Here's chapter twenty-nine. Thank you Aburg76, A.K.J.19, Kiri Katou Clover, ultima-owner, Parks98, Server lock, and Joachim Armster for reviewing last chapter!
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Connection
Linguini led Sora and Shirou to his apartment. "Well, here we are." He shoved the door open.
Clutter filled the apartment. A small kitchen sat barricaded on one side. Windows filled the wall nearby. A lamp swung above. A refrigerator and table pressed against one wall. Various objects lay strewn about. "Sorry about the mess." Linguini pushed a green couch aside. "The bathroom's there." He pointed to a small room to the right. "I usually just sleep on the couch, but one of you can have it until, you know, you guys need to leave."
Sora said, "Shirou, you can have it."
Almost simultaneously Shirou said, "It's alright, you don't have to."
The rat sighed.
Linguini scratched his head. "Okay, well, make yourselves comfortable, I guess." He shuffled to a closet at one side.
Sora released a heavy breath. He turned and bent to look at the rat still perched on Shirou's head. He said, "I don't think I officially gave you my name. I'm Sora. I'm guessing you already know Shirou."
The rat nodded.
"Do you have a name?"
The rat gave him a dry look.
"I'm guessing you can't speak out language." Sora considered possibly attempting to add another language translation spell.
The rat nodded. He paused, then lifted a finger. He crawled down Shirou's arm and bounded over to the table. He took a pen, braced it against his shoulder, and carefully scrawled something across a loose piece of paper.
Both Shirou and Sora squinted at the words. "'Remy'?" Shirou asked hesitantly.
The rat nodded.
"Hey!" Linguini called, startling them. "I got some blankets, and I found an extra pillow. It's kind of old, though." He hit the stiff thing once.
Sora smiled crookedly. "That's alright. We've had some pretty interesting sleeping situations before." He took a blanket and the pillow and passed them to Shirou.
Shirou frowned, but didn't argue.
Sora accepted his own blanket. "So. How are we going to go about this?"
Linguini glanced towards him. "Hm?"
"Shirou has to go back tomorrow. Remy was the one who did the cooking, right?"
Shirou and Remy both nodded.
Linguini asked, "Remy?"
"The rat." Sora rolled his eyes sideways. "But Remy's not supposed to be in the restaurant, I'm guessing."
Remy nodded, eyes falling slightly.
"So how are we going to pull this off?"
Silence hung heavy in the apartment. Linguini ventured, "He could say he just made it by accident."
Sora nodded. "Maybe that'd be best."
Shirou frowned. He glanced towards Remy.
"Alright." Sora sighed, shoulders sinking. "Let's try and get some sleep, okay? Then we'll have Linguini take us with him tomorrow and let the chef know."
Linguini sprawled across the couch, while Sora and Shirou spread their blankets across the floor. Shirou reluctantly placed the pillow nearby.
Sora glanced towards his apprentice and sighed. "Everything alright?"
Shirou hesitated. He glanced towards Remy.
"He'll be alright. He has somewhere to go back to, I'm sure." He grinned. "Hey, we're supposed to be relaxing, right? Try not to worry."
Shirou nodded.
-Sora stood in a wide expanse of darkness, murk swirling around his legs. He blinked, his eyes aching. "Hello?" His voice fell flat, dead, sinking like a weight into the murk below. Something cold and slimy clung to his arms and swept past his face. He tried to brush it away, his arms moving as if through sludge. "What is this place?"
"You don't know?" a voice whispered. The words seemed to carry a physical quality, sliding through his ears and freezing them.
A much different chill settled in his heart. "You shouldn't be here."
"Shouldn't I?" The image of the Puppet Master materialized in the darkness, the murk swirling behind and beneath him.
"No. You're locked in the Realm of Sleep." Sora took a deep breath. "This isn't real."
"Is it, now?" The Puppet Master loomed before him. "You should know better than anyone, Sora, that even memories can be very, very real."
Sora leaned away. He gritted his teeth and attempted to summon the Kingdom Key. The weapon didn't materialize. He took a deep breath and stood straighter, eyes locked. "Get out."
"Oh? You mean you don't want to connect to my heart, too? How sad. You'll connect to fake hearts."
