Not only that, but he was equipped with a notepad and pen, which were currently resting in his hands. Obviously he was there to take notes, but what did he need to take notes for?
Erica pulled his sleeve. " Alex, what's going on here?" she asked quietly.
"They all saw the Heartless attack and they all saw me beat the snot out of them." He kept his expression grim. "Plus there's this little guy here-"
"Don't call me little!" Shadowflash said, clenching his fist. Alex remembered the small injury on his hand and decided to ignore him, but took the lesson of never calling him 'little' to heart. Although, did it extend to the synonyms? That was the real question.
"-who just happens to be small, winged and floating. I think they're incredibly freaked out." His eyes darted around, looking for a way out. Then he realised something: Okan and Derest had a gap between them to get out. He could speak to them and run at the same time. "Alright, Erica, Shadowflash. The second I say 'go', we run for those guys over there."
"Couldn't we just make up a story?" Erica asked.
"I'm not having you telling your stories; they're more unbelievable than the Heartless themselves!" Alex countered. He stood completely still. "Alright, three, two... go!" The three of them broke into a run away from the group of people, heading for the blond and purple-hair. The pair complied, moving out of the way like a pair of pillars and framing their gateway to freedom.
As they got to the end of the street, Alexander once again got close to swearing. He'd just had a sudden epiphany, and not a very pleasant one at that. "Oh... flip! We were right outside our apartment!" Okan smiled crazily, and Alex gave him a strange eye. The blond just stood their aimlessly, looking around. Now that they weren't in school, the young Venomati was instead dressed in quite light clothing - a pair of blue trousers and a white vest with a pair of heavy boots and thick gardener's gloves. At least, Alex thought they were gardener's gloves: they were made of a shiny, scaly material that glittered in the beam of the yellow streetlamps.
Okan caught the interest. "Oh, dragon hide," he explained quickly. "They came from some place called... Diagon Alley, I think."
"There's even a Harry Potter-based world out there?" the one brunet wondered aloud. He'd never liked that series. Way too advertised. It was even advertised in this story. Now read them, before the author gets out her shotgun.
"There's more than one world out there, you know!" Derest replied. "Where do you think all the ideas for all of Earth's books and movies came from? people's imagination? Hah!" He crossed his arms. "Once you get to Earth, your imagination comes in rarely. All that you guys dream is usually happening in another dimension or world, just a little edited to suit your world's rules. I bet that even if we're all humans on the outside, we're all completely different on the inside. Most Earth-dwellers don't understand even magic."
Now that he looked, Derest was also out of uniform. He was wearing something that looked like Sherlock Holmes's costume - the trench coat definitely seemed to support that theory, excluding the fact that the fabric was thick and definitely scratchy. The black bowler hat replaced his bandanna, which was now around his neck, next to a blue and purple yin-yang pendant. He was wearing slippers, and evidently had walked out of the house without time to change clothes. The bags under his eyes were clear.
"Humans don't understand how it's possible to use magic spells in a world created mainly by processes that we can identify with science," Alex corrected.
Shadowflash swooped down. "Well, I'm human and I do." He put out his flash hand. "Name's Hawk Shadowflash, unpleased to meet you!"
Alex raised an eyebrow at the tiny boy. "How can you be unpleased? It was better we found you in that dumpster rather than the garbage men discover you in the morning!"
Now it was Shadowflash's turn to fall. He was so caught up in his shock that his wings stopped flapping and he began to fall. "That was a dumpster? It was huge! And filled with... what was it filled with, again?" he asked sheepishly.
"Stale bread, papers, timber, clothes, leaves, dirty diapers, fruit peels and plenty of cigarettes," Alex said, his face blanker than a piece of paper. "And I think there was mayo thrown in it the first time we had it in the street at all, so the bottom of it's now all messed up and it stinks. Now, if you guys can tell me just this one little thing: what in the name of Jesus Christ is going on here!?"
Erica growled. "I wanna know too, brother, I'm part of this family, I have a right to know what goes on in this school of yours!"
Alex stared at her. His little sister sure was growing up. For the first time he'd seen her stand up for herself, which was unusual considering how she was actually weaker than an ant after running the marathon and back again.
"What on earth happened to innocence?"
"It caught the midnight train."
"But we still have fifty-five minutes to midnight."
"Yesterday's midnight train."
"Ah." Alex sighed, wondering where that small bit of conversation had taken them (if anywhere) and pulled the group off again. This time they were going to get back into the apartment.
KHKHKH
Sephiros yawned and walked through the door of the bedroom to notice Alex coming in with Erica, the Lockshield and a trio of people he didn't know. He sighed; he was just about to get to bed as well. He was donning some old red-and-white pinstriped pyjamas that he'd found in his cupboard. He knew he was getting old when he didn't remember if these were his or the property of his son-in-law, but the absence of the man wasn't helping his memory one bit.
