Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing within, save a couple ideas and possible OC's, but there's to freaking much to name so just go with that…
NU: Birth of the Seekers…
Chapter 24: Otherworld…
--
Normal Speech: "Yo…"
Normal Thoughts: 'Curiouser and Curiouser…'
Demon Speech: "Pathetic Ningen…"
Demon Thoughts: 'I hate this cage…'
Seeker Speech: [Time to Die…]
--
(??)
Ventus panted heavily as he fell to his knees, then grunted while looking up, Xine smirking as he leaned his sword into his shoulder. Grunting, Ventus pushed himself to his feet and lunged at the man, swinging his Keyblade towards him. "Calm down now kid, you might hurt yourself." Xine noted while evading a slash from Ventus then blocked his keyblade with his sword. "And I'm the one who's supposed to do that for you!" Xine then stated while pushing Ventus back to the ground and smirked once more as the blond haired youth struggled to his feet.
"I won't give up… I won't lose to you." Ventus stated with panting breaths and Xine frowned, and then rubbed the back of his neck.
"C'mon kid would you just give up, I really don't want to hurt you." Xine stated and Ventus merely got up only to fall down to one knee. Seeing this, Xine scoffed and then twirled his sword in one hand before sheathing it. "Okay that's it, your done and this fight is over." Xine stated while turning away from Ventus, the boy's eyes flashing yellow as he lunged at the man.
"Don't you dare turn your back on me!" He stated while swinging his Keyblade, Xine moving quickly pulled his sword out and moved it over his shoulder to block the attack. Narrowing his eye, Xine then pulled down on his sword, the leverage from his shoulder allowing him to tip Ventus' Keyblade back and put him off balance. Smirking, Xine then turned on his heel and slammed the pommel of the weapon into Ventus's gut, knocking him back to the ground.
"Jeez kid, are you really taking this seriously?" Xine asked while Ventus, rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself to his knees, then glared up at Xine with panting breaths. "Man… and I was really hoping I wouldn't have to injure you as well." Xine said to himself while rubbing the back of his neck, then lowered his sword arm and smirked darkly. "Oh well, I guess can't always have what you want." Xine mused before lunging towards Ventus, gripping the hilt of his sword he somehow split it in two before lashing out at Ventus once more, only for Master Xehanort to quickly intervene, blocking both of Xine's blades with his Keyblade.
"Enough Xine. You've made your point." Master Xehanort grumbled out and Xine frowned before shrugging his shoulder and sheathed his sword. "And you Ventus, never attack when you're opponent is withdrawing, it merely shows cowardice." Master Xehanort stated and Ventus winced before placing a hand to his head.
"I… I'm sorry master, I don't know what came over me." Ventus said then admitted lowly, eyes downcast as he looked to the ground. Frowning slightly, Master Xehanort allowed his Keyblade to dissipate while looking to Xine.
"Thank you for your troubles, Xine, it was time Ventus learned not to underestimate others just because of their weapon." Xehanort offered and Xine rolled his one good eye and then crossed his arms behind his neck.
"Eh, it was nothing old timer, besides, the Kid needed an attitude adjustment and I was only too happy to give it to him." Xine mused and Master Xehanort nodded his head in agreement with the brown haired man. "Anyways, I'll see you two later." Xine then offered while turning and raising a hand as he made his way towards the castle of Radiant Garden. Turning back to Ventus, Master Xehanort took in then exhaled a breath while looking at the young blond.
"Tell me Ventus, what did you do wrong today?" Master Xehanort questioned with his arms crossed behind his back and Ventus bowed his head.
"Do you want the whole list?" Ventus asked with a weak smile only for Xehanort to nod his head stiffly. "I… underestimated my opponent?" Ventus asked and Master Xehanort merely nodded his head while circling the youth.
"Yes. Yes you did. That is the first mistake of any great warrior Ventus. Never, no matter how strong or weak they may appear to be, must you underestimate an opponent in battle." Master-Xehanort stated simply and Ventus nodded his head slowly. "Anything else?" Master Xehanort questioned while crossing his arms and Ventus nodded his head while looking at his Keyblade.
"A Keyblade is… is only a weapon… just because it holds great power doesn't mean I'll be able to defeat a more experienced warrior…" Ventus mumbled out and Master Xehanort nodded his head while looking at his apprentice silently.
"Correct again, The Keyblade is a fantastic weapon, however, should you allow yourself to become foolishly arrogant with it, you will be defeated by one with truly more skill than you. It is the person wielding the weapon that makes it great Ventus, not the weapon itself." Master Xehanort explained and Ventus nodded his head once more. "And?" He then asked and Ventus looked up at him with obvious confusion, Master Xehanort shaking his head when he did.
"Xine made you get angry Ventus. That is the final lesson you should learn, rage does not equal power. Rage only grants you impatience and stupidity and ultimately your downfall." Master Xehanort explained and Ventus nodded his head once more before bowing his head.
"I'm sorry Master." Ventus whispered weakly and Master Xehanort sighed while reaching up to rub his face.
"Ventus." Master Xehanort said and knelt down to look at the young blond key-bearer. "You are still young, experience and wisdom will come in time. But let this lesson give you some now. Never forget today and carry its lessons with you always. Someone with more experience, even with a lesser weapon, outweighs everyone else." Master Xehanort told the youth before standing up and folded his arms behind his back. "Now come, we have much left to do." Xehanort stated and Ventus blinked before looking up and then nodded his head.
"Yes Master." He said while getting back to his feet, then followed after Xehanort further into Radiant Garden…
--
(Silent-Hill…)
Naruto's eyes suddenly snapped open and the youth groaned while turning over onto his back. Reaching a hand up he placed it onto his face and grimaced at a throbbing pain in the back of his skull. "What would Master say if he heard me complaining like that?" Naruto suddenly wondered before blinking and rubbing his head. "Why… did I say that?" Naruto wondered to himself before shaking his head and standing up, looking out and around the roof.
"That girl where'd she go? And what did she mean by a gift, besides this very annoying headache at least… I have more important people to worry about for now." Naruto said to himself and walked over to the edge of the roof and looked out over the city, trying to see any of his friends. "Dammit, stupid mist is too thick to see through." Naruto mumbled before crossing his arms and closing his eyes with a thoughtful expression across his face.
"Dobe, you shouldn't think too much, you'll only hurt yourself." A familiar voice commented and Naruto's eyes snapped open before quickly turning to see the familiar face of Uchiha Sasuke leaning into the door to the Fire Station.
"S-Sasuke, is that really you?" Naruto questioned and the black haired boy moved from the door and gave the blond a look.
"What? No hello, no glad to see you? Jeez Dobe, I didn't know you could be so cold." Sasuke said in mock hurt and Naruto gave the black haired teen a fierce glare as his response.
"Thing's change Teme…" Naruto growled out at his former teammate and Sasuke snorted before looking at the blond's new clothing.
"I could tell just by looking at you… But I have to ask Dobe, did you finally get tired of all that orange or what?" Sasuke questioned and Naruto blinked before shaking his head, then crossed his arms with a frown.
"Something like that." Naruto admitted while looking over the Uchiha, narrowing his eyes when he noticed that his Chokatou seemed to be missing. "What are you doing here Sasuke?" Naruto questioned and the young Uchiha smirked while moving from the door, arms crossed over his chest.
"What, no snappy line about dragging me somewhere now Dobe?" Sasuke asked and Naruto gave his former teammate a flat look.
"Nope." He replied simply and walked forward, Sasuke holding out an arm to stop the boy when he got close to the door.
"You really have changed, haven't you." Sasuke noted flatly, eyes looking forward as Naruto closed his own beside the other teen.
