[A/N: So I got this chapter done in a day and I don't think its complete crap. Just to warn you though there's more fluff than usual in this chapter, but isn't saying much since there really hasn't been any fluff so far. Enjoy the chapter!]
The train ride was in silence as Juliet stared out the window, Akio looked at his feet, and Clementine kept her gaze fixed on Juliet. As the train came up to its destination Juliet got up first and walked up to the door. She noticed that Clementine was still staring at her and looked back. "What are you staring at?"
"Making sure you don't go off on your own again."
Juliet rolled her eyes and leaned up against the side of the train. "I don't need to be Mothered Clementine I won't go off on my own again. Your tongue lashing did the trick with that." She heard the screech of the train stopping and waited until the doors slid open to hop off. "Well, aren't you coming?"
Akio got off quickly followed by Clementine who was still grumbling. He turned around and stopped Clementine by the train. "I know you're mad Clementine, but I think its time to let by gones be by gones." Akio found himself being pushed aside as she walked past. "Come on Clementine be the bigger person and let it go."
Clementine stalked past until she got up behind Juliet, but didn't say anything to her.
They had arrived in what looked like a part in a forest, but the spit of land seemed to be floating on its own. In front of them through the trees was a tall slopping tower with a green pointed roof. Juliet was bringing up the lead with Clementine close behind her and Akio trailing behind them.
Walking up to the door of the tower Juliet didn't bother knocking and pushed the door open. Inside the tower she found only a long winding staircase that led up to a door that was hovering above the ground. Not looking back to see if Akio and Clementine were following Juliet started walking up the stairs rather quickly. "There's no harm in looking around I guess."
Akio quickly began walking up the stairs following Juliet while Clementine trailed behind.
Juliet waited until Akio and Clementine had caught up before pushing the door open. She found herself in a round empty room. On the door opposite them was another door with an arrow pointing upwards.
Walking up beside Juliet, Clementine glanced over at the door. "Looks like we continue to go up from here." She took a step back and continued to look at the door. "Well, aren't you going to open it?"
Giving Clementine a dirty look Juliet opened the door and found another flight of stairs that went up to yet another door.
As they continued up the flight of stairs they came across another empty room and from that room that was another flight of stairs that led to a third room. Once they were in the final room they found it was empty save for a large desk with an equally large chair behind it and behind those two music stands with sheet music on them.
Juliet found herself being drawn to the music sheets and walked over to it. She pulled out the map and saw two dots coming off of Twilight Town that were labeled 'Symphony of Sorcery' and 'Melodic Forest'. "It looks like there's worlds within worlds in this place. Perhaps we should try going there."
Clementine took a step over to Akio and leaned down to whisper to him. "You go with Juliet and keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."
Akio turned his attention back to Juliet he saw that she'd already gone through the music sheet. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to the other one. Now go quickly before you lose her."
When Akio entered the new realm he found himself in a rather dark forest. Wonder where I am? Apparently this is the Symphony of Sorcery, but that still doesn't explain where I am. He blinked in confusion. He had meant to say this, but when he'd opened his mouth no words had come out. Now where's Juliet gotten off to? Akio heard scrambling in the bushes beside him and peeked through them to see an anger dog growling back at him. Well she couldn't have gotten too far I can take care of this and look for her afterwards.
The anger dog lunged at Akio only to be smacked in the muzzle with his disk. It heard a noise coming from further in the forest and ran out with its tail between its legs.
That's odd. They don't normally just run off like that. Could be Juliet that he heard. Akio followed the wraith out of the glen towards the noise. He came to a large white flower that was nearly a head taller than him and had to jump to grab onto one of the petals. It took a few seconds for Akio to pull himself up. Akio sat on top of the flower for a moment to catch his breath before walking out onto an inlet of grass.
He continued to search around for a few minutes before he saw a part in the trees leading towards a meadow. Looks like Juliet could have gone through there. Akio took a step before he felt a hand go on his shoulder and jumped. When he looked back he saw Juliet smiling back at him. He opened his mouth to say something, but there was no sound. That's right. We can't talk here.