He approached them. He'd had to tie his hair back in a loose braid in order to sleep without messing it up too much, and his two grandchildren were beginning to snigger. The smallest of them, who was actually floating around in the air and just tall enough to curl up and hide in one of Alex's shoes, wasn't laughing, however, and neither were the two life-sized strangers.
"What's going on, Alexander?" he asked. "Especially at this hour."
Alex bowed in respect. "Pardon me, grandpa," he said, apologising. "It's just that I had to leave on a total whim and when I actually got there, it turned out that it wasn't a whim at all."
Sephiros raised his eyebrow. So his grandson had run into trouble again... at the same number of the clock as the first time he had done so. "What happened?" he asked, fearing the answer to be... well, bad. Worse than normal would be more accurate in his head, though.
"I had this weird dream about falling into the dumpster outside," Alex said, sighing. He wasn't going to get anywhere, he could sense it. "So I woke up, looked out my window. I spotted something in the alley and I went to check. The other Erica came and tried to follow, and it turned out it was Hawk." He closed his eyes. "This weirdo guy with one eye then turned up and set some Heartless out on the street. I had to take them down when the neighbours flooded out of their homes and began watching me. So we had to run."
The silver-haired man blinked. "And your problem was...?"
"Well, apart from the entire block now knowing about the Heartless, my having a new worst enemy and the fact that Hawk here has an automail hand, the type of which I've only ever seen made by Winry Rockbell," and Alex took a deep breath, "people from other worlds falling from the sky doesn't strike you as odd?"
"It's what happened last time," Sephiros said. He yawned again, and gestured to an archway. "Couch?"
Alex nodded. "Couch."
It was a good thing that neither parent had really tried anything distinctive with the living room, for Aeris was a strange decorator. Her tastes involved mint green, baby pink, light browns, gold and silver, which meant that the whole almost looked insane with some of these colour combinations. Her husband, on the other hand, favoured dark blues and purples, with a dash of mahogany. After having their first - and only - marital spat over how to paint the flat, Sephiros, the wise man that he was, had suggested the pair keep the walls white and make the furniture dark. As the story went, the couple had followed his advice, keeping everything minimalist. Only, Aeris was allowed to hang various modern art paintings on the wall.
The sofa itself was basically a pair of very long navy wool-covered cushions on a pine frame. Alex sank down uneasily into it, while Okan jumped in and Derest simply stood. Erica found it smart to sit on Alex's lap; he proceeded to push her off slightly. Erica leaned on him. He growled, ticked, and gradually surrendered.
Sephiros sat in the armchair across the low table. "A long time ago, when I wielded the Keyblade, things went quite, well, wrong. Worlds fell and no matter what I could do, the people were forever scattered across the remaining lands, many never to see each other again."
"Never again," Hawk muttered, his eyes watering.
"I was desperate - no, more than that. I so wanted to right what was wrong that I travelled from planet to planet, gathering as many people as I could and trying to find them a safe home. When no other world came up that I could think of, I turned to our home, Earth. It is one of the largest single worlds in existence, Alexander, and it is also one of the most warlike. Amazingly, because of the darkness of man the Heartless were unable to break through and take the world's heart to destroy it. Not only that, but masses were dying in wars, leaving several countries of the world without people to live in them and to prosper, to build the country up into an economic success.
"Surprisingly, one of these countries was the United States of America. The people weren't recovering too well from the mess with Germany and Austria-Hungary. In order for them to feel complete, I decided to... donate a few new American citizens."
"You increased the population... with aliens," said Alex.
"That's an insult!" Derest, Okan and Hawk shouted simultaneously.
"Well, my sanity's pretty much gone anyway," Alex argued, "I might as well get the last bits out of my skull."
Sephiros ignored the comments and bowed his head. "I was a fool. After many heard of what I had done, suddenly they all wanted to come to Earth too, and escape the Heartless. Refugees began to flood in. A lot of them chose to come to America, some selecting Europe or Asia instead. Portland, though this may sound completely ridiculous, was mostly advertised around because it was my home, the home of the Keyblader, the one who could protect them all.
"And that's when it began. As each world succumbed to darkness, the inhabitants of those worlds were mysteriously dropped off here like the cat's mouse. It was my job to relocate them, no matter what I thought about it. So started College du SacreCœur."
"You said you went to SacreCœur, not started it!" Alex suddenly realised.
The One-Winged Angel sighed. "I was keeping that particular gem from your mother for a good reason," he said. "She wouldn't stop fretting about you going to a strange school. I started the place when I was just eighteen years old to house people from other worlds. That would have been enough to get young Aeris worrying about your safety, knowing I'd made it. She's never really trusted me. I had to lie to her and in front of her just so you would be accepted."
"Real smooth move, feather-man," Alex muttered. "Now, next order of business, Okan, Derest, why were you in my street in the first place?"
Derest took the initiative. "Okan's got a special talent for seeing things he's generally not supposed to," he explained. "Hence why he's so crazy. He's seen things that human eyes shouldn't be allowed to witness."