"Yeah, I guess I have." Naruto admitted before crossing his arms and turned his head, opening one eye to see Sasuke.
"And I bet you don't even care that our world was pulled into Darkness, do you?" Sasuke questioned while clenching his right fist and Naruto rolled his eyes.
"Crying, fighting, screaming, or even obsessing over what happened to our world won't change anything. And there's nothing I can do to change the past… So I'll do what you should have done in Konoha, I'll never look back, and keep moving forward." Naruto stated simply before a slight smirk crossed over his features. "And besides all that, I figured you'd be happy, now Itachi's at least been taken by Darkness and you'll never have to worry about him again." Naruto replied with a slight smirk crossing his face, Sasuke turning on eye towards his former friend.
"I wanted to be the one to kill him for what he did, Dobe… besides, I didn't want our entire world dragged into Darkness… and I certainly didn't want to lose my team to those monsters you've allied yourself with." Sasuke growled out through gritted teeth and Naruto smirked slightly while closing his eyes.
"What's this, the Great Uchiha Sasuke actually cares for someone other than himself?" Naruto asked in mock shock and saw Sasuke's coal black eye harden as he looked at him angrily. "Get over it Teme, everyone from our world was pulled into Darkness… even IF some of them weren't turned into Heartless, there's only a very slim chance that they could survive the trip through the Dark-Corridors to get to another world." Naruto stated simply, a flat expression across his face as he looked at the other teen and Sasuke felt one eye twitch.
"What happened to the hopeless dreamer I remember?" Sasuke wondered aloud and Naruto smirked while closing his eyes.
"I guess he grew up a little." Naruto replied and Sasuke sung his right arm, Naruto rolling out of the way as a sword appeared in Sasuke's hand. Rolling back into a crouch, Naruto narrowed his eyes upon seeing a white sword in Sasuke's hand. The blond narrowed his eyes as he looked at the sword, his hands hovering over his twin keyblades hilts as he did so.
The sword was pure white and it's blade was fashioned into the shape of a single edged short sword with thin blue glass forming into triangles out of the back of the blade and poking outwards, a green sphere was placed at the center of the guard, with four more of the blue triangles poking out from the guard diagonally, with two curls exiting from between the spikes and curling down into the pommel of the sword, blue leather wrapped around its handle with two long tassels hanging off of its end. (Heart-Shredder…)
"New sword?" Naruto asked with a raised brow and Sasuke smirked slightly while looking towards his former friend.
"Yeah, something I got that I can use to kill dark monsters." Sasuke started while taking a stance and Naruto scoffed while looking at the other teen.
"What, you want to fight me now? What for?" Naruto questioned of the teen and Sasuke glared at the blond haired youth.
"Unlike you, I'm more than a little pissed off about our world being destroyed Dobe. And besides that, we still have a score to settle." Sasuke stated and Naruto smirked slightly while reaching back and removing both of his keyblades from his back as he stood across from the other teen.
"heh, Yeah, I guess we do…" Naruto mused mostly to himself while Sasuke came at him swinging his sword. Smirking despite himself, Naruto stepped to the side to evade the first slash, then took a step back as Sasuke swung the sword sideways. Seeing the black haired teen narrow his eyes and lunged forward, Naruto twisted around his body and then effortlessly kicked him to the ground. "Jeez Teme, looks like the light doesn't suit you." Naruto noted mockingly and Sasuke gritted his teeth before pushing himself back onto his feet and took a step back before lunging forward.
Watching on casually as Sasuke jumped into a spinning Slash, Naruto stepped to one side once more while Sasuke landed on the ground in a low crouching skid. "What in the hell are you doing dobe? Step playing around and fight me!" Sasuke stated angrily and Naruto yawned slightly and then shook his head while turning to look at the black haired youth.
"Fighting you would be pointless. Regardless of the Light in you, you have no skill or experience in wielding it. Without that skill or experience, you have absolutely no chance against me." Naruto stated and Sasuke twitched before lunging forwards once more, swinging his sword wildly. While it was true he was used to a much longer sword, also being used to Chakra and not Light, he couldn't believe the Dobe of all people was making him look like such a fool!
Meanwhile, Naruto watched on with thinly veiled amusement, wondering if this was how Xine had felt when fighting Ventus. Seeing the first signs of anger starting to build in Sasuke Naruto mentally shook his head. 'Master was right, anger only makes you impatient and stupid, too bad the Teme never learned this.' Naruto mused while twirling his blades in his hands then sheathed them onto his back. "C'mon Teme, you can't even hit me, lets just call it a day." Naruto offered and Sasuke gripped Heart-Shredder's handle tightly while trying to control his, admittedly violent, temper.
Preparing to lung at his former Teammate once more, Sasuke crouched into a stance once more, only to suddenly curse and jump back with wide eyes as a massive sword nearly cut him in half. Blinking in surprise, Naruto turned his head and looked to the wielder of the massive sword and widened his eyes in shock and no small amount of fear upon seeing IT.
The creature had a large rust red colored helmet that covered its entire head and came to a downward flat point, it was about seven foot tall with very pale skin with odd scars over its body, a pair of white gloves with partially stitched together fingers, a white robe that vaguely resembled a butchers smock with heavy black boots worn over his legs, a weapon in its hand that was, in his own opinion at least, ridiculously massive, being as tall as the creature was with a large wooden handle with a single bolt resting in it to hold the blade to the hilt, the entire knife being covered in blood and mostly rusted over. (SH2: Pyramid Head…)
"Shit!" Sasuke exclaimed as the creatures pyramid shaped head turned towards him before pulling its ridiculous weapon up with one arm, Naruto gaping in astonishment as it did. "That fucking thing found me again!" He then shouted while ducking out of the way as PH gripped the hilt of its Great-Knife with both hands and swung down at him. The roof was split under the weight of its sword instantly, Naruto gaping in shock and no small amount of fear while backing away from it.
"Damn, what the hell did you do to piss that thing off Teme?" Naruto demanded as "Pyramid Head" yanked its weapon out of the ground and rounded it on Sasuke once more, swinging for his neck before catching the blade and stabbing it towards him. Evading the massive blade, Sasuke panted, he didn't really know WHY it was hunting him, only that ever since he woke up, it had been relentlessly following and trying to kill him in the most bloody and brutal fashion that it possibly could!
"Kuso, you're getting off Lucky this time Dobe!" Sasuke exclaimed before rolling out of the way as PH swung his massive sword like knife at the boy once more. "But next time, no fucking Boogeyman will stop me from settling the score with you!" Sasuke then called before cursing and running from PH as he swung his Great-Knife at him once more. Seeing the object of his ire was gone, PH looked around before settling on Naruto and walking towards him, dragging the massive knife, causing it to screech as his body twitched and jerked, low painful groans and moans echoing out of its helmet.
Stopping before the blond haired boy, the creature looked down at him silently for a moment. Gulping back his fear as he looked up at the creature, Naruto watched it turn and walk / twitch / jerk away from him, groaning and moaning out in pain as it did so. Breathing a sigh of relief upon seeing it go in the direction Sasuke went, Naruto had to wonder exactly what the boy had done to piss it off so badly. "Well, whatever he did, I'm just glad that thing isn't after my ass…" Naruto mumbled to himself before looking around and jumped off of the Fire Station roof and landed on the ground with a plop.