Juliet grabbed onto Akio's arm and started pulling him the meadow. Once they were out of the glen they found themselves in a forest that looked like it was in the middle of autumn. She took a minute to look around admiring the scenery. Its pretty isn't it?
Akio was looking around the forest as well when he heard the sound of stomping coming towards them. Looks like its more wraiths. He saw that Juliet had heard the sound too and started to walk after her towards the noise.
Almost as soon as they'd go further into the woods a pride elephant came thundering through the trees with its tusked head low to the ground.
Akio had to push Juliet out of the way as the wraith came stampeding towards them. With a flick of his wrist he threw his disk at it hitting the wraith between the eyes.
The wraith turned its beady eyes to Akio and bellowed as it began charging at him.
Instead of dodging the wraith's oncoming attack Akio jumped on top of it and had to hold on for dear life as it began to thrash around in the attempt to throw him off.
Juliet was having a difficult time getting her aim right on the wraith since it was jumping around so much. After a few minutes she was able to get a good look at its head before she gave the Keyblade a toss at that direction.
The wraith wasn't terribly smart and didn't see the Keyblade coming and was hit in the head with it. It let out a guttural bellow before crashing to the ground with Akio still on top of it.
It took a few extra seconds for Akio to wriggle out from under wraith's immense body. He looked up and saw that she was offering her hand to him which he took. When Akio got his feet he quickly retracted his hand; his face a light shade of pink.
She only smiled at him before turning around and starting to walk further into the forest. Juliet didn't seem to notice that Akio was following her pretty closely and was nearly skipping as she continued down the pathway. She soon came to another part in the woods that looked like it opened right into the sky. Wonder where it leads….?
Akio came up behind Juliet and stared at the opening in the forest with her. She's probably thinking of going through there and there's going to be nothing I can do to stop her. Sure enough as soon as these words entered his mind he felt her tug on his hand before she walked through the opening.
The new area was indeed up in the sky since they were walking on clouds. Rainbows were coming up out of the clouds, but the strange thing was that there were a couple of boulders littered amongst the spongy clouds.
Juliet took a few hesitant steps onto the clouds half expecting to fall through, but instead found herself bouncing on the clouds. This could be fun. She took a few more steps out and jumped a couple times each time sending herself a little higher than before. When she came down a third time she felt Akio grab her wrist and gave him a questioning look.
She really shouldn't jump around like that and if I could talk I'd tell her. Akio let go of her wrist only to feel her take his hand and continue jumping. He found himself being pulled along through the clouds until they made it to a steep cliff.
Looking up at the cliff Juliet jumped a few times, but not very high just to test the clouds again. Looks like I could jump up there if I tried hard enough. With a final jump she managed to propel herself upwards and onto the cliff face. She turned around and looked back down at Akio beckoning for him to come up too.
Akio only continued to stare up at Juliet, but kept his feet firmly planted on the clouds. I'm not doing it. You can come back down here if you want to see me. He saw her crouch down and extend her hand to him. Fine, fine I'll come up there. He took a few test jumps before springing upwards and nearly got onto the cliff face, but hadn't gone high enough and was hanging on to the edge.
Juliet leaned down and grabbed Akio by the wrist to help pull him up. She didn't have a lot of upper body strength, but Akio was able to brace his feet against the side of the cliff to try and walk up to help her. After a few more tries Juliet was able to pull Akio up, but he nearly fell on top of her in the processes.
Quickly, Akio pushed himself away so forcefully that he almost fell off the cliff again. He glared at Juliet when she giggled at him. I wish she wouldn't laugh at me. It's embarrassing.
Getting up from the top of the cliff Juliet started to walk off when she saw another one of the portals; this one white and blue. She waited until Akio had caught up before pointing at the portal.
Of course she'd want to go through another one of those things. Who knows what's on the other side though. He watched her go through the portal and threw his arms up before following her through it.
When he came out the other side Akio found himself shivering and nearly fell over. He looked down and saw that he was standing on a frozen lake and there was snow all around him; Juliet was off in the distance skating on another lake. Slow down will you? I'm going to get left behind then Clementine will yell at me if I lose track of you.
