Ch. 19

Scream

I honestly don't know … all I can do is speculate.

I walked into one of the small rooms on the ship and sighed as I flopped down on the bed on my back, "But, the nightmare must have meant something, and you know how Hikari thinks better than any of us." My guess, she pondered, is that she wants to scare you. But it's strange …

"What is?"

She's already tried to scare you multiple times … she knows it won't work, and it seemed like she was giving up on that last time … it just doesn't make any sense.

"Then maybe there is a better reason for it." I started to sit up, only to see Riku standing at the door. I smiled as he walked over and sat on the bed across from me, planting a warm kiss on my cheek. He wore my favorite gentle smile as he quirked his eyebrow, "Are you talking to Kiri?"

I nodded and sighed, putting my elbows on my knees and burying my face in my hands, "We're trying to figure out that nightmare that Hikari gave me." He was quiet for a moment, then answered hesitantly, "Well … maybe it wasn't Hikari." I looked up at him, my brow furrowed, "What?" He stayed silent, as if trying to sort out his thoughts, "Hikari can manipulate your mind like that because she is the true darkness, and you're the true light, which means you are connected, right?"

"Yeah."

"But you and the Soul Eaters are connected too, aren't you?"

"Of course … what are you getting at?"

"What if one of the Soul Eaters is trying to warn you? Maybe they're trying to tell you what you need to be ready for."

I sighed inwardly, "So, is it possible, Kiri?" I don't really know, she replied, I guess it is. My brow furrowed and I groaned a bit, "Well, that's vague." Riku cocked an eyebrow, "What did she say?" I fell back on the bed, feeling slightly agitated, "Nothing useful." I covered my eyes with the bend of my elbow and exhaled. The bed across from me creaked, and my bed indented next to me. Riku leaned in and whispered into my ear, "Just calm down, love, we'll figure it out."

For the rest of the time we tried to figure out what it might have meant, but the only thing we could figure out was that Hikari probably owned some sort of snake … and that didn't help out much. Moments later we landed in a world that the others called Halloween Town. When we landed and stepped off the ship, I couldn't believe my eyes.

Everyone's clothes had changed as soon as we stepped off the ship. Sora came out looking like some kind of bat with a pumpkin mask on. Mickey was kind of like a mini, black Frankenstein with big round ears.

I spent a few … um … extra minutes looking at Riku's outfit. He wore a vest that resembled the one he normally wore, except for the fact that it was tattered and black…and unzipped. My eyes lingered on his chest and softly toned stomach; I blushed and looked away before he could notice me staring. He wore black pants with tattered ends and a pair of equally black combat boots. The gigantic dragon-like wings sprouting from his back caught me by surprise, as did the light gray reptile tail waving around his feet. His face seemed normal, but his ears were pointed at the ends. Six sharp horns emerged from the top of his head, their dark color contrasting against his hair. I noticed that his fingernails were slightly pointed, like the claws of a wild cat.

After looking at his outfit, I took the time to look at mine…at least, what I could see. I knew there was some kind of mask on the right side of my face, but I couldn't tell what it looked like. I also wore a halter dress that ended just above my knees; it was black at the top, but gradually faded to white at the bottom. Two tiny bat clips were attached to the halter straps; they creeped me out a bit…the bat clips might be cute, but they were still rodents. My shoes were black ballet flats with ribbons wrapped around my calves. I brought one hand to my ears and felt that they were pointed, much like Riku's. I jumped slightly when I felt feathers brush against my bare back. When I looked to see what it was, I noticed that I now had a pair of dark gray, torn angel wings.

I moved them around a little, extremely tempted to jump into the air and test whether I could fly with them or not. I shook my head; these are way too small to fly with. Glancing around, I shivered slightly, "This place … it looks like a graveyard."

"I'll stay on the ship." Vincent closed the door behind him as he retreated back onto the ship. Sora crossed his arms and frowned, raising one eyebrow, "I thought for sure this would be the kind of place he'd like … or at least be interested in." Giggling, Kairi walked up next to Sora and shrugged.