"Now I should really go and…" Naruto started to say before blinking and looking around as a siren suddenly started to blare loudly. "Oh that cannot mean anything good…" The blond mumbled to himself before widening his eyes as the world around him began to change. First was the ash peeling away from everything, revealing burnt and rusted metal in its place, grates formed on the ground, and flames visibly rising from the ground, the sky was no black as pitch, as if consumed in smog or smoke, and he noticed that dozens upon dozens of Heartless were rising out of the ground…
"Oh shit." Naruto mumbled while backing up, and then turned to see more horrifying creatures than the heartless. Each one was misshapen and twisted, having twitching jerking movements like PH had made only much worse. All of them were pale with odd scarring over their bodies and some seemed almost like men in straightjackets with the way their torso's moved.
"I better find the others and quick, something tells me this place is as close to hell as we're going to get in life." Naruto muttered before turning around and running passed the Heartless as they lunged at the creatures, a familiar girl watching him with a smirk as he passed a building she was looking at him from…
--
(Radiant-Garden…)
Xehanort walked along one of the man walls of the old town, smirking as he soon located the old Royal-Guard's quarters. "I know it has to be around here somewhere…" Xehanort mused, walking into an old infirmary the man smirked upon seeing a small ball of light shining within. "And of course I was right." Xehanort said to himself upon seeing the soul and then reached into his coat and removed the pair of arrow-guns he'd collected from Xigbar. The soul was stationary for a brief moment, only to then fly into the weapon seconds later, causing each of them to give off a strange glow.
"Perfect." Xehanort said to himself as he then placed the weapons back into his coat and walked out of the infirmary. Chuckling in his throat, Xehanort then walked out of the Royal-Guard's HQ before stopping when he saw people below him. "Aren't those two…" He whispered to himself upon seeing Kakashi and Sakura, thus narrowed his eyes and watched them both intently as Zack and Leon half carried Kakashi and Yuffie fully carried Sakura away from the "Villains Vale".
"Man, what happened to you two?" Zack questioned of Kakashi and the silver haired man grunted while being allowed to rest on some steps.
"Some guy… in that weird castle… he's what happened." Kakashi replied while rubbing his head, Sakura being sat down while Yuffie looked around her equipment, then gave her fellow Kunoichi a Potion.
"What guy? That place has been abandoned for a while now." Leon questioned then stated and Kakashi grimaced beneath his mask while Zack used a healing spell on the man to get him back to one hundred percent.
"Thanks." Kakashi said to the man and Zack gave a friendly grin and a thumb's up in response. Looking back over to Leon and seeing his expectant look, Kakashi sighed before rubbing his face. "As for the person, he said his name was Xine." Kakashi replied and Leon blinked then scowled deeply.
"XINE! Oh hell not that traitor!" Yuffie grumbled and Xehanort blinked, then smirked to himself. 'So the First true Seeker of Darkness is still alive after all… I wondered what happened to that fool.' He mused to himself while rubbed his chin and Sakura looked to Yuffie in confusion.
"Wait, why is he a traitor? I mean he admitted to all kinds of nicknames including "The Fallen One". But he did leave us alive when he could've killed us…" Sakura questioned then said and Yuffie rolled her eyes while Leon frowned.
"Xine, The Dark-Knight and Cursed Alchemist. Capable of manipulating metal to his will. He and his partner's in the royal guard all had special powers and abilities like that, Braig had the ability to manipulate space, Dilan the ability to control wind, and Aeleus the ability to control rock. Utalizing his power over Metal, Xine could deconstruct and then reconstruct any metal around him into a weapon; hence why he's called the "Cursed Alchemist". When I was still a kid I even once saw him split his sword into two short swords and wield them together before joining them at the hilt to use a double-sided weapon." Leon explained and Yuffie then decided to add in her own two cents.
"Yeah, and he's a Traitor because he vanished just before Maleficent took over Radiant Garden. Supposedly, he and some of the other members of the Royal-Guard got into this really big argument and he left. Next thing we know, we've got Maleficent and her Heartless coming down on our collective Asses." Yuffie explains while crossing her arms and Kakashi frowned for a moment.
"I can see why he'd appear to be a traitor… but Maleficent was the one who locked him up. It's highly unlikely if he's as strong as you're suggesting, that she'd put him into a glass prison like she did." Kakashi stated and Leon frowned for a moment, and then shook his head.
"Maleficent didn't like sharing power, seems more likely she'd get rid of him because she saw him as a threat. Besides, you can't trust the words of a man who's fallen to Darkness, they usually tend to lie." Leon mused mostly to himself and Kakashi had to wonder if it was so cut and dry. While he didn't personally know the man, he didn't seem capable of being as vindictive as he was being accused. Cocky and arrogant, yeah, Kakashi could see that, but not vengeful…
"Regardless, we still have more pressing matters. Now, not only is this Xine guy free, but we've also got the fact he had a Sword forged from Darkness. Thus, that means he has some level of Control over Darkness himself." Zack reminded the others and Leon scowled slightly while rubbing his chin.
"True. Either way with Xine's original abilities backed up with The Power of Darkness, we may have a problem in the very near future." Leon mused and Sakura frowned for a moment.
"Well… when we first met him, he did sort of repair some of that Villains Vale place with his powers over Darkness…" She offered and saw a grimace pass over Leon's face while Yuffie grunted.
"Oh great, that's going to be annoying to deal with." Yuffie mumbled since if Xine could now manipulate darkness into a solid substance then he could form weapons out of thin air without metal!
Listening to this Xehanort rubbed his chin, wondering if he should find Xine for a brief moment before shaking his head. 'Fools, Xine isn't that petty, and that little "Argument" was because we didn't allow him access to our research on the Darkness and the Heartless. Of course, it was only because we didn't that he eventually gained his own powers over Darkness…' Xehanort thought to himself silently and then chuckled in his throat, eyes closed as he thought on.
'Of course, his rather unique abilities with transmuting Darkness are quite intriguing, especially since he formed the original Soul-Eater by combining metal and darkness together. What likely happened to him, was that he was returning from gaining his powers and encountered Maleficent. Likely preserving him as a threat to her plans for Radiant Garden, but not being powerful enough to destroy him on her own, she sealed him away to eliminate him as a threat.' Xehanort mused to himself before opening his golden eyes and turning away from the scene below.
"Perhaps I should locate Xine… no, he'll be fine on his own for now. I need to concentrate more on reviving Braig for the moment. And then I'll locate Naruto, it's time his training began in earnest." Xehanort said to himself before opening a Dark-Corridor and walked into, then through it…
--
(Silent-Hill…)
Travis had been leading Axel and Tira around Silent-Hill. First had been a hospital, but with no sign of their friends they moved on, Travis leading them to a Butcher's Shop. Yet again, there had been no sign of Alice, Larxene, or Naruto. Thus, it had all lead them here, to an asylum just at the corner of Travis's map. However, once the siren had started blaring, Travis had started to freak out, saying something or another about finding someplace safe before the world had started changing around them.
Axel and Tira were wide eyed as the world around them changed into something that was clearly out of someone's worst nightmares. Neither of them really acknowledged the still blaring Siren while Travis muttered a curse under his breath and pulled a pair of Gauntlets from the Duffle bag he'd been carrying. "Of all the fucking times." Travis grumbled out while pulling the spiky gauntlets on and looked all around, Tira gaping as Axel rubbed his eyes and shook his head.
Like where Naruto was, the world was comprised mainly by rusty, burnt metal with blood stains everywhere, spikes jutting out of the floor and walls at places with metal grates and moving fans here and there all around them. The Asylum's equipment was knocked over or smashed completely and finally, Heartless were starting to come out of the ground in numbers that made even Axel start to worry.
"Holy shit, when did we fall into Hell?" Axel demanded before backing up as a stream of fire shot into the air from a vent before him.