Sora didn't move, didn't speak.
The Puppet Master moved, ghostly body phasing through Sora's, leaving behind a chill and whispered words, "You know the truth, deep inside your heart, but you refuse to admit it. When will you stop blinding your heart?"
"Wha—" The words caught in his throat. Images and emotions bombarded him, too rapid and various for him to discern.
He couldn't think. He couldn't breathe. His head pounded. His body went rigid. His heart stuttered, and swelled, and he wanted to scream but it felt like something had blocked his throat, his hands wanting to claw at his throat but forced to stay rigid, charged, at his side, like the memories were filling his body, and suddenly the energy seemed too much, like his body was too small.
The darkness closed over his eyes and wrapped thick, sickening claws around his heart.
-Sora snapped awake and realized he wasn't breathing. Slowly he coaxed his lungs to work, his breath slowly returning. You're okay. You're here, in this moment. Lying on the floor, under an old blanket, in Linguini's apartment. Shirou's beside—
Shirou's blanket had been thrown aside.
Sora stiffened, and almost leapt into action when quiet words drifted his way: "Is this one right?"
A pause and some shuffling.
Shirou's voice came again. "Okay, now what?"
Metal clinked quietly on metal.
Sora pushed himself into a sitting position.
Shirou stood in the kitchen, his back to Sora, various ingredients scattered about. Remy sat near him, watching critically.
Sora slowly pushed the blanket away.
Shirou said, "I don't think this looks right."
Remy shrugged, though he looked troubled, as well.
Sora tapped Shirou's shoulder.
The boy jumped. His hand hit the bowl, and it clattered loudly.
Sora lifted his hands. "Sorry, sorry!" he half-whispered. Lowering his voice, he added, "Just wanted to see what you were doing."
Shirou shoved the bowl aside, trying to block it, turning red. "Nothing."
Remy nodded vigorously.
"If you wanted to cook, we could've done that tomorrow."
"It's not really cooking."
Sora raised an eyebrow and waited.
Shirou hesitantly dragged the bowl back into view. "Remy said he'd try and help me make ice cream if I helped him into the restaurant."
"At night?"
"I couldn't sleep."
"Nightmare?"
Shirou hesitated, then shook his head.
"Shirou."
"It's fine. They don't really bother me anymore." He lifted his head, face and eyes going blank. "It's just a thing that happened."
Sora watched him. Hesitantly he tapped into his magic, a tendril curling towards Shirou's heart. It seemed empty, frail, as fragile and transparent as glass.
"Why ice cream?"
Some faint emotion entered his heart. Embarrassment, maybe? For the moment the emotions stilled seemed suppressed. "It's—because."
"Because?"
The emotions trickled back in, more obvious, the embarrassment tangled with worry. "You like ice cream." The words came uncertainly, and guilt mingled with the other emotions. "So I thought if I learned to make it, it might help with the episodes." Something light and pure tangled with the emotions.
He cut the magic free. "Shirou. Didn't I say that—"
Shirou flashed him a look, forcing him to stop.
He suddenly realized Remy had disappeared.
"I have," Shirou paused, his face crinkled, then he started again, "I have to help you."
"You don't have to do anything." He bent to Shirou's level, hands resting on his shoulders. "The 'episodes' aren't fun, but I can handle them. I've been doing it for a long time now."
"That doesn't mean it's fair."
"Would you say the same about your nightmares?"
"But they're just there."
Sora worried his lip, eyes searching Shirou's. He sighed. "Well, we're both already awake, aren't we? Let's see if we can figure out how to make this."
Shirou turned to him, wide-eyed, then nodded, quickly.
Sora smiled and gathered the ingredients.
-Shirou jerked awake when someone shook his shoulder. He blinked bleary eyes.
Linguini grinned awkwardly. "H-hey. Shirou, right? It's morning."
Shirou sat up. At some point in the night he and Sora must have fallen asleep; his mentor was sprawled across the floor, snoring quietly.
Remy peered over the table and waved. The smell of eggs wafted through the apartment.
"Yeah, the little chef woke up early and made us breakfast." Linguini moved to shake Sora awake.
