Usagi: hello again people! Seems it finally time for another update of Lost in Darkness…there's a lot of things happening in this chapter, and I should probably warn you, it also includes the very first character death in the fanfic….and probably rather pathetic one at that…but considering the character's current form… I'm not saying more.
Zakura: didn't like that character anyway.
Usagi: If I say more now I'll probably spoil something, so here's chapter 25!
Chapter 25
Fate of the gambler
The two nobody-canines watched as several cars drove out from the garage, heading towards the city outskirts.
"Where are they going this time?" Saïx asked.
"I don't know puppy, let's follow them and find out" Xigbar said, setting of.
"Don't call me puppy" Saïx growled and followed the wolf.
"Would you mind slowing down a little?" Kairi asked, she was sitting in the front seat of Sig's car, next to Sig himself, Riku and Roxas were in the backseat, Sora clinging to Riku's head.
"Oh? Sorry, I forgot you weren't used to driving at such speeds" Sig said and slowed down…a little...it was still a little too fast for Kairi but she was unable to say so as she feared she might throw up if she tried to talk. (That happens to me sometimes-.- it sucks).
Luckily for her, Riku's stomach was a bit tougher, and he noticed how pale she was looking.
"It's still a little fast, I think Kairi's getting sick" he said. "And at the same time, I'm not planning to figure out of heartless can throw up or not, especially not considering what he's been eating" he added, and pointed at Sora who once again was hanging on to his head for his bare life.
"You guys wouldn't last a second in a race" Sig said, but slowed down.
Cornelius drove up next to them; Axel was standing on top of his car, obviously enjoying himself, Kate sat next to Cornelius, looking bored.
"Seriously guys, if we were driving much slower we'd be going backwards. Do you want to get to Spargus or not?" he said.
"Weee, if I had a heart I would have loved to feel the wind through my fur like this" Axel cheered.
"It has to be a better way of travelling than this" Kairi sighed, as she was bending over the side of the car.
"Well, we could always…" Axel started but was cut of by Riku.
"We're not using the dark portals" he said.
"Why not?" the fiery ottsel asked.
"Because we're not. Good enough reason for you?" Riku asked.
"You're just jealous because you lost your ability to make them" Roxas mocked.
"I am not" Riku said, but Roxas saw he was turning red.
"You are too" Roxas said.
"I am not!"
"Hey! No fighting in the car cherries!" Sig warned before the two boys flew at each other's throats (again). "Take it when we get there".
"Hey, if you're gonna ask them to stop fighting please make them stop for good" Kairi complained, before leaning out of the window again.
She looked up as he heard a sound from the top of the car, and noticed Axel had somehow managed to jump from Cornelius' car (which was suddenly far ahead) onto Sig's.
"If he does that, that'll be some miracle, got it memorized?" he said.
"I could always beat up you instead" Riku said.
"Ooh, grumpy butt" Axel said mockingly, and sat down on top of the car, appearing to be sunbathing.
It took the group a couple of hours to get from Kras City to Spargus (though Cornelius kept saying it would only have taken them 10 minutes if Sig hadn't stopped all the time because Kairi got car sick, Jak and Daxter, who had been driving with Keira, and Tess, used one hour getting there driving non-stop. Cornelius had mostly been driving in circles.) Mickey, Donald and Goofy had been riding with Rayn, who was the only one who drove at a decent speed without being told to do so.
Ashelin and Torn drove with all 3 precursors+Demyx and Zexion in the back seat (feeling lucky they were all small-sized), while Ashelin had the rat cage with Luxord in on her lap during the trip.
As soon as they had stopped, Kairi quickly ran out of the car and towards some nearby bushes.
"Don't worry kid. You'll get used to it" Cornelius said.
"Well that is reassuring, as I do NOT want to get anywhere near any of those cars again" Kairi said. "I don't care how dangerous it is, I prefer the dark portals".
"See? SEE?" Axel said, nudging Riku's foot. Riku kicked him.
"So where is that light eco vent anyway?" Riku asked.
"It's right this way. Follow me!" Daxter said and bounced of Jak's shoulder before running into the city.
The ottsel led them towards the shore, where, just in the middle of some ruins, there was a vent of some sort, spitting out some kind of shining white liquid.
Sora didn't seem to keen on getting close to the light eco, and hid behind Roxas' back.
"So I take it this is the famous eco went" Riku asked.