"It's not hell, this is what I like to call the "Otherworld", it like a different version of the normal world." Travis suddenly explained while Axel looked around with wide eyes, Tira preparing her Ring-Blade as the Heartless turned towards them.
"Why are they looking at us like that?" Tira wondered while backing up and Axel looked from her to Travis before summoning his Chakrams.
"They eat hearts. Luckily for me, I don't have one unlike you two." Axel offered with a shrug of his shoulders while Tira blinked for a moment and then shrugged.
"Me neither." She stated and Axel looked at her in shock.
"B-but… you're not a Nobody." He stated and Tira nodded her head with a psychotic grin across her face.
"My master broke my heart into pieces once, then revived me without a need for such an annoying and trivial thing." Tira replied and Travis looked at her then shook his head as the Heartless started to rush towards them.
"Enough talking, start running!" Travis exclaimed while turning and running from the oncoming horde of Heartless and Tira followed him, Axel doing the same as some Heartless started rushing along the walls towards them. Ducking into a room, Travis saw a Mirror and smirked seeing a slightly altered version of the "Otherworld" they were already in on the other side of it. "Quick, take my hands and hold on tight." Travis ordered quickly getting confused looks from his temporary companions.
"Just do it!" He ordered and Tira and Axel each took one of his hands before he ran and jumped into the mirror, pulling Tira and Axel with him. Landing on the other side in a heap, Axel looked up and then shook his head before turning back to the mirror. Seeing Heartless pounding on the glass in some vain attempt to get in he then turned to Travis with a shocked look on his face.
"How in the hell did you just do that?" Axel demanded of the man with wide eyes and Travis merely grunted.
"There's this little girl in the blue dress, Alessa I think, she gave me the ability to do that when I first got to this place." Travis admitted before sitting back and breathing out a sigh as he cracked his neck then sighed once more.
"How long have you been here anyways?" Axel then questioned and Travis rubbed his face for a moment before removing his gauntlets.
"Don't know… When I first came to this place I saved a little girl from a burning building. She was completely burned all over… I passed out soon afterwards and woke up on a bench. I wanted to make sure the girl was okay, so I started looking for her, and eventually helped her stop a demon from being resurrected through her body." Travis explained with a grimace and then used both hands to rub his face.
"But then… when I had managed to leave. Everything just… restarted. I woke up on the bench again, helped the girl again, but it was different. Each time I went through this place, things would change. Small things, buy I noticed them." Travis admitted while shuddering for a moment as he closed his eyes. "I don't how long I've been trapped in this place. I don't even know if I'm alive… or dead anymore. I can't tell if this is hell, or some kind of limbo… I just know I have to keep moving forward." Travis replied while leaning his head back into a wall and Axel frowned towards the man, a bit of sympathy leaking into him for the guy considering his plight.
"What about now?" Axel questioned and Travis shook his head and then placed his Gauntlets back on while pulling a pair of Night-Vision Goggles from his bag.
"Now things have changed completely since nothing is happening like it did before… and we need to go find a way out of here that doesn't lead to more of those black creatures. Then, we find your friends." Travis stated simply while walking passed the two and opened a door. "C'mon, the monsters in this place haven't been as numerous since those black things started showing up." Travis ordered and Axel and Tira placed their hands onto his shoulders, then all walked out of the room as Travis guided them down a dark desolate corridor…
--
(Elsewhere…)
Alice and Larxene walked into the school of Silent-Hill, both walking down the halls and passed numerous ash-covered lockers. "This place gives me the creeps." Larxene muttered as they made their way into the odd school, Alice looking around and shaking her head.
"Really, why is their ash in here as well? Shouldn't someone have cleaned this place by now." Alice wondered then stated and Larxene raised a brow before rolling her eyes, giving up on trying to figure out if she was insane, or just messing with her. "Where are we going exactly?" Alice then asked the blond and Larxene looked at the picture she'd picked up and nodded ahead.
"To the window in the picture. If this girl wanted us to find her, that would be the first place I'd check." Larxene replied before spotting an open door and couldn't help a slight smirk that crossed her features. "And there is where it is." She stated while walking over to the door and pushed it open to find an ordinary classroom. Turning to look at Alice she then walked over to the window in the picture and started looking around for a note or even a picture to lead them to that odd girl.
Meanwhile, Alice walked between the many desks in the room, soon stopping on one with a pair of handprints clearing the dust away. Blinking, she wiped it off, and felt her eyes widen upon seeing numerous carvings of "Witch" among other even more vile things in its wooden surface. "Miss Larxene, I believe I've found something." Alice called and Larxene blinked for a moment before walking over to the girl and looked over the surface of the desk and frowned.
"Okay… now that is disturbing." She murmured to herself before reaching down and opened the desk up. Blinking, Larxene pulled out a book and shook her head for a moment before sighing. "I think this is for you…" She grumbled while holding the book to Alice, said girl taking it and reading the cover.
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?" Alice questioned before smiling as she recognized the book. "Oh yes, dear mister Carroll wrote this when I was still little…" Alice said mostly to herself while opening the book while Larxene stared after the dark auburn haired girl tiredly.
"She has her own book… Why am I not surprised?" Larxene wondered aloud before sighing while Alice was looking at something intently. "Find anything?" Larxene asked while looking through the other items in the desk, stopping at what looked like a very old Pocket sized radio. Blinking for a moment, Larxene held it up and shook it, raising a brow when she noticed it had batteries. Turning it on, she frowned upon hearing only a low static hum but placed it into her pocket regardless. In response to Larxene's earlier question Alice held the book open and pointed to a name written on the inside of the cover of the book.
"Property of Alessa Gillespie." Larxene read aloud and then crinkled her nose in confusion while Alice frowned for a moment.
"If I'm not mistaken, Alessa is a variation of Alyssa, and Alyssa is a variation of Alicia, and Alicia is a variation of my name, Alice." Alice replied with a matter of fact tone and Larxene raised a brow while looking at the younger girl.
"And I should care… why?" Larxene questioned flatly, giving Alice an annoyed look to punctuate her mood.
"Don't you find it the least bit odd that the girl who owned this book also has a similar name to mine?" Alice questioned with a slight frown towards the blond haired woman and Larxene shrugged her shoulders in response.
"Not really, you do have a common name after all." Larxene reminded the girl and Alice blinked before nodding her head after a moment of though to contemplate that.
"I guess you do have a point." She mused before looking back to the book and flipped through several pages.
"Yeah well whatever, lets just get out of here before something bad happens." Larxene stated and Alice wondered why she had to say that, considering that whenever someone said that, bad things usually happened. Following the blond woman while thumbing through the book, Alice blinked as she read about her journey through Wonderland and raised a brow.
"Was I really like this?" She wondered to herself, noting it mentioned her vanity and "love of showing off" as it were… not to mention it seemed she'd cry over almost trivial things, and liked being a know it all from the looks of it.
"Probably…" Larxene said with a shrug then stopped when she heard a siren start blaring. "Am I the only one hearing a siren?" Larxene questioned and Alice looked around before shaking her head. "Good, then at least I know I'm not going crazy." Larxene mused before blinking as the world around them started to change. The ash peeled away from the walls, revealing rusted bloody metal while metal grates made up a large portion of the floor, fire billowed up through the grates and upon looking back into the classroom from earlier, Larxene saw that a massive spike came through the floor, a circular hole around it with what looked like corpses hanging from chains around the edges of the room…
"Oh my god…" Larxene whispered while a pale Alice looked all around herself, shock and fear clear over her face. As soon as this happened, the radio Larxene had picked up started giving off a static screech, the woman pulling it out of her cloak started to slap it. "What the hell is wrong with this thing?" She wondered while shaking the object. Alice however, saw several Heartless, Shadows and Neo-Shadows to be exact, start to claw their way out of the ground nearby. Thus Alice quickly grasped the sleeve of Larxene's cloak and tugged on it urgently, eyes wide in fear.