"Like my brother and his girlfriend getting to third base," Okan supplied.
"Yeah, like - what the...?" Derest shot Okan a confused expression. "I'd no idea it was that bad."
The blond got a very odd look on his face and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He laid the camera on the table. "It was bad. He made me watch."
"Can we get off this subject, please?" Alex, Erica, Hawk and Sephiros said collectively. Okan smiled nervously, then piped down for once, his more excitable expression gone. For once he actually looked intelligent.
Derest shook his head in amusement, then continued as best as he could. "Well, this idiot has something akin to foresight," he said. "Right before ten, he phoned me up saying something was going to happen involving you and gave me your street name. Heck, he gave me your flat number too. Naturally, I had to come, seeing as your weapon is marked with the insignia of the Heartless. And Okan's tip-off was incredibly accurate, too. You are related to the Heartless coming here after all."
Alex grunted, as teenagers were wont to do. At thirteen, it seemed most boys lost their ability to communicate in any methods other than grumbling and pick-up lines. Hawk squeaked instead, unable to make deeper sounds with his tiny larynx. Erica stared at them both, and heaved a sigh.
"Next question," said Alex, "how on earth does Hawk know Gregory Zivaku's brother?"
"Zivaku?" Sephiros exclaimed, waking up for real now. "Alex, you should never befriend either of these Zivaku brothers. It would be a disastrous choice for you!"
Alex crossed his arms. "I never said I befriended them, it's Hawk who knows him!"
A pair of eyes drifted over to the flying individual, who hovered down to rest on Alex's head. The feeling was a bit strange, and because of the weight his hair felt thicker and more like a pillow than it did in days before. So this was what it felt like to have a living creature on your head? He had to commend Ash Ketchum for allowing Pikachu to do that so many times. It was pretty annoying.
"Alright. You wanna know?" Hawk muttered. "He stole my girlfriend. That's right, my one reason for living left me for that freak with one eye. I do all I can for her - I even give up my left hand - and for what? For her to give me the finger and waltz off into the arms of a thirteen-year-old boy? And then worse, another me pops up who looks just like me bar the hair colour and tries to kill me."
Everybody stared. There was another Hawk... it all sounded like what had happened to Erica, but at the same time it probably wasn't. If Hawk's heart had been taken, then surely he would have mentioned that! But he hadn't, so it confused them all. Surely it wasn't like this other Hawk was a clone... right? And, as usual, Alex's logic had decided to take a hike just to believe what was going on around him.
KHKHKH
The red-haired girl looked up at the solid silver statuette on top of the building. It showed a large seabird. It could have been an albatross, but the feathers were much too spiky and its head was larger. It was wearing a jewel around its neck that gleamed red like a ruby, and was filled with power. The beak was smooth, but open and holding what looked like a feather quill. Many people understood that the pen referred to writing poetry and stories. What the pen actually signified was drawing, but the meaning had been lost with the years.
And it wasn't always there. During the day the statue mysteriously flew off elsewhere. There were eye-witness reports from inside the Faction that something odd was going on. And it had also appeared out of nowhere around one hundred years ago. It had been in the newspapers that it was set up with a tag that read something in kanji with sans-serif lettering. Some believed it was from a Japanese immigrant who had placed it there in love of the country. The Faction did not.
And that was why her main job was to apprehend the statue and take it somewhere safe. It wouldn't do for something from another world to go completely unnoticed like that. The Faction wanted to know where it had come from, and why it kept running away.
She easily scaled the stairs within a few minutes, being agile enough. A few years of training had made her faster than a cheetah. The building was only a few floors tall, anyway. However, the group weren't ready to take their chances.
She climbed up onto the roof to see that her target had suddenly gone missing. She looked around. Surely the statue couldn't have run off right now! It wasn't even midnight yet!
"Are you trying to steal me?" said a sweet, sugary voice, and the girl turned around to see another female in a black dress. "Sure, I like both and both like me, but you're just not my type."
"You're confusing me, Shirube," the redhead growled. "What are you doing awake right now?"
Shirube crossed her arms. "Well, I can't let anybody grab me like that, now, can I?" she said, relaxing back. "Hey, I'm only ninety-eight, can't let anybody try that while I'm still so young! I might end up losing my value!" In response, the girl whipped out a small pistol and fired three times. Shirube flew upwards with incredible speed, dodging all of them with a smile on her face and waving a peace sign repeatedly. Only now did the thief realise that the mysterious girl was floating in air like a paper bag. Or a sprite...
"Ninety-eight, huh? Young indeed, for a masterpiece like you. But you're still not getting away!" The auburn-haired teenager lurched out at the other-worlder. A few seconds later she grabbed air. She looked down and realised with a gasp where she was.
She'd jumped off the roof. She began to fall like a rock until-
"On the contrary," Shirube chanted, carrying the girl down by the back of her shirt, "I think I'll be getting away just fine, thank you!"
Hb: Bye for now!