Gah! Sorry for the long disappearance. Took a birthday vacation, then my marvelous beta came to visit, then I got sucked into playing FF7 for the first time. Thank you for all of the birthday wishes! BUT HEY LOOK A CHAPTER WITH PLOT AND STUFF.
This chapter is for KattJealous. Why? Because I can.
Kairi collapsed onto a terminal not long after everyone else did. Penelo was the only one still standing, staring in horror at the three unconscious bodies sprawled out in front of her. Ansem Wise, who she barely recognized, was sporting an impressive nosebleed. The guard who'd accompanied him to the basement was wearing a mask, so it was impossible to tell what the damage was. And as for Seth Corvus-
"He's a vampire?" she whispered. "Do- do they know about us?" Was it all a trap? Did everyone else know about Seth? What was going to happen to her when they woke up? She found herself desperately wanting to ask Kairi- Carrie- whatever her name was. She was used to playing the higher-ups, and she'd know what to do. Unfortunately, Penelo had already more than burned that bridge. Asking Kairi for help was out of the question.
Kairi herself didn't even see fit to answer the question she had asked, or maybe she just couldn't. She barely seemed able to move her limbs, and she clawed clumsily towards the main terminal, dragging herself along on various equipment when her feet failed her. And then, as if to make sure they had a full-on party, Naminé showed up as well.
"Kairi?" she asked quietly. "Are you all right?"
"Na-" Kairi mumbled, slightly cross-eyed. "Nani- no-name- nami-"
"Kairi?" Naminé asked again, concerned. Well, it was to be expected- Kairi would have had to just about empty her skull to knock out three grown men at once, not to mention an Other. Penelo watched without helping as Kairi dragged herself over to her chair and attempted to sit down, only to send said chair rolling haphazardly across the lab while she collapsed on the floor. A look of concern flashed across Naminé's face, well, as much as it could, since she was a computer program. Penelo was probably imagining things.
"Penelo," Naminé finally asked, making it very clear that she herself was a last resort for information. "What happened?"
"Big boss is a vampire. Kairi panicked and knocked everyone out," she summarized bluntly.
"Nami- Naminé," Kairi sputtered from the floor. "Need- di- dis- diver- diversion," she pronounced out slowly. "It's time." She was slowly beginning to regain some of her basic motor functions, and she reached out to retrieve her chair.
"Time for what?" Penelo asked suspiciously, but Naminé spoke over her.
"Are you sure? Now?"
"Got no choice," Kairi slurred. Naminé nodded, as if that made perfect sense in her world. Penelo frowned.
"Time for what? What are you trying to do?" Kairi managed to haul herself up into her chair, and she began to type rapidly, in sharp contrast to her sluggish movements from before. "Kairi, what's going on?" Kairi didn't answer, apparently unable to do two things at once. She just kept typing.
"Kairi," Penelo repeated. "Kairi, what's happening?" Kairi closed her eyes, put her hands down, and took a deep breath.
"Oh, you have a brain. Use it," her boss snapped, finally coming back into semi-coherency. "You're clever enough to find out my Super Secret Identity and try to play politics with me, right? Any idiot could see what I'm doing."
"Any idiot, huh?" Penelo said, just to stall. Kairi didn't seem to get the memo about the stalling, however, and continued to frantically punch directions into the computer.
"Goes much faster when I can use my brain," she muttered. "So tired-"
"And what if I stop you?" Penelo said, more urgently, hoping that Kairi wouldn't call her bluff. "They'll wake up eventually, you know. Even you can't knock someone out forever."
"Sure I can," Kairi shrugged. "Just don't feel like having murders on my conscience. Aaaand- there we go!" She hit the last button triumphantly. Suddenly, the lab was lighting up. Even the blue tubes in the floor got brighter. Penelo knew what that meant- Kairi was pushing all of the equipment up to full power. But why?
"I'm going to stop you," Penelo repeated desperately.
"Can't stop someone who's already dead," Kairi said cheerfully. "Almost ready, Naminé?"
"Everything is being prepared. They should not notice the error for at least long enough for you to escape." Penelo had just barely begun to form the words What error? when suddenly, the entire lab lurched into high gear.
Most importantly, the POEM turned on.
"Wha-? Kairi, you're not thinking of putting Seth Corvus in there, are you!?" Penelo shrieked. Kairi just laughed at her.
"Wow. You really are thick, you know that?" she scoffed. "And, while that would be justice not unpoetic-" she paused to giggle at her own pun- "E can stand for other things, too. Like, say, exit."
"Exit-?" Penelo stopped. And then her eyes widened in horror.
"Hey."