Kairi wore a black corset top and a purple, knee-length skirt. The skirt had black spider webs crawling over the dark violet fabric. She wore black flats with fishnet stockings and carried a small wand. A giant black-and-purple witch's hat sat on her head, and two tiny black wings sprouted from her back. Two small fangs were underneath her upper lip, adding a creepy effect to her smile. All in all, it looked like her outfit was made to go with Sora's.

"Come on," Sora started walking to a creaky iron gate excitedly, "I know my way around here!" I glanced at Riku, who simply shrugged and started following Sora and Kairi, Mickey walking next to him. I paused for a moment, a little afraid of what we might find on the other side of that gate. We're falling behind, Kiri sighed as though she would have rolled her eyes at me if she could. When I ran after them, I noticed that a certain couple was holding hands. I giggled; Sora and Kairi were so cute together.

Then, without even thinking about it, as soon as I caught up with Riku, my fingers intertwined with his. Looking away, I blushed slightly. Without warning, he planted a soft, warm kiss on my cheek, chuckling as he pulled away.

When I looked back up at where we actually were, I grimaced. We were in the middle of an eerie, circle-shaped plaza that had an ominous black fountain in the middle with strange green water in it. Well, isn't this inviting, Kiri said sarcastically.

We all looked at Sora, but Kairi was the first to say anything, "Well, now what? Is there anything in specific we're looking for?" Sora smiled, "The real Hikari, of course!" "But," she crossed her arms, "We don't really know what she looks like."

Tapping his foot, he put his finger to his temple, thinking, "I guess we'd have to find the girl Hikari is controlling and try to get her to tell us where the real one is." Riku sighed and shook his head, "Even if she were to tell us, since the real Hikari is controlling her, she'd basically be giving away her own location, so that probably won't work." Sora stuttered, "R-right, I knew that … of course I knew that." Mickey did his little giggle, "Of course you did."

Suddenly, the creaking of an old door echoed through the empty plaza. All of our eyes followed the sound. It was coming from a door at the top of some old stone stairs. A tall, lanky skeleton in a strange gray suit with a spider bowtie stepped through the door. Riku quirked an eyebrow as Sora ran to the skeleton, "Jack!" The skeleton's already wide smile grew, "Sora!" Kairi approached slowly, Mickey following close behind, "Um, Sora … who is this?" Sora waved Riku and me over and, while I was still hesitant, Riku gently pulled me along. When we stopped in front of … um … Jack, Riku stopped before me, his tail hitting my leg, "Ow." He looked over his shoulder at me, "What? Did you trip?"

I rolled my eyes and glanced pointedly at his tail. "Oh," he laughed nervously, "Sorry." I shook my head, "It's alright." Sora cleared his throat, calling mine and Riku's attention back to him. Then, he gestured to Jack, "This is Jack Skellington. Jack, this is Mickey, Riku, Hika, and, last but not least, Kairi." He pointed to all of us as he said our names.

Jack held his hands out in a grand, welcome-to-the-show gesture, "Welcome, welcome! You all look delightfully spooky! Would you like a grand tour?" We all looked at each other, then back at Sora, who was smiling ear to ear, "We should go see Santa!" Mickey giggled a little and Kairi half whispered, "You know he doesn't exist, right?" Riku just looked around, "We're in Halloween Town anyways. Even if he were real, he wouldn't be here." I tilted my head, "Sora, you're 19 years old and you still believe in Santa?"

Jack put his hands on his hips, "Well, why wouldn't he? Mr. Clause lives just past the graveyard after all. But, you know, he's really busy right now. Why don't we wait until later?" "So," Kairi said uncertainly, "Santa does exist?" Sora smiled at her and nodded, "Of course!"

I remembered when Riku and the others explained the concept of Santa Clause to me, and how he would deliver presents to all the nice boys and girls. Just thinking of the possibility of him actually existing made me smile. I tried, and probably failed at, hiding how excited I was. Riku chuckled and smiled down at me with a that-is-so-adorable look on his face. I blushed, "What?" He shook his head, still smiling at me like that, "Nothing at all."