"That's the one. Wanna try it out?" Daxter asked.
"I'm not sure if this is such a good idea, he's horrified of it" Kairi said, as she picked the shadow of Roxas' back, before he tried to strangle him.
"Of course he's scared. Heartless are made from pretty much nothing but darkness, so it's only natural they'd be scared of something this pure" Luke the precursor said.
"But don't worry, there's only a 40 chance that he'll die instantly" Donny said.
"Well that's reassuring" Kairi said, and held Sora further away from the vent.
"Look, let's just try a small drop, that can't harm can it?" Riku said.
"Well
we've never tested…"
"Shut up will you?" Riku said, as
Luke looked rather baffled of being interrupted.
"Fine. But if it looks like he's in pain we'll stop" Kairi said.
"Don't worry. If he feels any discomfort I'll know straight away" Roxas said.
"Then let's get going" Mickey said and pulled out a teaspoon from his pocket.
"You carry a spoon on your pocket?" Riku asked.
"What? You never know when you're going to need a spoon" Mickey said, and put the spoon into the vent, when he pulled it out again, a small drop of the light eco had landed on it. "See? Bet you're glad I had that spoon with me now huh Riku?"
"Just get on with it already" Riku sighed.
"Right, hold him still Kairi" Mickey said, and approached the heartless, who was still clinging to Kairi. "Open wide Sora".
Whether he didn't understand the sentence or just wanted to be difficult, Sora kept his mouth shut tighter than ever, so Mickey just dripped some of the light substance on his skin, which was obviously enough. The heartless wriggled itself out of Kairi's grip, and ran of in the opposite direction, right into Ashelin who lost Luxord's rat cage, and then ran of to find a hiding place.
"You were supposed to hold him still" Riku said.
"Well I didn't want him to get hurt" Kairi apologized.
"Never mind that, he'll be back, we have a bigger problem" Roxas said, and pointed in direction of the rat-cage, which was lying on a rock, broken. Luxord was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh snap" Riku said.
Meanwhile, in another part of the city a certain pair of canines was sniffing around. (At the moment they came out into the wasteland outside Kras they had simply dark portalled into the nearest city. Which coincidentally was Spargus),
"They're definitely here somewhere" Xigbar said. "Yet I don't see why anyone would wanna go to this ruin".
"Just concentrate on finding nr X will you? He must be here some…" Saïx said but was cut of as something yellow suddenly came running towards them.
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!" the creature yelled before disappearing again.
"…where" Saïx finished. "What was that ab…"
Once again he was cut of as a larger black creature appeared, following the rat.
"I think it's a cat" Xigbar said.
Saïx barked loudly at the creature making it stop.
It was indeed a small female cat, which obviously had been trhough a lot (not surprisingly, judging by where it lived) as she only had one ear, and was missing some fur on her tail.
She was also remarkably small. Even a bit smaller than Saïx, who was obviously more muscular.
"Stay away kitty, that's a member of the Organization XIII you're chasing" Saïx growled.
The cat hissed, unimpressed by the puppy's threats.
"You're not gonna let a little cat speak to you in that way are you nr VII?" Xigbar teased. "You're a dog after all".
"I don't need you to tell me what to do nr II" Saïx said and charged at the kitty.
The cat however was too fast for him; she scratched his nose and ran of again, in the direction Luxord had just ran.
"After it Saïx!" Xigbar yelled as he ran after the cat.
Saïx was left behind a little baffled, after the fall he had landed upside down, and his nose felt like it was burning. "I'll get your for that one kitty" he growled as he got to his feet.
Luxord could not remember having been in bigger troubles yet, and from a cat of all things!
He had a lucky escape when Sora's panic attack lead to his cage being broken, and as the sly rodent he was, he quickly crawled himself out and ran of before anyone had time to notice the cage had broken of.
His plan was to find a suitable back alley to hide in till he felt well enough to dark portal out of there, as he wasn't feeling too good after the car-ride.
However he soon realised he had picked the wrong alley.
That is where he had met the black female cat. The feline looked as if she hadn't had a good meal in days, and when a fat rat suddenly walked right into her alley...
The arrival of Xigbar and Saïx may have slowed down the cat a little bit, but sadly it was not interested in picking a fight with a dog and a wolf, and was now back at Luxord's heals.
"Oh god, please save me and I'll never gamble again" Luxord said. "Except perhaps on public holidays… and Tuesdays…and any day ending with the letter Y".