"M-miss Larxene, I would very much like to leave now." Alice then stated urgently and Larxene blinked, stopped slapping the Radio and turned it off while looking towards the Heartless apathetically.
"Their just Heartless Alice, nothing really scary about them considering you're a Shadowed-Princess and I have no heart." Larxene offered with a shrug then shook the radio she'd been fiddling with before hearing a different loud screeching sound suddenly echo down the halls. Thunk, thunk, SCRAPE the sound echoed as Larxene prayed to whatever god was watching that it not be something big and nasty that wanted to kill them both brutally. Gulping, the blond haired woman slowly turned around and then cursed loudly, Alice turning on her heel and gasping in fear as something approached them from behind, a massive knife dragging and screeching along the ground at it's side.
The creature looked like a seven foot tall, muscular man with very pale skin with black veins and scars running across its body, it wore a bloodied robe like object around its waist that appeared vaguely reminiscent of human skin with a pair of heavy straps around his waist to hold it up, and it had a massive rusty red / black and girded tetrahedron worn over its head and coming to a sharp downward point with bolts holding it onto its shoulders… however, the weapon it was wielding was a ridiculously enormous giant knife that was seven feet long, pommel to tip, the blade being almost two feet wide and very thick, made of a rusty blood soaked metal with a serrated edge half way down its length, while the hilt was made of wood with a slimmer handle. (SHtM: Red-Pyramid…)
"Holy crap!" Larxene exclaimed as the creature lumbered closer and closer to them. Thinking quickly, Larxene formed her knives into her hands and then threw them into the hulking figure. However, her eyes then widened as it barely stopped before continuing towards them. "Well that didn't work." She muttered before grabbing Alice's wrist and pulled her by the wrist, running passed the Heartless as they lunged at the massive Pyramid-Head.
Groaning lowly, Red-Pyramid grasped it's Great-Knife's hilt with both hands before swinging it, slicing through several of the weak Heartless before turning the blade and bringing it down in a massive chop. More Heartless were felled by the Great-Knife before Red-Pyramid lumbered after Larxene and Alice. Crushing Shadow Heartless under its massive feet before grunting as they started to push him back with sheer numbers on their side. Groaning out in agonizing pain, Red-Pyramid crouched back before ramming his head forward, knocking the Heartless to the side and killing several of them almost instantly. Having passed the small blockade of Heartless, Red-Pyramid then lumbered onwards, after the two girls…
Said girls ran down the man halls of the school, soon coming to the doorway only to pale. The doorway they had come through was now blocked, numerous desks and other items in their way. "Oh c'mon!" Larxene complained before turning upon hearing the heavy thuds of Red-Pyramid once more. "We've got to hide." Larxene then stated while Alice looked to the woman strangely.
"Since when do you hide from anything?" She asked the older woman seriously and Larxene glared at the younger girl furiously.
"Did you not see the fucking size of that thing and it's knife!" Larxene demanded and Alice shrugged her shoulders.
"I figured you'd have seen bigger." Alice admitted and Larxene grunted before looking around.
"Only bigger things, never something that has made me want to piss myself like that monstrosity does." Larxene admitted before grabbing Alice's wrist and ran down a nearby hall, Red-Pyramid turning to see the doorway they had stood at only a scant few moments before. Running through the school, Larxene blinked when she heard the Radio she'd found start to give off a strange static screech once more. "Shit, what next?" She wondered to herself before seeing what looked like demonic children down the hall, bodies gray and misshapen with knife like fingers as they crawled over one another while coming towards them, a wailing screech echoing from them.
"M-Miss Larxene!" Alice said urgently and Larxene turned her head to see Red-Pyramid making his way towards them from the other side of the hall.
"Talk about your rock and a hard place…" Larxene muttered before grabbing Alice and yanking her down a hall nearby, the Grey-Children and Red-Pyramid still coming towards them. Running down the hall, Larxene checked as many of the doors as she could, cursing as none of them would open. Coming to the end of the hall and a dead end, Larxene finally found a door and threw it open. Lunging inside she pulled Alice in as well before slamming the door closed. Looking around she then bent a metal pole nearby down and forced it down to close the rusted door shut.
Backing away from the door as the Thunk-Thunk-Scrape of Red-Pyramid echoed, closer and closer, Larxene placed a hand to her chest. "Shit… what the hell are those things…" Larxene wondered to herself while placing her back against the wall, Alice on the floor, clasping the book they'd found to her chest with wide eyes. All was silent after one finally thunk from Red-Pyramid, and then when nothing else happened Alice blinked before looking over to Larxene.
"D-Do you suppose th-that it w-went away?" Alice questioned only to scream as Red-Pyramid's Great-Knife tore through the door.
"DOES THAT ANSWER YOUR FUCKING QUESTION!?" Larxene exclaimed while backing away from the knife, Alice ducking under it as it twisted and turned in the door, soon forming a massive gash. Soon the sword started to randomly swing at the two, Alice ducking down further while Larxene ducked low and crawled over to the other girl. Once this was proven to be ineffective, the sword was yanked out of the door and a pale arm reached inside and started grasping for air. The arms of the Grey-Children and their loud wailing screeches echoed in the small room.
Red-Pyramid's arm started to grasp randomly over the door, soon grasping the metal bar that was holding the door closed. Widening her eyes, Larxene watched as Red-Pyramid started to jerk up on the bar, partly pulling it upwards and loosening the door. "Oh of all the ways I could've died, this was SOOO not the one I would've picked." Larxene uttered as the arm started to push the door open while lifting the metal bar bracing the door closed. However, before the beast could fully open the door, the world around them started to change once more.
The arm stilled and pulled itself out of the hole, the arms of the Grey-Children following it as Red-Pyramid walked away while still dragging his massive weapon. Panting, both girls then watched as grey ash started to cover the area once more, soon completely covering everything just as it had done before. Blinking, Larxene then noticed that Alice was holding her tightly and twitched before pushing the girl off of herself. Blinking, Alice looked around warily before breathing out a sigh of relief and leaned her head into the wall behind her as they were back in the "Misty" world of before.
"W-what was that horrific place…?" Alice wondered as she tried to regain control of her breathing and Larxene leaned her head onto the girls as she tried to do the same.
"The closest thing to Hell on earth I've ever seen…" Larxene mumbled with her eyes closed and then yelped when something banged into the door, a black arm reaching inside of the room and grasping the bar. "Oh c'mon!" The woman exclaimed as the bar was pulled off and the door thrown open. Blinking, Larxene then snarled upon seeing Axel, the red haired Nobody breathing a sigh of relief upon seeing her and Alice.
"Man, thank god you two are okay." He said aloud only for Larxene to lunge at him, grab him by his cloak and slam him into the door with a snarl. "Shit, what did I do this time?!" Axel demanded and Larxene merely slammed the back of his head into the rusty door.
"Never ever do that again!" Larxene shouted at him and then released him while Travis and Tira watched on.
"What did I do?" Axel asked while looking to Alice and the girl sighed.
"You scared her…" She replied and Axel scratched the back of his neck, wondering when he became scary. "Oh, have you seen Naruto, is he with you?" Alice then asked while looking around and Axel visibly grimaced.
"We were kind of hoping he was with you." Axel replied and Alice shook her head, the red haired man frowning to himself as she did. Meanwhile, Travis blinked before leaning over to Tira with a confused look across his face.