"Come, come!" Jack turned and started walking toward the house he'd just walked out of, "I'll take you to see the doctor first." The others nodded and trailed behind him, I clung to Riku, still kind of apprehensive about this place. He looked down at me, his brow furrowed slightly, "What's wrong?" I blushed and looked away, frowning a little bit, "T-this place is … creepy." "Oh," he laughed, "That's all? It'll be fine." He squeezed my hand as we walked through the door into a little area with more stairs and another door at the top. He probably meant it to be comforting, but his sharp nails dug into the back of my hand slightly. I flinched and his eyes widened as he pulled his hand away, "Oh … sorry."

Well, Kiri spoke up, looks like you two won't be able to hold hands very easily here. I pouted slightly, "You know what, Riku?"

"Hm?"

"This world sucks."

He chuckled just as we stepped through the other door and came into a room that looked like it belonged to a mad scientist. It looked like there was some sort of gurney in the center of the room, but I couldn't see what was on it because the others were in my line of sight. I probably didn't want to see anyways.

A strange … um, creature sat in a wheel chair near the gurney. His skin was white and looked like metal, and he wore a white lab coat. Next to him was a woman with orange hair and red lipstick who wore a dress that looked like it had been haphazardly sown together … in fact, she herself appeared to be sown together. Jack stood next to them, "This is the doctor, and this is Sally." Sally waved, but the doctor simply turned away, grumbling to himself. Then, he opened his head and scratched his brain.

I jumped back, screaming a little, and clutched onto Riku. Kairi let out a girly squeal and got behind Sora. Riku blinked, his eyes widening as he took a step back. Sora looked over his shoulder, then laughed, "Oh, that? Yeah, that's the doctor for you." I averted my eyes even as he closed his head. Kairi honestly looked like she was about to throw up. I heard a small moan come from somewhere near the gurney. Everyone looked over, but I still couldn't see anything. Suddenly, Riku gasped and stepped in front of me protectively.

"Oh, don't worry," Sally smiled, "She's almost healed. The doctor says she's fighting some strange infection, but so far she seems to be doing well." I stretched onto my tip toes, trying to see over Riku's shoulder. Feeling something brush against my feet, I looked down. Even Riku's tail was wrapped loosely around the base of my feet as if to protect me. I could barely see his face as he scowled, "Where did you find her?"

I rolled my eyes as I pried my way past Riku, stepping over his tail, "Her who?" My eyes widened when I saw Hikari … or, the girl Hikari was controlling laying on the gurney, breathing heavily. But something was different. The feeling of darkness that normally surrounded her, the terrified feeling that she normally set off in me, was gone. I walked toward her. "Hika, wait." Riku tried to stop me. "Hold on," I spared a quick glance over my shoulder, "she … she's different."

I stood next to the gurney and looked down at her. Everyone stared at me with odd looks on their faces. Moving to lay my hand on her forehead, I flinched when she jerked her head away. She was groaning and mumbling something to herself. I leaned over, putting my ear next to her mouth. Her voice was strained, "I-I don't want to-" she was cut off by a loud, pained groan that scratched its way up her throat.

Taking a deep breath, I reached out and touched her cheek. Her skin was burning up. I thought for a moment, practically whispering to myself, "Maybe she isn't fighting an infection. Hikari said that the little girl's soul was dead … and normally she wouldn't lie, but it would make sense if she lied about that. I mean, if she told the truth and this girl's soul really was alive, then she knows I would try to save her."

Riku touched my shoulder, "What are you talking about?" I shook my head, refocusing on my original point, "She's not fighting an infection … Hikari … no … the little girl is fighting Hikari's darkness." A thought crossed my mind; if she was only being controlled because she was infected with Hikari's darkness, then she shouldn't be any different than Riku and the others. I put my hand on her small chest, "I want to try something." I barely probed into her with my light, gently trying to pull her soul to the surface. Her eyes shot open, her pupils shrinking.

Then, she screamed.

NOTE: I've got some good news for my readers! I now have an account on Fiction Press. The problem is, I don't know which of my original stories to publish first! So, I need your help once again. I now have a poll on my profile that has a list of my novels and a brief summary of each. Please vote.