Too busy making promises he could never in his non-life ever hold, Luxord didn't see where he was going and suddenly crashed, realising till his horror that he had ran straight into a dead-end.
"Just perfect…first I'm beaten by some kid with a giant KEY then some lousy cat" he muttered, as he saw his life flash before his eyes for the third time. (First time was when he lost his heart, second when he died in KH2)
Xigbar and Saïx followed the cat's scent into a back alley, where Xigbar simply grabbed her tail and threw her out on the streets.
"Stay clear nr II, this one's mine" Saïx said.
He charged at the stray cat and hit her with his paw, the cat fell over by the pressure, but was back on her feet very quickly and bit Saïx in his ear, Saïx returned the favour by biting the cats tail, and for a while they ran around in circles like that.
"This is better than a cat-fight" Xigbar said.
He watched the two fight for a short while, Saïx was undoubtedly stronger than the undernourished cat, but she was fast and more agile. So it didn't seem like any of them were winning.
But Xiggy…aren't you forgetting something?
"Oh…right. Luxord" Xigbar said, and walked into the back alley, leaving the other two to make up in their own violent way.
He could smell the rat in the alley, and there were signs of struggle, but Xigbar quickly figured they had been too late.
Unfortunately for the cat, she had been unable to benefit from the hunt, as nobodies usually faded right back into darkness when they died.
There was no trace of him anywhere, except for the smell, which was not noticeable by human noses (except if they were Zexion that is). He could not have used a portal, as Xigbar noticed he was looking dizzy when he ran from the cat, and using a portal when you aren't feeling well could be dangerous, as it was difficult to pinpoint where you were going, you could end up inside a volcano or something.
He walked out of the alley and found Saïx still fighting the cat. Both seemed to have gotten a few hits, but nothing lethal.
"Dude. Luxord's dead. Let's just leave this hole" Xigbar said.
"Not…before…I've…killed…this…damn…cat!" Saïx said.
Xigbar sighed. "Look, I know you're annoyed that you've been transformed into a close-to-harmless puppy but taking your anger out on this cat won't change anything….in fact, we're nobodies. We can't even FEEL anger!" he said.
However, Xigbar's rant fell on deaf ears.
Meanwhile, not too far away, another escapee had been found.
As Roxas had predicted, Sora came running back the moment the crew started calling for him, but finding Luxord was an entirely different matter.
"Give it up; we're never going to find him. He's probably disappeared of to another world already" Donald said.
"He can't use dark portals while he's carsick. That could end in disaster, and Luxord knows that" Zexion said. "No… he's around here somewhere…or was…"
"Make up your mind. Is he here or is he not?" Riku asked.
Zexion stood up on his hind legs and sniffed the air.
"Almost sure now…the scent as faded, however…" the cat took of before anyone had time to ask what he was sure of, towards the direction where Xigbar and Saïx were battling the cat.
"What on earth are you doing?" he asked, the moment he found them.
"You ask him" Xigbar said, nodding towards the cloud of dust that was Saïx and the cat.
Riku and the others caught up with them.
"You. I should have known" Riku said, and pulled his Way to Dawn.
"Always so hostile. Why can't we all just be friends?" Xigbar said.
"You must be joking…"
"I am, come on puppy" Xigbar said and practically pulled Saïx out, before disappearing into a portal.
"A wolf and a puppy wouldn't stand a chance against all of us" Cornelius said. "Speaking of fights…"
"Oh poor little thing" Kairi said, and picked up the now badly injured cat.
"Guess now we know what happened to Luxord…gee, that is ironic" Axel smirked.
"That's
one less problem to worry about" Riku muttered. "Besides we won't
have to ruin Zexion's appetite."
"Haha, very funny" Zexion
said. "Leave that cat alone, it's probably just a stray."
"But we can't just leave it. It's injured. Did the mean old doggy hurt you?" Kairi said to the cat.
"Oh great. She's talking baby-talk to random animals again" Riku sighed.
"You mean she's done that before?" Axel asked.
"She does that every time she finds an animal in distress. I've lost count of how many times she's been told by her mother that she can't keep every animal she takes home with her" Riku said. "I'm just glad we're not on Destiny Islands right now or she'd obviously ask…"
"Can we keep her?"
Riku stared at Kairi, still holding the cat. Roxas and Axel broke out into laughter.