"She always that violent?" Travis questioned while pointing to Larxene and Tira grinned up at him for a moment.
"Mostly." Tira admits while Travis shakes his head and Larxene glares at the newcomer angrily.
"Whose this guy?" She asked angrily while crossing her arms, Alice brushing her dress off as she walked out of the room as well.
"Please excuse miss Larxene's rudeness kind sir, but we were just chased all throughout this place by some large creature with a very large knife." Alice offered with a bow of her head and still holding the book from before, Travis staring at her for a moment…
"And you are?" He asked and Alice blinked before gasping.
"Oh dear me, I'm so sorry, I'm Alice Pleasance Liddell." Alice said with a slight curtsy to the man and Travis raised a brow. "This is Miss Larxene." Alice then offered while motioning over to the said blond woman who rolled her eyes. "And it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Alice then offered with a smile and Travis looked to Axel with a raised brow.
"Who still talks like that?" He asked seriously and Axel smirked crossing his arms over his chest.
"Apparently, she does." He replied with a smirk and Travis grunted before rubbing his eyes and noticed the book Alice was holding.
"Mind if I take a look at that?" He asked and Alice blinked before handing it over to him silently. Taking the book, Travis flipped through several pages, and then looked over it intently before reaching between the spine and pages. Smirking, the man pulled a key out from it and looked it over for a moment. "A hotel key." He stated simply with a nod of his head Axel gaped towards him.
"How did you know that would be there?" Axel demanded and Travis rolled his eyes while pocketing the key.
"I've been in this place for a long time, I've learned most of its tricks." He replied with a smirk before turning and looking around for a moment. "The one place where none of the usual monsters start popping up…" He mumbled to himself before placing his hands into his pockets before walking off.
"Who was that guy?" Larxene suddenly demanded and Axel placed an arm over her shoulders.
"He says his name is Travis Grady, seems to be from this world, and really knows his way around." Axel replied and Larxene gave him a look before looking to the hand on her shoulder. Scowling, the blond haired woman removed his arm and then crossed her own over her chest.
"Keep your mitts to yourself…" She grumbled angrily before stalking off after Travis, Tira snickering before following after the blond haired woman. Blinking, Axel let out a sigh upon seeing the two leave and then looked over to Alice as she turned to him.
"Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get out of bed." He mumbled while rubbing his head and then ran after the others, Alice following after him as he did.
--
(Meanwhile…)
Naruto frowned while making his way into an old junkyard, having somehow escaped the hellish otherworld and found himself here of all places. "Where the hell are the others?" He wondered aloud before suddenly yelping as he tripped over something. "Dammit, I really need to watch where I'm going." Naruto grumbled to himself while turning around and sitting up. Blinking, the youth saw an old mask lying against something and reached out for it. Turning it around he saw it was made of a thin metal and was colored pure white.
"Weird…" He mumbled to himself before turning it around, finding it was fashioned into the shape of a skull the blond wiped some dirt off of it. Raising a brown when he found that it had white lenses for eyes and a bright red X crossing the right one… "You know… this seems really familiar somehow." Naruto noted while looking at the mask for a moment, then held it up and looked through its lenses with a smirk. "Yeah, really familiar…" He then said with a nod before rubbing his chin as he considered what he should do with the old metal mask. Flexing it, Naruto was surprised by it's durability but then tossed it to the side and heard it clang as it hit something.
"I don't really need a mask anyways." Naruto mused while pushing himself onto his feet and brushed off his pants. Looking around the junkyard once more, Naruto placed his hands into his pockets before walking further into it. "Shit, what is with all the junk from other worlds around here?" Naruto muttered to himself while walking through the junk-yard, then stopped when he saw a figure in blue run by. Blinking for only a moment, Naruto then frowned before rushing after the girl with a scowl across his lips. Turning and making his way around piles of old cars and other trash, Naruto soon saw the girl crawl under a gate and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Shit, was it this much trouble when AnBu chased me?" Naruto suddenly wondered and mentally felt sorry for causing those AnBu this kind of hell. Shaking his head once more, Naruto rushed forward and tried to climb under the fence, frowning when it was too small a hole. "I could probably cut it…" Naruto noted before reaching back and pulled the Vorpal-Key from behind him. Taking a step back, Naruto cut through the fence and made a large enough hole for him to get through. Making his way passed the fence; Naruto looked around and blinked upon finding himself in a large familiar forest.
"What the hell…" He then whispered before rushing through the forest, noticing bent grass and snapped twigs as he followed the trail. Soon coming to a clearing, Naruto looked around while walking towards the center of the clearing. "Alright, now your going to tell me what's going on here?" Naruto demanded to know while turning all around, not staying still until he saw the girl from before standing a short ways from him. Seeing a smirk on the girls pale features, Naruto gripped the handle of the Vorpal-Key tightly. "Just who… or what the hell are you?" Naruto asked flatly while looking at the strange girl and she merely smirked while crossing her arms behind her back.
"I have… many names." The girl offered with a thoughtful expression before turning her dark eyes towards the youth. "But… in this form, you may call me Dark-Alessa." DA allowed with a curt bow and Naruto frowned slightly, and then leaned the Vorpal-Key into his shoulder.
"This form?" Naruto questioned and DA merely smirked while backing up into the forest again. "Hey!" Naruto called as she quickly turned and ran into the forest, soon vanishing, as she seemed to blend into it. Preparing to run after the girl, Naruto cursed and flipped back when a spear lodged itself into the ground before him.
"You shouldn't trust her." A calm voice stated and Naruto turned, eyes widening when he saw it was a Soulless of all things that had spoken to him. However after blinking for a moment, Naruto raised a brow when he saw that this Soulless was vastly different to the one's he'd seen thus far.
The few things similar to other Soulless about this one was the bolted metal Cross Moline placed on each of her thighs, and the bolted metal Cross Flory Fitch over her torso, different was that this one wore a completely midnight black suit, she had no Halo over her head, rather, she had a simple Heraldic Cross over her mask with spikes formed over her head and bolts holding it down, long silver hair reaching out of the back of her mask, and her legs ended in feet, with pointed silver armor over her knees, toes, and the backs of her heels. This creature wore silver segmented armor over her forearms up to her biceps, more segmented silver armor over her fingers, a metallic collar around her neck, steel grey metal plates were formed over her shoulders, a massive black wing stretched off of her right shoulder, a pair of white belts were placed around her waist in an X with Heraldic Cross as the buckles for each. (Soulless: Heretic…)
"You shouldn't stare at me like that, people might get the wrong idea." The Soulless suddenly commented in a dead monotone, arms crossed over her chest as she sat on a branch in a large tree. Blinking in surprise, Naruto then shook his head as the Soulless suddenly rolled out of the tree and landed on the ground in a low crouch.
"What are you?" Naruto questioned as the Soulless stood up and looked around for a moment before walking over to him.
"I'm a Soulless that retained its heart and memories. Unlike the other's, I have my emotions to help me tell right from wrong, thus, I'm not a religious nutcase. I know that Dark and Evil aren't the same thing unlike the other's, thus why I'm not attacking you." The Soulless explained, once more in a monotone and Naruto blinked for a moment.
"Then, what's with your voice?" He asked and the Soulless twitched slightly.
"I always talked like this…" She replied flatly and Naruto decided he didn't want to know before looking around.
"Okay, then can you tell me what happened to this world?" Naruto asked but before the Heretic could answer a beam of light hit the ground.
