CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
"Now all that's left is Ventus." I mumbled quietly to myself. "I wonder where he is."
The area flashed red and sirens blared in my ears.
"WhoooOOOAAA!" I whirled around, and a force smacked into my torso, sending us both to the ground. I gasped to bring back the air that was knocked out of me, and I glared at the mess of blonde hair peeking out in my peripheral view.
"Speak of the devil." I mumbled, throwing Ventus off me and sitting up. "You've got to stop doing that."
Ventus groaned and rubbed his head. "You think I choose to do that? I was chasing a giant Unversed around before I got sucked in here."
"So, you're the intruder! Identify yourself!" A deep voice said.
"Oh, great. Now you've attracted Elephant Man." I said, referring to Gantu as he stomped into the room and pointed his gun at Ventus.
"Oh, it's you." Gantu growled at me, but he kept his weapon pointed at Ventus. "I see you've smuggled another one of your hideous-looking friends onto this ship."
"Have you looked in a mirror lately?"
"My name is Ventus." Ventus said before Gantu could get the idea of shooting me. "The monster I was chasing boarded your ship."
"Nice try. If there was another intruder aboard, we'd have detected it." Gantu said.
The ship lurched, and the alarms went off once again.
"Intruder in the machinery bay! We lost control of the engines! I-it's some kind of monster!"
"You were saying?" I said with my hands on my hips.
Gantu growled and ran out of the room. "I'll deal with you abominations later."
"This is my fault. I have to do something!" Ventus said.
He ran for the door, when suddenly Experiment 626 landed in front of him. He looked up at Ventus and purred curiously.
"Ven...? Terra... Haa-lee... Ah-koo, wah..." he said.
"What?" Ventus said, crouching down. "You know my friends?"
626 pulled his Wayfinder out and showed Ventus the junky star.
"Fren... Circle!" 626 said.
"Yes, that's right." I said, crouching to the alien's level. "We're friends."
"Hey... is that a Wayfinder?" Ventus said.
"Yeah. He made it himself."
The ship lurched again, and I fell back onto my butt.
"The engines are under too much stress. We're risking an explosion!"
"Aghhh, what are we doing?! There's no time!" Ventus said. "Come on, we've got to go find that Unversed!"
Ventus ran to the door, but he stopped when he noticed 626 trotting closely behind.
"No, you need to stay here. It's too dangerous." Ventus said, and I rolled my eyes.
As Ventus ran out the door, 626 whimpered. He pulled out his Wayfinder and stared at it broodingly. I bent down next to him and rested my hand on the star.
"Come on. You can help us out." I smiled.
Experiment 626's ears perked back up and he chattered excitedly in his unknown language. A blue glob of energy slammed into 626. As he went tumbling to the ground, his Wayfinder shattered into pieces and lay scattered on the floor. I gasped in horror and jumped to my feet.
"I don't know how you did it, but you won't get away again." Gantu's deep, blood-boiling voice said. "Hmph. You haven't fooled me. You can bat your eyes all you want at the Grand Councilwoman so she'll reconsider your sentence. But I see you for what you really are- an abomination that's only instinct is to destroy everything it touches."
"You... you..." My hands balled into fists, clenched so hard my knuckles started to turn white as I stared at the broken Wayfinder. I screamed in frustration and whirled around, summoning Ultima Weapon. "You monster!"
"Please. If anyone is the monster, it is that cretin you foolishly decided to trust. It'll only be a matter of time before he turns on you."
"Why do you do this?! Why do you wish nothing more than to get rid of him?!You're just jealous that he has people who care about him!" I charged at him and leaped in the air. "You'll pay for this!"
My vision blurred. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground on one knee, tightly clutching my Keyblade in my hands. I took deep, shaky breaths until I saw red staining the teeth of my Keyblade. I gasped, slowly stood up, and willed myself to turn around, where I saw Gantu laying on the ground. I saw a deep cut on his arm, and the blood quickly oozed out. I gasped, and Ultima Weapon fell out of my hand. It disappeared before it could hit the ground. I walked over to the giant, grey alien, and the sight of his chest rising and falling eased my worst-case scenarios. But still...
"What... what did I do?" I said. I cried out as my right arm filled with throbbing pain. I clutched it tightly, feeling the brown cords wrapped firmly around my forearm. I sucked in deep breaths to calm the pain that flowed from my arm into my chest. I gasped to see the cords glow faintly with brimming darkness. A few seconds later, it vanished. "What's happening to me...?"
My eyes went back to 626, who stared at me curiously, as if whatever just happened didn't seem to trouble him whatsoever.
Well, he is a creature of destruction...
"Come on..." I stuttered. I glanced back at Gantu's wound and gulped. "Let's go find Ven."
I extended my arm out, and he scrambled up it and rested on my shoulder.
"Ventus!" I called when the blonde was in sight. As Ventus turned around, the door slammed shut. I ran up to it and pounded my fists against the door, but it wouldn't budge.
"Hallie! Are you there?" Ventus's muffled voice called from the other side of the door.
"Yes, I'm here!" I said. I heard a warping sound behind me and I sighed. "And so are the Unversed."
I turned around to face the creatures of darkness. 626 jumped down from my shoulder and snarled at the Unversed.