Shirou sat up and rubbed his eyes. Their mess from the previous night—bowls, ingredients, and various stirring utensils—still lay strewn about the counter and table. Shirou stood, gathering some of the dishes and depositing them in the sink.
"Oh!" Linguini shouted.
Sora jumped to awareness. "Wha—what is it?"
"We're late!"
Shirou blinked, and suddenly he was being tugged along.
Remy landed on his shoulder, clinging desperately.
The small group rushed through the city, hurrying towards Gusteau's, hardly sparing the time to glance about. Linguini ushered them in through the back. "Okay, I've got to get to work, but just stay here, okay?" He rushed away.
Shirou glanced about the kitchen, which was already in a flurry of action. He eyed them and thought over last night's decision. Maybe it was better that they did say he couldn't do this. After all, he really didn't have any idea how to cook, and learning wouldn't really help with his training, he didn't think. He couldn't make ice cream, but his mentor had seemed less enthusiastic about it than he'd thought.
Remy, who'd crawled inside his shirt, sighed.
Shirou tapped into his magic. He sent tendrils all around him, and suddenly found himself bombarded by emotions. He drew back, head reeling, and instead just focused on Remy. He briefly caught the reluctant defeat that radiated from the rat before, his head still spinning, he let the magic go.
"Ah," a voice said, "I was wondering if you would appear again." The short chef from the previous day approached them, smirking. "Linguini says you have something to tell me?"
Linguini stood behind him, wringing his hands.
"Yeah," Sora said. He paused, his expression unreadable. Then he smiled. "Just wanted to say you won't be disappointed!"
Shirou swiveled to him and gaped.
Remy jerked on Shirou's back.
Linguini squeaked, "Really?"
The small chef echoed, "Really."
"Yep!" Sora threw and arm around Shirou's shoulder. "This kid's the best chef you'll ever see!" He glanced at Shirou, still grinning, and the boy was still took shocked to properly tap into his magic and try to decipher what his master was thinking.
"I see," the chef said, folding his arms. "If that is true, then let's see what the child can do."
That's the end of this chapter. Review responses:
Aburg76: Wow ratatouille, I guess you had to make him a good chef somehow. – Haha, yep. I figured learning from Remy would be a good way to do that and include a fun Disney world simultaneously.
A.K.J.19: Well I guess he had to learn to cook somehow I mean if it's not if he doesn't cook well then he really isn't shirou. – I don't know if I'd say he isn't Shirou if he doesn't learn how to cook, but I thought it'd be a cool way to include that element of his character. I hope the heartless don't try and sabotage this. – Heartless? Sabotage? Never…
Kiri Kaitou Clover: Shirou still learns to cook! – Yes, indeed.
ultima-owner: He'll be a master cook in no time. – Haha, maybe not 'no time,' but he'll get there.
Parks98: Hehe it's funny that we get to see shirou will also learn how to cook since in a lot of the fandom he has "godly cooking" or "Cooking that would make him a heroic spirit" and now he gets to learn how to cook from a super mouse plus an entire restaurant of high class French cooks. – Haha, yep! We're just going to take that element and roll with it. I hope that Linguini and Colette still have that friendship: romance. – I'm really not sure how much I'll feature that at this point. There might be some nods to it, but I don't think it'll be very prominent. Oh and Damn that Kingdom hearts 2.8 trailer! – I know! I am so psyched for this game.
Server lock: And so the legacy of Shirou's cooking skills manifests itself in the form of a rat. – Haha, yep.
Joachim Armster: This chapter was very amusing. It was honestly more humorous than i was expecting. – Glad you enjoyed it! While my mind wasn't necessarily going 'funny,' it was going 'lighter,' so I guess that's how it worked out. As for the previous answer you gave, i have to say that makes more sense; although i had kind of hoped that it was an extension of heart magic to transfer your feelings to another kind of like ni no kuni where you can take emotions from one person and transfer them to another only less dark (in the way that it is basically a form of mind control). – It is something I considered including, but ended up deciding that it'd be better to stick with it mostly affecting the user. So, I guess that's kind of a consolation?
If there's anything you'd like to say about the chapter, I would love it if you left it in a review!