Leon didn't even notice the voice, so wrapped up was he in his work. He was angrily punching numbers into his computer, not even noticing what he was doing, really- he'd been in the self-employed private detective gig for so long that most of the ordinary day-to-day business just sort of happened automatically. A typo popped up and he snarled at it angrily.
"Hey. I'm talkin' to you, Leon." The rude emphasis on his name was finally enough to catch Leon's attention, but he was feeling too dignified to jerk around or show that he'd been surprised. If his charge weren't being such a whiny brat, well then, maybe he could have been bothered, but as it was, he kept his chin held high, and rotated his broken office chair slowly, like a true professional.
Cloud had managed to pants himself, barely. Leon's sweatpants were just slightly too big for him, and hung low enough to show more hip bone and happy trail than could generally be considered decent. On top of that, he hadn't been able to tighten the drawstring, so with each awkward, tottering step forward, the pants shifted in a way that made Leon's sex-starved brain go places very inappropriate in regards to a bleeding disaster victim.
"Ok, then. Hi, Cloud," said Leon, voice only slightly higher than normal, and he went back to his work, keeping his eyes away from the oh-so-tempting yet oh-so-wrong sexy starving vampire boy love-of-his-life.
"Don't 'Hi, Cloud' me," Cloud spat. "Who says you can talk to me like that?"
"You can barely stand. I'll talk to you however I want," Leon said dismissively, waving a hand, still not looking. Cloud hissed at him in irritation. Not a simple tsk, no, but a fierce and decidedly inhuman hiss, straight through the teeth. That got Leon's attention.
"Cloud?" he asked warily, this time shifting to face his friend, all while keeping his eyes carefully trained on Cloud's face. He looked a good deal, well, gaunter than usual, to be sure, but he was decidedly less grimy than before, so the bath must have helped. A little bit of color was returning to his cheeks- odd to see on a vampire, but Cloud and Sora had just a hint of a bit of an olive complexion, anyway, not pale pale pale. As opposed to Leon, who had never been exposed to a single drop of sunlight in his entire lifetime, and was quite confident that he was so pale as to be see-through, even though he had no way of seeing for himself.
"Are you listenin' to me?" Cloud yelled, and he punched the wall for emphasis. His strength hadn't nearly come back, but the creaky old church could respond noisily to even a fond love tap. The rafters above creaked.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm listening," he said quickly, even though he really hadn't been. Cloud was agitated, that much was certain. He was slurring his words together, sounding like the Jersey boy he was as a kid.
"He's my brother!"
"That doesn't make this a good idea!" Penelo shouted. "Kairi, it's never been done before! Who's to say he won't die outright, or come out with no limbs, or-"
"You think I haven't thought about it!?" Kairi hissed. Her hands were shaking even as she punched in the codes. "You think I haven't thought about that every goddamn day for two years? Who the hell do you think you are?"
"Kairi, please- just stop and think for a minute-"
"I have thought. I've thought plenty," she muttered. "And you know what? As soon as those three wake up-" she gestured loosely towards the unconscious heap on the floor- "I'm dead. Or they'll stick me in here, which is worse than being dead. So you know what? I've got nothing to lose."
"Yeah, but what about Zex- what about Zeke?" Penelo begged. She hadn't seen Kairi like this. Kairi was a little crazed, sure, but she'd never put anyone in danger. Well, except for the part where she'd attacked Penelo in the lab. But she hadn't been trying to kill her- right?
"He's my brother," Kairi repeated, more firmly. "And I know for a fact he'd rather be dead than living the way he is now. Even if he stays brain dead forever, it doesn't matter. My brother is not a lab experiment." She said those last words quietly, to herself, almost as if she hadn't meant for Penelo to hear them. Penelo herself stayed silent. What could she say? She had a brother, one she missed terribly, and what would she do if she were in Kairi's position?
"…Fine. I won't try to stop you," she finally said, defeated.
"Thanks," Kairi whispered. She swiveled around to face Penelo. "Listen. Can you do me a favor?"
"Uh, sure?" said Penelo, taken aback.
"Take care of Naminé. She'll talk to you. I think she likes you, though God only knows why she would."
"Uh, thanks?"
"Don't let Shinra do anything to her. I mean, you may have figured this out by now, but- she's a little bit more than just a computer program." Penelo had always suspected as much. She could feel the magic coming from the computer, and not just from the subjects. It felt good to have her suspicions confirmed. But now, now may be the last chance she'd have to find out what the girl was.
"More than a computer program?" she asked innocently. But Kairi didn't answer- she was typing again already. Suddenly, she paused.