"Later, we have bigger problems to deal with." She said quickly while throwing her arm to the side, conjuring a black staff with silver metal armor forming into a guard that reached off of the weapon while more silver formed into a spearhead with blue glass formed as an edge. Seconds later the light disappeared and a creature was shown crouching before them. Narrowing his eyes Naruto quickly pulled his Keyblades from his back and crouched into a stance.
Now before them was a, strangely, Male Soulless, this one completely white like the others with a halo over its head, it's legs forming into sharp daggers below the knees, a bolted metal Cross Flory Fitch over its chest, Bolted metal Cross Moline over each of it's thighs, and a bolted Metal Cross Pattee over the front of its mask. Added to it was what looked like a massive shield formed out of its right arm, a Heraldic Cross formed over the front of it with blue glass along its edge, a bolted steel collar, steel bands over each bicep with metal armor curved over each shoulder and came together at one point at her back, and last was its left arm, which had been formed into a large double edge sword with blue glass forming it's edge… (Pureblood Soulless: Crusader…)
"Great, this looks… challenging." Naruto grumbled while the Crusader slowly got up and held its shield forward, its sword held at its side. Instantly the Crusader lunged forward, light forming before it and superheating its shield as it rammed into the Soulless Heretic, knocking her back. Seeing this, Naruto lunged at the Crusader, only for it to turn its sword on him. Cursing and quickly blocking with both of his Keyblades, Naruto was thrown back by the Soulless while The Heretic lashed out with her spear to its back. Grunting the Crusader, twisted around slamming its shield into the Heretic and knocking her back onto her ass.
Rushing the Soulless, Naruto was then thrown back as it erected a barrio of light around itself, three brightly glowing orbs of light floating around it. "What the hell!" Naruto demanded before flipping back as the Crusader lunged at him with its sword, swinging at him quickly.
"The orbs allow it to focus its power into a barrier, destroy them if you want to be able to attack it!" The Heretic stated quickly before blocking as the Crusader charged her, forcing her down to one knee. Quickly lunging at the Crusader, Naruto swung Dark-Heart into one of the orbs, causing it to be snuffed out and drawing the Crusader's attention from the Heretic. Turning around the Crusader slammed its shield into Naruto, knocking him back as it lunged at him. The Heretic thus threw her weapon in the air and caught it before throwing the spear, taking out another of its defense orbs.
Thinking quickly, the Crusader held its arms out, the Halo over its head floating forward and then opening up into a gateway. Instantly six Prisms lunged out of the gate and surrounded the Crusader, Naruto grunting as they did. "Why is it only the male Soulless are this ridiculously strong?" Naruto wondered aloud while the Heretic formed her spear back into her hand and twirled it in her grasp as the Prism's swung their swords and took stances.
"Because a Female Heartless is at least three times more powerful than males…" She replied in another dead monotone and Naruto grimaced, and then shrugged his shoulders, that made about as much sense as anything about the Soulless after all. Cursing, Naruto then flipped out of the way as a Prism came at him swinging, thus the blond stabbed into it with his Soul-Blade. Meanwhile the Heretic ducked under an attack from another Prism before stabbing her spear into it and throwing it into some of the others. Turning on her heel the Heretic then stabbed the Spear into another Prism before jumping up and slamming it down into another.
Meanwhile, Naruto stabbed the last Prism with his Soul-Blade before then holding his Keyblades at his sides. The Crusader merely swung its sword before forming light over its shield and charging at the blond. Flipping over the attack, Naruto threw one of his Keyblade's and destroyed the final orb holding its barrier up. The Heretic then quickly attacked the Crusader as it stopped moving, causing it to grunt as she swung up into its chin, then stabbed forward before twisting on one heel, knocking it back into a sturdy tree. She then threw her weapon into the air before catching and throwing it, stabbing the Crusader threw the chest as the spear's head came out of the back of the tree she pinned it too.
"Nice one." Naruto noted only to gape as the Crusader pushed itself forward, off of the Spear and started to float up into the air, twitching violently. "That's bad, isn't it?" Naruto questioned and the Heretic backed up for a bit and then summoning its spear back into its hand.
"You have no idea…" She replied curtly before ducking out of the way as the Crusader held its shield into the air, light flowing into it and throw its body. Aiming its sword down the Crusader fired a great beam of light down at the blond haired boy and the Soulless Heretic, watching on silently as they dodged and evaded the attack. Growling lowly, the creature then slammed into the ground a round orb of light expanding from its body and knocking Naruto and the Heretic back into a couple trees.
Grunting, Naruto rubbed his head while the Crusader then slashed the ground, sending an arch of light from the weapon, along the ground and heading towards them. Cursing lightly, Naruto lunged at the Heretic and knocked her out of the way as the beam of light cut a tree in half. "You okay?" Naruto asked and the Heretic pushed him off of herself while getting back up as the Crusader aimed its sword at them.
"I will be when you start taking this seriously." She replied curtly, and then lunged out of the way as the Crusader fired a beam of light out of its weapon. Seeing the attack coming, Naruto rolled under the beam and then lunged at the Crusader, slashing into its back before kicking it away. Grunting, the Crusader flipped and landed in a crouch before piercing the ground with its sword. Instantly, blades of light started to pierce the ground and point upwards. Cursing Naruto when one nearly got him from below Naruto quickly started rolling out of the way of the swords. Noticing that they only appeared from bright patches on the ground and quickly evaded them, soon glaring at the Heretic when he landed next to her.
"What do you think I'm doing then, playing with this thing?" Naruto demanded of the Soulless and she tilted her head to one side.
"With the amount of Dark-Energy your putting off… yeah, I'd say you are." She replied curtly before kicking him out of the way and rolling to the side as the Crusader sent another arch of light shooting towards them.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Naruto demanded of the Heretic and she spun her Spear, an orb of both Light and Darkness forming in front of it before she slashed her spear, sending an arc of energy into the Crusader.
"Soulless are sensitive to energy patterns, and frankly your putting off enough to register as a Dark-Side or above." She replied before cart wheeling to one side and then stabbed her Spear into the ground a swirling spike coming out of the ground and into the Crusader. Grunting, the Crusader flipped in midair before rearing one arm back and swinging it, an arc of light heading straight for Naruto. Cursing, the blond rolled out of the way before throwing Dark-heart into the Crusader and knocking it out of the air.
"Yeah well sorry but I have no idea what you're talking about." Naruto stated before cursing as the Crusader flipped up and fired a beam at him from the tip of its sword once more. Rolling out of the way, Naruto narrowed his eyes on the Crusader, dark energy swirling around him. "Dammit… this thing is really starting to piss me off!" Naruto exclaimed as his eyes turned bright amber gold and the darkness swirled around him. Seeing this, The Heretic took a step back while the Dark-Energy formed into the familiar form of The Shade behind Naruto…
"Well that certainly explains all the extra darkness…" The Heretic mused to itself while Naruto placed a hand to his head, the Shade lifting him off the ground with its powers. Grunting, Naruto looked to his side and saw the three-eyed fiend for the first time, then groaned as pain shot through his mind.
"W-what are you?" Naruto wondered aloud, and then heard a strange almost distorted sounding voice reply.
"I am The Shade, your servant and Guardian…" The Shade replied before looking towards the Crusader as it held its shield forward. "And questions should wait until all enemies are silenced!" The Shade then rumbled and Naruto turned his bright amber gold eyes towards the Crusader, a smirk crossing his features as he crossed his arms over his chest and the Shade placed one hand onto his shoulder while clenching and unclenching its free hand at his side.
"Agreed." The blond said before the Shade wrapped its arms around him and charged the Crusader at the same moment it charged. The two attacks slammed together, a blast of light and Darkness sending the Heretic flying into the air. Opening her one wing the Soulless found herself floating above the battle as the Crusader fell to one knee, its shield now utterly destroyed. Chuckling in his throat, Naruto then watched as the Shade held its free hand forward, dark-energy gathering into its fist.