"What was that?" Ventus said.
"It's nothing! You take care of yourself, and I'll catch up in a little bit!" I said, summoning my Keyblade.
A Tank Toppler rolled towards me. I stabbed forward and plunged the teeth of my Keyblade into the Unversed's chest. I grunted and swung my Keyblade, releasing the Tank Toppler into the others and destroying them. The door opened, but Ventus wasn't on the other side. Assuming he already went on ahead, 626 and I continued down the hallway, fighting off the Unversed that kept us from advancing.
We entered the core of the ship, and I saw the giant Metamorphosis flying around the center of the room. Ventus stood with Wayward Wind in his hand.
"End of the line!" he cried.
"Ventus!" I said, standing next to him with Ultima Weapon. 626 jumped down in between us and snarled at the Unversed.
"Hey, I told you to stay behind! You shouldn't be here!" Ventus said to 626.
"It's okay, Ven. He knows what he's doing." I said.
"Uh... okay..."
We chased the Metamorphosis as it floated around the room. When it paused to suck energy out of the energy core, we jumped up and attacked it.
"Haa-lee!" 626 hopped up and down, and understanding the meaning, I grabbed him and hurled him at the Unversed, just like what we did against Gantu. He scratched and bit the Unversed, distracting it from flying and causing it to crash into the walls and weaken itself. Ventus and I finished it off.
Afterwards, 626 snarled and barked at nothing with an intense fury.
"It's over! Cut it out!" Ventus said. He grabbed 626's shoulders, but the alien threw him off and caused him to fall back to the ground. "What's gotten into you?!"
626 calmed down and his snarls turned into sad whimpers. He turned around with the remains of his Wayfinder in his paws. The sight of the destroyed star brought bitter feelings back to my heart.
"I see... Your Wayfinder broke." Ventus said.
"Gantu destroyed it." I said, the anger returning to me.
Ventus rested a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay. Friendship is more than an object."
"Fren-ship... Cir...cle?" 626 said. Ventus nodded and smiled.
The ground rumbled, and we turned around as Gantu entered the room. "Hmph, don't let the little mimic fool you. You saw for yourself what kind of monster that thing is. All it knows how to do is hurt and destroy." he said.
"No, that's what you are!" I cried.
"He helped us to stop the monster!" Ventus said. He paused to stare at the layers of gauze wrapped around Gantu's arm. "We left you alone for 5 minutes, and you managed to hurt yourself?"
"Your heinous, little friend did this to me!" Gantu growled. He reached up and ripped off the gauze. My stomach dropped to my feet. As the gauze fell to the ground, I saw the blood soaking the insides, almost as thick as the amount drying on his arm. Ventus gasped in horror and looked at me. "This savage attacked and nearly killed me! If anyone around here is a monster, it's you! Experiment 626 pales in comparison to the bloodthirsty lust you keep in your heart!"
"Shut up!" I screamed, and I cowered shamefully in realization of Ventus's stare.
"Hallie... you didn't really...?" he said quietly.
"N... no! I didn't! I mean, I didn't mean to do it! He destroyed 626's Wayfinder, and I got so mad, and I..." I said. Tears filled my eyes. "I-I'm sorry."
Experiment 626 leaped up and landed on Gantu's face.
"Stop that!" Gantu cried, shaking his head furiously. "Get off!"
The force of his head shakes cause him to lose his balance. He fell to the ground. 626 jumped off and growled at Gantu.
"Come on, let's go!" Ventus grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door.
"Sound the alert! Prisoners on the loose!" Gantu cried. "Don't let them get away!"
"I don't think we're welcomed here anymore." I said.
Ventus and I touched the orbs on our armor and activated our Keyblade Armor. We climbed up to the roof and summoned our Keyblade gliders. We rode side by side with 626, who zipped through space in a red spaceship.
"Whoa-!" I cried as I lurched to the side to avoid the green lasers that zipped past me. Several blue and white spaceships followed us. "Hey, watch it! You almost hit me!"
626 honked his horn and cackled.
"Where are we going?" Ventus said.
"As far away from there as possible." I said. I looked over at Ventus. "Ven... I-I'm sorry... I don't know what came over me back there. It's never happened before... I promise that it'll never happen again."
"It's okay. Really." Ventus said, smiling underneath his helmet. My heart quivered with relief.
626 yanked on a red knob, which extended out, revealing a yellow and black striped rod attached.
"Hyperdrive has been activated. System charging." a female voice said inside the spaceship. "Warning. Guidance is not functional."
"626... what did you do?!" I said. 626 shoved the knob back in.
"Navigation failure. Do not engage hyperdrive. Repeat. Do not engage-"
"Break formation! Get clear!" The spaceships surrounding us dispersed quickly.
"What is it? What's going on?" Ventus said as 626 pounded against the glass.
The rockets of the spaceship expanded, and 626 launched into the voids of space. The force knocked Ventus and I back. The resulting pulses sent us flying off our gliders.
"Ventus!" I cried, reaching out my hand.
"Hallie!" Ventus reached out, too.
Our hands barely grazed each other before the currents of space rocketed us in separate directions.
"Hallie...!" Ventus's voice filled my ears as his armor-cladded figure disappeared into space.