"But you," she murmured. "You're a problem. They'll know you're an Other. Unless Seth Corvus is trying to hide the fact that he's a vampire as well, or do they all already know? We'll never get a chance to ask… what do you think, Naminé?"
"I have no way of knowing," the computer said.
"Hmm. He'll probably try to find another way to expose you. And besides, it's suspicious that I didn't knock you out- they might think we're in cahoots." Kairi thought quietly to herself for a long moment, surprisingly calm considering what she was in the process of doing. In anyone else, Penelo would admire that sort of focus, but Kairi just came off as sort of creepy.
"They'll take everyone to get checked out once they wake up," Kairi muttered. "Three knock-outs with no wounds. So we can't knock you out, since they'll notice it was different. That I didn't knock you out the same way as the others. That would be suspicious."
"I don't think I'd let you knock me out, anyway," Penelo snapped.
"That's good. Good attitude to have. We need to make it look like you put up a fight- a real fight. So, come on. Attack me," Kairi ordered. As much as Penelo loved the offer to take a swing at her boss, she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"No fucking way. You can barely stand- how could I attack you?"
"You would if you were loyal to Shinra," Kairi explained. "Now, come on. There's no time to be noble. We have to make it convincing." All in the background, machines were clicking and whirring. Penelo could almost hear them chanting fight, fight, fight-
"No. We'll find another way," she said firmly.
"There is no other way! Dammit, Penelo!" Kairi seethed. "Fine. You know what? I'll just attack you. And since you're being a pain in the ass, I'm gonna make it hurt."
"Stop it, you're going to hurt yourself!"
"Sora is my brother, you hear me? Mine. Not yours," Cloud howled, in full-on raving crazy mode, waving his arms around as best he could. "He didn't give up on me. He wouldn't. You're lying. And sorry that I got turned into a goddamn vampire at a time that was inconvenient for everyone! Maybe I'll schedule it next time? Next time I go on a date I'll say oh hey, Mr. Sexy Man, are you a vampire? 'Cause if you're gonna bite me while we're foolin' around I have to call my friend first-"
"Date?" Leon asked quietly. Friend?
"-maybe I'll make a hotel reservation, even! Make arrangements to be moved to the fuckin' Plaza while I'm unconscious and dying for God knows how long-"
"Cloud, you're not making sense-"
"-and hey, maybe Mr. Sexy Vampire will visit me next time instead of disappearing and leaving me in a skank ass apartment with week-old blood chili-"
"What date? Who's Mr. Sexy?"
"-maybe we could eat the cat together-"
"Uh?"
"-fuckin' cops-"
"Cloud-"
"-and now I get stuck with a fuckin' guilt trip because my fuckin' little brother is fuckin' missing!" Cloud finished up with a loud sob. Leon hadn't even noticed he'd been crying. He'd almost gotten used to silently miserable Cloud, but this violently hysterical Cloud, well, that was something new. He was beginning to feel more than a little guilty for telling his friend off before.
"Cloud," he said quietly, in an attempt to calm him somewhat. "Sora'll come back. I'm sure of it. He always does."
"I want him to be here now," Cloud whimpered. He was trembling. Well, at least now Leon knew what had happened to him- from what he could tell from the coherent bits of the rant, some vampire had seduced him and bitten him. He remembered his dream, the wet dream he himself had had that ended with biting his best friend, and he felt a sharp pang.
"Cloud… please, try to calm down," he urged, in as gentle a voice as he could manage. He stood up and went over to his friend. "It's the hormones. They're what's making you feel this way."
"Hormones?" Cloud asked dully.
"Yeah. The worst part is over, I think, but- your body's still trying to fight off the- the infection." Leon struggled to get out the last word. His entire existence was an illness, a disease. A mistake.
"Fighting?" Leon waited, scared to breathe, for Cloud's reaction. But when it came, it was not at all what he'd been expecting.
Cloud started to laugh.
"Uh… Cloud? Are you ok?" he asked cautiously. Cloud only laughed harder, a deranged sort of giggle.
"Good," he said, a glint of crazed mirth in his eyes.
"Wait- good? Cloud, your body's going to lo-"
"I said good," he snapped, cutting Leon off before he could get out the offending word. "Good. I want to fight it. I don't want to be this way."
"Cloud-"
"I don't. I don't, I don't," he screeched, angrier with every iteration, like a large and dangerous toddler throwing a tantrum. "I don't I don't I don't! I hope it kills me," he whispered.
"Cloud, don't say that!" Leon growled. "Are you even listening to yourself-?"