Juliet stopped on the ice and glanced back over her shoulder to see Akio in the distance and waved at him. He's so slow. I'd wish he'd hurry up a bit. She continued to circle on the ice until she saw Akio coming closer. Well it's about time. What could have taken so long?
Akio was still slipping and sliding on the ice as he made his way over to Juliet. Ice. It had to be ice. He slipped and fell down hard on his face. I bet I look real graceful right now. I can almost hear her laughing at me again. Akio was able to get back on his hands and knees before he fell down again.
Seeing her friend's plight Juliet skated over the banks of her lake and plodded through the snow to get over to Akio. She leaned down and offered him her hand again to help him up. This time however it was a little trickier to help him. Juliet was able to get a grip on Akio's hands, but he wasn't able to get any traction with his feet.
After several tries and getting a little too close to Juliet for his liking Akio was able to get back on his feet, but this time when he tried to pull away he nearly fell down again. He saw that she was offering her hand to him. What Akio wanted to do was slap it away since his pride was getting in the way, but he really didn't want to fall again. Swallowing his pride Akio allowed Juliet to take his hand. I'm not sure if this would be worse if she was a boy or if it's worse now.
As they continued to skate across the ice Juliet didn't once try and pull her hand away from Akio and when she felt his grip starting to waver tightened it.
Getting off the ice made Akio feel a lot more comfortable, but he found himself not wanting to draw his hand away from Juliet's. Let go of her hand….its not like you want to make this any weirder then it already is. He wrenched his hand away from Juliet and started walking through the snow away from the frozen lakes trying his best not to fall through the snow.
Blinking in confusion Juliet went off after him. What's wrong with him I wonder? I was only trying to help. Am I acting weird? She had to pick up the pace to keep up with Akio and when she did catch up she tapped him on the shoulder.
Akio ignored Juliet and started walking faster when he saw another opening. Without thinking he walked through it leaving Juliet behind.
Juliet cocked her head to the side in confusion. What am I doing that freaking him out so badly? She shrugged and followed him through the opening.
It was dark and it appeared that they were floating above some kind of town. Off in the distance was a mountain.
Looking up at the mountain Juliet couldn't help, but to feel a sense of foreboding. We're not supposed to be here I think. She looked over and saw that Akio was also staring at the mountain and with a little bit of awkwardness that was similar to the one she'd felt in Atlantica she floated over to him.
Akio saw Juliet and stayed put until she got over to him. He felt a shiver run up his spine as something brushed past him and looked back to see a skeleton on a horse wielding a blade fly past him.
The ghost was heading up towards the mountain which had a colossal black horned winged thing coming out of the top.
Curiosity got the better of Juliet who started to fly up towards the creature. When she got closer she saw that the creature had glowing yellowish green eyes, massive horns and wings, and a strong build with clawed hands.
Chernabog looked over at Juliet and snarled at her. He thrust one of his massive arms out and knocked her away before turning his attention back to summoning his minions.
Not to be deterred Juliet flew back to Chernabog's head, but had to go behind it when he turned. She beckoned for Akio to come with her when she had to fly out of the way again when Chernabog turned his head.
As he flew up towards Chernabog's head Akio had to bat away several more ghosts that were flying around.
Like what he'd done with Juliet, Chernabog simply knocked Akio out of the way and resumed playing with the ghosts and monsters that he summoned.
Akio flew up behind Chernabog's head beside Juliet and pointed at it before pulling out his disk and throwing it at the back of the creature's head. He heard a snarl the both of them had to quickly fly around to make sure Chernabog didn't spot them.
In his rage Chernabog summoned pillars of flames that shot up around him, but not in the back of his head.
The fight continued in this fashion with Juliet and Akio staying out of sight as Chernabog lashed out. However, the fight went on longer than expected and the both of them were starting to get tired as the sun started to rise. There was music accompanying the rise of the sun.
Chernabog raised his arms again when the sun began to stream into his eyes. Again he tried to summon his demons when instead the rays of the sun continued to shine down on him. Soon the sun's light was too much for Chernabog who stretched his arms and wings skyward before the wings came down covering him so that his massive body would blend in with the mountain top.
Above Juliet and Akio another portal opened; this one filled with light.