"I know how that feels buddy" Cornelius said, Kate just giggled.
"We can't just take a cat from another world with us in the gummi ship Kairi" Riku tried.
"Why not?" Kairi asked.
Riku didn't have an answer, luckily for him, Donald did.
"That'd be meddling!" he said.
"It's just a cat" Kairi said.
"Unimportant!"
the duck said. "That cat belongs in this world so it stays in this
world. We can't just go ahead take animals from lots of different
worlds and put them in another. That'll cause chaos!"
"But
you let the nobodies come along".
"Well…they were from other worlds originally".
"I'm sure no one will miss this one cat, besides, I think she likes me, mom can't say no to such a face can she?" Kairi said.
"That's what you said about all the others too" Riku said.
"Sora's
mom said she wanted a cat once" Kairi said, looking at Roxas for
support.
"We still can't just take it away like that. Besides
it's missing an ear" Roxas said.
"Guys, you're just being silly. Obviously the cat needs medical attention and so it shall get" Mickey said.
"But your majesty…" Donald started.
"One small cat can't harm, besides, most people already know about the other worlds anyway, and I'm pretty sure this cat won't tell anyone" Mickey explained. "I'll take it back to Disney Castle. We have great vets there."
"And it won't be a problem that some of the inhabitants are mice?" Axel asked.
The others just glared at him.
"Sorry…couldn't resist" Axel snickered.
"That's a great idea King Mickey! Thank you" Kairi said.
"Aren't you all forgetting about something?" Riku asked, pointing to the shadow hiding behind his feet.
"Don't worry. I'm sure the three of you would be perfectly able to travel the worlds on your own" Mickey said.
"Sora could drive the gummi ship pretty well, ahyuck, so then Roxas should be able to as well right?" Goofy said.
"Better than him at least" Roxas said, pointing at Sora, who simply snickered.
"Besides, I'm sure the queen would appreciate if you stay with her now, in her condition and all" Goofy said.
"What condition?" Kairi asked.
"Oh that. It's nothing serious really" Mickey said, blushing.
"Is she sick?" Riku asked.
"No no. nothing like that… it's just ehm…" Mickey said.
"Wait a minute…don't tell me Queen Minnie is…expecting?" Riku asked, smirking.
"Expecting what? Why would she need his help if she was expecting a package?" Demyx asked.
"Not a package you idiot!" Axel said. "He means she's expecting a little prince…or princess".
Demyx stared at him with a confused look for a short while, and then it hit him. "Ooooh… I knew that."
"Yeah, you're right. Minnie's having a baby. Shouldn't be too long now" Mickey said.
"Well if you're going to become a daddy you should be with her, I know I would want the father of my children around when I give birth" Kairi said.
"Sure you can manage on your own?" Mickey asked.
"Of course, you said so yourself, and frankly you've kept Minnie waiting long enough loverboy" Riku said.
Sora and Roxas nodded, almost simultaneously.
"Well alright then. Donald, Goofy, are you coming too?" Mickey said.
"I guess Daisy would like some company too" Donald said. "And I won't have to get beaten up for being away for too long again…"
"Then it's settled. We'll drop you guys and the cat of at Disney castle and then it's of for the next big adventure" Riku said. It was no doubt in the world he was enjoying this.
Usagi: Well this was probably upsetting for Luxord-fans…especially if you wanted a more spectacular death but he's a rat. Cats eat rats.
Also this chapter turned 6 pages long which is quite and achievement for me! I got to do several things I've wanted to do for some time.
Solve the "Luxord-problem". Never knew quite what to do about that guy…. It was either kill him now or later.
Figured out if light eco affects heartless….it didn't do much... But with the current length of the chapter you'll have to wait till next chapter to figure out if it actually did make a difference or not…
Shorten the party. Seriously, there's the original KH-party of Sora, Donald and Goofy+Riku, King Mickey, Kairi and the nobodies. That's one heck of a party. A friend of mine suggested the Disney characters going away so I found an excuse for that. The first one was lame, so I added a baby mouse into the mix:3 Honestly…why do both Donald and Mickey, despite having a girlfriend neither ever seem to get a kid…only nephews.
Introduce a random cat…who coincidentally got a part in both Dork Period, Kingdom Dorks and Heart Wars…all with different background stories.
Finish this chapter before dinner…okay I failed.
Please review! While I go eat dinnerXD