"I DON'T WANT TO LIVE LIKE THIS!" he screamed, tears rolling down his face. "I DON'T! I DON'T! I DON'T!" His limbs were shaking- he repeated the simple phrase like a mantra- he whipped around and attacked the wall again, but this time, a few chunks of wood came back with him. The destruction seemed to spur on something primal inside of him, and he dove onto one of the leftover church pews, flaying it to pieces with everything he had. Leon was too afraid to go near him. The angrier he got, the further the transformation went, human fingernails lengthening into vicious claws, teeth changing, mouth and throat shifting shape until the words were gone, replaced by nothing but anguished screeches. At the rate he was going, there wouldn't be any church or Cloud for Sora to come back to.
Leon had to stop him.
"Cloud!" he shouted, grabbing onto the raging vampire's shoulder. "Cloud, stop it-"
Penelo watched what happened, almost in slow motion. Kairi was reaching underneath the main terminal, first, opening a tiny compartment and pulling out a bottle. One of her many stashes of empties, of course, she realized in a sort of detached way. She watched as Kairi smashed the bottle on the printer, watched as the tiny shards of broken glass scattered everywhere, watched as Kairi turned on her.
Cloud did stop mauling the church pew, but it wasn't enough to get him to stop mauling entirely. Leon caught a fierce blue-eyed glare- a flash of light bouncing off a raised claw- a sharp hiss of delight- before all sight in both of his eyes went black. Only to be replaced by a excruciating and mind-blanking pain.
The dirty broken glass punctured Penelo's skin easily, driving deep into her stomach. She watched as it happened, feeling nothing. You're in shock, her brain told her helpfully. She giggled a little, and blood came out of her mouth. Before she could hit the ground, Kairi backhanded her across the face, sending her flying into one of the computer mainframes. She crumpled, and Kairi kicked her in the ribs, once, then again. Penelo heard more than felt something crack.
"There," Kairi said coldly. "You won't die. Now, once they all wake up and rush to get you some sort of medical help, tell them you tried to stop me and I beat the shit out of you. Not entirely a lie, right?"
Leon screeched and screamed, grabbing at his face. Something warm and sticky came off onto his fingers. His face- he couldn't see-
"I hate you a lot," Penelo ground out. "You know that, right?"
"Whatever," Kairi shrugged. "Don't forget your promise. Naminé, are we ready?"
"Everything is in place. Shall I begin the extraction?" Bleeding and panicked on the floor, blood rushing in her ears as all of her senses began to fade, Penelo barely heard the other girl whisper:
"Yes, please."
Zexion sat quietly in the common room, not speaking to anyone. He'd lost all interest in speaking to the other students. He had no faith in them, since they all forgot something that happened right in front of their eyes. He remembered with perfect clarity, so why shouldn't they remember, too? Logic would dictate that he was the one who was wrong, but somehow, he knew that wasn't right. His memory was what was real, even if it no longer existed anywhere outside of his own mind.
Besides his peer troubles, Zexion had been battling a rather persistent headache, ever since that strange girl had spoken to him in the cafeteria. The consistent, dull pain reminded him somewhat of a saying he couldn't remember- something like, when you cough, it means someone is thinking about you? No, not a cough-
He was startled out of his thoughts by the sudden arrival of someone he hadn't seen in quite some time, not since the last fitness exercise, which had been at least the day before. Professor Éniman stood in the doorway, looking the same as she always did, as far as he knew. He just didn't know why she was there.
"Class, it's time," she said simply, and the other students obediently stood and began filing out into the hallway. Zexion stayed behind, mildly confused.
"Time for what?" he asked no one, but Marluxia was kind enough to answer.
"Oh, didn't you hear?" he asked. No, or I wouldn't have asked you, thought Zexion. Fortunately, Marluxia continued without waiting for a reply.
"Today we have combat practice."
DUN DUN DUN. DUN DUN. DUN.
I actually, er, uploaded to the internets a couple of my Erased sketch-doodles. I've got Roxas, Demyx, and Sora at becoafamuDOTdeviantartDOTcom. Yay fanart of my own fanfics!?
Q OF THE DAY: What's the most embarrassing real-life Kingdom Hearts-related thing you've had happen to you? I spent more than an hour taking pictures of people in KH cosplay at CTcon this year, since my two friends I went with were in KH cosplay and I wasn't, so I got three cameras for the KH photo-shoot. I got a free poster for pre-ordering 358/2 Days and made all my drunk friends sign it at my 21st birthday party, and it now hangs proudly on my apartment wall. A friend once listed Kingdom Hearts as my greatest weakness on one of them online survey Facebook friend things. At my job, there's a little kid who comes in for a lesson every week wearing a Kingdom Hearts t-shirt because he totes has a crush on me and figured out I liked Kingdom Hearts and now he wears the shirt every week. I COULD GO ON. So c'mon, spill :)