"SUBMIT!" The Shade roared slamming its fist into the Crusader, sending it flying back into and then threw a tree. Holding his hands to his sides, Naruto twirled his two Keyblades before crouching back and launching forward with The Shade's help. Swinging both of his Keyblades Naruto caught the Crusader's chest in an X before slashing, thus sending the Crusader flying back before The Shade brought both arms to Naruto's shoulders.
"Witness, true power!" It uttered darkly before dark energy formed over both it and Naruto, the two vanishing before five of them appeared around the Crusader. "This is your end!" The Shade called before each of the Narutos' and Shades' crouched back, each Naruto crossing its keyblades as they did, before suddenly lunging forward. As the first of the five came at the Crusader, the Naruto with it slashed into an X with both Keyblades before this was repeated with each Naruto and Shade. Then the final one stopped before slashing the Crusader and the Shade lashed out, grabbing it by its shoulders and lifted it into the air.
"The is the end!" Naruto then called out before stabbing his Soul-Blade forward, piercing the chest of the Crusader and causing it to spasm, then turned bright red, before suddenly dissolving into the Keyblade's form. Landing on the ground a second later Naruto crouched while The Shade formed behind him, eyes narrowing as The Heretic landed before him, and then dissipated her spear. Standing up with a light chuckle, Naruto placed his Keyblade's onto his back and crossed his arms over his chest.
"So, how was that?" Naruto questioned and the Heretic stayed a distance from Naruto and The Shade for obvious reasons.
"Fine… if you like watching a merciless slaughter." She replied curtly and Naruto rolled his eyes before snapping his fingers, The Shade nodding as it vanished and formed back into his body seconds later.
"Now then why did you seek me out?" Naruto asked the Heretic and she reached behind herself, producing the skull mask he'd found earlier.
"I was… looking for this." She admitted quietly while placing a hand onto the skull.
"Why?" Naruto questioned and the Heretic bowed her head.
"It belonged to someone important to me when I was still whole." She admitted softly before placing it back behind her back. Blinking at the admission, Naruto's eyes returned to their original azure blue before looking to her apologetically.
"Oh… uh, Sorry." Naruto offered while rubbing the back of his neck and the Heretic shook her head.
"No need… it was another life after all." She stated and Naruto frowned before nodding his head in agreement.
"Do you… have a name?" Naruto asked and the Heretic nodded her head.
"Unlike most other Soulless, I remember my life before… this…" She said softly while looking at her hands and then clenched her fists. "I remember that I was called Raven by my best… and only friends." She then said and Naruto blinked while looking at her wing, and then wondered why that name rang a bell in his mind. "Yes, the irony isn't lost on me either." She then stated while crossing her arms and Naruto scratched the edge of his nose.
"Right… so do I call you Raven or…?" Naruto asked and then left off and the Heretic shook her head.
"In this form, I'd prefer it if you'd call me Angela." She stated and Naruto nodded his head slowly, seeing as that name was as good as Raven considering her wing.
"Okay. And I'm Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto offered with a slight bow and Angela merely nodded her head. Standing up straight afterwards Naruto then looked around and frowned towards the Soulless. "So, what happened to this world?" Naruto questioned and the Soulless looked around as well before sighing.
"This world was torn apart by the ambitions of two factions. One, The Order, sought to summon their God and destroy the "Heretics" in this town, they seem to have some small level of control over the Heartless. The other group, known simply as The Cult, are the ones that the Order Wanted to destroy. The Cult seek to destroy the Order in the same way, and have control over the Soulless, sans me of course." Angela explained and Naruto frowned, though admitted that that explained a hell of a lot…
"Then what about that girl, Dark-Alessa, how does she fit into this?" Naruto questioned and the Soulless twitched, and then bowed her head.
"She's a poor lost soul with a horrible burden… tormented and assaulted by The Cult and their children all her life, abandoned by her father and then burned alive by her own mother in order to summon the god of The Order… now she's been split into pieces, Heart, Mind, Body, and Soul. Her Mind and Heart work to destroy both The Order and The Cult by using this place. Her soul, was taken outside of this horrid place so that The Order may never complete her to finish summoning their god… and her body is nothing but an unmoving husk, left alive, without a mind, a soul, or a heart…" Angela explained softly and saw the pale, horrified look on Naruto's face.
"Kami Sama… and I thought I had it bad back in Konoha…" Naruto mumbled with wide eyes and Angela remained silent. "Why would anyone torment her? I mean, why did The Cult feel the need to do that? She was just a little girl right?" Naruto asked Angela and the Soulless hovered into the air, legs crossed beneath her and arms placed onto them lightly in an oh so familiar position…
"She was born a Shadowed Princess. Thus Darkness was destined for her, her powers as a Shadowed Princess manifested early. This manifestation was in the form of powerful psychokinetic powers. She could do amazing things with only her mind; the people of this town found out and The Cult branded her a witch. The Order thought of her as a Saint. And in the end, her mother decided to use her to summon The God of The Order. She burnt Alessa alive, and she was impregnated with The Orders God. In order to save people from suffering, Alessa tore her being apart, scattering it and pulled this world further into Darkness… so that no one else need suffer because of her." Angela explained while sounding as if she wanted to cry, and Naruto wished he could get his hands on the ones that had made her life a living hell…
"Alessa's mind still wanders Silent Hill, it brings people with mental trauma here and tries to help them work through it. Dark-Alessa on the flip side is her Heart; consumed by Darkness she merely wishes the death of those that would wish Alessa harm. Her soul, it exists somewhere in the world outside, free of the pain and horror the other two suffer with daily. Her mind has the power to punish the citizens of this town, having turned them into misshapen monsters, while her Heart commands them. The two work together to seek the end of both The Order and The Cult, and nothing will stop them from having their satisfaction." Angela finished and Naruto closed his eyes with a frown across his face while tapping one finger into his bicep.
"So… the worst of those who live in Darkness… and the worst of those who live in Light… all on the same world. This has got to be the nastiest world out there." Naruto noted and Angela nodded her head before sighing and looked to the sky.
"Makes you wish for a simple world with simple villains… huh?" Angela quipped and Naruto scoffed while rubbing the back of his neck.
"A place like that doesn't exist." He responded and Angela gave him a look.
"You'd be surprised." She stated and then placed her feet back onto the ground. "I'd best be off. The Soulless general for this world was destroyed, each world with Soulless has one so I'd look for them if I were you." Angela then stated before looking around and sighed. "Oh yeah, and try not to die… these worlds need someone to save them." Angela then said and Naruto smirked while giving her a thumb's up. Sighing, the Soulless then wrapped her wing around herself, a black Raven forming where she had been before jetting off into the sky…
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TBC…
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AN: The Silent Hill of this story is a combination of the Movie and Silent-Hill origins with parts of the other games placed in to keep it interesting. Did this mostly for time's sake since I can't put a whole portion of Silent-Hill into this story without making it ridiculously long. Also, can anyone figure out where "Angela" was from before becoming a Soulless?
Here's a list of Naruto's Keyblades thus far…
Dark-Heart: A Keyblade with the corrupting Powers of Darkness capable of creating Heartless from anyone cut by its blade.
Soul-Blade: An inherently evil Keyblade with the power to devour souls.
Gears of Madness: An old Keyblade that once belonged to the Apprentice of Master Xehanort.
Vorpal-Key: A Keyblade forged from a shard of the Vorpal-sword, capable of cutting through anything, even a foot of solid steel.